Why Do I have So Much Ash?

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project240

Member
Nov 30, 2010
150
Alberta
This is my first season burning wood, so I'm still learning as I go. I did a lot of reading through this forum before installing my osburn 1600 insert into my existing masonry chimney. The insert is connected to a full liner, w/o insulation or block off plate though.

I went through a few weeks burning unseasoned wood, all the while searching for some decently seasoned wood I could use. I ended up buying about 1.5 cords of elm from a guy who was moving... he said it has been split since beginning of last summer (18 months). I split and checked several pieces with moisture meter and found most of the wood reading between 17-20%. I'm very happy with the heat output, I get stove top temps of 650-700 burning N/S, but have been extremely unhappy with the amount of ash left behind.

I'm not sure if the wood isn't seasoned well enough, or if this is normal with elm wood or if it is something else I am doing. After an overnight burn, I wake up to find some red coals, (usually around 200 stove top) but they are completely buried under piles of ash. I literally empty a large pail of ash every single day (the red one in the picture) burning 24/7.

Help...!!??
 

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Let me know if any additional information is needed as well. Tried to provide everything that I thought may be pertinent...

Thanks
 
Yup - that's just how elm burns. Lots of ash - lots of coals. Different woods leave varying amounts of ash & coals behind. Elm leaves a lot as compared to oak.
 
That red bucket full every day? Something seems amiss. I have burned elm on occasion and don't recall anything near those kinds of out of control ash levels.
joe
 
A little leftover ash is good for the next fire......I try to leave at east an inch worth after cleaning out every three days or so.
 
ChillyGator said:
A little leftover ash is good for the next fire......I try to leave at east an inch worth after cleaning out every three days or so.
Click to expand...

The stove doesn't get emptied out completely... I fill a bucket while still leaving 2-3 inches of ash covering the bottom.
 
I'm wondering if my red maple isn't doing the same thing. I sure feel like I've got a lot of ash.
Of course, depends how much you burn also.
 
I had the same problem early this season when I was burning ash. Nothing you can do about it - just try your best to leave the coals in the stove. In my Jotul 550 I found it burns a lot better if I clean out all the ash (leaving all the coals) - opposite what most will tell you when they say to leave an inch or two of ash. Good luck with it.
 
We've never considered elm to give excess ash but it does depend upon how it is cut and split. We rarely cut a green ash. We wait until they are dead and the bark has fallen off. Then it burns very well.

On the red, or soft maple, you definitely should not get excess ash from that. Perhaps it is just the time of year it is and we are all burning more wood right now.
 
I find if I keep the stove loaded on cold days like these past few in the NE, I don't get ash burning down to fines, but large red coals that don't have the same heat output as a roaring fire.

I, too, am at a loss on what to do. I hate to remove these red coals as there is still some btus to be gained from them, but they significantly fill up my firebox and I notice I can't get the house as warm as when the firebox does not have all these coals. But, it might just be a coincidence with the cold weather that it's not heating as much. I think I'm going to pick up a stove thermometer today. Hopefully that will lend some light into it.
 
Oh, and more importantly!!!

DON'T KEEP YOUR ASHPOT IN THE HOUSE!!!

We started doing this until our CO detector started going off when I stirred them up once. I had been stirring them up to get more heat out of the coals, but once the CO started rising. Luckily, I have access to a four gas meter that reads CO. After clearing the house by opening the doors and windows and then getting a zero reading everywhere, I checked the ashpot which I had put outside. I stirred it again. With it outside, I still got an immediate reading of 150 ppm of CO.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
On the red, or soft maple, you definitely should not get excess ash from that. Perhaps it is just the time of year it is and we are all burning more wood right now.
Click to expand...

Ya, I think it might be a combination of lots of burning and a good deal of small coals mixed in with the ash that aren't getting burned down.
 
Tansao said:
Oh, and more importantly!!!

DON'T KEEP YOUR ASHPOT IN THE HOUSE!!!

We started doing this until our CO detector started going off when I stirred them up once. I had been stirring them up to get more heat out of the coals, but once the CO started rising. Luckily, I have access to a four gas meter that reads CO. After clearing the house by opening the doors and windows and then getting a zero reading everywhere, I checked the ashpot which I had put outside. I stirred it again. With it outside, I still got an immediate reading of 150 ppm of CO.
Click to expand...

What are you saying? You were trying to get BTU's out of your ash can with it sitting outside of you stove, inside you home????????? :grrr:
 
Tansao said:
DON'T KEEP YOUR ASHPOT IN THE HOUSE!!!
Click to expand...

We have 2 co2 detectors within 8 feet of the stove and 2 more another 15 ft away. I've never had them register anything but 0.
 
Tansao said:
Oh, and more importantly!!!

DON'T KEEP YOUR ASHPOT IN THE HOUSE!!!

We started doing this until our CO detector started going off when I stirred them up once. I had been stirring them up to get more heat out of the coals, but once the CO started rising. Luckily, I have access to a four gas meter that reads CO. After clearing the house by opening the doors and windows and then getting a zero reading everywhere, I checked the ashpot which I had put outside. I stirred it again. With it outside, I still got an immediate reading of 150 ppm of CO.
Click to expand...
Great point Tansao. That's why firefighters wear their SCBAs during overhaul. Of course a house fire gives off a cocktail of gasses including Co and cyanide which would encourage me to wear my SCBA. Be safe.
Ed
 
.....maybe....

Of course, I absolutely know better. Hindsight is 20/20, and I call myself simple for doing so. But I had a harder time throwing out the heat than using common sense. =(
 
project240 said:
Tansao said:
DON'T KEEP YOUR ASHPOT IN THE HOUSE!!!
Click to expand...

We have 2 co2 detectors within 8 feet of the stove and 2 more another 15 ft away. I've never had them register anything but 0.
Click to expand...
They are Co detectors for carbon monoxide. Make sure that you replace them as needed, they have a limited lifespan. Be safe.
Ed
 
Seems like allot of ash for one day. Are there lots of chunks when you empty it?
I rake the coals, it bring the charcoal chunks to the top & let them burn an hour or so,
move them to one side, shovel out the fine powder ashes, leave the coals to
start the wood new I throw in. But about every 10 days +/- to fill a bucket.
Birch & spruce.
(Spruce makes more ash than the birch. but not a bucketful in 24 hours)

Are you sure it's ash? (sounds like our "cotton wood" lots of ash, not much heat.)
 

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ashpot in house=OK
Coalpot in house=NOT OK.

don't throw the heat away. rake the coals around in your stove and only shovel out the ashes.
 
bogydave said:
Are you sure it's ash? (sounds like our "cotton wood" lots of ash, not much heat.)
Click to expand...

It's actually elm... and I do rake coals to front @ reloads and try to shovel out only the fine ash.
 
project240 said:
bogydave said:
Are you sure it's ash? (sounds like our "cotton wood" lots of ash, not much heat.)
Click to expand...

It's actually elm... and I do rake coals to front @ reloads and try to shovel out only the fine ash.
Click to expand...

OOps, I had ash on my brain,
Are you sure it's elm?
I don't know anything about how elm burns? sorry. (sounds like our "cotton wood" lots of ash, not much heat.)
 
A veteran on here had this to share: He puts a few sticks of easily burnable wood, like pine, and cranks the sucker up, which he said burns a lot of the ash and coals up. I've been doing that lately, but using my hardwood. After I get the fire really roaring each day, I put a few smaller splits on there, and open the air up wide and let 'er rip. I let the temp get right up to the extreme range, and then back off just a bit.

That has been doing the trick!
 
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