excessive charcol build up

[vasten]

Hello,
Has anyone else come across this? I have a regency FS1100 wood stove and recently I am noticing that my coals are not burning out. I am getting an excessive amount of charcoaling of the wood and the coals are building up in there to the point I am having trouble with reloading the stove. When I come down in the morning there is a large amount of coals in the stove about half full that are half black and half orange. I am also noticing that if I dont (seemingly) constantly feed fresh wood into the stove it doesn't produce much heat. Prior to it being so cold out I would group the coals together and open the door about a half inch and burn them down that way now I can't because it is too cold outside to allow the stove to cycle for that long. I have even attempted to mix pallet wood in to help keep the firebox temp up thinking maybe it was semi seasoned wood and the dry pallet wood would offset it some, but no avail.

I am also noticing that I have to keep the stove flue temp at about 500 or greater the further past the grey and into the over combustion range the better, for the stove to really put out decent heat. What I am saying here is that if I hold it right in the middle you can stand comfortably next to the stove without really feeling the need to move. Basically it doesn't seem to be putting out the same level of heat that it did earlier in the season or last year even.

This is my second year with the stove and first time with a stove put temp gauge.

 

[My_3_Girls]

Search using 'coaling' as the search term and you should see a bunch of topics. I just found one this week that was new. Basically, pull the hot coals to the air intake and put a split or some softwood on it and it will burn the coals down to dust.

 

[My_3_Girls]

Actually, that post I found this week is still floating around on this first page titled "too many coals ???"

 

[bokehman]

When I come down in the morning there is a large amount of coals in the stove about half full that are half black and half orange. I am also noticing that if I dont (seemingly) constantly feed fresh wood into the stove it doesn't produce much heat.

Sounds like unseasoned wood to me.

 

[bayshorecs]

If I burn unseasoned wood, I get a lot more charcoal than really dry wood.

What is the moisture level of the wood you are burning?

 

[relax]

im burning ash thats anywhere from 2 -- to 6 % and im having the same problem..

 

[vasten]

I dont have a moisture meter, I bought logs this spring, supposedly cut prior to spring, split them ASAP and left the stacked in the sun for the past 7 mos. So it could be underseasoned wood.

 

[ansehnlich1]

im burning ash thats anywhere from 2 -- to 6 % and im having the same problem..

I'm suspicious about your moisture readings. Did you split a piece of your ash and take an internal reading with a working moisture meter?

I'm sayin' to get down to a 6 percent moisture content you'd have to kiln dry the stuff, and even then it'd likley be difficult.

 

[relax]

thats checking the end, some will actually read zero, i check it in a 2x4 and a 2-3' round and they pretty much read the same..my wood has been dead for many years...

 

[ControlFreak]

Hello,
I am getting an excessive amount of charcoaling of the wood and the coals are building up in there to the point I am having trouble with reloading the stove. When I come down in the morning there is a large amount of coals in the stove about half full that are half black and half orange. I am also noticing that if I dont (seemingly) constantly feed fresh wood into the stove it doesn't produce much heat. Prior to it being so cold out I would group the coals together and open the door about a half inch and burn them down that way now I can't because it is too cold outside to allow the stove to cycle for that long. I have even attempted to mix pallet wood in to help keep the firebox temp up thinking maybe it was semi seasoned wood and the dry pallet wood would offset it some, but no avail.

I am also noticing that I have to keep the stove flue temp at about 500 or greater the further past the grey and into the over combustion range the better, for the stove to really put out decent heat. What I am saying here is that if I hold it right in the middle you can stand comfortably next to the stove without really feeling the need to move. Basically it doesn't seem to be putting out the same level of heat that it did earlier in the season or last year even.

This is my second year with the stove and first time with a stove put temp gauge.

Considering that you just got the thermometer, it's hard to be certain that you haven't adapted to the heat being produced by the stove. What might have felt like a lot of heat last year might not "feel" like so much heat this year.

This issue with excessive dead coals left in the morning can be caused by:
A draft leak somewhere in your stove pipe. You can compensate for this by leaving your draft control open a bit more before bedtime, or seal any joints that may be leaking. I experienced this with my stove.
If your stove is an insert, then running the blower at top speed all night can lead to pulling too much heat out of the stove, leading to a loss of draft and a large pile of dark coals in the morning. Reduce your fan speed when you head off to bed.

Hope this helps.

Dan

 

[BJ64]

im burning ash thats anywhere from 2 -- to 6 % and im having the same problem..

I'm suspicious about your moisture readings. Did you split a piece of your ash and take an internal reading with a working moisture meter?

I'm sayin' to get down to a 6 percent moisture content you'd have to kiln dry the stuff, and even then it'd likley be difficult.

I can support Zim's case. I'm having the same coaling issue with potentially 50 year old locust fence post that rotted off at the ground that I replaced last spring. This stuff is still solid, hard as a rock and strong. In any case it is well seasoned wood and I'm having the worst coaling issue I have ever seen.

This morning’s live coal pile nearly resembled the arm load of post I threw in there last night.

