24/7

[Berner]

As I get my new stove dialed in I'm feeling more and more comfortable with the 24/7 burn. As more and more days go by that I'm not starting the stove cold the more and more ash and coals build up. I'm raking and raking with my poker to try and eliminate ash but there is still a huge bed of coals to the point where it is reducing my ability to load the stove full of wood. I still load it full but that only takes 3 or 4 splits instead of 5 or 6. Sometimes I have to be careful with the raking as to not get coals on the glass because they are almost at that height.

My question to the experts is should I be opening the air flow more to try and burn off the coals to maximize the amount of wood I can throw in?

 

[kuma.jason]

In my own stove at home, if there are too many coals, AND I have time, I'll let them burn down before I add my next load of wood. Sometimes, when I'd rather go to bed than wait for the stove, I'll just put as much in as I can and call it good. There's really probably not a right way and a wrong way once you're down to coals.

Jason

 

[UncleJoe]

I'll try to explain how I clean out the stove without waiting for it to burn all the way down.

First - imagine you have a large shovel. On the shovel you have a mix of sand and wood chips. Tap the shovel on a hard surface while gently rocking it back and forth. The wood chips will rise to the top as the sand filters down through. With that picture in your mind, apply that technique on a smaller scale. After an overnight burn is when this works best.

The first thing I do in the morning is take the poker and stir the ash and remaining coals until it's all level. This tends to bring the larger hot coals to the top while the finer ash settles down on the firebrick. Next I take my ash shovel which is about 4" square and slide it in under the coals. I'll go about 6" into the firebox and then begin to lift the shovel up through the coals while rocking it back and forth and tapping it on the brick. Any larger coals rise to the top and the finer ash settles onto the shovel. Any coals still on the shovel can be rolled off back into the bed. I do the entire firebox this way. The ash goes into the bucket, the large coals stay in the box. It takes 7-8 times till I get more coal than ash. Even with great care you will always dump some glowing embers in the ash bucket. When I've got as much ash as possible out, I rake the remaining coals level, wait a couple minutes for them to glow brightly, then add the wood. I usually end up with about an inch of ash and coal still in the stove.

Not sure if I explained this well enough to be understood but this process has worked well for me for many years.

 

[eclecticcottage]

We've found that opening the door and the air all the way will burn down the coals pretty quick. We have a screen and no kids though. Your thought is right on, if you can, open the air all the way to burn down the coals if you need to.

 

[Berner]

In my own stove at home, if there are too many coals, AND I have time, I'll let them burn down before I add my next load of wood. Sometimes, when I'd rather go to bed than wait for the stove, I'll just put as much in as I can and call it good. There's really probably not a right way and a wrong way once you're down to coals.

Jason

Before bed is usually when I lose my patience with the coals. Ironically this is when the coals are at their highest. I think I need to restrain myself from reloading so many times during the day and let some of the coals burn down during the day.

 

[pen]

Before bed is usually when I lose my patience with the coals. Ironically this is when the coals are at their highest. I think I need to restrain myself from reloading so many times during the day and let some of the coals burn down during the day.

Any stove can only do so much. I got over that frustration when I got to the point a few years ago that it was OK for the house to be under 68 when I woke up in the morning, and just thew an extra blanket on the beds. Or it's OK to come home to a house under 68 from work. Point is, once I switched my focus away from burning excess coals down to keep the house at 70+ constantly, and focused on looking for times where the house really doesn't need to be 70 and use those times to take the coals down, I found that I save wood, am less frustrated, and have room in the stove to load things up for when it really is important to keep things full tilt.

Also, getting over the idea of needing to heat with wood exclusively also helped a lot. If the stove isn't ready to handle another load, and I need some heat, I kick the heat pump on or even an electric baseboard in that given area. In all, I figure the supplemental heat doesn't cost me more than 15 bucks or so a month and I get to keep my sanity.

Just the way I feel about the situation, not saying it's the right way, just what has given me some peace.

pen

 

[Berner]

I'll try to explain how I clean out the stove without waiting for it to burn all the way down.

First - imagine you have a large shovel. On the shovel you have a mix of sand and wood chips. Tap the shovel on a hard surface while gently rocking it back and forth. The wood chips will rise to the top as the sand filters down through. With that picture in your mind, apply that technique on a smaller scale. After an overnight burn is when this works best.

