excess coals

[karl]

The past few days I have been doing a test. My conclusion is that the biggest contributing factor to excessive coals is wet wood.

I had been burning slab wood. It's mixed wood, some hard some soft, but alot of poplar. The stuff is great. Drys out fast, burns hot, burns fast, and with the Summit dampered down, it will burn slow too.

I brought a cord or two up and put on the back porch this fall. It was really dry and burnt well. It didn't coal over much. I had enough for restarts after 8-10 hours but not a loaded fire box.

I recently brought another load up to the back porch. This stuff is the same wood, except it has been out in the elements and is damp. It still burns well, lighting almost instantly when I put it in the stove. It does his a little bit, or atleast some pieces do. The problem is it coals over like you wouldn't believe now. I have brought it in the house and let it dry in front of the stove for a few hours and the coaling problem is less.

My conclusion is. Moisture has more to do with it than anything.

 

[Beanscoot]

Another cause of excessive coals seems to be keeping the firebox too full of wood. Sometimes the wife does this and then there's a heavy accumulation of coals in the morning. To burn them up, I stir them a bit every fifteen minutes or so, and this seems to allow enough air through them to consume them pretty well in an hour or less. During this process I add no new firewood but for a few pieces of kindling if the coals aren't lively enough, and accept the fact that I won't be getting too much heat for the duration.

 

[CowboyAndy]

Seems like (and maybe it is just coincidence) after we had our chimney cleaned we have less coals building up.

 

[begreen]

Last night I stoked up the stove on a thick bed of coals. It was late and I didn't want to stay up. The wood was very dry soft maple. I woke up this morning to a deeper bed of hot coals. And it's snowing. I think deep beds of coal are related to local cooling. %-P

 

[karl]

I agree with what all of you guys say. I'm just giving my observation. Same wood, same burning style, more coals. Moisture seems to play a big role in it.

Also the sparking when you open the door is much greater now too. With the door cracked, I had a constant sparkler show for a few minutes. More popping too.

 

[gpcollen1]

My favorite topic - I just pile the up front - place a split or two on top and let her rip wide open for a bit. usually get stove top temps at 450ish for a good while with nice secondary burn.

 

[3fordasho]

My favorite topic - I just pile the up front - place a split or two on top and let her rip wide open for a bit. usually get stove top temps at 450ish for a good while with nice secondary burn.

Ditto. When I leave for work I load up the stove and cut the air back - this results in a build up of coals.. when I'm home in the evenings and can fuss with the stove a bit, I rake the coals forward, put a single split on top and open the air a bit more than usual and let it run a bit hot... this burns the coals down and still makes enough heat to keep the house warm, even when it's 0F outside. It does take a few splits over the course of the evening to get the coals burned down.. softwood splits work even better.

 

[regalflyer]

It seems that high draft also contributes. When down below zero, the fire burns very quickly even with the primary air shut down all the way. If I restock when I get up in the evening, there is a very large coal bed when I wake up. If the temperatures are moderate (say, 2 digits) I don't have to restock and when I wake up most of the coals are gone. Both situations are with the air control closed all the way.