Leave 1" of ash in the bottom?
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Nick Mystic
Minister of Fire
Leaving a bit of ash in the bottom of your stove/insert seems to make it easier to build a fire. I guess the insulating effect of the ash helps the stove heat up quicker. However, new ash forms quick enough that I doubt it matters much in the long run. Most folks without an ash pan don't clean out the ash all that often in their stoves and when they do after one fire they have sufficient ash on the floor of the stove to serve this function. When removing ash from a stove/insert during the burning season I think most of us just try to remove the bulk of the ash and we aren't interested in trying to get the firebox cleaned out like we are at the end of the burning season when we are shutting the stove down.
My Morso manual says "Always maintain a 1-1.5 inch layer of ash on the floor of the combustion chamber" but the floor consists of a cast plate with a grate in the center. I think they want the ash left to act as insulation and warm the stove faster. I don't see any advantage to it with a firebrick base.
Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
An ash bed will act as an insulator. This is a good thing. It reduces heat radiation through the base of the stove and it helps keep the coal bed and fire hotter.
Some stoves are designed to have an inch or more of ash or sand as insulation, others use firebrick and you should have a bit of ash or sand to fill-in any cracks or voids in the firebrick. I find too much ash smothers the fire and makes for a less complete burn of the wood when it gets buried in the ash.
Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
I was told to keep the ash away from 2 air holes that are in the very front of the inside floor for better operation. If he didn't tell me that I would have never of known....
I've got a row of holes also and when there's more than an inch of ash, they get covered up and the burn suffers. Sometimes I think every wood stove purchase should include an hour of in-house instruction.
Yep ya gotta keep them pushed back a couple of inches, I use an old garden hoe, removed the wood handle and had a steel rod welded on it. Best tool I have found for tending to my ash bed. Jay
I have a small 1.2 cu.ft. firebox with bricks on the floor as just wastes space for me and does nothing useful in my case.
Every year I forget and vac out all of the ash at the start of the season. And that first fire takes forever to heat the stove and stabilize the burn. Leave some ash. And send me an email next October to remind me.
fitter9
Member
Around 1 or 2 inches of ash seems to increase my burn time. i think the ash bed insulates the coals and keeps them from burning down to nothing.
if i don't have a deep enough ash bed, it seems to be a harder relight in the morning. i have to use a lot more kindling and build up more coals to get it going again,
with the deeper ash bed all i have to do is stir it around to expose all the coals, open my air until all the coals start glowing again and load it up with some smaller splits in the front.
if i don't have a deep enough ash bed, it seems to be a harder relight in the morning. i have to use a lot more kindling and build up more coals to get it going again,
with the deeper ash bed all i have to do is stir it around to expose all the coals, open my air until all the coals start glowing again and load it up with some smaller splits in the front.
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