Ash carriers

[blackrose]

I've finally gone and bought a cheap ash carrier from eBay (same sort of thing as the tippy model that's 4x the price!)

 

I just thought I'd give it a go as I was carrying the tray full of red hot ashes out of the boat every day with gloved hand and thought one day I might end up dropping it on the floor causing a load of damage. 

 

But I'm not sure I understand how to use the carrier properly? My ash tray is quite big and the carrier is enormous so getting the tray into the carrier isn't that easy because I'm holding one in each hand. Also do you hold the carrier vertically while taking it outside letting the ash spill into the bottom of the carrier or do you carry it out horizontally keeping the ash in the tray?

[mrsmelly]

I bought a tippy a few years back and persevered for a few days then left it near the skips for someone else to have a go. 

[dor]

I use a tippy.

 Have a piece of metal sheet that  goes on the floor. Open lid. Take ash pan out of stove, tilt tippy and put ashcan in, closing the lid as much as possible. Remove empty ash can, put tippy with closed lid in the cratch on a piece of old rubber.

 Now I have a Stovax, which has an open end.  I think Squirrels have a complete box form. If you want to use a tippy as above, i would suggest cutting out the end so the ash can slide out. If you are doing it daily then the ash won’t be enough to fall off the end.

 It helps if the tippy is sized appropriately for the ash can.

 

[blackrose]

Yes, mine is a bit too big for the tray. I'll persevere for a while and see how it goes.

[Keeping Up]

The tippy is designed to lay down with the opening about 3" above the floor by resting on the carrying handle. Then it is usually easy to insert the tray fully, close the lid and pick it up by the handle, then you set it down upright. The bottom doesn't get too hot because it is raised by the lip to be 1/4" above the floor. After a few seconds for the ash to settle you can open the lid and remove the tray with it still upright.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

I've got a home made ash carrier, sized to take a squirrel ash pan in one gulp. The stove sits on a thick slate hearth that extends two feet in front of the stove and to each side, so put the ash pan in to the carrier by the stove empty it there before returning the pan to the stove. I then take the carrier outside by the brass handles on each side. The carrier has feet to space it off the ground so it can cool down without heat damaging any paint underneath. I made the carrier over ten years ago, before I knew that the tippy was a thing, but I think mine is better. It is made of aluminium sheet and angle, pop riveted together, with brass handles and hinges.

Jen

Edited March 14, 2020 by Jen-in-Wellies

[GUMPY]

10 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

The tippy is designed to lay down with the opening about 3" above the floor by resting on the carrying handle. Then it is usually easy to insert the tray fully, close the lid and pick it up by the handle, then you set it down upright. The bottom doesn't get too hot because it is raised by the lip to be 1/4" above the floor. After a few seconds for the ash to settle you can open the lid and remove the tray with it still upright.

Wot he said!

I emptied my complete stove contents, hot coals and all, this morning into tippyash, no bother at all.

[dmr]

All that tippy stuff is just asking for trouble, especially if its almost full. Leave the tippy upright, open the lid, pour the ash in reasonably quickly, then close the lid.

 

If the tippy is almost empty then the bottom will get quite hot so get it onto a suitable heatproof surface quickly

 

Don't empty it into the cut, don't mae piles of ash on the towpath to get boaters a bad reputation, dump it discretely in the hedge (taking care not to start a fire if the ground is dry).

 

Most boaters say never keep the tippy in the boat due to CO risk. We find keeping the tippy next to the stove is convenient and have never rrecorded any CO

 

...............Dave

[haggis]

Having a Squirrel ash pan which is basically a box, I hold the Tippy almost flat, slide the ash pan in, firmly close the tippy lid and turn it over to empty the ash pan. Allow the dust to settle , open the tippy and take out the now empty ash pan and return it to the stove. Take the Tippy outside to empty. 

Our last stove had an open end on the  ash pan which enabled me to slide the contents into the tippy but I have found that my current method results in far less ash dust escaping into the boat when I am emptying the  ash pan. 

 

haggis

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

33 minutes ago, dmr said:

Most boaters say never keep the tippy in the boat due to CO risk. We find keeping the tippy next to the stove is convenient and have never rrecorded any CO

I've had hot ash inside the boat set off the CO alarm. All it takes is one glowing coal buried in the ash. Incomplete combustion with a poor air suppy = CO ?

It always goes outside to cool now.

[blackrose]

2 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

The tippy is designed to lay down with the opening about 3" above the floor by resting on the carrying handle. Then it is usually easy to insert the tray fully, close the lid and pick it up by the handle, then you set it down upright. The bottom doesn't get too hot because it is raised by the lip to be 1/4" above the floor. After a few seconds for the ash to settle you can open the lid and remove the tray with it still upright.

But I've found that if you carry it or set it down vertically then getting all the ash out of the box is a right hassle. I think I'd rather just keep it horizontal.

2 hours ago, dmr said:

All that tippy stuff is just asking for trouble, especially if its almost full. Leave the tippy upright, open the lid, pour the ash in reasonably quickly, then close the lid.

 

Pour the ash in? Are you sure? I thought the whole point was to put the entire tray in without any pouring or clouds of dust inside the boat?

[blackrose]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

Having a Squirrel ash pan which is basically a box, I hold the Tippy almost flat, slide the ash pan in, firmly close the tippy lid and turn it over to empty the ash pan. Allow the dust to settle , open the tippy and take out the now empty ash pan and return it to the stove. Take the Tippy outside to empty. 

