lots of ashes in the stove

[RoosterBoy]

hay guys allot of new stoves say you will have very little ashes left over after a fire. but if you have allot left over is it because the wood was not completely seasoned. also if you have black chunks mixed in with the ash is that another sign of unseasoned wood?

thanks
Jason

 

[paulgp602]

When I get down to hot coals only, and I plan on letting the stove burn out for the evening, I open the draft all the way. I found that doing this lets the coals burn more completely.
Also try raking the coals to the front of the stove, this will allow them to burn more completely.

 

[BrotherBart]

Softer woods will leave more carbon "chunks" usually than dry dense hardwoods.

 

[wg_bent]

Softer woods will leave more carbon "chunks" usually than dry dense hardwoods.

Well, just proves that everyone's experiece is different. I've been burning some pine lately, and I've gone around a week, and just cleaned the stove out tonight. Still not a lot of ash in it. When burning elm I have to clean the stove out almost every morning. Hey Spike...I just found another reason the hate elm I feel much better now. I was beginning to think pine was the new elm.

 

[Roospike]

Softer woods will leave more carbon "chunks" usually than dry dense hardwoods.

Well, just proves that everyone's experiece is different. I've been burning some pine lately, and I've gone around a week, and just cleaned the stove out tonight. Still not a lot of ash in it. When burning elm I have to clean the stove out almost every morning. Hey Spike...I just found another reason the hate elm I feel much better now. I was beginning to think pine was the new elm.

Warren , Did you say..........ELM!?!?!?!?

 

[Roospike]

:lol: LOL :lol: The official Hearth.com - "Warren , did you say ELM" picture.

 

[Roospike]

O'Yeah ..........EVERYBODY now.

AHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHH

 

[paulgp602]

When I get down to hot coals only, and I plan on letting the stove burn out for the evening, I open the draft all the way. I found that doing this lets the coals burn more completely.
Also try raking the coals to the front of the stove, this will allow them to burn more completely.

This approach will certainly aid the consumption of the coals, but MIGHT it not result, during the time period employed, a net heat LOSS to the living space?? You'll be short circuiting a lot of warmed room air up the chimney without doing much more than scavenging the little remaining heat value in the coals.

Yes, this does lose me some heat. I do it to reduce the amount of ash, which extends the time between stove cleanings

 

[wg_bent]

Softer woods will leave more carbon "chunks" usually than dry dense hardwoods.

Well, just proves that everyone's experiece is different. I've been burning some pine lately, and I've gone around a week, and just cleaned the stove out tonight. Still not a lot of ash in it. When burning elm I have to clean the stove out almost every morning. Hey Spike...I just found another reason the hate elm I feel much better now. I was beginning to think pine was the new elm.

Warren , Did you say..........ELM!?!?!?!?

Send me that...That's my new avatar! I'll pm you. That's awsome!

 

[kevinlp]

I burned in my stove for about 12 hours this weekend. The ash pan was empty when I began. I happen to check it on Sunday and it was completely full. Not sure what types of wood I was burning. I guess I need to get an ash pail so I don't have to let the stove cool down constantly to empty the ash pan.

When I sift through the ash left after a fire I have few carbon chunks remaining. Perhaps a handfull. I rake this stuff to the side for the next burn.

 

[wg_bent]

Kevin, why do you need to let the stove cool down to empty the ash pan?

My stove doesn't have an ash pan at all, so I typically push burning embers/coals to one side and shovel out the ashes. I usually don't worry too much about scooping up some burning peices as long as they're no bigger than 1/2 a golf ball or so. It ends up taking too much effort to be that diligent. So I scoop em up, put them in my ash bucket (a very large ceramic coated pot I got from k-mart) and out the to the front steps they go.

The yearly reminder seems in order here (not directed at Kevin here):

Don't put hot ash buckets on your deck, in the garage, or on any surface around your home that isn't totally fireproof.
I only put the bucket on my hearth or my front steps (which are concrete and bluestone)

Once outside, be careful, I've had my ash bucket contain redhot embers for days after they came out of the stove, so be careful where you toss them, especially this time of year with all the dead leaves around.

 

[begreen]

:lol: LOL :lol: The official Hearth.com - "Warren , did you say ELM" picture.

Excellent! :lol: And I have a big elm tree that I'm itching to have removed. Everytime I think of it, I think of Warren. - the tree's still there.

 

[begreen]

I'm experimenting with the Castine to see how long I can go without emptying the ashes. We have several nightly fires now and lots of room to go.

 

[Rhone]

I have a good sized insert and I burn a lot of oak. Everytime I pack mine, I get about 2 ash shovel fulls. I also get the black chunks, here's a tip to burn them so you don't waste the heat. When you go to load or start your next fire, push all the black pieces & glowing embers to the back. I purchased a $3.99 garden hand rake that's mostly metal to do it. Then, scoop out the fine powder ash in the front. Afterward push everything to the front near the loading door (into two seperate piles if you load side/side) and either load new wood on top or start a new fire.

Generally, fires burn hottest in the front near the window, and slow/coldest in the back. When I go to reload, the back is where I find my embers and black chunks. Moving them to the front and starting a new fire, has them in the hottest place of your stove and they burn up into fine powder.

 

[PAJerry]

We've been burning only well-seasoned pine for evening fires last few weeks and there is only a very fine ash left. I let it build up for a few days before cleaning it out. No carbon chunks at all so far.

 

[wg_bent]

I have a good sized insert and I burn a lot of oak. Everytime I pack mine, I get about 2 ash shovel fulls. I also get the black chunks, here's a tip to burn them so you don't waste the heat. When you go to load or start your next fire, push all the black pieces & glowing embers to the back. I purchased a $3.99 garden hand rake that's mostly metal to do it. Then, scoop out the fine powder ash in the front. Afterward push everything to the front near the loading door (into two seperate piles if you load side/side) and either load new wood on top or start a new fire.

Generally, fires burn hottest in the front near the window, and slow/coldest in the back. When I go to reload, the back is where I find my embers and black chunks. Moving them to the front and starting a new fire, has them in the hottest place of your stove and they burn up into fine powder.

I have a slight variation on what Rhonemas does... When I'm just working to burn coals down, rake all the coals into the center front of the stove like he said so the coals are directly in front of the air intake, then load two new splits on either side of the coals, then a couple splits loaded 90 degrees across the top of the two lower splits sort of like a bridge. This directs the air over the coals to burn them down really nicely.