Coal Trouble

[PattyO]

Hi Folks,
I found this site and read a LOT of posts about coal build-up and I thought I was the only one with this problem. So here’s my sob story...
We have a 12 year old Napoleon stove which originally had a trap door in the back on the right to theoretically move ash down to the cute little drawer underneath the box. Well a couple of times clinkers (big coals) got stuck and held the trap spring door open. There was so much air then rushing up we were afraid of a chimney fire. So we just filled it with ash one time and never tried THAT again. So now we have an air intake just in the front and the coals build up so fast it is discouraging. Just now I took someone’s advice and filled up the box as much as I could. Maybe 5 pieces tho because of all the coals. I just emptied them all out yesterday. It’s an every other day job and it is irritating.if I leave the door ajar I still can’t get those coals to turn to ash!!. Sure the wood from our property is free, but the labor to fill the woodshed is hard work. We are thinking we need a side loader with a grate. Our wood is very dry, mostly our poor dying beeches and some maple. Any suggestions?

 

[begreen]

This sure sounds like wood that may be dry on the surface, but is still damp at the core. Instead of reloading on a large coal bed, try burning the coal bed down further by putting one or two skinny (1 to 2") pieces of wood on top, closing the door and opening up the air control at least half-way. Let this burn down for 30-60 minutes. By now most of the coals should be ash. Now reload.

Wood, even standing dead, may not be as dry as one thinks. Recently I tried some of our 2 yr seasoned wild cherry out in a fire. The darn stuff still sizzled out of the ends!

Take some of your existing wood supply and resplit a few thick pieces. Put the freshly exposed face of the wood up against your cheek. Does it feel cold and damp? If so, the wood is still damp in the core. If you have a moisture meter, even better. Test the wood moisture on the freshly exposed face of the wood after resplitting.