how often do you remove ash?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

RnG17

New Member
Sep 9, 2010
52
PA
I have been burning for 4 straight days now, and I still have not cleaned any ash out.

Its roughly 2-3" deep and seems to insulate the coals nicely, so when I come home from work or wake up I can stir through the ash and find enough hot coals to start it right back up again.

Just thought I'd see how long everyone else might go before cleaning some out. Just thought I'd have a lot more ash in the stove by now.
 
RnG17 said:
I have been burning for 4 straight days now, and I still have not cleaned any ash out.

Its roughly 2-3" deep and seems to insulate the coals nicely, so when I come home from work or wake up I can stir through the ash and find enough hot coals to start it right back up again.

Just thought I'd see how long everyone else might go before cleaning some out. Just thought I'd have a lot more ash in the stove by now.

Lately I've been cleaning it out once a week usually on Sunday. I leave about 2 inches of ash in the stove.


zap
 
2 weeks of 24/7 burning and expect to go at least another 2 before cleaning out some ash.
 
It depends... I clean out the ashes before they start spilling out the door or blocking the zipper air. When it is milder out I leave the ashes in and shove them to the back of the stove. When it gets colder I remove them sooner so that I get more heat from the stove.
 
I only do it when it's needed.
By that, I mean I don't really have a schedule, so I might empty every 4 days, or every 8 days. Depends on wood usage, type of wood, blah, blah, blah.
I like to keep at least an inch of ash in the stove though, since it does a nice job of keeping the coals around a bit longer than cleaning all the ash out daily.
Cleaned about 2 quarts out this am, and if I can think about it next time, I'll pay attention to how long it's been.
I started burning a little early this year....middle of September. Partly due to temps, and partly due to getting the stove back from repairs and wanting to see how it burns.
 
I use a coal hod and generally take out at least a half pail at a time. It's been mild enough today that the insulation provided by the ashes lets me keep the fire going without it becoming a sauna in the house. I can go longer between reloads too since the coals are preserved in the ashes. I'll let the fire go out this evening and remove all the ashes tomorrow after work before starting a new fire. It's expected to get colder then so the timing should be perfect.

In really cold weather I take a small amount of hot ashes out almost every day by raking the coals to one side. I made myself a combination ash hoe/coal rake for that express purpose. Fewer ashes in the stove means less of a coaling problem and more heat from the stove.
 
I was cleaning ot the stove every two days. But Here recently i found out that get better burn if left alone. Also i push the hot coals to the back of the firebox and take the ash and cover the coals.

That's to hold the heat in when it gets warm in the house.
 
I empty my ash pan daily
 
I always leave an inch or two in the stove and leave my ash bin full as this stove runs better that way.. I know it sounds crazy but it's what works best for me.. A layer of ash makes the stove run better and helps protect the bottom of the firebox..

Ray
 
I am incredibly lazy. I empty the ashes when I don't have room for enough wood for an overnight burn. Usualy three times a year. I do have a big stove though, 5 cubic feet, and it's a toploader.
 
When it starts coming out of the door, ends up being about once a month or so it seems.

The stove my folks have we emptied 2-3 times over the winter. Big stove though, would fill 2-3 5 gal metal pails with ash each time.
 
Once a week or when ash is falling out the side door. I burn one of my stoves 24/7. The little guy gets emptied 1-2x a month right now. I only burn that one if the temp dips below 32.
 
My Napoleon 1900 likes to have 1"-2" of ash on the fire bricks to heat the best. In heavy burning season, we empty the ash pan weekly. Again, it depends upon the type of wood and temps. I have a hard time understanding why some of you are emptying ashes daily. The stove must be really, really small.
 
You're not the first to mention that the stove runs better with some ash buildup and I'm sure that is true with some stoves. Some however may equate longer burn times and greater coal retention as running better. My stove however puts out considerably more heat with fewer ashes and builds up fewer coals too. When it gets down to -40, it can be a challenge to keep the house above 72 if I let the ashes build up.

The other way that some stoves burn differently is WRT the amount of air they are given. My stove has a sweet spot below half throttle above which I burn more wood but actually net less heat. At -40 if the stove is struggling, the wife will open it full throttle thinking it will put out more heat but dialing it back actually increases the heat. Sounds counter-intuitive and may even defy logic but it is what I've found over the years.

There has also been debates about higher fan speeds on stoves so equipped reducing actual heat output. There is anecdotal evidence of this although I have never personally witnessed this. It may well be that pulling too much of the heat away from the base of the fire takes the stove out of the sweet spot. This seems to align with the concept of some ash buildup improving heat output.

As usual, YMMV.
 
LLigetfa, is it safe to asume you don't have a pipe damper? I don't either, and experience the same thing. Lately I am wondering if a damper would help.
 
Correct, my stove has no flue damper and no place to actually install one. It is a built-in fireplace.
 
My Oslo has an ash pan. I empty it when it is full, but not so full that ash spills into the chamber where the pan lives. That's about every 5-8 days of round-the-clock burning.
 
I used to push the ashes towards the back away from the door.
After a while it would get like Mount Washington in there though so the inevitable inevitably happened.
I let the fire burn down on the weekend and slowly scoop most of it out.

Now I just scoop out a coffee can's worth slowly from the middle near where the air comes in whenever there's a can's worth.
I can do that slowly maybe twice a week without making a mess.

Scoop, plastic lid, tap can, go for walk.
 
Wow, I'm amazed at some of the extended periods!

Ours usually needs it about every 3 days. I get a galvanized bucket full. If I let it build up more it reduces the wood capacity and also blocks the lower front air outlet.
 
I find my fires get healthier faster and burn hotter after a new cleaning, which I imagine is due to better air flow around the base of the wood. I don't yet know about burn time, though yes I figure a thick ash bed will protect the coals.

That being said, after a single day of round the clock burning I can easily have 1/2-1" of ash built up around where the coals fall naturally.
 
1-2 times a week I empty the Oslo's ash pan . . . assuming we're talking about burning 24/7 in the winter and not during the shoulder season.
 
RnG17 said:
I have been burning for 4 straight days now, and I still have not cleaned any ash out.

Its roughly 2-3" deep and seems to insulate the coals nicely, so when I come home from work or wake up I can stir through the ash and find enough hot coals to start it right back up again.

Just thought I'd see how long everyone else might go before cleaning some out. Just thought I'd have a lot more ash in the stove by now.
About once every 3 weeks for us. My ashes serve good purpose, as they help my embers burn longer for reloads, especially overnighters. Your embers will go out much sooner with a clean stove.
 
I am still new to burning in a wood stove and learning what mine likes, but I have come to the conclusion that mine prefers less ash than others. I was letting it build up more and was struggling to get the heat I was expecting and was having a problem with coals building up. We had a warm spell so the stove wasn't being used as much and we cleaned out most of the ash, leaving about an inch. The next fire burned hotter, longer and burned down the coals better too. I wondered if that was coincidence or in fact related to less ash. Well, it happened again tonight - cleaned the ash out and the stove burned much better for me. So now I will expect I will be cleaning it out every other day or so.

What is different for me from my old inefficient fireplace is that when I clean out the ash, it is still hot. I am not taking out any measurable coals, but there are still a lot of small embers. Just makes a little more work for me, but demonstrates how proficient the stove is.
 
I clean out every other day usually, but could go 3-5 days if i had to. A little ash does insulate your coals, so i do leave a little along w/ my good hot coal bed in case i can't get home as soon as i would like. Type of wood you're burning, size of firebox, etc. all make a difference though. I burn 24/7 so i just try and stay ahead of the game and clean out a little every other day.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.