What do you do with a massive heap of coals in the morning?

I bring all the coals to the front and just load splits on top. If I get too many then I'll bring to the front and put a few pieces of my pallet kindling on top with full air open and let them burn down a little. I don't really have this problem if I keep moving the coals to the front because they burn off pretty good with regular splits. Wet wood would keep huge coals (sometimes still in log form). I realize that you say it's seasoned, but wonder what the moisture is on them. A lot of times 2 yr old wood can start getting a little punky and pick up water and keep it. Bet if you line your chimney you'll see a huge increase in performance. These things have to have a good vacuum of air coming in.

I usually don't have a choice. I rake the coals around, fill up the stove, get'er hot and shut it down before I have to run out the door for work.

nojo said:

Wood is dry. Its the same wood Ive been using all along I dont get much hissing from it. Good secondaries. but still getting a bunch of smoke at 11am (2 1/2 hours later) with this stove. wtf? My other stove same wood, no smoke after 15-20 min...

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If the wood is hissing at all it is not ready imo, seasoned wood does not hiss. I'm a first year burner, burning some less then ideal wood that was cut/split in the spring and my wood doesn't hiss.

When was the wood split and what type of wood is it? Have you tried a couple bundles from home depot or similar wood?

Edit: looks like you already answered the wood question, if it was 2 year seasoned it shouldn't be hissing.

Next on the list would be the chimney. I wonder if it could be too big causing a lazy draft. Maybe that explains why opening the door allows the chimney to work better since you're getting more air that fills the chimney better which improves the draft?

I usually make my last load at 9 pm and reduce the air flow once it gets roaring. By morning - I've got about an inch of ash that I stir and leave the door cracked while I let the dog out. When I get back to the stove, the glowing coals and black coals are raked into a pile (separated from the ash) into the center of the firebox. My stoves air intake is in the center on the bottom in front of the door. Usually the coals are already dancing with a small flame. I build a log pyramid around the pile and close the door with the air wide open. In a matter of a minute - it's off and roaring again. I go on to work and my wife takes over then.

When I get home from work - sometimes the firebox is full of a 4 inch deep red hot coal bed which needs to be burned down. I rake them forward and put a split or two in the back and leave it wide open. This does the trick for me. The coals up front burn down, allowing me to fill the fire box at night again for the overnight burn.

Follow-up: I just came inside from a couple of hours of bucking and splitting. I'm about half froze! There were some red coals and chunks of charcoal in the stove. I raked everything to the front, closed the door and fully opened the air. Ten minutes later I did the same thing. Ten to fifteen minutes later I repeated the procedure then came into the computer. Shortly, I will return to the stove where there will be lots of hot pink embers. If there is still some charcoal in the stove I will repeat the procedure once more. If all the charcoal has burned-up, I will proceed as described in my original post.

For me, this sequence seems to get the most heat out of the wood.

Tonight, I will lay me down to sleep a little earlier than usual. Life is extremely good. John_M

I think it depends on the type wood you are burning also. If i choke it down with cherry wood i don't have so many coals.
But if i choke it down with locust...i get lots of nice hot coals and the we just open the air up and let them burn down.

If you want more heat during the night and fewer/smaller/hotter coals in the morning then do as BrotherBart suggests and give it more air during the overnight burn. If you don't want to do that then do as the others suggest-wide open air and rake them forward and/or place a small spit on top.

Battenkiller said:

BrotherBart said:

You need to burn that stove hotter. You should have a warm house and just a few coals in the morning. Leave a little more air open and let that big dog eat and heat. As Mike Holton from ESW told me "It ain't gonna split down the middle.".

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I totally agree. Only time that's ever happened to me, either I loaded it too full and shut the air down too soon, or else wood got locked high up in the firebox and burned out below. Obviously, the second scenario didn't happen to you, not with the way your coals are laying. What happened is you just distilled all the volatiles out of the wood at a low temp and turned the wood to charcoal. Plenty of heat left in them, though. Like most said, put a few small splits of your driest wood on top to get some flame to draw air through the coals. You might need to repeat it a few times.

Or do what I do and smother 'em in a covered can for next summer's BBQ. Used to be the only way to get real lump charcoal instead of those disgusting briquette things.

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Ahh - the old destructive distillation of wood. Good call -- I remember that from HS chemistry class.

Your air intake may be clogged with ?? since installation? Has it worked well and now not or always since install is sluggish with door closed? IF latter then I would call installer and have everything checked.

Your air intake may be clogged with ?? since installation? Has it worked well and now not or always since install is sluggish with door closed? IF latter then I would call installer and have everything checked.

nojo said:

Still getting used to my Englander-30. I reloaded the thing at 1am a stove top temp of around 4-450 set air about almost an inch from all the way in the house was at about 69. Woke up 8:15 the house was 63. Hows that?

Anyway there were still a bunch of coals in the back and bottom so I raked them into a heap along the center front to back.

Now I dont want to crush down the pile with a split crushed down into it or becuase a lot of it will just end up as small pieces and turn to ash. I figure I can heap it in the middle and just treat it like a log and put wood around it or ontop if there is room. THen go about my business for another 7 hours..

What do you do, do you get big coals like this? should I leave them alone and just throw wood in, or is it correct ot rake them all down hte center like this?

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Sorry for the slightly off-topic question: but is there any brand of rake that most people recommend? I've seen things that look like hoes, and others with real rake-like look, which I would guess if good for move the embers without the ash. What do the good people on this forum recommend?

A bent poker pulls the coals forward good enough.

Tools of the trade for me (from left):

- Large bent poker (seldom used).

- Small straight poker. I forged this by heating it in the coals of my old stove and pounding it out on a piece of railroad track (my very first anvil).

- Small bent poker. This is used almost every time I reload, to lift and place splits once I've dropped them in the wrong spot through the top load door. Even though it was made for my old 118 style stove, the bent tip is the perfect size for scooping out ashes from in front of my intakes holes. The tip conveniently fits just inside the holes so I can unplug them even with a loaded stove.

- "Never-break" brand shovel. One came with every Vermont Castings stove. The guy I got my stove from threw it in with the stove. One piece, and... it will never break.

- Main hot coal handler is an old 6-tine garden cultivator that I cut the handle down on and ground the points of the tines off with an angle grinder. It is the perfect tool for moving a coal bed. One pull and the entire bed moves, leaving all the ashes behind to scoop up with the shovel (without mangling all the big coals into a mess of small ones that air won't pass through). Don't know where to find one, and I couldn't live without it. If anyone ever tries to steal it, I'll smash him in the head with the Never-break shovel. With my old stove I would just reach to the back, grab the unburned coals, pull them forward and lay three splits on top. Done.

- When I'm feeling particularly anal about separating out smaller coals, this commercial stainless deep fry skimmer is just the ticket. I only use it when there are almost no coals left and I don't want to start from scratch. There's always a bunch of small coals in there, and this little guy finds them. If I used it all the time, I'd get a bigger one, but this one is on loan from my kitchen (just don't tell Lady BK). $10 at the local restaurant supply place.

nojo, you will probably also be able to rent scaffolding for the day. It goes up pretty quick with two people and would fit in the back of a pickup or small trailer.