Bed of Ash: Leave or Clean out?

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NordicSplitter

NordicSplitter

Minister of Fire
May 22, 2011
541
Western,NY
When getting home from work I am faced with a decision: Clean out the ashes from the night before(I don't burn during the day) or just leave them. I empty the ash pan regularly, but I'm referring to the ashes in the stove from the previous day's burn. Is there any benefit in leaving them or should I just clean them out as well? Thoughts please.....
 
Leave them. I've had about 10 fires so far this year and I'm just now getting a nice bed of ash. Ash will aid in keeping your coals longer (will insulate the coals). When you need to clean the ash from the stove (too much ash) be sure to leave a nice bed of ash. Cheers!
 
I like to have some ashes to build my fires on. Lots of folks keep 1 to 2 inch deep for their fires.

Good luck,
Bill
 
I leave it until it is trying to crawl out of the firebox on its own.
 
Yep..leave a inch or three.
 
ditto everyone else, a good bed of ash insulates and seems to make the next fire light that much easier.
 
BeGreen said:
I leave it until it is trying to crawl out of the firebox on its own.
Click to expand...

LOL...my thoughts exactly...we empty ours out around once every week and a half......these EPA stoves seem to burn that wood down to absolute powder!!
 
I leave it. Empty the stove when I can't put much wood in it. I haven't emptied it yet, been burning since mid-September.
 
I count on my ash to get things done. It hustles when I need it to @ 8 PM on a cold day.

Ash is good
devil-smiley-029.gif
 
Same here, "keep your ash where you can see them". Haha. My tray gets emptied about every 5-7 days.
 
I agree. Leave it. We have yet to clean out ashes this year. Like BeGreen, when they start falling out the door, we'll take some out....but not all of them.
 
Definitely leave them . . . helps insulate the base of the stove and preserves the coals.
 
Yup...leave them, although, I notice the deeper my ash pile gets inside the firebox, the longer it takes for the blower to automatically come on in my Northstar.
 
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