The first thing I do in the morning is take the poker and stir the ash and remaining coals until it's all level. This tends to bring the larger hot coals to the top while the finer ash settles down on the firebrick. Next I take my ash shovel which is about 4" square and slide it in under the coals. I'll go about 6" into the firebox and then begin to lift the shovel up through the coals while rocking it back and forth and tapping it on the brick. Any larger coals rise to the top and the finer ash settles onto the shovel. Any coals still on the shovel can be rolled off back into the bed. I do the entire firebox this way. The ash goes into the bucket, the large coals stay in the box. It takes 7-8 times till I get more coal than ash. Even with great care you will always dump some glowing embers in the ash bucket. When I've got as much ash as possible out, I rake the remaining coals level, wait a couple minutes for them to glow brightly, then add the wood. I usually end up with about an inch of ash and coal still in the stove.

Not sure if I explained this well enough to be understood but this process has worked well for me for many years.

That does make sense and thanks for the tip. I feel lucky to have an ash pan so I usually just try and rake it all back and forth however my fireplace tool set doesn't have a rake. I used to use my shovel to rake them back and forth but whenever I take it out of the fire I smell this awful scent. The tool is smoking and it smells like burnt paint. I have since switched to using the poker which has less of a burnt paint smell but its still present. I think I might have skimped on the tool set.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...me+F-11140+5-Piece+Black+Wrought+Iron+Toolset

 

[Berner]

Any stove can only do so much. I got over that frustration when I got to the point a few years ago that it was OK for the house to be under 68 when I woke up in the morning, and just thew an extra blanket on the beds. Or it's OK to come home to a house under 68 from work. Point is, once I switched my focus away from burning excess coals down to keep the house at 70+ constantly, and focused on looking for times where the house really doesn't need to be 70 and use those times to take the coals down, I found that I save wood, am less frustrated, and have room in the stove to load things up for when it really is important to keep things full tilt.

Also, getting over the idea of needing to heat with wood exclusively also helped a lot. If the stove isn't ready to handle another load, and I need some heat, I kick the heat pump on or even an electric baseboard in that given area. In all, I figure the supplemental heat doesn't cost me more than 15 bucks or so a month and I get to keep my sanity.

Just the way I feel about the situation, not saying it's the right way, just what has given me some peace.

pen

Sounds like a lesson I need to learn. I'm new to the wood burning community and in general I always feel like I need to seem flame, heat and a thermometer of 80. I'm sure down the road things will change.

 

[BrotherBart]

Uncle Joe does it exactly like I do it. And to add, timing that coal bed for the night load is the art of woodburning. You have to think about it around the time the sun goes down and work from there.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Uncle Joe owned it with his post. Save the important parts and ditch the ash if you can. I've been known to empty even some warm/hot coals from mine to make space but that's usually in the morning. I have a stack of bricks outside that I put my coal bucket on for safety's sake. At night when I'm home, it's more about timing. If it's about 2 hours to bedtime I do a lot of stirring and chopping and pulling forward to kill the coals down so I can do a full load. Keep in mind, I have electric baseboard but I do whatever I can to never turn it on, EVER. I don't mind losing a few shovels of hot coals for a full load of house heating love....

 

[UncleJoe]

my fireplace tool set doesn't have a rake.

I don't use a "rake" either. My poker has a 1.5" right angle on it. That's my rake.

timing that coal bed for the night load is the art of woodburning. You have to think about it around the time the sun goes down and work from there.

Yep. I usually don't put any new wood in after 6:00. About 9:30-10:00 I rake it down and load it up then head for the shower. When I'm ready to head to bed around 10:30- 11:00, it's charred well enough to bank it down for the night. Up at 6 and start the whole thing over.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

I love the ash rake that came with my tool set! I don't think I could live without it lol

 

[pen]

I love the ash rake that came with my tool set! I don't think I could live without it lol

I had a poker that broke a few years ago. Turned it into a rake with just a piece of 1/8 inch metal on the end measuring 6 inches wide by 4 inches tall and rounded the corners to protect the baffle in the event I get wild with doing the Anheuser induced operational technique. The hole for the handle was placed about 3/4 inch from the top. I replaced the poker, but that sucker has only gotten about 5% of the playing time the rake gets.

Burned in stoves my whole life with nothing but a poker and shovel, but now, a rake is the go-to tool.

pen

 

[BrotherBart]

Take that cheapo fireplace tool set sitting doing nothing and take the end off of the poker. Screw it into the thing that holds all the tools together and, bingo, ash rake.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

That's awesome Bart!

 

[BrotherBart]

It does two things, gives you an ash rake and takes that poker away from you that you keep smacking the baffle with. Wanna move splits, long handled tongs are cheap at Lowes in season.