Oslo ash pan, a pan in the ash?

[grommal]

I empty my ash pan daily, and when I'm burnin' hard it's full. I think something's going on here that doesn't make sense. I hear you all talkin about once a week emptying of the pan, what do you all do? Do you just keep throwing wood in the firebox without raking the coals?

Or, maybe your draft is stronger than mine and you burn stuff up finer than I do....

Or, maybe you're not burning as much wood/heating as much area?

Somethings up here and I'd like to know what it is, cuz my ash pan is full, or close to it, every 24 hours.

What say you?

I throw wood in with no raking if the coal bed is ok. I rake very lightly only if the ash is getting too thick in the firebox. You want an ash layer in the firebox for insulation.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hmmm . . . I'm either doing something very wrong or something very right since I only dump my ash pan once a week and even then it is rarely full to the brim.

Of course, I think it goes without saying that all often you need to dump the ash pan depends on how much wood you are burning and the species . . . for me I've mostly been burning some moderate-BTU wood (ash, red maple, elm, etc.) with kindling used for start ups.

I love the Oslo ash pan . . . and only had one issue . . . operator error . . . I did not do my weekly dumping and as a result the ash had filled to the brim and over-flowed leading to ash dropping to the sides and behind the pan . . . which I did not see until I tried to shut the ash pan door and it wouldn't close since the ash was preventing the pan from fitting in nice and neat.

So, in the interest of helping others out (or just plain bragging ) here's what I do during my weekly dumping. First off, I typically do this on Saturday or Sunday morning . . . it's part of my regimen. At this point the fire has died out or is down to coals. Besides reloading the woodbox and the week's worth of wood on the porch I fill up the humidifying pot (and add in some nice potpourri). To do the ash pan I start off by sifting through the ash in the firebox . . . I like to leave 1-2 inches of ash/coals in the firebox and I keep the air holes under the dog house free and clear.

I then open the ash pan and do the shake-rattle-and-roll method as mentioned earlier . . . a few quick shakes to let the ash settle into the pan. As mentioned earlier, I dump regularly so I don't get much over-flow . . . except when I'm lazy and skip a week. I really think the key to preventing a lot of ash spill over is to learn how often you need to clean out the ash pan (depending on your burning) and then dump the ash before you reach that point.

Now sometimes there is some spill-over, but as mentioned I now get in the habit of taking out the ash pan and setting it on the hearth in front of the ash pan door and then using a flat hearth shovel to scoop out what little ash may have spilled . . . generally there is very little . . . unless as mentioned I have been lazy and let it build up.

At this point I trade in my normal welder's leathers for some super-duper high-winder fancy red gloves that Jim from Evergreen Home Solutions gave me at last year's Open House . . . these gloves feel a bit more bulky compared to my normal welder's gloves since they have insulation inside . . . so I tend to only use these when I'm moving the sometimes very hot ash pan outside. I then walk calmly outside and dump the ash and occasional coal into my ash can . . . where the ash will sit for several weeks until it is full and then that ash goes into my garden, into the back woods or on my ice-covered driveway.

A few things I learned from last year's burning:

a) always leave 1-2 inches of ash in the firebox . . . don't remove all of the ash. The insulating property of the ash helps preserve the coals for easier relights on cold mornings.
b) don't get too zealous when stirring the ash . . . and don't get rid of the coals (these coals are just untapped BTUs)
c) dump the ash pan regularly . . . there's less of a chance you'll end up with spilled ash in the ash pan box

I finish up the "project" by giving the glass a quick cleaning with the wet newspaper (and ash as needed) and then sweep up the hearth and then I'm ready to go for the next week.

-----

And to address another question . . . at least I think it was a question . . . .

Last year I could usually only shut down the air to the quarter "mark" . . . attempting to shut it down "completely" all the way to the left would result in the fire being snuffed out. I figured this was normal and expected . . . this year I have been pleased to see that while last year's wood wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't the most seasoned wood . . . this year once I have a fire established I can reload the firebox, get the stove/flue temps up to their appropriate levels and then slowly begin shutting the air . . . and this year . . . oftentimes thanks to some well seasoned wood I can "close" the air control completely and get some fantastic secondary fires . . . it's a wonder what truly seasoned wood can do.

