Sand is counter intuitive

[brianbeech]

Supposed to get my stove hooked up today, or tomorrow morning, and the excitement has me doing a lot of thinking (and talking, the wife thinks I'm crazy; wait till she feels the warmth!). Stove is an old Jotul 118 and my neighbor, who bought the stove new but can't seem to find the manual, says that it called for about two inches of sand in the bottom. I'm sure he's not lying, but what purpose does that serve, other than to possibly protect the bottom of the stove? Won't that keep oxygen from circulating under the wood once the kindling has burned up? And, this will sound funny, but I'm kinda serious; can sand stand 5-700 degree F temps and not hurt anything in the stove?

Thanks all!

 

[Fsappo]

If I remember correctly the sand is the thing to do. Same with the old VC stoves pre ash pan.

 

[begreen]

An inch will do you. Or just break it in slowly and let the ash accumulate. Don't worry about the fire getting air or the temperature. The stove design shoots air right down the middle. Believe it or not, I pull out a lot of sand in my ash from burning. There is silica in plants and when you burn a cord of wood, a lot accumulates as clinkers.

 

[homebrewz]

Sand is essentially little tiny rocks with some clay and/or or silt (which used to be rocks too, but that's another story). Sand with a high quartz content would probably be best, but most sand should function just fine.

 

[jimbom]

Even the densest dry sand will have about four tenths air voids. Perhaps the sand air mixture helps protect the bottom of the stove from excess heat and heat loss. Maybe it allows the fire to burn hotter. Just a guess, as I am not a stove designer or stove expert.

 

[fishingpol]

My dad's old 602 has sand on the bottom, always had, always will. It protects the bottom of the stove from cracking. Can't say the same for the back plate.

 

[remkel]

My Vigilant calls for leaving ash in the bottom- yes, inch to inch and a half will do you- and it is to protect the bottom of the stove. The trick is to be careful when cleaning ash out so you do not remove the sand- I am not certain if ash could be left in its place in your stove. First time I cleaned out my father's Defiant when I ws young I cleaned everything out- luckily for the stove he caught me before I lit the match, it wasn't as fortunate for me, though.....

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Remember those old tin stoves we used to have to put sand in the bottom?! There was a thread about them not too long ago. Anyway, sand will insulate.

 

[Mad Tom]

You still have to do it in barrel stoves. It protects the bottom. No big deal.