Ash Pan

[Mr Baites]

a burn old tires a usly put mi ash in bus stop bins if a see one wen am neert rowd thar is

[Guest]

a burn old tires a usly put mi ash in bus stop bins if a see one wen am neert rowd thar is

wot doest do when thas not neert rowd then?

[DHutch]

Meh.

- I think its a case of balance, compromise, and minimization of stupidness.

 

I put the ash from our stove into the cut sometimes, i put under hedges sometimes, and i add it to our rubbish disposal system sometimes (usually using a plastic bag, usually a reused one, that is usally reused again).

 

Ofcause we have a stack load more ash after a days crusing that most people do, although proberbly no more per year than someone heating there boat with it all year round.

- If the stove ash/ashpan is hot then theres little more sensable to do with it than tip it over the side, in reality.

- However frequently i will simple add it to the boiler ash box for dealing with later. Assuming the pan is cool enough to handle, and the boiler lit or warm so that the fly ash is drawn up and out, rather than settling on the engine.

 

I guess that then leads onto 'what do you do with the ash from the boiler' but to behonest thats more of the same.

- It leaves the boat shorly after the boiler is lit, in a blackbin liner, lined with paper to stop it melting in spots, to be disposed in a varity of ways.

- It doesnt go into the cut your'll be happy to hear debbi, and infact often it is put into bw bins when they are around, to be added to land fill.

- Put several times a year it is added to the surrounding hedges, towpath area, adjoining woodland to get cycaled round in a big slow loop!

 

 

Daniel

[Mr Baites]

wot doest do when thas not neert rowd then?

 

if am not by a rowd well worrado is jus chuk it int hege if am desprat it gose int canal burra spinkl it ta spred it owt

[DHutch]

if am not by a rowd well worrado is jus chuk it int hege if am desprat it gose int canal burra spinkl it ta spred it owt

Ee, tht e faranuff buwottaboot wun hegeis toofurraway an cunal is frozzen?

- Thn putunit ont ice wld be a writ givuway wunnit....

 

 

...yeah ok i wont even try and compete, but sometimes the best thing really is just not to bother untill tomorrow!

 

 

I once cooled our coal shovel in the cut after carring a few shovel fulls of glowing coal though to the stove to set it off for the night and some stuck up "portly gentleman" tore me off a right bloody strip for "littering the canal with shovel fulls of your shit".

- After he had finalally and a explaned i was only cool it, he just walked off and snotted something along the lines of "you must think i was born yesterday..."

 

Its a sad world really. All i wanted to do was just stop the handle geting to hot so i could finsh off 'lighting' the stove for the evening!

 

 

 

Daniel

[David Schweizer]

There clearly are no gardeners on here. The best disposal of wood ash is to spread it around the roots of the hedge next to the towpath where it will provide a valuable source of nutrient, increasing the plants resistance to disease and adverse conditions, it will also improve the fruiting of wild blackberries and other wild fruits, which will benefit bird and insect life.

 

Alternatively take it home and spread it around your root crops and fruit trees or bushes, where it will increase the build up of natural sugars. Mixed with soot it is also an effective deterrent for slugs and snails.

 

Unfrortunately I am not certain wheter Coal ash has the same Qualities, but it is very effective in making ice covered pathways less slippery.

Edited October 28, 2007 by David Schweizer

[magnetman]

See post #5.

[David Schweizer]

See post #5.

OOps sorry, I missed that one somehow.

 

Pity there are still peple on this page who think it is ok to dump it in the canal, when it clearly is not.

[JP01]

No no no and no. It's bad for the environment and particularly the fish. Wood ash is not so bad but coal ash is a definite no no. Please don't do it at all.

 

Also if everyone dumped their ash in the canal I'm sure the canal would get even shallower. It needs dredging now as it is. Don't make it worse, please?

D

 

What is your evidence to support your assertion that coal ash is bad for the environment?

[ChrisG]

At first sight, according to the links provided from various "coal combustion products" websites I've found, coal ash and wood ash seem fairly innocuous, although they do contain heavy metal traces which are moderately deadly in relatively small amounts . . . but even though the bulk of the ash once wet is low, it must eventually start to fill the 'ole the navvies dug?

 

But a bit more research indicates that "Coal ash is composed primarily of oxides of silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, titanium, sodium, potassium, arsenic, mercury, and sulfur plus small quantities of uranium and thorium. Fly ash is primarily composed of non-combustible silicon compounds (glass) melted during combustion. Tiny glass spheres form the bulk of the fly ash."

