what do you do with fire ash?

[Ayachtie]

Thinking of installing a multi fuel stove.

What's the correct etiquette for ash disposal? Over the side or cool then trash?

In my case in a tidal river.

 

[Kelpie]

Depends what you're burning.
Wood ash is pretty benign. And good wood burned hot produced almost no ash anyway.
Coal ash is a different- probably best to bag it up with your other rubbish.

 

[Manuel_Hung]

If it's wood ash, throw it on the nearest flower bed or grass. I throw all my wood ash over the garden, does a great job. I've always been given mixed information on coal ash so I tend to dump it.

 

[MASH]

On a boat? Over the side of course, what else would you do with it?

 

[Rigger Mortice]

The problem with waiting for it to cool is that ash seems to take an eternity to cool down. It is a very good insulator and it can easily set fire to a paper bag or melt a plastic bag many hours after it has been removed from the fire.
On a boat it's probably best to be pragmatic and dump it over board but heaven knows what local rules there are about doing that.

 

[NormanS]

At sea, I always dumped it in the "deep store", but wintering in the canal, it went in the skip. It was almost all wood ash, but the fire also burned all our burnable rubbish.

 

[colvic987]

On a boat? Over the side of course, what else would you do with it?

As long as your next post, isn't about cleaning an ash covered boat ???????????????

 

[penfold]

As long as your next post, isn't about cleaning an ash covered boat ???????????????

You don't just dump it over the side; a bit of water in the bottom of a bucket and put the ashes in and wait until they're all wet, then rinse out the bucket over the side; job jobbed.

 

[colvic987]

You don't just dump it over the side; a bit of water in the bottom of a bucket and put the ashes in and wait until they're all wet, then rinse out the bucket over the side; job jobbed.

I know that, but you would be amazed the amount of people who would just chuck it, theres always a first time, the second time the learning curve has been 'switched on'

 

[MASH]

Well, I'd have been cleaning my boat afterwards...

 

[Kukri]

In the days of coal burning steamships, there were ferocious harbour bye-laws against dumping furnace ashes over the side in port - these are probably still in place but a couple of pounds of ash from a yacht should not make much difference to anything. I confess to having always put mine over the side.