I've been lazy and letting the ashes collect

[wahoowad]

I forgot to empty my ash pan and scoop out the other ashes after last weekend. So now I have a good 2 inches of fairly dense ash in the bottom of the stove. The only downside for me is I can't get airflow from the ash pan door when I sometimes need to crack it to help jump start certain stubborn loads. No biggie.

How do you full time burners do it? Do you force yourself to let a given load burn all the way down and then scoop out some hot ashes and coals?

 

[precaud]

Perhaps the F3 ashpan works differently from my Morso, but I never have to scoop ashes out of the stove. The coals get "stirred" in the morning and before reloading and the ashes fall into the pan. I may be wrong, but if you have a thick layer of dense ash (clinkers?) on the grate, it sounds to me like you're on the verge of overfiring it. I'd get that dense layer out of there. I think your stove will burn better without it.

 

[HalJason]

I forgot to empty my ash pan and scoop out the other ashes after last weekend. So now I have a good 2 inches of fairly dense ash in the bottom of the stove. The only downside for me is I can't get airflow from the ash pan door when I sometimes need to crack it to help jump start certain stubborn loads. No biggie.

How do you full time burners do it? Do you force yourself to let a given load burn all the way down and then scoop out some hot ashes and coals?

I have no ash pan and I burn 24/7 so I suppose I'm a "worst case" as far as your question goes. In general, once or twice a week (depending on how much/what species wood I'm pushing through) before I reload in the morning, I'll move all the coals to one side (either with a rake, or if I'm lazy, using my fingers/hands as a rake, wearing welding gloves) and remove most of the ash (leaving about .5 inch or so). Then I'll rake the coals over those ashes and do the same for the other side. Finally, I'll bring the coals into the center where the primary air comes from, and load 'er up.

I probably should do it more often, but in reality it only happens when the ash is threatening to start piling up on the glass

All in all, MAYBE it adds 5 minutes to the process.

-Hal

 

[Roospike]

Ash Pan System: (broken link removed)

This is how i do it. normally every day i do a little bit before a reload i pull some ash off the front and then pull the coals back to the front , never a major project.

Shown in the film loop would be more Spring and fall burning and less coal and cleaned twice a week , in the heart of the winter a lot less ash is pulled out but on a daily or every other day basis its done.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I STILL havent cleaned my ashpan since i installed my new stove last november. I just keep packing it down with my shovel. Its getting close to the top, so i will need to scrape some out soon.

 

[Corie]

If you burn wood in my stove, you don't have to empty the ashpan until the end of the season

 

[NWfuel]

I have not cleaned ash out of my stove the past two seasons. I burn Energy logs only. I like the way my stove performs with the build up.
Thomas

 

[Roospike]

Ok , I'll bite . Going months / seasons at a time with out cleaning out ash.

How much wood is being burned ? The normal i have seen is around 50 gallons of ash to 4 cords of wood.

Sounds to me like people are getting 1 cord of wood to 1 gallon of ash.

BS or not burning real amounts of wood ? magic wood or disappearing ash ?

Maybe we'll pull "The METER" out for this story to get the truth.

So even at only best possible case..... 1% ash at 4 cords is what , 5.12 cubic feet of ash!? Now thats one big stove and ash pan.

 

[NWfuel]

Roo,

Little or no ash with Energy Logs from North Idaho. Read Begreens review on Compressed logs in Wiki.

50 gallons of ash for 4 cords of wood? or is it 50 gallons of charcoal?
Thomas

 

[Roospike]

TWO seasons at the best 1% ash is 10.24 cubic feet of ash. MONSTER STOVE ! or

B.S. ! :lol:

 

[NWfuel]

Oh I forgot to add this is 24/7 also.

1% ash is very high. North Idaho logs are maybe 1/20th of that. Pellets are less than 1/4 of 1%.

Thomas

 

[GVA]

Oh I forgot to add this is 24/7 also.

