Ash and coals

[Charlie0742001]

How do i separate the ash from coals with my Vista Classic? What should I be leaving in the firebox? Seems like when I look in the box when the fire is out and nothing is smoldering, all thats left is ashes. Thanks in advance.

 

[wg_bent]

not sure what problem there is here. Sounds perfect. When burning, you'll get some coals when emptying it. Just have to live with it...it does seem a waste sometimes to me too.

 

[Willhound]

It may look like just ashes, but underneath you may find some hot coals still. I still have hot stuff after two days of letting my Summit sit, so whatever you scrape out of the firebox, it goes outside, into a metal container, and away from any combustibles. I usually let mine sit for 3 or 4 days before dumping it in my garden.

 

[jtcedinburgh]

I still have hot stuff after two days of letting my Summit sit

How can this be so? My coals are reduced to (cold) ash within a few hours. I've read this time and again on this board about long heat retention but can't believe it possible given my own situation. Which is to say burning with hardwood splits in a multi-fuel stove. Hot and fiery at 11pm, nothing left but white ash by 6am...

 

[jtcedinburgh]

I still don't get it though - how come I don't have any left even after a few hours? I know my stove is not the largest by any means, but it's not tiny (takes up to 16" logs I believe, though its weakness is 'headroom'). My draft is good without being ridiculous. My wood is reasonably well seasoned. Yet I cannot get anywhere close to an overnight burn unless I use smokeless coal, and even then it's a bit of a guddle...

 

[jtcedinburgh]

Oh, I couldn't say - a mixture. Some is definitely oak (including some kiln dried oak lumber that I was given)

 

[Willhound]

I still have hot stuff after two days of letting my Summit sit

How can this be so? My coals are reduced to (cold) ash within a few hours. I've read this time and again on this board about long heat retention but can't believe it possible given my own situation. Which is to say burning with hardwood splits in a multi-fuel stove. Hot and fiery at 11pm, nothing left but white ash by 6am...

Hi JTC
From your description, I wonder, do you close off your air inlet overnight to get the longest possible burn? If I let my Summit go hot and fiery from 11 P.M. until 6 A.M., I'm not going to have a lot left in the firebox in the morning either, although I doubt it would be all cold ash.
I'm sort of a fill it and forget it kind of guy with my insert. I don't fiddle with the settings a whole lot, and usually don't even bother raking the coals around much when filling it. When I feel that the ash/coal level is getting to the point that I really need to clean it out, I just stop putting wood into it. If I think of it, I'll open up my damper and rake the coals from time to time to get them to burn up, but quite often I don't. What happens because of this is that the ash in the front of my Summit will be fairly well burnt and reduced to fine white ash, and is usually cool to the touch at the end of the second day, but further to the back, the ash gets more course, and at the very back under a coating of 3 or 4 inches of ash I'll still find hot coals at the end of the second day. This is likely because of the way the Summit draws combustion air in from the front of the unit. When I say two days, I don't mean that I literally let it sit for 48 hours either. I'll get up one morning an decide " I've really got to empty this thing", at which point I quit putting wood in. I will let it sit all that day, and most of the next and clean it out the second afternoon, so likely more like about 30 hours or so. I should probabely clean it out more often and not let the ash build so much, but I burn 24/7 and I absolutely hate the gas furnace kicking in. As a result, I only clean it out about every 7 to 10 days. As an example, it really needs it right now, but I'm trying ot hold off because it was -24C or about -12 F here last night and still -18C here this morning, so I really don't want to let the Summit go out.
I haven't used a match on my insert since I lit it in September. Whenever I clean it I just rake some of the hot coals into a corner while I clean the rest out, and once done, rake them back into the middle, throw in some paper and fine dry kindling, and within a few minutes I'm burning again.

