Got too many hot coals what should I do??

[jqgs214]

I have a vc dw2500 insert. The firebox it not real large, about 1.5 cu i think. After burning about 8-10 hrs I get a large amount of red hot coals. Gets to the point where they almost are up against the door. Should I just open the damper and let them burn down a bit?? Any help would be appreciated. I hate when my fire gets too low. (pyro i think )

 

[laynes69]

Rake them forward and burn a small split on them. Eventually they will dissapear.

 

[bruce]

never enough reds!!

 

[Richard]

I would sit back and enjoy them, put another log on the fire and open a bottle of red, what a way to spend an evening!

 

[laynes69]

I had that problem. When it was time to go to bed, I would have so many coals that I couldn't load enough wood for overnight. Now I monitor the stove, and make sure the coal bed doesn't build up too deep. Some is good but half the firebox I don't like.

 

[jqgs214]

Ok, I get the fact that reds are good, both wine and coals. Live in NY got some great Long Island wines coming through these days, but just burn a small split on them?? Full open the damper?? whats the best way to lower them down a bit? Want to make it safe to open the door ya know?

 

[laynes69]

I would way if they are that high, then they would have to burn down a bit. You don't want a stray ember. Heres the artice on the charcoal bed...(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/tips/toomuchcharcoal.htm) This should help out.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

finally a weather man, mabey we can bring up the coriolis effect on chimney's and toliets again.

If you want to knock you coal bed down, open the air and it will burn it all up. Coal beds are good things, if you want to have enought room for the night time bank let them burn out earlier.

 

[jqgs214]

Oh, the coriolis effect on toilets, I could do wonders with that topic! Please dont get me started! Hmm, maybe I should just let Mythbusters handle that one!

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

you should do a search on here for that topic, you will laugh you a$$ off.

 

[wg_bent]

Coal bed reduction is one of the wonderful uses of pine. Pine produces almost no ash and when you toss a couple split of pine on, you get great heat out of the pine, pine does not build up coals, and the existing coals burn down while the pine is burning. There is no down side because the coals are very hot and stay that way due to the air draw from the pine burning, so no ceosote.

That's my latest coal bed reduction strategy and the one that works best for me.

 

[begreen]

When I'm burning 24/7 and want heat, the coal bed becomes a bit of a PITA. I can open the air up and let it burn down, but that means a couple hours with the stove at 300 degrees which isn't heating the house too well during that period. So I try to time my coal bed burn down in the late afternoon once the house temp has equalized at about 70. By the time it has burned down the temp is about 68, but there's enough time to get a good hot burn in before the overnight burn.

 

[Tendencies]

My Dutchwest does the same thing, usually round 9:30 pm I'll place an extremely dry small spit on the coals after I have kinda fluffed them up and leave the door open a crack and the damper wide open, they will really get going and in 15-20 minutes or so have probably reduced their heighth/depth by about half which is just about right for me to load er up, let er char for 2-3 minutes and damper it down for the night. So far this winter I am emptying the ashes about every 3 days. I burn 24/7..

T

 

[Rich M]

In my experience excessive coals go hand in hand with too much ash. I believe the ash works as an insulator preventing air from effectivley reaching the coals. Great for having coals 12 hours later, not great when you want add a large quantity of wood. With 24/7 burning try establishing an ash cleaning routine that prevents the ash bed from getting too deep, usually every 3 days depending on type and quantity of wood being burned.

 

[PAJerry]

I was getting a lot of coals in my Vista when burning ash. Solution I found was to rake the coals to the front of the stove and reload behind them with smaller splits or slabs and open the damper all the way for a while. It seemed to burn them up pretty fast. They were really building up before that for some reason.

 

[Tendencies]

Tendency ?? lol

T

 

[jqgs214]

Dont think I'm heating to much space, bout 1100 feet downstairs, 600 upstairs. Yesterday wife had the house at 74 after bout 3 hours burn time. Outside temp round 42. After like 8 hours- not on one load- I used the one split in the front technique and they burned down over half the coals in about 20-30 minutes, door closed damper wide open. Thanks for the help. Can now reduce my coals and not lower heat output too much.