 

As for as putting human waste into the cut . . . . human waste from holidaymakers on the Broads very nearly killed all the life in those waterways

Edited October 28, 2007 by ChrisG

[Teadaemon]

As for as putting human waste into the cut . . . . human waste from holidaymakers on the Broads very nearly killed all the life in those waterways

 

No it didn't.

 

The huge die-off that occurred on the Norfolk Broads in the late 1960s was the result of tributyltin (TBT) antifouling, which had been aggressively marketed to hire yards and private boat owners for a couple of years prior to the die-off. The reason that the Broads haven't recovered, despite most boats now having holding tanks (as far as I'm aware using a sea toilet is not banned on the Broads, I've certainly sailed boats that have them), is that the TBT is still present in the mud at concentrations toxic to marine life. It'll stay there until the mud is dredged out and disposed of, as has been done on Cockshoot and Barton Broads (albeit at great expense).

 

Edited to add:

 

Most waterways can actually cope remarkably well with small to moderate quantities of human or animal waste from an ecological point of view. On the Broads it was only really an issue in areas with large numbers of moored boats, particularly off the main rivers where it wasn't washed away by the tides. On the cut it would be a more significant problem due to the lack of significant flow and the sheer amount of boats relative to the volume of water.

Edited October 28, 2007 by Teadaemon

[ChrisG]

No it didn't.

 

The huge die-off that occurred on the Norfolk Broads in the late 1960s was the result of tributyltin (TBT) antifouling, which had been aggressively marketed to hire yards and private boat owners for a couple of years prior to the die-off. The reason that the Broads haven't recovered, despite most boats now having holding tanks (as far as I'm aware using a sea toilet is not banned on the Broads, I've certainly sailed boats that have them), is that the TBT is still present in the mud at concentrations toxic to marine life. It'll stay there until the mud is dredged out and disposed of, as has been done on Cockshoot and Barton Broads (albeit at great expense).

 

Not according to the Broads Authority - although I'm sure that there was a serious contribution from this very aggressive antifouling. Eutrophication is the problem, they say.

 

Heres the reference:

 

http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/broads/..._the_Broads.pdf

[carlt]

See post #5.

post #5 was written by someone who subsequently admitted to having no knowledge on the combustion of organic compounds.

 

New Scientist are waiting on further evidence before publishing post #5.

Edited October 28, 2007 by carlt

[Maverick]

Hmm, I would not tip the ash into the cut. It depends on what you burn but there could be some nasty stuff in it.

 

Some application of wood ash is good for garden soil as it contains calcium, nitrogen, potassium and many micro-ingedients. It will be alkaline in nature so you can change the pH of the soil if you apply lots of it. If you can't use it on your garden or give it to someone who can then spreading it about in the bottom of the nearest hedgerow would be better than chucking it in the cut, as long as you're not putting it all in the same place all the time. There are some do's and don't if you're using them in the garden. A search on "wood ash" will bring some informative sites up.

 

Solid Fuel or Coal ash is different. It contains few nutrients and some toxic elements like cobalt, boron and arsenic which are toxic to plants, animals, people and fish. You should dispose of solid fuel/coal ash either in your normal rubbish (making really sure it has cooled down, give it a good few days) or bag it securely and take it to your local refuse disposal site.

 

Stewart

 

Ive bin snortin me ash for years an its neva dun me any arm. still piss thru same thing ive pissed thru for years and shits same colour its always bin. Have heard some folks is brown an a bit more firm in texture mind but not witnessed it meself.

 

dunna think tippin it in cut ud do much arm only silt bottom up abit and hav herd thats how Ashby canal got its name.

 

wotever tha dus dus it safely. if thas gonna snort a bit sit thee down fost an gerra big hanky ready cus thers gonna be a lotta snot to follow. If yus dumps in da cut check which way das winds blowin first cus it'll fair burn thee bloody eyeballs out if it blows bak in tha face.

 

Bye for na

[magnetman]

post #5 was written by someone who subsequently admitted to having no knowledge on the combustion of hydrocarbons.

 

New Scientist are waiting on further evidence before publishing post #5.

 

 

I was only pointing out to David Schweizer that someone had already made comments on the gardening situation - I thought it was generally accepted that wood ash is helpful in the garden but I also have no knowledge of the combustion of hydrocarbons (is wood a hydrocarbon?).

[carlt]

(is wood a hydrocarbon?).

Yes, so are we.

 

wood is also the original composite material, fibre reinforcement in a resin matrix.

[Teadaemon]

Not according to the Broads Authority - although I'm sure that there was a serious contribution from this very aggressive antifouling. Eutrophication is the problem, they say.

