On Jan 4, 2:00 pm, Ronald Raygun
wrote:
Jim K wrote:
On Jan 4, 12:43 pm, Ronald Raygun
wrote:

You should
empty the ashpan *before* riddling, when it will have had 8-12 hours to
cool down from the last riddling.

"cool down" ? inside a 200degC metal box runnning 24/7 as you say?
erm....

Erm what? Would you not agree that 200degC is a lot cooler than red hot?

so what? still too hot to handle without metalware/dust (whatever
colour it is)?

The idea is that when the ashpan comes out of the stove, it should not be
at the temperature of the red hot embers but at the cooler temperature of
the stove itself. That's phase 1 of the coolong down. Phase 2 (described
below) then cools the ashes down further so that they could be dumped into
a plastic bin without risk of melting it.

My routine was to remove the full ashpan and put it down underneath or in
front of the stove, onto the (relatively) cool hearth plinth for 20 mins
or so while making breakfast. Then they were cool enough to be tipped
into
a plastic bin. Then replace ashpan, riddle, top up fuel. Without this
cooling-down step, the ashes would have had to be tipped into a metal
bucket first, which generates quite a bit of dust.

how big was your ashpan?!

Why do you ask?

cos a tiny one will cool down like you say I expect - however a larger
one will take longer.....

Jim K