Ash Build Up!

[Ricky g]

Hello. New to this site. We have recently installed a new PE Summit Heritage. This thing came very recommended and is supposed to be high efficiency. We are getting a lot of ash build up to point its hard to load some times. We have to empty it a few times a week. It is in a basement room so fairly isolated. I know other folks with High Eff stoves and have very little ash build up. Its been a mild winter so far so would like to get this figured out before winter really hits.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

What kind of wood are you burning? Softer woods tend to have more ash left over. Hardwoods have a lot less ash left but tend to coal a lot longer so that can get to be an issue if you have to push your stove a little harder in the cold weather. A couple times a week depending on the size of the stove is quite normal I would say. Thats how many times I have to do it. Running a 2 cu ft stove.

 

[brad wilton]

I clean mine once every two weeks and i have about 3/4s of a pail in 4cuft stove.

 

[brad wilton]

Are you seeing fine ash or more little bits of unburnt wood?

 

[begreen]

It depends on the wood species not the stove. Some wood can create a lot of ash and others create very little. We are burning doug fir and just cleaned out the ash after about a month of burning. If we were burning soft maple there would be a lot more ash.

 

[claydogg84]

I'm with begreen, it has nothing to do with the stove, only the wood. I empty the ash pan on my Oslo about every 3 days.

 

[Squisher]

Yup this winter I'm burning d fir with nearly no ash and silver maple which leaves a ton of ash compared with the fir.

 

[heavy hammer]

I'm in the same boat as claydogg84 if I'm burning hard my Oslo gets the ash pan emptied every three to five days. It all depends on the wood like begreen said.

 

[Ricky g]

Thanks guys. My firebox is 3.0 cubic ft. I'm burning mostly yellow birch and maple.( not sure what kind. Think its red maple. Its from our property.) we have a lot of black un burnt coals. Yesterday 3 pails full This is a great site with lots of helpful hints. Thanks I think our issue is, we are getting it hot, loading it up and then turning the air almost right off. After reading the comments on this site we are trying smaller loads with more air. We are away about 10hrs a day so no choice but to load it up. We are going to try just opening the air and a couple of pieces when we get home. Hopefully the air will burn off the coals and lower the ash content.

 

[Squisher]

So ash is fine greyish light fluffy stuff in your stove. Black unburnt pieces are unburnt coals. I asked in another thread of yours do you have/use a moisture meter? I don't but I've burned my whole life, I also logged for a long time, and am a certified arborist who's done residential treework for a longtime. I'm pretty much a living breathing moisture meter.

 

[weatherguy]

How long has your wood been seasoned? The more its seasoned the better and more efficient it burns.

 

[Ricky g]

Wood is seasoned a year in a covered wood shed open all the way around so lots of air flowing through it. I do not have a moisture meter. Ash had a lot of unburnt charcoal.