Does this ash look okay?

[heat seeker]

Hi all,
My St Croix seems to be burning well, and I am just wondering if this ash is normal. I am burning Instant Heat hardwood pellets. When I got the stove, I burned 10 bags of Instant Heat (a different batch), then 10 bags of Stove Chow. I then bought the current ton of Instant Heat that I am burning now, and the ash seems heavier and coarser than with the other two batches of pellets. I have recently closed the damper to where the manual calls for, since the installer said to leave the damper wide open. This didn't make sense to me, but I did it until recently. I seem to get more heat out of the stove now. I'm not positive, but I think that this "heavier" ash started showing up after I closed the damper. The flame is still lively, no problems lighting, I think I have sufficient airflow, the stove is very clean.
The ash is mixed gray and black, fluffily, and easy to clean. I would like to know if this is normal, since I have little experience, this being my first pellet stove.
Thanks!

Photo of the ash:

 

[Xena]

Ash can vary from brand to brand and even same brand but different batch can vary.
I'd say it's nothing to worry about if the stove burns well and produces heat.

 

[jtakeman]

Just as pellets have different density so does the ash they produce. As long as the stove is getting it out of the burnpot it should be fine. You will know when you get the heavy dense ash.

 

[Lineman30]

Just wondering what causes the heavy dense ash? Thats what i've been dealing all season long with it not getting blown out of my burn pot.

 

[DexterDay]

Ash looks good in the pic. You don't want black soot.

Just wondering what causes the heavy dense ash? Thats what i've been dealing all season long with it not getting blown out of my burn pot.

Bad gasket somewhere.

 

[jtakeman]

Ash looks good in the pic. You don't want black soot.

Just wondering what causes the heavy dense ash? Thats what i've been dealing all season long with it not getting blown out of my burn pot.

Bad gasket somewhere.

Ash density is mainly caused by fiber quality, wood species and its mineral contents. Things that hurt the dense ash fuels are what Dexter mentioned, door seals, dirty stove, plugged vent pipe and many other things. Damper adjustment and basically anything that could reduce air flow in the stove. If you can keep the ash particles moving out of the burnpot its hard to form clinkers.

But the biggest thing the stove does is over feed pellets on the not fully burned pellet and smother them. This aids in forming clinkers. Then as the new pellets start burning it fuses the unburnt stuff together. The fusion is what forms the clinkers. Another reason clinkers form is chlorides(salt) and starches(sugars) in the fiber can also fuse ash together. Corn burners know all about clinkers(mostly from sugar in the corn).

 

[DexterDay]

Ash looks good in the pic. You don't want black soot.

Just wondering what causes the heavy dense ash? Thats what i've been dealing all season long with it not getting blown out of my burn pot.

Bad gasket somewhere.

Ash density is mainly caused by fiber quality, wood species and its mineral contents. Things that hurt the dense ash fuels are what Dexter mentioned, door seals, dirty stove, plugged vent pipe and many other things. Damper adjustment and basically anything that could reduce air flow in the stove. If you can keep the ash particles moving out of the burnpot its hard to form clinkers.

Jay, when I wrote that, I knew it would get mixed up. I was mainly talking to Lineman30 about his Quad. Quads have such a blast of air (coming out of pot), and violent flame that anything and everything should come out of the pot like Rocket.

But yes, in general, an air leak will cause a "bad" burn. Thereby changing the ways the stove burns the pellets. Once the Air/Fuel Ratio is changed by an air leak. It gets All Bad.

 

[jtakeman]

Ash looks good in the pic. You don't want black soot.

Just wondering what causes the heavy dense ash? Thats what i've been dealing all season long with it not getting blown out of my burn pot.

Bad gasket somewhere.

Ash density is mainly caused by fiber quality, wood species and its mineral contents. Things that hurt the dense ash fuels are what Dexter mentioned, door seals, dirty stove, plugged vent pipe and many other things. Damper adjustment and basically anything that could reduce air flow in the stove. If you can keep the ash particles moving out of the burnpot its hard to form clinkers.

Jay, when I wrote that, I knew it would get mixed up. I was mainly talking to Lineman30 about his Quad. Quads have such a blast of air (coming out of pot), and violent flame that anything and everything should come out of the pot like Rocket.

But yes, in general, an air leak will cause a "bad" burn. Thereby changing the ways the stove burns the pellets. Once the Air/Fuel Ratio is changed by an air leak. It gets All Bad.

You had it Dexter, I was just adding to it. You have to determine if the stove is burning proper. Once you rule out the stove, you gotta look at the pellets themselves or how they are feeding(reducing the amount fed if needed). I was trying to explain the first part of his question.

 

[Lineman30]

Totally appreciate the information. Just wanted to know what made a dense ash and got a lot of more info that could be used later. But when I tried a different pellet brand ash wasn't in the pot and ash and embers poured out of the pot. Leaky gasket i've checked and all checked out. So my conclusion is probably terrible pellet against a premium pellet and the premium won.

 

[ChrisWNY]

This might sound overly-simplistic, but the darker pellets (in my experience) produce darker ash, the lighter-brown pellets produce a gray/white ash. Otherwise, I agree with what others have already said, different brands of pellets produce varying colors and amounts of ash. This season, the Pennington Nature's Heat (premium grade pellets) produced the least amount of ash of any pellet I have burned (not necessarily the most heat however), there were more fines in the bags, but surprisingly low ash.

 

[heat seeker]

My thanks to all who posted - it's been educational!