Spring Has Sprung

[BillBurns]

Well, I had what I hope was the last fire of this season. It was 26 this morning. I have oil to take the chill off. I hate to quit fire season, but I am SO looking forward to warm weather. Gonna clean my flue later today, and I put an old curtain over the top of the flue to keep out the birds or whatever. Never have a problem so far, but thats just how I do it I guess. Does everyone shop vac out all the ashes for the summer, or let them be? I left them in last year and had no problem with rust or what not.

 

[Todd]

Still burning here on and off. It was 25 this morning but warming up into the 60’s today then cooling back down Tuesday. I will probably clean out the fire box next month but hold off sweeping the chimney til fall just in case bees deside to build a nest up there.

 

[stovelark]

Still chilly here in SE CT. Wife likes it warm- aw shoot, so do i. Stay warm...

 

[BillBurns]

Is it better to leave the ashes in the box, or vac them out and start over? I burned a lot of pine, and I have like no ashes. It seems they just go away on their own. Im gonna start with Oak in the fall to get a good bed down.

 

[thewoodlands]

The next two mornings our lows are forecast at 22 & 25 and the third morning at 36 so we'll have fires but Friday the 26 will be our last day burning. Anything after that the furnace will get used if needed.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I turned my boiler off yesterday. The house was 64 last I looked. Maybe I’ll kick it on in the morning for a bit if it gets cool.

 

[30WCF]

Is it better to leave the ashes in the box, or vac them out and start over? I burned a lot of pine, and I have like no ashes. It seems they just go away on their own. Im gonna start with Oak in the fall to get a good bed down.

I like to clean mine all out pretty good. I can get humidity inside my stove sometimes in the summer. Maybe its a little sideways rain that gets past the cap, but it seems like less to hold the moisture if it’s all dry.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

30 this morning and 60 in my house. Turned on the boiler. Next week Monday-Wednesday will all be 70. It’s the end of heating season.

 

[BillBurns]

I think Im going to vac out the firebox this year. Is it ok to start the season with no ashes? I dont think it would matter?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

are you building on firebrick? If so, it won’t matter. If on cast iron, build on ash or sand.

 

[30WCF]

Just leave some ashes in the bucket if your worried about it, but you will be fine. Chances are you will start with some low intensity shoulder fires in September, and will have ashes soon enough.

 

[bigealta]

Yeah if you are worried just build a kindling fire in the fall. The small fire may get hot but won't produce the big coals that create the high heat on the metal. Then the kindling ash will start your protection layer.

 

[BillBurns]

Im burning in cast iron. Im going to leave the little ashes that I have. I did last year no problems. Its not very humid here in PA, so I dont worry too much about rust.

 

[bigealta]

Im burning in cast iron. Im going to leave the little ashes that I have. I did last year no problems. Its not very humid here in PA, so I dont worry too much about rust.

Me too. I did not vac out the stove last year, but i probably will this year. It does get humid here in NJ near the coast and rivers. And wind blown rain does get past my chimney cap and can drip down to the stove pipe.

 

[stoveliker]

Either way is fine.
Remember your first fire in the stove? No ashes to start.

 

[30WCF]

I probably overemphasized the humidity thing, but sometimes I have water on the inside of my glass. I don’t really know if it’s humidity or sideways rain. It clears up
If the door is left open for a while.

 

[stovelark]

Best to clean out ashes, touch up interior with black paint, kills smells if humidity bring them out, the stove looks better and a paint coat for protection never is a bad thing. When I did cleanings in the past, we touched up interior and exterior unless customer was against it, most appreciated us wanting to make it look new. I still touch up my own stove. It looks better.

 

[stoveliker]

This is not relevant for the OP, but for others that may read this in the future: I would not add paint on the interior if it is a cat stove. (It'll burn off and go thru the cat, which is not recommended.) Indeed.my cat stove was unpainted inside (I believe).

 

[paredown]

Someone on here mentioned using one of those moisture absorber thingies --DampRid is one brand-- that you can use in cars that are not used just to deal with the humidity. I put one in the Jotul last year and it seemed to work well.

I feel like it can't hurt anything, but you do have to check it if is really absorbing a lot--we had one in another place in the house that overflowed--and that was a right mess...

For me it is clean chimney, clean firebox (ashes out) have a look around, and a small fire to start in the Fall.

This Spring, it was the usual--I thought I had a head start on wood for next year, because I cut and split a couple of large deadfall Ash--and then we burned a bunch of it to keep warm in the morning, in between the weird 'Fool's Spring' days...