Door on outside of fireplace?

[Ironman1079]

i dont know which forum to put this in so i thought id put it here.
i have a fireplace in my house. i bought the house in summer 04. the fireplace was added on and the shimney outside is from ground level up to about 20-25' high.

it is made out of cinder blocks it looks like and at the bottom outside, there is a small 8" square door that you can open and there is a bunch of stuff collected at the bottom.

my question is:

what is this door here for and can i clean it out?

thanks..

jr

[Mr T]

That is your ash cleanout. You should clean it out regularly.

In the bottom of your fireplace should be a ash door. You can rake old ashes into it. If someone stuck a new insert into your fireplace, this door may not be accessable anymore.

You should check and clean it before your heating season, and check it every few months if your fireplace is used heavily. Give it a good cleaning in the spring when you are done using it. Also make sure tohave your chimney inspected/cleaned each fall.

What is in there? Do you have a cover on your chimney?

You are lucky.. My ash cleanout is deep in my crawlspace. Luckily I have a stove insert so it is no longer used.

[Ironman1079]

That is your ash cleanout. You should clean it out regularly.

In the bottom of your fireplace should be a ash door. You can rake old ashes into it. If someone stuck a new insert into your fireplace, this door may not be accessable anymore.

You should check and clean it before your heating season, and check it every few months if your fireplace is used heavily. Give it a good cleaning in the spring when you are done using it. Also make sure tohave your chimney inspected/cleaned each fall.

What is in there? Do you have a cover on your chimney?

You are lucky.. My ash cleanout is deep in my crawlspace. Luckily I have a stove insert so it is no longer used.

the door is not in the inside of the fireplace, it is on the outside of the house.
inside it looks like black ashes/debrie.
yes the chimeny has a cover on it, kind of hard to explain.

where do these ashes come from?

[Wgoodrich]

When you have a fire heat is created. Heat rises. This makes the smoke rise up that chimney to the outside. This also draws a certain amount of ash with that smoke going up the chimney. When the fire goes out the ash then falls to that trap door outside to be cleaned out periodically. This is normal. When you burn wood you must burn CURED wood. If you don't then unburnt creosote also goes up that chimney and tends to adhere to the chimney walls in a form of ash/creosote mixture. This is a very fast burning combustable mixture now adhering to your flue walls. When it gets cold outside you stoke the fire and get it roaring hot to heat with. When you do this often times that creosote then ignites and you then have an explosive fast burn that can severly damage your flue, chimney and possibly ignite the framing as far away from that flue inside the attic as a foot away causing your house to burn down.

The trap door outside is a normal clean periodically ash deposit. The burning of almost cured or non cured [called green] wood will cause the creosote to build in your chimney asking for a fearful fire within the flue if not worse getting into the house framing setting it afire. This is why chimney sweeps regularly inspect and clean you flue removing this excess creosote/ash deposit inside your flue to prevent this horror fire risk to you.

Clean out your outside ash deposit and have your chimney inspected for creosote build up on a regular basis, for your safety.

Good LUck and be safe

Wg

[Bull]

This is a clean out for the creosote, creosote forms when the temp of the smoke (heat) going out of the chemney drops below about 350 degrees F. The creosote will form on the walls of the flue and build up. Clean your flue or have it cleaned before using the fireplace.