I am interested in knowing how often you clean out you wood stove. I am now cleaning it out about every 4 days. Does that sound about right? Also does everyone shut the stove down and wait for the coals to cool before cleaning? I have tried to remove coals while hot but it's very risky and dangerous. Please let me know what do. I have a Regency i3100 wood insert.
How often do you clean out?
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I clean out my stoves in June. Daily before reloading after the overnight burn I take three or four scoops of ash out of the front of the firebox. Most of the coals are at the back at this point. Then I drag the coals to the front, lay the wood on them and it is off and running till the next morning.
Just pull the coals forward before you reload and they should turn to ash faster. In the morning before you reload take put a couple 3 shovels of ash from the front of the stove. That should keep you on top of any coaling up issues so you don't have to shut down and clean out. Unless you're burning locust.
I shovel ash out about every 3rd day--I don't stop burning, but like others, just move the coals around to get at the ash.
In cold weather when doing overnight burns, I like leaving some ashes in the stove as they hold the coals longer but too much ashes reduces the amount of heat I can get from the stove. Rather than empty the stove simply when it's full, I time it with the weather. In mild weather I let the stove go completely cold and clean out all the ashes since I don't do overnight burns in mild weather. In cold weather, I separate the hot coals from the ashes and remove an amount commensurate with how cold it is going to get.
BrotherBart said:
Ditto. And can't tell you how excited I am that I do the same thing as BrotherBart, since this is my first year (and 3rd month) burning indoors.
But, that process works very well for me. Each morning after overnight, I pull out three or four shovel fulls from front of firebox and empty them into a cast iron pot (with lid) that sits right next to my stove. Since there are a few small coals mixed in with ash, I let it sit there all day. Next morn, take that pot outside and empty into steel can that is sitting on a paver patio, then back inside to fill it again before rekindling. So far that has worked perfectly well.
Today it was in high 50s here in CT, so I did take the time to shovel out everything, and probably won't start a new fire till tomorrow morning.
I usually don't clean ashes out more than about once a week,twice a week if I'm burning real hard.I do it the same as the others,a few shovels full in the morning,then pull the ashes forward and fire it up again.
chutes said:
Start getting that carbon monoxide producing pot of coals out of that house ASAP. Or put a chimney on it.
I shovel ash into a covered, double-bottom steel ash can, which is then always immediately removed to outside my home and placed on a concrete surface well away from combustible materials. Coals can smolder away in a bed of ash for days. Nothing you want in your house, fer sure, and something you want to be careful about whatever its final disposition's gonna be. Rick
The oslo has an ash pan. I rake my coals 2x daily, and empty the ash pan every day.
On occaison when burning hard, in cold weather, I just dig a bunch of coals out when necessary to provide more room for more wood
On occaison when burning hard, in cold weather, I just dig a bunch of coals out when necessary to provide more room for more wood
chutes said:
I often wonder how my dad and his brothers lived long lives. When they were kids on the farm back around 1918 grandpa would bring in a bucket of coals from the fireplace to heat their bedroom during the night. Obviously that leaky old farmhouse with lots of drafts saved them.
I bought me an antique brass ash pan or coal pan off of e-bay for $9. It works great and adds a little class to the set-up. It's only about 6" in diameter with a hinged lid on it and was used as a bed warmer. I hold it inside the stove once a day and put two good scoops of ash in it. Sometimes there maybe a few embers that sneak by but I just set it on the hearth until one of my trips outside. Then it goes into a five gallon garbage can sitting on concrete until it's time to empty the garbage can which is about two-four times a year. It's not a "carbon monoxide producing pot of coals" so there is no chimney on it. I never take carbon monoxide producing coals out of my stove. That's the hottest heat you can get!
I clean the stove about once in three weeks, maybe two weeks if burning hard. Our accumulation of ash is slow despite 24/7 burning. It really depends on the type of wood with doug fir making almost no ash residue at all. I regularly flatten the ash accumulation in the stove and rake the hot coals to the front for restarts. Also I keep an ash bucket by the stove but it never contains ash. It contains fire tools, gloves, lighter, that get set on the hearth when the bucket goes into ash duty. The ashes are loaded into the bucket and the bucket is dumped in our outside fire pit immediately in a satisfying plume of white fluff.
As others, I scoop daily in my Olympic. It is easy in the AM. Right into the can and then I put the lid on and put it in the garage. I only clean the ash pan in my Jotul about once or twice a week depending on how much I burn and what kind of wood.
We have a small woodburning insert so the ash and coal accumulation adds up pretty quickly. I clean our insert out every 1-2 days (in the morning) into an ash hopper before the morning stoke-up. I leave some ash and coals, raking the colas up front. Once I reload, the hot coals do their magic. I take the hopper outside to our 50-gallon burn barrel.
Rick
Ya, put cans of Natty Light in there, not cola.
In oak burning season it's every few days. With pine, it's more like once a week if that.
In oak burning season it's every few days. With pine, it's more like once a week if that.
- Jan 12, 2006
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When I burn 24/7, I take out one ash bucket of ashes every two weeks (burning only oak and some hickory). That leaves plenty of hot coals and a base in the bottom. It has warmed up quite a bit here this week and I haven't put any wood in the stove since Monday evening and it is still warm. The temp on top of the stove shows just at 100 degrees.
About every 3-4 days I clean out the ash pan and if the fire has died down I give the glass a quick cleaning.
I have an ash drawer on my stove (VC Encore NC) - so I empty it about every 2 days right now when I'm burning full tilt. I just don't want it to get so full that I can't easily put the lid on to carry it outside and empty it into the can. I do this in the morning when the stove is rather cold (still have yet to have any actual fire in there when I get up) which is great from a carrying ashes around the house point of view.. but not really so great from a "I'm standing outside dumping ashes on a cold morning in my PJ's" perspective eh?
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