Ash Cleanout intervals

  • 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.

Seasoned Oak

Minister of Fire
Oct 17, 2008
7,215
Eastern Central PA
How often do fellow hearth members clean the ashes out of your stoves. Iv found different stoves have different ash buildup. Im going on 2 weeks running in one of my stoves and still no need to clean out the ashes between 1 and 2 inches deep.
 
I pull the pan on the Keystone every 3-4 days when it's cold out and I'm cranking the loads through..the pan under that little 1.5 cu.ft. box isn't huge.
 
Burning pine 24x7 and I clean mine out every 2-3 weeks. Once it starts getting deeper than 2 inches I scoop some out.
 
About every week or so. I think there was about 4 gallons of ash I cleaned out yesterday after 8 days.
 
Bk princess about every 2 to 3 weeks depending on my burning style and wood type, whether I burn maple or oak my burn times are relatively the same, 2 loads a day one on the morning, one before bed, but I'm able to burn more oak solely vs maple, the oak ash is much denser or perhaps the splits are more uniform and compress the ash down better in the fire box.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rdust
Burning pine 24x7 and I clean mine out every 2-3 weeks. Once it starts getting deeper than 2 inches I scoop some out.
That seems like a good long time. Must be getting a good complete burn.
 
I clean it once we get above 2 inches......the Wife wants it done daily
 
About every week or so. I think there was about 4 gallons of ash I cleaned out yesterday after 8 days.
I dont think there is more than a gallon my Summer heat 2400 after 2 weeks of burning. I was surprised by that ,i was used to cleaning ashes out every few days with the NC-30. a week tops.
 
If I don't do it every two days it gets real messy when I do get around to doing it. Th little ash pan on the encore fills up quick.
 
About every 5 days for me. I have a nice flat scoop type shovel that will clear all the ash from the stove in about 4 scoops and then i walk the glowing coals about 8 ft to the back door and into a container out away from the house, works pretty sweet. I dont like taking all the ash out tho, a good ash bed keeps the coals hot after the night burn for relighting the next morning.
 
Been on a weekly clean out schedule. Closing the air down every night and before work is what builds up the bulk of it.
 
Since I switched to burning completly ash, about every two days. Other woods tend not to do this for me, but ash will coat the embers and not allow them to burn down as well, so coals begin to build up, taking over a decent portion of the firebox. So I get out my sifter and do a clean out about every other day after work.

My 30nc is awful for this. After about 2 cycles, I would be reloading on top of an ash/charcoal mixture about 6 inches deep. Sitting out the ash seemed to help with this. My fp25 works better in this regard, but will still start to build up fairly quickly.
 
Depends on how much wood I am burning . . . generally it's once a week or so in the shoulder seasons and this time of year . . . it may be twice a week in the dead of winter.
 
Depends what I'm burning. If I'm burning a lot of alder and/or birch, then every few days. If I'm burning fir, then I go a lot longer, like a couple of weeks.
 
BK princess. 3 weeks If burning 24/7. Running on medium ish settings. At that time there is about 5” of ash deep which equates to 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I take 2 shovels out each morning. I tend to get kind of a clinker right where the primary air comes in if I don't. I usually clean the whole stove every two weeks or so.
 
My 30nc is awful for this. After about 2 cycles, I would be reloading on top of an ash/charcoal mixture about 6 inches deep. Sitting out the ash seemed to help with this. My fp25 works better in this regard, but will still start to build up fairly quickly.
Mine too. Iv noticed the 30 seems to build up ashes quicker then my other stoves and the door glass is almost impossible to keep clean without constant attention . Englander seems to have corrected both of these issues in the Summers Heat model. Glass stays very clean, almost transparent and each morning the ash buildup looks as the same as the day before between 1 and 2 inches.
 
20171210_122428.jpg
Depends on the wood. I have an old metal popcorn popper that I use, like the ones made to make popcorn over a bonfire. Once a day I take a popper full of ash out and to my ash barrel, I never have to clean my stove this way. Or I guess you could call it continually cleaning my stove. I never have to let it go cold for a clean out however, and the dust stays in the stove.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mountain man 2
Mine too. Iv noticed the 30 seems to build up ashes quicker then my other stoves and the door glass is almost impossible to keep clean without constant attention . Englander seems to have corrected both of these issues in the Summers Heat model. Glass stays very clean, almost transparent and each morning the ash buildup looks as the same as the day before between 1 and 2 inches.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. And as I said, this problem is worse when I burn mostly or completely ash loads. Even my fp25 doesn't so as well burning down the coals from ash. And the glass is tough to keep clean.
 