I think I'd rather take the tippy outside with the ash inside the tray, leave it for a while outside and then slide the tray out with all the ash and empty it.

 

Once all the ash is loose in the box it's a right faff to empty it.

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I've had hot ash inside the boat set off the CO alarm. All it takes is one glowing coal buried in the ash. Incomplete combustion with a poor air suppy = CO ?

It always goes outside to cool now.

 

Yes, I wouldn't leave hot ash in the boat even in an (unvented) box.

[Rebotco]

I've always understood that in the past, coal ash was the engineers preferred way to seal leaking lock gates etc.  For this reason I've always emptied my ash direct into the canal.  As a fair weather leisure boater though, this only arises about 4 or 5 times a year.

[haggis]

24 minutes ago, blackrose said:

I think I'd rather take the tippy outside with the ash inside the tray, leave it for a while outside and then slide the tray out with all the ash and empty it.

 

Once all the ash is loose in the box it's a right faff to empty it.

 

 

Our Tippy has handles which make it easy to tip it upside down for emptying while holding the lid open. We are not on the boat to describe where the handles are  properly but I have never found emptying it a problem. 

 

haggis

[Keeping Up]

9 minutes ago, haggis said:

Our Tippy has handles which make it easy to tip it upside down for emptying while holding the lid open. We are not on the boat to describe where the handles are  properly but I have never found emptying it a problem. 

 

haggis

Wot he sez

[Slim]

I have a genuine Tippy and it's perfect for my needs.Place on a flat surface in a tipped position, open lid, slide ash tray all tje way in, close lid, lift into a vertical position, open lid, remove empty ash tray, close lid. Job done ?. I choose  to empty the ash with the tippy on the front cockpit floor whilst leaning through my stable type front doors. I also cut the back off my Morso tray so all the ash drops out .

I do agree that it's overpriced £40 + ten years ago.

[GUMPY]

I cut most of the back out of our stove ash pan so its easier to empty, so now it only has 3 sides and a bottom.

Works a treat.

Edited March 14, 2020 by Loddon

[LadyG]

40 minutes ago, Loddon said:

I cut most of the back out of our stove ash pan so its easier to empty, so now it only has 3 sides and a bottom.

Works a treat.

I shovel ash in to a bucket. I open nearby window, some dust goes out window. Then vacuum the hearth.

Edited March 14, 2020 by LadyG

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

I cut most of the back out of our stove ash pan so its easier to empty, so now it only has 3 sides and a bottom.

Works a treat.

For anyone else planning to do this, just make sure that the side of the ash pan you cut out isn't the bottom side.

 

Jen ?

[Jon57]

10 hours ago, dmr said:

All that tippy stuff is just asking for trouble, especially if its almost full. Leave the tippy upright, open the lid, pour the ash in reasonably quickly, then close the lid.

 

If the tippy is almost empty then the bottom will get quite hot so get it onto a suitable heatproof surface quickly

 

Don't empty it into the cut, don't mae piles of ash on the towpath to get boaters a bad reputation, dump it discretely in the hedge (taking care not to start a fire if the ground is dry).

 

Most boaters say never keep the tippy in the boat due to CO risk. We find keeping the tippy next to the stove is convenient and have never rrecorded any CO

 

...............Dave

Better still put it on the dog turds so you know where they are when you come back from the pub!

[dmr]

1 hour ago, Jon57 said:

Better still put it on the dog turds so you know where they are when you come back from the pub!

 

I try to pick them up, but confess that when the dog gets a "bad bottom"" I have used the little pile of ash cover up method.

 

We have moved a lot less than usual this winter due to stoppages and I am surprised at just how much ash we have generated.

 

.................Dave

 

 

[blackrose]

On 14/03/2020 at 12:49, Rebotco said:

I've always understood that in the past, coal ash was the engineers preferred way to seal leaking lock gates etc.  For this reason I've always emptied my ash direct into the canal.  As a fair weather leisure boater though, this only arises about 4 or 5 times a year.

 

I don't think that is considered best practice these days with thousands of boats on the canals. 

On 14/03/2020 at 19:53, Loddon said:

I cut most of the back out of our stove ash pan so its easier to empty, so now it only has 3 sides and a bottom.

Works a treat.

Doesn't a lot of the ash fall out into the bottom of the stove when you slide it out?

[David Mack]

On 14/03/2020 at 12:49, Rebotco said:

I've always understood that in the past, coal ash was the engineers preferred way to seal leaking lock gates etc.  For this reason I've always emptied my ash direct into the canal.  As a fair weather leisure boater though, this only arises about 4 or 5 times a year.

Ash is still used to seal stop planks. But how does that justify dumping ash into the canal when it is not being used for that purpose?

[GUMPY]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

Doesn't a lot of the ash fall out into the bottom of the stove when you slide it out?

 

Not really I have left 1cm either side to give support to the sides so this stops any slip.

I do have to shovel out some as if I haven't got the pan perfectly straight some ash drops over the side when I riddle the stove.

 

[Rebotco]

45 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Ash is still used to seal stop planks. But how does that justify dumping ash into the canal when it is not being used for that purpose?

It doesn't.

But it does suggest that it is not harmful to do so.