Does this sound like a bad idea?

[corey21]

I want to bank my coals with ash when i don't really want to reload. My concern is would this cause a CO2 or whatever you call it problem? My draft is great but i just thought i would ask before i started doing it.

 

[lopiliberty]

its probably no different than waking up to ash in the firebox, stir it around and under the ash is a ton of coals. That's what I woke up to this morning. I thought my fire was out. Stirred the ashes and found a sh** load of hot coals and no CO2 problem here if that make any sense

 

[Waulie]

No problem at all. I just shoveled some ash out of my stove and I'm sure I uncovered some coals down in there that have be in there since it got cold on Sunday. I can't imagine what harm it could cause to cover them up. Although, I'm not positive you'll be thrilled with the results either.

 

[corey21]

its probably no different than waking up to ash in the firebox, stir it around and under the ash is a ton of coals. That's what I woke up to this morning. I thought my fire was out. Stirred the ashes and found a sh** load of hot coals and no CO2 problem here if that make any sense

Yep that does make sense. Thank you all for the help.

 

[ridemgis]

One of the mods (forget who) has a post somewhere on the forum advising against this. For him it did cause a dangerous carbon monoxide (CO) issue. I guess there is a difference between letting a good fire burn itself nearly out vs burying red coals in ash to hold them for a later startup. If I can find the post, I'll link it here.

Found it -

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/i-used-to-recommend-banking-coals-now-i-dont.80583/#post-1029252

 

[rideau]

I find it extremely unlikely that banking the coals presents any greater risk than simply letting a fire burn down. If I ever reload before my fire has burned down to a small coal bed, then I get a large coal bed, with plenty of coals buried under ash. To burn the coals down quickly, if it is cold out and I want to keep the stove putting out lots of heat, I have to open the air pretty fully, rake the coals a bit to expose the covered coals, close door, wait a while and repeat. This process can take several hours. If it isn't really cold out, or if I am away from the home, then I in essence have banked coals that take absolutely forever to burn down.

That said, I wouldn't take the time or energy to bank my coals. My stove will maintain coals for hours unless it is really cold out (see above), so if I am going to reload within three or four hours I can just leave the stove alone. If I had any concern about there being enough coals to start in three or four hours, but had the house warm enough so I didn't want a big fire, I'd just toss a small split on the fire to maintain a small fire. If I was going to let the fire go out for half a day or a day, then I'd want the coals to burn down to ash, because I'd have better reloads. I wouldn't worry about the coals: if I had enough to start the load, great. If not, the stove starts really well with any of many firestarting methods: white birch bark, newspaper, tinder and kindling, supercedar, home made fires starter. Doesn't take any longer than banking the coals would.

Caveat: Soapstone stove. May retain enough more heat to maintain a good draft longer than most, making a "cold" start 12 to 24 hours after the last start easier than for those without soapstone.

 

[corey21]

One of the mods (forget who) has a post somewhere on the forum advising against this. For him it did cause a dangerous carbon monoxide (CO) issue. I guess there is a difference between letting a good fire burn itself nearly out vs burying red coals in ash to hold them for a later startup. If I can find the post, I'll link it here.

Found it -

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/i-used-to-recommend-banking-coals-now-i-dont.80583/#post-1029252

Yeah now i remember that thread i think i will stay away from banking coals.