Keeping your ash ..........

Soupy, just think about how hot coals can remain in the ashes for days and you'll come up with a good answer.

Even without hot coals in there it always seems to me that the fire gets established quicker if there is a bed of ashes.

Recall in the video (it's been posted here many times) from Canada that they used newspaper and small stuff, lit it and then basically let the fire go out before adding more wood. Even though that, to me, is contrary, what they were trying to do was establish a bed to build the next fire on.

On to just a short time ago: it is cool in the house, raining and 41 degrees outside so I thought maybe I'd start a fire. No coals to work with but plenty of ashes. Fire took off amazingly quick and already I feel the warmth and I won't have to add a thing to the fire for quite some time. I've done this with no ashes in the stove and it will work but it always seems to take longer to heat the stove up. And my method is to lay 2 splits on the ashes, then a Super Cedar. Then I light the super cedar and add a bit of kindling (yes, I could do without the kindling but I still use it). On top of the kindling goes one or two small splits. That will last for hours.

The insulating properties of the ash is the reason to leave a thin layer in the bottom of the stove. The wood burns more completely when laying in a bed of ashes rather than on bare brick or a grate because the ash holds the heat around the wood, causing higher temperatures and more complete combustion of the wood.

Wood Heat Stoves said:

The insulating properties of the ash is the reason to leave a thin layer in the bottom of the stove. The wood burns more completely when laying in a bed of ashes rather than on bare brick or a grate because the ash holds the heat around the wood, causing higher temperatures and more complete combustion of the wood.

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BINGO.......................The man has hit it right on.

I've also seen the reasoning that it slows down airflow under the fire.

Way back in high school chemistry I saw a teacher take a sugar cube and place it in a flame for a short time and it did not burn. Then, he took a different sugar cube and smeared a small amount of ash on it and stuck it in the flame and it ignited quickly. The teacher explained that the ash acted as a catalyst to get the chemical reaction of combustion happening at a faster rate.

Could it be that the ash left in the firebox acts as a catalyst for the wood? The chemical formula for wood and sugar are the same thing aren't they?

And not to change the subject but here it is, the middle of May when temps are suppose to be near 70° and yesterday's high was 45° and rain. I have burned all I had set aside for the season and I am burning next season's wood. I am going to be a busy boy cutting wood this summer.

You are correct it was cellulose that I was thinking about which is a sugar kind of like sucrose or table sugar.

Yes cellulose is a starch made up of long chains of sugars. A polysaccharide. It tough stuff and it's what enables plants to stand without a skeleton. It's what can only be digested by termites and certain bacteria.

pen said:

~*~Kathleen~*~ said:

Yes cellulose is a starch made up of long chains of sugars. A polysaccharide. It tough stuff and it's what enables plants to stand without a skeleton. It's what can only be digested by termites and certain bacteria.

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My wood stove does a good job of breaking it down into simpler substances as well

pen

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Being a Botany major, I was about to jump in here, but Pen finished it off.....it all ends ASH :snake:

I can't even spell polysaccharide. I just burn wood to keep warm. When I clean the ashes out of my stove during the season I always leave a bed of ½" or so in the stove, because that's what's recommended in the manuals from both of my stove's manufacturers, and I've seen the same advice posted countless times on these forums. Works for me...polysaccharides or not. Rick

All right, it looks like it has been established that wood is mostly cellulose which is a polysaccahride, a starch, which is a sugar . My point and I think the answer to soupy's question about what ash does for the burn is that it acts like a catalyst. A catalyst, I believe, is something that helps to get something started and keep it going. So, wood will get started faster and keep burning with some ash kept in the firebox. Now, I think I'll go back in the cave. ;-)

The only thing I took away from this whole thread is.....Wood is sugar and sugar is addicting hence my addiction to wood....Sweet now I can tell my wife what is wrong with me! LOL :lol:

Marshmallows for kindling? ;-)

My science tells me it is a natural instinct to try to save your own ash.

10-4 :lol: