Coals???

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Bone1099

Member
Hearth Supporter
Jan 5, 2009
165
Northwest GA
How long can y'all keep hot coals in your stoves? Consider best conditions warm weather setting in shut down stove for a few days.
I have a Fisher insert and can keep enough coals to start a fire with for two days at the most. My dad has a Vestal (spelling?) freestanding step stove. he can keep enough to start a fire almost five days. And I'm like what the -H- I can't do that!! He just grins.
So my question is how long can everyone keep their coals glowing? And yes I understand that thermostatically controlled stoves go to WOT when they get cool and this will reduce coal life. Do all newer t-stat controlled stoved do this?

Please chime in.
 
Keeping some ash in the stove helps a lot; its a great insulator.
 
5 days eh? Maybe dad was having a little fun yanking your chain.
 
I don't think if I went out to a 1 cord pile and through a match on it, that there would be coals left in 5 days. %-P

In the stove, 2 days max.
 
The key to keeping coals live is to have lots of ashes in the stove. The coals will be on the top; you need to change that. Simply cover the coals with lots of ashes and they will keep a long time. 5 days? Not too sure about that.
 
Not gonna happen in an EPA stove, that's for sure. 5 days of coals better have that firebox FULL of coals. Even then, I can't see keeping them "live" for that long. They need a bit of air to keep glowing, otherwise you will just have black, cool coals. I'm both surprised and envious that Jags can have coals after 2 days in his Isle Royale. I can probably go 13 hours and still have a small amount of live coals.
 
karri0n said:
Not gonna happen in an EPA stove, that's for sure. 5 days of coals better have that firebox FULL of coals. Even then, I can't see keeping them "live" for that long. They need a bit of air to keep glowing, otherwise you will just have black, cool coals. I'm both surprised and envious that Jags can have coals after 2 days in his Isle Royale. I can probably go 13 hours and still have a small amount of live coals.

No sea story here, but I have have enough coals to relight long after 24 hours. Not much mind you, just enough.
 
My stove usually does not get shut down that long except on the shoulder seasons and then I am not building a big coal bed anyway. If I had to guess I would say 1-2 days max. I think my firebox is 2.5cu ft.
 
I managed one at about 26-30 hours this winter. A moderate amount of ash in my olympic on a full load. Have no choice sometimes when you go on an overnighter. I figured I might need some kindling but once I stirred her around, I realized that I had enough coals and heat in there to just stack a bit of wood behind them and get some air moving with the door ajar. Back up to temp within an hour.
 
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