 

[DavidV]

I loaded the stove around 8 pm last night. it was chuck full of wood over a thick bed of coals. I damped it WAY down because it got up to 650 degrees front temp. it was a cold night and I opted to go to bed early instead of loading the stove. this morning the gas furnace was keeping the house at 67. I got up at 7 stove was out....blower was off. there were coals in there along with ash. . I have a small 4x4 grate in the front right side of the stove that I can sift the coals over and they ash drops into a removable pan. I use the shovel to scoop ash from different areas of the firebox and then sift them back and forth over that hole. the ash goes down and the coals stay there. Also I tend to leave an incho or so of ash in the firebox as this was the manufacturer's reccomendation. This might also assist with longevity of the coals. once we get to burning in the winter time I seldom have to relight the stove. This morning I just filled the firebox, cracked the door and in a few minutes it was burning.

as a side note....ashes can stay live for a very long time....more than a week. sometimes two. this is important in the way you dispose of your ashes.

David

 

[Rich M]

If I open the air up to anything past half way I won't have many coals in the morning. I do this when I know I want to clean out the ash next day. The further it's damped the more coals I'll have. Loading the wood with the ends towards the door (i.e. air intake) also produces less coals after an extended burn. Smaller splits as opposed to large knotty pieces won't leave as many coals. Stuffing the fire box full when it's too hot or the coal bed is too thick won't give you as long of a burn either. Leaving a layer of ash after cleaning will help insulate the coal bed extending the life of the coals. Experimenting is the key. Use a coal rake to manage the coal bed, otherwise it will appear to be all ash.

 

[jtcedinburgh]

OK, I'll try some of those suggestions. I've found almost nothing left even when I've dampened right down - but as I can't close my tertiary burn completely, I wonder if that's providing just enough air to ensure that my coals burn fully.

Tonight is a stove night (i.e. it's less than 10C outside) so I'll give it a whirl...

 

[wingnut]

Newtofire
Back to your original question of how to separate the hot coals from the ash I made up this using an old garden rake a a piece of re rod welded to it. Its not pretty but it works good for pushing the hot coals over from one side of the stove to the other, works good when I want to take out ashes when the fire is not out yet. I have been burning 24/7 for about 10 days now that it colder (25 in the day 15 at night. When I damper my stove down for the night I always end up with chunk's of some black wood that when I rake them up it glows nice and hot for a restart. Hope this helps!

 

[wingnut]

Oops sorry you had to twist your head to see the Pic.

 

[Rhone]

I use a simple garden metal hand rake tool for $3.99 at K-Mart and push all the black coals & hot embers to the back. I then scoop out the front which is pretty much only powder ash, and afterward push everything towards the front. Those black coal pieces are unburned fuel, you don't want be throwing them out plus is it just me or do they like, never seem to decay. Putting them near your glass, on the next fire they relight, burn completely, and I get new ones in the back and I repeat the process. As for hot coals, I used to keep a lot of ash in there before deciding time to empty and the coals do last a long time that way. Once I started cleaning out some ash with each (re)load depending on how things go I usually have absolutely nothing after 7 hours on a hot burn or 9 hours on a slow.

 

[PAJerry]

I think a lot has to do with the type of wood you burn. In the fall, when we were burning pine, there were no coals left, only fine ash. Now that we are into mostly ash and apple, there are coals left and they are plenty hot under the ashes. I use an ash rake to move them to the side of the firebox while I clean out the ashes, then rake them into the center, clean the ashes out from the sides, and am able to rekindle the fire with just the coals. It took a while to get the technique down, and it's probably easier in a larger stove, but it works like a charm now.

 

[wingnut]

Everybody has there own technique that works best for them. Its good to share the info so you can try other ideas. Rom I have been taking out ashes everyday like you it does seem to work well. I come home everyday for lunch so by 12:30 my wood has burned down pretty good from the 6:15 am reload that seems to be the best time for me to remove some ash and reload. Now that it colder I have been reloading with 3 splits at a time instead of 2

 

[Roospike]

I still don't get it though - how come I don't have any left even after a few hours? I know my stove is not the largest by any means, but it's not tiny (takes up to 16" logs I believe, though its weakness is 'headroom'). My draft is good without being ridiculous. My wood is reasonably well seasoned. Yet I cannot get anywhere close to an overnight burn unless I use smokeless coal, and even then it's a bit of a guddle...

When you make (a 'space') ----------> ( ' ' ) with a them close together it make a wink.
Run a space my brother , run a space .

 

[GVA]

QUESTION: How does one go about removing the 'smiley'??

Just think about running out of seasoned wood that should make that smiley go away :ahhh:

No, kidding just go back into your post and delete the colons and what's in between them