Crystals forming in wood stove ash
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Bioburner
Moderator
What are you burning? Some conifers carry large amounts of copper sulphate-blue. Sometime bark can carry large amounts of silica. The brown could be from iron-ferric oxide
Set up your signature please with stove details. Welcome
Set up your signature please with stove details. Welcome
Dix
Minister of Fire
That's an example of ash fusion. Every blend of wood has an ash fusion temperature and contaminants can lower it. One a wood stove its not normally an issue but can sure raise heck with superheater and generating banks on industrial boilers.
realstihl
Minister of Fire
DanCorcoran
Minister of Fire
Those are diamond seeds...leave them in there and they'll grow into real diamonds! (Keep this to yourself, though, for security purposes).
Recently I have only been burning red oak with a bit of punk on the outside. Occasionally I use some pine to start the fire. I don't hesitate to burn bark but never in large quantities. Jotul f45 and typically run with top plate temperature between 400-500F. I took a bit of the crystals and put them back in as seeds. The ash has certainly been fusing as I haven't had to scoop it out in a couple weeks since I changed my wood source. I hope someone tells me my wood source is going to burn and make me diamonds!
pma1123
Burning Hunk
I've occasionally noticed crystallized ash chunks this year also while using the coal rake and having to bust the chunks loose. None looked quite as vibrant in color as the ones posted, but I have noticed some blue-ish looking hues. This years wood has been Elm, ash, boxelder, cherry, and silver maple. I wasn't sure which species to blame it on.
Charles1981
Minister of Fire
Do a search on "clinker" in this forum. There are lots of threads on this topic.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/biggest-clinker.79475/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/biggest-clinker.79475/
After reading the above and the posts in Begreen's link I noticed a couple of things I believe are related to the clinkers I find in my stove. They are directly in front of where the combustion air enters, and I did not notice them until I started burning barkless Red elm. I have never seen it with Green ash, Honey locust or Mulberry. There is a small 2" by 2" by 1/2" thick spot that feels as though it is fused to the firebrick. I'll deal with it when the burning season ends.
spirilis
Minister of Fire
I burn wood briquettes (liberty bricks, ala biobricks) and get huge "clinkers" all the time in my stove, but none as colorful as that! Very cool.
S Roche. Now that you mention it I may have burnt some mulberry that my buddy gave me. That was prior to the red oak but maybe there was still ash in there from the mulberry and now that I'm burning the oak it may have got much hotter and fused.
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