Coal Bed Depth

My coal bed is usually 1 or 2 inches and the rest is ashes. I find this stove is ALOT more controllable with the ashes up to the bottom of the door ledge but it cust way down on the wood I can get in. I usually take the ashes out every Thursday. Because of this cold, I can't let the fire go out to remove the ashes, so this morning I removed 3 shovels full of hot glowing ash and as careful as I was the fly ash went everywhere. I knew what was going to happen before I started but needed more room for wood. Spent ALL day cleaning this house top to bottom. When ashes are cold I have no fly ash at all. Next time I don't care if its 50 below the stove is going cold before I remove the ashes. And yes before anyone says anything the ashes where placed in a metal bucket at the edge of the patio in the snow 8 feet from the house

Yep, a good bed coals are were it's at for us. Reloads are no issue, the stove hangs in there at 250-350 just on a bed of coals 1 to 3 inches. Even at single digit temps we can't run to hot for to long without cookng the house.

I usually keep my ash bed around 3-4" deep. Any less and the coals go out after 3-4 hours of no fire. A good coal bed and I can have nice hot coals for 12 hours after the fire goes out no problem. In keeping this ash depth I normally empty my bed out once or twice a week depending on the wood and burn conditions.