Fine folks, I'm wondering whether there is truly anything wrong with compressing ash instead of cleaning out ash? In other words over time I have found that by taking a tool like a large metal spoon and stirring the ash around inside my stove it immediately goes from a fluffy large loose layer of ash to a compressed and collapsed layer of ash that allows me to go load after load before it really needs removal. I don't notice any adverse effects but essentially I am asking the experts to explain if there is anything wrong with this lazy little method of mine. Thanks in advance for all the advice here.
Anything Wrong With Compressing Ash? (Instead Of Cleaning Out)
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Actually a good thing. Insulates the firebox as well as letting the air cut channels and get under the load. Coals hold longer in it late in the burn also.
I hate nothing worse than starting a fire in a firebox without an ash bed.
I hate nothing worse than starting a fire in a firebox without an ash bed.
Okay awesome other than getting to the point where the ash is actually too high to stay in without falling out, is there any limit as to when I would stop compressing and start cleaning? I mean it almost seems that stirring can continue indefinitely to make more room.
It may seem that way, but about the most hardwood I can put through the stove before needing to remove some is 1/3 of a cord of wood. And even by then, I've lost serious volume in the stove.
pen
I stopped cleaning out the ash every day like i used to. It seems when i DONT clean it,the next day there is the very SAME amount. Not sure how that happens
At some point it cuts into the amount of wood you can load and therefore in heat output and burn time. Since you have a pretty small stove I would probably remove the ash every few days to make more room for actual firewood.
That's interesting. Are you doing top-down or bottom-up starts? When I clean I take out most of the ash essentially only leaving a dusting in the box. Still, I have not noticed any troubles getting a fire going.
My harman can go about 2 weeks,but by then i have about 3 gallons in the ash pan below the grate.
You can get the fire going, but I guarantee you that stove will get up to temp faster with an inch or more of ash bed in it. Been there, done that for way too many years.
I will check it out but since I do my start-up fires with dry pine I have not trouble getting that insert to 700 F. In any case, heat that goes out at the bottom is hardly lost I would think.
Nick Mystic
Minister of Fire
My Woodstock Classic doesn't have an ash pan, so I have to occasionally shovel out the ashes. I've noticed that once I get a certain amount of ash built up in the bottom of the stove it seems like the ash accumulation slows down and doesn't fill the rest of the bottom of the stove up to the door level as quickly as the initial ash build up. I've wondered if after a time some of the ash starts to exit the stove via the burning of the stove. After all, ash is as fine as talcum powder, so when a log shifts and moves inside the burning stove it makes sense that some ash would get stirred up and caught in the smoke stream (exhaust gases) going up the flue and out the chimney.
Dustin92
Member
I usually stir them up with the poker, which reduces them slightly, and shovel out the stove when ashes get to the bottom of the door. I have found that our stove actually burns better, and produces more heat with absolutely no ash buildup. When I clean it out, I shovel out the majority of ash, then vacuum the entire firebox. For about a day, the stove burns perfectly and really cranks out the heat.
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