 

[Hogwildz]

If your intake air supplies at the front, pull the coals into a small mountain in front, open the intake air lever a lil bit, and you'll get another hr or so of heat while burning the coals down. Once low enough, spread back out and load more wood.

 

[lobsta1]

My apologies. I should not have hijacked this thread. Will post in a new one.
Al

 

[bokehman]

thats checking the end, some will actually read zero, i check it in a 2x4 and a 2-3' round and they pretty much read the same..my wood has been dead for many years...

You are using your MC meter wrong which explains the false reading. Split a large piece and take the reading from the core (the bit right at the centre that would be the least seasoned). Make sure the pins are well buried. And, (very important), the reading must be taken along the grain, anything else will read miles lower than the true MC of the wood.

im burning ash thats anywhere from 2 -- to 6 % and im having the same problem..

I'm suspicious about your moisture readings. Did you split a piece of your ash and take an internal reading with a working moisture meter?

I'm sayin' to get down to a 6 percent moisture content you'd have to kiln dry the stuff, and even then it'd likley be difficult.

I can support Zim's case. I'm having the same coaling issue with potentially 50 year old locust fence post that rotted off at the ground that I replaced last spring. This stuff is still solid, hard as a rock and strong. In any case it is well seasoned wood and I'm having the worst coaling issue I have ever seen.

This morning’s live coal pile nearly resembled the arm load of post I threw in there last night.

Even if your fence post was kiln dried wood is hygroscopic so once it is re-exposed to the natural environment it will take on water until it is in balance with its surroundings.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If the wood is seasoned fully, then realize that you can not keep the draft closed or almost closed through the entire burning cycle. As the stove starts to cool, start opening the draft. As the coals burn, then start raking them towards where the draft comes into the firebox. If all else fails, try the other method of placing a few extremely dry pieces of wood on top of the coals and letting it burn hot.

All in all, I agree with bokehman. The original poster sounds like not fully seasoned wood. zim is not using the moisture meter correctly ( I never liked those things anyway). 2-6% moisture sounds pretty darned dry; much drier than a normal wood pile. And BJ64 with his partially rotted fence posts... Well, if they are rotted at the ground, perhaps they are also partially rotten in other parts of the old posts. We've burned old fence posts before, but only added a little bit per fire and not tried to burn the whole fire with them. But mostly, we burn our old fence posts on the brush piles instead of in the stove.

 

[branchburner]

My stove has a grate/ashpan, so I just open the ashpan door when I have a huge pile of charcoal. I find it necessary to stir the coals/ashes around every few minutes during the process. This morning the pile was so deep that no air could penetrate it from below. After poking and stirring for a few seconds I had a little blast furnace going. Especially with using only the primary air at full open, for those without ashpans, I think stirring every few minutes will accelerate the process.

With a small house and a huge brick hearth to hold heat, letting charcoal burn down is not an issue. With a big house and nothing to hold heat, all I can suggest is a sweater.

 

[LLigetfa]

My stove has a grate/ashpan, so I just open the ashpan door when I have a huge pile of charcoal...

Long time cookstove owners know that too much air below the grate will shorten its life. That blast furnace can also shorten the life of the firebrick.

Better to maintain sufficient air to prevent too much coal buildup than to blast it later.

 

[jpl1nh]

A fire has a natural cycle in your stove, from initial heating, then combustion, to its maximum heat output, then a slow decline through it's coaling stage to ash. While the coaling stage releases a very large amount of heat over time, it is not the stove's maximum heat output. The really cold weather truly pushes many of us to need our stoves maximum heat output all the time, something that just isn't reality and you begin to recognize the limits of your stove's capabilities. To a certain extent, after taking advantage of all the tips here you need to accept that. As mentioned often here, stoves are space heaters, and while they may heat your whole house in normal weather, their limitations as whole house heaters can become quite apparent in the coldest weather. With many home configurations, the only solution might be a second stove located elsewhere, or your backup heat source. Perhaps in some more stove friendly applications, you'd benefit from a bigger stove. When it's bitter cold here, at my house we may have to fall back on the furnace which may run for 1/2 hour once or twice a day to catch the house back up. Once the house is caught up, the little Keystone we have does the rest. All in all, though it may not meed our needs in the most brutal conditions, it does pretty well, last winter we burned a total of 30 gals of heating oil, down from 750 when we didn't use a stove much. I'm happy with that and I'll deal with letting the coals burn down a bit.

 

[branchburner]

My stove has a grate/ashpan, so I just open the ashpan door when I have a huge pile of charcoal...

Long time cookstove owners know that too much air below the grate will shorten its life. That blast furnace can also shorten the life of the firebrick.

Better to maintain sufficient air to prevent too much coal buildup than to blast it later.

Very good points.
I do this only occasionally and for about a minute.

But I do tend to be stingy with wood and therefore stingy with air - it is a penny-wise, pound-foolish trait that I am trying to overcome. This forum has taught me that we (and our stoves and our chimneys) are better off letting a little more heat go up the flue at certain times. Trying to squeeze every last BTU out of a log can have a price.

I have seen a u-shaped grate before!