1% ash is very high. North Idaho logs are maybe 1/20th of that. Pellets are less than 1/4 of 1%.

Thomas

Well even one ton of premium pellets will fill my ash pan even if I stir it up to compress it it's still about a gallon and a half worth

 

[NWfuel]

Maybe my ash is going up the stack? I have been burning these consistently for 9 years now and it is the same every year. There is ash build up, maybe 3 plus inches. Doesn't bother the Energy logs though.

I guess I should add that I need to place the logs in the box gently or it does get messy. And also this is in my shop. If in the house I wouldn't care!
Thomas

 

[Roospike]

Oh I forgot to add this is 24/7 also.

1% ash is very high. North Idaho logs are maybe 1/20th of that. Pellets are less than 1/4 of 1%.

Thomas

Well even one ton of premium pellets will fill my ash pan even if I stir it up to compress it it's still about a gallon and a half worth

Even that is 6 gallon at pellets. I thought i smelled BS. ;-)

4 cords of hard wood is 18,000 lbs
so i dont think from 18,000 lbs that 50 gallons of ash is out of the question nor BS.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

dougfir produces very little ash. I fill one 5 gallon can a season, that is at the end of the season when i clean it out.

 

[NWfuel]

Roo, why do you go back to 4 cords at 18,000 lbs. I burn 4,000 lbs of Energy logs at tops. Our dry cordwood weighs 3,500 max per cord though.

 

[NWfuel]

dougfir produces very little ash. I fill one 5 gallon can a season, that is at the end of the season when i clean it out.

MSG, These logs are Doug Fir and Larch

 

[Roospike]

Roo, why do you go back to 4 cords at 18,000 lbs. I burn 4,000 lbs of Energy logs at tops. Our dry cordwood weighs 3,500 max per cord though.

Actually i was making a set statement on average wood burned per year and that is 4 cords of wood. Yours just kinda jumped in there some how.

4,000 lbs of wood per year is not normal , at least not for full time wood stoves nor average pellet stoves.

 

[GVA]

I am probably gonna regret starting this but......... what are the btu's per pound on those Energy logs?

 

[Roospike]

I am probably gonna regret starting this but......... what are the btu's per pound on those Energy logs?

O' No ............Not the BTU per energy log per hard wood debait ! LOL

 

[NWfuel]

Now it seems like we need to know the facts. I heat my shop 24/7 with Energy logs only from October till March without cleaning my firebox. I burn approx. 480 8lb logs maybe a few more when traffic is high entering and exiting like this year. I was only making a statement as to how often I clean MY ash out. I didn't know I had to compete with all of your ways and have it compare to your 4 cords of hardwood with 50 gallons of ash.

Mine is what it is.

If you would like to order a pallet of these logs I would be happy to prove you wrong!

Loser pays for shipping and the price of logs.

Thomas

 

[NWfuel]

I am probably gonna regret starting this but......... what are the btu's per pound on those Energy logs?

O' No ............Not the BTU per energy log per hard wood debait ! LOL

This is what I thought it would lead to. Im not going in to deep here but 68,000 btu per 8lb log with less than 1/20th of 1% ash.

Final answer
Thomas

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Lets open another can of worms...

This is the reason that i think ash pans are waste of time!! Pack those ashes down untill its like a concrete floor in the bottom of your stove and enjow much easier secondary combustion!
LMAO, this is going to be a fun thread.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

dougfir produces very little ash. I fill one 5 gallon can a season, that is at the end of the season when i clean it out.

MSG, These logs are Doug Fir and Larch

any idea what it would cost to ship a ton to colorado? total cost with logs?

 

[NWfuel]

Lets open another can of worms...

This is the reason that i think ash pans are waste of time!! Pack those ashes down untill its like a concrete floor in the bottom of your stove and enjow much easier secondary combustion!
LMAO, this is going to be a fun thread.

That is what I do. It packs like concrete.
Thomas