What You Can Do With Fire Pit Ashes
How to dispose of fire pit ashes and the ways you can use them
When the delight of sitting around a fire pit is over there is one not-so-fun thing left over – the ashes in your fire pit. Removing ashes from the fire pit can be a challenge and definitely is a messy business! Here are some tips to make it easier and ideas on how you can use them.
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How to Remove Fire Pit Ashes Safely
First of all, wait until they cool down, which normally will be the next day. To speed up the cooling, you can pour water over the embers or you can smother them with sand.
What can you use to remove ashes from the fire pit?
To remove ashes from a fire pit you can use a fireplace tong and a small metal shovel, just like these ones:
How to handle hot fire pit ashes?
If you are unable to wait until the ashes cool down, to stay safe and avoid burs, wear protective gloves and apron.
Where to put ashes from fire pit?
You can scoop the ashes out and put them in an ash bucket or box where they can wait for disposal or recycling.
Tip: avoid using plastic tools or containers.
If you want it really clean
If you want to remove all the ash from your fire pit or fireplace, you can use a special ash vacuum. Although you don’t have to do it after every use, you may want to give your fire pit a good clean from time to time to extend its life and maintain it properly. Remember that using an ash vacuum requires the ashes to be completely cooled down. Here is and example of such specialist vacuum cleaner:
What can you do with ashes from the fire pit
Are fire pit ashes are good for anything? You might be surprised, as there actually are many ways to use the fire pit or fireplace ashes. From a soil fertiliser to an eco-friendly cleaning product, here we list several ways to use ashes from firepits or fireplaces.
Using fire pit ashes for your garden
Soil fertiliser
If you mix ashes with garden soil they will make it less acidic and provide nutrients for your plants. When planting tomatoes or other calcium-loving plants, place a cup of cooled down ash into the hole before planting.
Slug repellent
Fire pit ashes are an eco-friendly garden pests repellent. Unwanted visitors such as slugs and snails don’t enjoy them, so it’s a great alternative to pest killers, if you want to use something harmless but keep the slugs away.
Frost Damage Protector
To protect your plants from light frost, you can dust your plants with wood ash. The mineral salts contained in wood ash lower the freezing point of water, so the plants won’t suffer during light frost.
Pond Algae Control
The potassium from ash slows down the production of algae in water. You can drop some ash into your pond using a tablespoon of ash per 1,000 gallons of water. This will also nourish the aquatic plants in the pond, just like in the case of fertilising other plants.
Can you use fire pit ash for cleaning?
Yes! Ash has several cleaning uses and it fits in perfectly into the idea of sustainability as well as using organic products. Here are just a few ways you can use ash.
Natural cleansing agent
Ash is a great cleaning agent for grease on glass surfaces. You can use a damp sponge for this: dip it into the ashes, then apply on the surface you want to clean. Ashes are especially useful for cleaning glass in fireplace doors or car headlights.
Soap ingredient
When you soak hardwood ashes in water, it will turn into lye – an alkaline solution which can be used for washing and cleansing. You can mix it with other ingredients to make either liquid or hard soap. The very basic version would be: ashes + water + fat. You can use any type of fat – lard or coconut oil will work fine. If you add salt, it will harden the mixture and you can also play around with different fragrances or natural colorants.
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Natural Bleach
We’ve already discussed how to make lye water. Apart from washing it also works well as a natural bleaching solution and you can simply add a cup of lye water to your laundry instead of the bleaching agent.
Metal polisher
You can make a paste out of ash and water to use for silver or other metal polishing.
Using ashes as pest and insect repellent
We have already mentioned that you can protect your garden plants from slugs using ash from fire pits and fireplaces. But there are more creatures which don’t like ash.
Ant Repellent
If you want to force ants to leave, sprinkle some wood ash over the anthills. This is a great way to keep ants away. As ants are beneficial insects cleaning the surroundings, so you don’t want to kill them off. By using ash, you won’t harm them, but they will go away from the areas where you don’t want them to invade your space.
Cockroach Repellent
You can get rid of cockroaches the natural way by sprinkling wood ash in areas where cockroaches most likely stay.
Flea Treatment for Cats and Dogs
Wood ash can be an effective, organic flea killer on your pets. How does it work? Fleas get micro-cuts from the tiny particles of ash, which dries the flea out and in effect the flea dies. Sprinkle some wood ash on your pet’s coat and let it stay for at least 24 hours. Wash your pet thoroughly after that.
Other uses of ashes from the fire pit
Odor and Moisture Absorbent
Wood ash works in a similar way to baking soda. It can absorb odor and moisture. You can place a small box filled with ashes inside your fridge or a dump cupboard to absorb odors and humidity inside. Using firepit ash you can also control humidity in places with poor ventilation such as basement or bathroom. If you place a tray with ash in a room, it will absorb the humidity and prevent mold from growing.
Another way to use it is to neutralise the skunk smell of pets. Just rub some cooled ash in your pet’s fur to neutralise the smell.
Melt Ice or Snow
The salts found in ash lower the freezing point of water, so you can sprinkle ashes from your fireplace on your driveway or walkways. This will also help to protect the icy surfaces from being very slippery.
Put Out Fires
Ashes work just like sand for putting out fires. To finish a bonfire or fire pit, use the leftovers from the previous one. You can also keep a bucket of ash near a stove or fireplace in case you need to extinguish small fires.
Dustbath for Poultry
Ash added to the dust bath for poultry aids in treating fleas and other insects. It will help the birds to get rid of parasites from their feathers.
Final note
Finding ways to use the ash from a fire pit or fireplace is a great way of sustainable living. It also gives you organic alternatives to cleaning detergents, chemicals used in the garden or for pet care.
Do you know other ways of using fire pit ashes? Do share them in the comments below and help others in recycling their fire pit waste.