 

Heres the reference:

 

http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/broads/..._the_Broads.pdf

 

I can't get to the document you've referenced at the moment, though I'll not dispute that it says that human waste and/or agricultural runoff was responsible for the die-off. This was the generally accepted theory of what happened up until very recently, but unfortunately it wasn't correct (not to mention it being adopted without any serious scientific investigation into the matter).

 

I don't have the reference immediately to hand, but my statement was made after reading a recent piece of research into the matter that was quite compelling. A large number of mud cores were taken and examined, and in all cases the layers of mud laid down at or after the point where the die-off started had significant quantities of TBT present. Furthermore, removing this toxic mud from certain areas has allowed those areas to recover, but drastically reducing the amount of sewage and agricultural runoff going into the Broads has not led to a more general recovery.

[magnetman]

Yes, so are we.

 

wood is also the original composite material, fibre reinforcement in a resin matrix.

 

http://chemistry.about.com/library/glossary/bldef538.htm

 

??

[carlt]

I can't get to the document you've referenced at the moment, though I'll not dispute that it says that human waste and/or agricultural runoff was responsible for the die-off. This was the generally accepted theory of what happened up until very recently, but unfortunately it wasn't correct (not to mention it being adopted without any serious scientific investigation into the matter).I don't have the reference immediately to hand, but my statement was made after reading a recent piece of research into the matter that was quite compelling. A large number of mud cores were taken and examined, and in all cases the layers of mud laid down at or after the point where the die-off started had significant quantities of TBT present. Furthermore, removing this toxic mud from certain areas has allowed those areas to recover, but drastically reducing the amount of sewage and agricultural runoff going into the Broads has not led to a more general recovery.

Has anyone on this thread (or forum) actually said it's ok to chuck human waste in the cut?

http://chemistry.about.com/library/glossary/bldef538.htm ??

Yes , sorry, I was mixing my hydrocarbons with my organics.

[Teadaemon]

Has anyone on this thread (or forum) actually said it's ok to chuck human waste in the cut?

 

No, not even me. (Though I still have no problem hiring a Broads yacht with a sea toilet, albeit that it only gets used when there isn't an alternative shore-based solution nearby).

 

I just wanted to point out that it's not quite as bad for the environment as some people seem to think. I've actually found people on a Norfolk Broads forum (I think, it might have been here) aghast at the thought that sea-going yachts (and ships) pump their black water overboard when under way. I'm not entirely sure what they thought happened to it, pump-out stations not being the most common of things to come across on the high seas.

[Supermalc]

CONCLUSION - If you have a wooden boat, put it in the water, as it will help seal the seams, otherwise put it in the hedgerow, where it will help make the flowers grow

 

Is that a straighforwards and simple enough explanation.

[Teadaemon]

CONCLUSION - If you have a wooden boat, put it in the water, as it will help seal the seams, otherwise put it in the hedgerow, where it will help make the flowers grow

 

Is that a straighforwards and simple enough explanation.

 

The advice concerning wooden boats probably only applies if they're traditional working narrowboats blacked in the traditional manner. I can't see ash doing much good for the paint job on Wud-E-Nuff, and equally I can't see it getting past the paint and into the seams very easily.

[carlt]

The advice concerning wooden boats probably only applies if they're traditional working narrowboats blacked in the traditional manner. I can't see ash doing much good for the paint job on Wud-E-Nuff, and equally I can't see it getting past the paint and into the seams very easily.

Works on all boats with leaky seams. BW also seal their locks and stop planks using ash. I imagine the EA do the same.

[Teadaemon]

Works on all boats with leaky seams. BW also seal their locks and stop planks using ash. I imagine the EA do the same.

 

Fair enough, I just don't think that significant quantities of ash will get into the seams of most wooden boats if it's applied in that manner.

[Supermalc]

Any micro-organisms will seal a gap....whatever the material it is made of. Obvously all this ancient technology is fairly new to me, however when I had a trip out into the Wash, hence the salt my boat leaked a lot when I came back. We took her out, and I filled the gap and re-riveted the plank. On the other side I tightened the bolt holding the wood the engine is mounted to.

 

While I've been moored on the Visitor moorings at Bardney, the water is fairly full of green weed. Within a few days the leaks have subsided, to a point she didn't pump out inbetween visits of 2 or 3 days (I think).

 

A fairly large leak will be plugged by weed ingress in the summer months.......as long as the boat is not moved of course. I've been told about this by experienced long time boaters. In the winter, and the weed dies they leak like a seive again.