General Information. Most adult cremated ashes will fit a Large size Cremation Urn. Most infant and child cremated ashes will fit a Medium size Cremation Urn.
If you provided your own urn or purchased one from the funeral home ahead of time, the funeral director or crematory operator will put the ashes into the urn for you. Typically the remains will be in the urn inside of the plastic bag, but some urns are designed to hold and seal the remains without the use of a liner.
If the bag doesn't fit, there are three options:
A funnel may be used to fill the urn directly with ashes. If you wish to keep the ashes in the bag, a new bag will first need to be inserted into the urn with the opening of the bag on the outside.
Individual cremation urns will hold around 200- 250 cubic inches of cremated ashes. Companion urns will hold approximately 350 - 500 cubic inches of cremated remains. Child and infant urns range anywhere from 12 - 90 cubic inches of ashes.
Can two people's ashes be mixed together? Yes. Mixing ashes is a common process known as “commingling.” Commingling means that the couple's cremated remains are mixed, or “mingled” together in an urn, most often a companion urn.
Most cremation chambers will not mix the remains of your loved ones—they'll usually leave that up to the family to do. In those cases, crematories will return cremated remains in a temporary urn so you can transfer the remains into an urn of your choice.
You can cut a small hole in a corner of the plastic bag and pour the contents directly into the display urn. You can place another clean plastic bag into the new urn, then pour the remains into that bag.
A common question that we find in the cremation diamond industry is do ashes have an expiration date? The short answer is they don't; at least not in our lifetime. It would take around one million years for ashes to dissolve since they are made solely of inorganic material.
Ashes have no expiry date
You can keep them in the container from the crematorium for as long as you need.
You may be wondering how long you can keep your loved one's cremains in an urn. Generally, you can keep cremains in an urn for an indefinite period, but certain factors can influence this.
However, if family and friends are all agreed then there should be no legal issues, and in most cases that is a moment of solemnity and families and friends are willing and ready to split the remains and that is when people buy small urns to share ashes.
Your loved one's ashes don't have to stay together either. Families can choose to split the ashes of the deceased among the wider family, where the individual families can choose what they want to do with them.
A box of adult human ashes can be surprisingly heavy. If you are still expecting the remains to be like that of a campfire, the weight might be unexpected. Human cremation ashes include crushed bone, which makes them denser than ash from wood and therefore heavier.
Is the coffin cremated with the body? Yes. The Federation Of Burial and Cremation Authorities (FBCA) Guiding Principles state that the container and the body shall be placed in cremator and cremation commenced.
Ashes are heavier than some people expect
But human ashes aren't the same type of ash - they're made of bone. Bones are made of various acids, minerals, and salts, which means they're heavier than many people expect. How heavy the ashes are will depend on the person who's died.
Cremation Urns
However, even in the best conditions heat and moisture will creep in. The only damage this will do is to cause the remains to harden together and "clump" to some extent inside the urn.
How to unseal a metal urn. If the metal urn is sealed with wax or adhesive, try to open it by soaking a cotton swab in fingernail polish remover or an epoxy solvent. Repeatedly run the swab along the sealed portion of the urn. You might have to wiggle the lid several times or use a flathead screwdriver to open the urn.
During the process of cremation, the body's remaining energy is converted into heat energy, which is then distributed into the atmosphere. What little energy remains in the ashes is, again, “rest” or dormant energy.
While we might think that having the loved-one's ashes in a plain box or beautiful urn, displayed in our home, might be honoring, according to Feng Shui, it is not appropriate, because the energy of the deceased, which is held by their ashes, is Yin. It needs to be returned to the earth, or to water (Yin with Yin).
If you are concerned that the ashes will smell after the cremation, the answer is no. There is no odor emitted from ashes that have been properly cremated. Even over time, you shouldn't expect any particular smells to develop. If anything, certain cremation containers will simply emit a slight incense-like smell.
The amount of ashes released after the cremation
The average amount of ash left over after the cremation of an adult is about 3 to 3.5 liters or 183 to 213 cubic inches. For a child this will be 0.8 to 2 liters or 54 to 122 cubic inches and for a (premature) baby 0.3 to 0.7 liters or 18 to 43 cubic inches.
If preferred, the ashes may also be placed directly into the urn if specified beforehand, like the urns available here in this online urn store. However, in most cases, funeral providers will keep the ashes within a plastic bag if possible. Additionally, most will not seal the urn permanently.
METAL CREMATION URNS
Unscrew and remove the lid in order to place the cremated remains inside. Carefully place the bag holding the cremated remains into the urn and replace the lid. Metal cremation urns can be permanently sealed using a silicone epoxy or metal glue when you replace the lid.
Ceramic, Metal, or Glass Urns
If it doesn't come off with slight pressure on the lid, soak a cotton swab in acetone or epoxy solvent and run it along the seal. Repeat as needed. Note, a rubber mallet can also be used to help loosen the lid. Lay a cloth atop the lid and lightly tap the lid to help loosen the sealed urn.
2) Depth: The rule of thumb is to bury the urn at least 3 feet deep. If that's not possible, you should be sure that there is at least 6 to 12 inches of soil covering the buried urn. If in doubt, at least 36 inches (3 feet) deep is a safe bet.