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Vacuuming ash can start fires—but not with an ash vacuum

Using a regular household vacuum could burn down your home

Wood logs burning inside of fireplace. Credit: Reviewed / Getty Images / Image Source

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One of the regular maintenance tasks that comes with having a wood burning fireplace or wood stove is cleaning out the ash. Don’t be scared: Removing ash is a straightforward job—all you really need to clean your fireplace is a metal shovel and a metal ash bucket. However, many people might ask: Can you vacuum ash?

Don’t. Please don’t. At least not with a regular vacuum or shop vac...

Neither a shop vac or a household vacuum—or a robot vac, for that matter—is safe to use to vacuum ash, for a variety of reasons.

However there is one type of vacuum made to replace your shovel and bucket.

Invest in a good ash vacuum to deal with ash from your fireplace. Ash vacuums contain specialized filters made to deal with the unique combination of heat and super-fine dust found in ash.

Ash vacuums are designed to withstand heat

Person scooping hot ashes out of fireplace.
Credit: Getty Images / glebchik

The last thing you want to do is damage your expensive vacuum or put your home at risk while trying to clean your fireplace.

Anytime you clean up ash during the burning seasons, you run the risk of hot coals hiding in the piles. According to Chimney Care Company, a chimney and fireplace servicer in Ohio, hot coals from your fire can linger for up to four days. If you suck those hot coals into a plastic vacuum with paper filters, you run a very high risk of starting a fire or melting parts of your vacuum.

Ash vacuum cleaners are primarily made of metal—they have a metal bin, a metal hose, and a heat-resistant filtering system. When hot coals pass into the machine, they simply sit in the rest of the ash until they finally extinguish.

This doesn’t mean you want to suck up hot coals with an ash vac. Wait for the coals and hot ashes to cool before cleaning. These heat-resistant systems are in place just in case you accidentally clean up something hot.

Most traditional vacuum filters can’t handle the dust

Traditional vacuum and shop vac filters, even certified HEPA filters, may not be enough to fully filter out ash dust.

Wood ash breaks down much finer than most other particulates. According to AirNow.gov, particles in ash and smoke can be as small as 0.4 to 0.7 microns. Most standard vacuum filters won’t capture particles of that size, meaning they get blown back out into the air where you can breathe them in.

While some upgraded filters can go down to that level, they will not have the heat resistance required to survive contact with hot materials.

No ash, no fire—no problem

Woman using vacuum to clean fireplace.
Credit: Powersmith

Vacuums like the PowerSmith PAVC101 10 Amp Ash are specifically designed to store away warm or cool ash in a heat-resistant storage container.

This filtering is where ash vacs shine. A good ash vacuum will be specifically designed for vacuuming ash, and will both filter out tiny particles and do so without the risk of fire. In addition, the filtering systems protect the vacuum motor from dust better than a traditional vacuum will, so there’s less of a chance of destroying the machine.

Dust management is also where ash vacuums are better than a shovel and bucket. Shoveling stirs up a lot of dust. Breathing those airborne ash particles can have serious health impacts, like “irritation in the lungs, runny noses, burning eyes, and aggravate existing heart and lung problems such as emphysema, asthma, and congestive heart failure.”

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