Ash on top of baffle blanket

[Nick Mystic]

We had war sunny weather here yesterday, so I let my stove burn out so I could do a mid-season chimney sweep. I have a Jotul F 600 stove with a 16' ss flex liner running inside a clay tiled masonry chimney that is located in the center of the house. When I removed the lid on the stove to gain access to the top of the baffle and flue collar I was surprised to see about a quarter inch of light gray ash covering the entire insulating blanket that rests on top of the baffle. I got the stove last February and burned through the cold spring before doing my first chimney cleaning in late summer to get ready for the burning season. With that first sweep there was a small amount of ash above the baffle, but only around the edges. Does anyone know what could cause that much ash to end up on the top of the baffle. I have the stove set up with a rear exit on my flue collar into the T-connector and then up the chimney.

 

[mellow]

I had a light covering of fly ash on the baffle of my 450 after burning for 1 week, nothing to worry about and it is normal. More than likely it was from burning the stove harder during the polar vortex.

 

[BobUrban]

I get a small pile of ash/creo on top of my baffles that has fallen from the cap I suspect. I just vacuum it out at the end of the season or during a mid season clean out if needed. Gravity is the culprit here.

 

[madison]

I sometimes believe that "poking and rearranging" coals, wood and ash stirs up a fine cloud of ash that ends up on top of the baffle, certain species of wood as well seem to produce finer/lighter ash.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I was thinking the same thing. I don't think it came down from my liner because every thing in the flue liner was dark brown or black and this ash was the same light gray color of the ash in the stove. I figured the most likely way it would get from the stove to the top of the baffle was from floating up when something disturbed the ashes in the stove. I use the ash pan to empty my ashes, so every few days I'm in the stove with my poker or shovel raking the coals and ashes over the grate to fill up the pan before I dump it. I'm thinking that is the most likely time the ashes float up and settle on the blanket up above. I'm going to try to go a bit easier from now on when I'm emptying ashes.

 

[madison]

I try to time the removal of ash to when the stove is at the very end of a burn cycle, enough heat to limit the ash flow out into the room. And try to do it as "quietly" possible to limit the agitation. Though I use the "kol keeper" shovel which tends to create it's own mess and not the stoves ash chute.

 

[firefighterjake]

Fly ash . . . I get a layer of this that I gingerly vacuum up before firing up in the Fall.