 

[szmaine]

Really, FFJ, you should try not to be so vague and taciturn - it's very unhelpful and frustrating... ;-)

Hmmm . . . I'm either doing something very wrong or something very right since I only dump my ash pan once a week and even then it is rarely full to the brim.

Of course, I think it goes without saying that all often you need to dump the ash pan depends on how much wood you are burning and the species . . . for me I've mostly been burning some moderate-BTU wood (ash, red maple, elm, etc.) with kindling used for start ups.

We burn regularly as my husband is there to keep it fed during the day - so at a most a week til spill over is probably what we'll see.

I love the Oslo ash pan . . . and only had one issue . . . operator error . . . I did not do my weekly dumping and as a result the ash had filled to the brim and over-flowed leading to ash dropping to the sides and behind the pan . . . which I did not see until I tried to shut the ash pan door and it wouldn't close since the ash was preventing the pan from fitting in nice and neat.

I now think after all the responses that is our problem - the thing is so close to the floor, especially w/ the short legs, that no one had put their face down there for a look, but I bet we are knocking off some high spots and if we give it a shake first it won't be such a mess.

And to address another question . . . at least I think it was a question . . . .

Last year I could usually only shut down the air to the quarter "mark" . . . attempting to shut it down "completely" all the way to the left would result in the fire being snuffed out. I figured this was normal and expected . . . this year I have been pleased to see that while last year's wood wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't the most seasoned wood . . . this year once I have a fire established I can reload the firebox, get the stove/flue temps up to their appropriate levels and then slowly begin shutting the air . . . and this year . . . oftentimes thanks to some well seasoned wood I can "close" the air control completely and get some fantastic secondary fires . . . it's a wonder what truly seasoned wood can do.

Yes it was, thanks for catching it.
So this is a good thing then? I had thought that shutting down completely was only used then for the coaling stage and people were always burning slightly open (20-25%) - our wood is such a mixed bag in terms of when it was processed that I am suspicious of some being too wet (don't have a moisture meter but am pretty good at guessing by heft and sound). I don't really pay alot of attention when I'm loading unless the piece is an obvious steamer (throw it off to the side for a later date). It seems that
most of the wood must be pretty well seasoned if the secondaries are good at fully closed.

Thanks again.

 

[szmaine]

I forgot -Should I be worried about ash getting in the air holes and binding up the primary air lever?
I've read comments that some people say the lever tends to catch a bit at the extreme left and right -as mine did in the beginning-
but now it is offering resistance in the middle.

 

[logger]

I forgot -Should I be worried about ash getting in the air holes and binding up the primary air lever?
I've read comments that some people say the lever tends to catch a bit at the extreme left and right -as mine did in the beginning-
but now it is offering resistance in the middle.

I was told Jotul fixed the "sticking" problem with the lever in this year's stoves. The level piece was stamped backwards on some models which caused it to get caught up. Some simple filing fixes that. As for the ashpan. I've had about 15-20 fires without emptying.. mostly oak and locust that seems to burn down pretty fine.

 

[firefighterjake]

I forgot -Should I be worried about ash getting in the air holes and binding up the primary air lever?
I've read comments that some people say the lever tends to catch a bit at the extreme left and right -as mine did in the beginning-
but now it is offering resistance in the middle.

Not much ash should get in there . . . I still try to keep ash from piling up near the holes and once in a while when the stove cools down I'll take the doghouse off and clean it out . . . but only vacuum this out when it is completely cool . . . in fact I generally just blow the ash out of the way or use a brush to clean it out rather than risk any hot coals or embers getting in the vacuum.

And while you have the doghouse open you may as well take some graphite and apply it to the slide mechanism . . . trust me, you'll be glad you did . . . fixes the catching that seems to develop over time. In fact, I just did this very thing this past weekend . . . a 5-10 minute job of opening up the doghouse, cleaning out what little ash is in there and applying the graphite powder . . . and it really improves things.