ash build up in a Dutch West

[trailblaze]

ok so to get the ever burn system "ready to use" i have come to the conclusion (from other threads) that there needs to be a nice bed of hot ash on the grate and a good hot burning fire....

my question is... my ash just falls into the tray, do i need to let the tray fill up then let ash accumulate on the grate before i close the dampener for the "ever burn" to work?? i burned for 7-8 hours and i hardly had any ash/ ambers, what am i doing wrong?

 

[efoyt]

This is my first year with a Dutch West but the few times I have burned I have had the everburn system working.

Your right that the ash will fall through the great but by the time it gets that small it's not adding the amount of heat that you would want and need for the everburn system. It is the bigger chunks of Hot coals say the size of your fist. So get a good fire going and let it run hot until most of it is hot bright red coals, the size of your fist and even bigger and some smaller. Refill your fire box let everything ignite but don't leave it so long that your coals peter out. Let the heat build up to at least 500 degree's ( stack temp ). Then turn on the everburn system.

Another way to judge the coals would be to get them to what would be the perfect cooking coals for an outdoor fire. That point where they are still big and hot but they are done burning ( for the most part ). I don't know if you have ever cooked over an open fire but if you have that is what you are shooting for. Cooking coals.

 

[trailblaze]

yeah, i haven't really piled the wood in too high yet, (breaking it in still) tonight i'll keep adding wood and building the fire up, maybe thats why i can't seem to get the right coals...

i just noticed that all my coals would fall through the grates

 

[efoyt]

I didn't use the everburn until after my break in fires - just wasin't enouph heat with the break in fires.

 

[BurningIsLove]

ok so to get the ever burn system "ready to use" i have come to the conclusion (from other threads) that there needs to be a nice bed of hot ash on the grate and a good hot burning fire....

my question is... my ash just falls into the tray, do i need to let the tray fill up then let ash accumulate on the grate before i close the dampener for the "ever burn" to work?? i burned for 7-8 hours and i hardly had any ash/ ambers, what am i doing wrong?

Yes, a sufficient coal bed is required to achieve secondary combustion (aka everburn). When you have a fire larger than a break in, the initial splits that you use to light the fire should turn into nice coals and those coals will be large enough to not fall through the ash grate. You want to rake the coals up gently against the refractory shoe in the back of the stove where those small bore holes exit the shoe, leaving sufficient coals across the rest of the firebox floor for splits to rest on. Only the ash and small coals will fall through the grate into the pan below and don't really contribute much to the combustion.

Once the splits sitting on top of the coal bed are sufficiently burning & starting to coal, the stove up to temp, etc. somewhere from 30-75 minutes after lighting the fire depending on how you built the fire, it's then time to close the bypass. This will draw in secondary air through the shoe out the bore holes into the coal bed, heating it up significantly and drawing the smoke & unburnt gases into the 'fountain' area above the shoe where secondary combustion occurs. You should hear a distinctive, low rumble sound from the back of the stove. The amount of visible flame in the firebox will also decrease significantly.

Once the secondary combustion is well established, you can damper down the primary air control. This is what allows for the long, slow clean burns.

So long version short, you do not need to concerned w/ the ash depth in the ash pan. You DO need to have a hot coal bed sitting on top of the grate . If you are burning for long periods of time, reloading the firebox after several hours, etc. those coals will eventually burn down into ash and fall through the grate. From time to time its a good idea to let the fire burn down to coals and rake the coals around which will let the ash that accumulates at the corners (not over the grate) to fall through.