Thats a lot of ash

[Bad Wolf]

Getting ready for the heating season I went to clean the chimney. Being very tall I was having trouble getting the brush all the way to the bottom so I was going to tie a rope to the loop on the brush and pull it down from below.
When I went to open the door to the ash dump/cleanout I found ash piled up against the door. I don't remember it being that full last time I opened it. Year or two ago?

So I got down on my hands and knees to shovel it out and removed 3 office size trash cans of wet ash (I don't have a cap)
I don't think I've ever shoveled out the ash dump before and certainly not all the way to the back of the chamber. The house is 26 years old and I switched from oil to wood in '08. This is my fifth season. I've been running the brush through the chimney once or twice a year since I started burning wood.

Is this normal?

 

[Clarkbug]

I pulled a good bit of fly ash out of my cleanout this past spring. I did put a cap on the top of my chimney, but that didnt seem to matter. I ended up using a lot of cardboard as firestarter this past year, and I think thats where the majority of it came from. Im going to try and avoid using that if I can this year and see how much of a difference it makes.