Wow, I guess I'm odd man out, here. The caveat is, I burn the compressed wood blocks. In my Drolet Baltic, I clean it out once a month, if I'm feeling conscientious. Six weeks, otherwise. I heat 100% with the stove. Ash gets pushed to the back, until it gets inconvenient, at which time I pull the clean out plug and fill the ash pan. One pan usually empties the firebox.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one. And as I said, this problem is worse when I burn mostly or completely ash loads.

Wonder what the issue is with the 30 then? I'm burning 100% ash for most of this year, haven't had too much ash to clean up. The ash does build up on the coals, but if I need to burn them down, I'll open up the air for several seconds, let the rush blow the ash off, then shut it back down (or even leave it open). Haven't cleaned mine out since this past Wednesday, and the only reason I did then was to replace a couple of worn out bricks.

So do you guys think stoves that leave more ash burn less completely or does less ash get sucked up the flue by the draft? Ultimately ash should just be the incombustible mineral material, but that's provided you have complete combustion.
 
Wonder what the issue is with the 30 then? I'm burning 100% ash for most of this year, haven't had too much ash to clean up. The ash does build up on the coals, but if I need to burn them down, I'll open up the air for several seconds, let the rush blow the ash off, then shut it back down (or even leave it open). Haven't cleaned mine out since this past Wednesday, and the only reason I did then was to replace a couple of worn out bricks.

So do you guys think stoves that leave more ash burn less completely or does less ash get sucked up the flue by the draft? Ultimately ash should just be the incombustible mineral material, but that's provided you have complete combustion.

I don't have an issue with the ash volume in the 30 as much as the coals down wont to burn down, especially when burning all or mostly ash. I'll use a sifter after 3 days or so and only get out half a bucket from a clean out. The coals will then burn down better, but allowing them to do so messed with my reload times. So I end up with fairly significant coal buildup. Many here would blame then wood or too frequent reloads, but this happens with sub 18% wood and 8-9hours between reloads (due to work and sleep).

And I've thought perhaps my draft drops off at the end. And opening the air gradually throughout the cycle does help some, but even trying to open the air to keep high temps takes 7-8 hours to burn down enough for a reload.

It's not as much of an issue now that I habe the fp25 in the living room, it's been heating the whole house for about 3 weeks now. And it burns down the coals better. I figured that it's either the sloped ash lip(as opposed to the squared off on on the 30, or the fact that the outlet goes directly into a class a chimney, keeping a stronger draft farther into the cycle. Or perhaps it is because I load east/west in this stove so that the burn progresses back through the stove as opposed to burning the whole load at once, giving the coals at the front more time to burn down with decent heat still being made in the back (thus keeping draft stronger).

As for ash in the flue, I've noticed this to a greater degree when burning ash. Both my dad (burning a pre-epa Alaska Kodiak, which I think is a Fisher grandpa bear clone) and myself had to shut down at least twice to clean the fly ash out of the black pipe that collected in the lateral pipe that connected to the thimble. He had never had this issue burning other species. Growing up, we burned a mostly locust or oak, and cleaned out only once per year.
 
Last edited:
Depends on wood. Red oak stirs down to almost nothing and when shoveling I don't get flying dust.
Hickory takes more stirring and the ash flies no matter how careful.
Some woods seem to make more ash then the amount of wood put in.

But once every 2 weeks or longer with dry wood in my NC-30.

Stir crazy.




Just have to add I don't like all hickory loads for middle winter burning. Hate shoveling coals to add more wood for real heat. Must use a blend.
 
Last edited:
How often do fellow hearth members clean the ashes out of your stoves. Iv found different stoves have different ash buildup. Im going on 2 weeks running in one of my stoves and still no need to clean out the ashes between 1 and 2 inches deep.

I have an ash pan below the grate I let fill up (never empty during burning season) and then I let build up a layer of ashes above the grate for insulation to help protect the lower parts of the stove from the intense heat from coals, etc. I really only remove ashes when I need more space for wood (if it is really cold and I need to run the stove hotter).