Random questions from newbie..

[Soadrocks]

It seems like it is "go time" in most parts of the country right now, 24-7 burn time. My question is, when do you clean the ashpan (Jotul Castine) if you are able to keep a 24-7 burn. Never open the ash pan when a fire is going...how does this work? People talk about burning 24-7 until mid feb without using a match. When do you clean out the ash pan?

Next question, I'm starting to get used to our Castine, only been a couple months, but my question is for the veterans. I am able to get the fire to 550 with kindling and splits to start a fire from cold. I then add a couple big logs, let them catch on fire pretty well. Once they are burning well, I start lowering the air lever every 10-12 minutes, when they're charred, I go to 90% air off and the secondary burn commences [marked by the laser light show of purple flames]. The temp then starts to lower, and after a few hours, we're at 220 degrees, I add 3 logs at full air control, wait til it goes up to 550, then slowly lower the air, and this process repeats...is this right?? Is there a way to keep the stove steady at 500 degrees for an EXTENDED period of time (3 to 5 hours) or is this just the natural process???

Thanks in advance!

 

[ansehnlich1]

I have the oslo. I empty my ash pan daily. I do it when the fire is low. I open the side door, then open the ash pan door, remove the ash pan, sit it on the hearth, and close the ash pan door. I take the ash pan out on the concrete porch and empty it into a 35 gallon galvanized can with lid. I come back in, open the ash pan door, re-insert the ashpan, close the ash pan door, then load 'er up from the side door.

Opening the side door keeps the air from rusing in the ash pan door so much.

As for your burn cycle, sounds like it's about right. Some folks get longer or shorter burns depending on wood, and draft. Strong chimney draft will cause a shorter burn. Maybe try to pack the wood in tighter, and close the air up sooner if you can without losing secondary burn.

I burn my stove differently depending on the time of day etc. Sometimes I'll let 'er go up to 650 degrees and then set it back to half open air and just let it cruise, this puts out some serious heat.

Overnight, I let 'er go up to 500 or 550 and then set it to half for a few minutes, and then set it back almost the whole way, as long as I keep the secondaries going. The sooner I set the air back with a packed load the longer the burn.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Welcome aboard.
Sounds like your process is correct, so I am thinking that your larger rounds may noy be dry enough.
What type of wood are you burning?
Also, try some of the larger logs you have and split them once...pack the stove pretty full with the same process you have going for you.
I think if you just have 2-3 splits medium splits in the stove, you are probably not going to get more than 2.5 to 3 hours on a burn.
Good luck

 

[Soadrocks]

Thanks for the input. I have very good seasoned hardwood (mixture of maple, oak, cherry, hickory and beech). Sometimes when I pack it in tight, it's hard to get them going because there is no air to help out, wood just turns black.

Also, what do I do with the continous buildup of hot coals? I try to move as much up to the front (from reading previos posts), but they do take up quite a bit of room in the firebox.

I usually can get 3 large logs in the box, but 4 is pushing it. How many large logs can people get with the Castine?

Thanks again! Last burn last roughly 5hrs without adding logs.

 

[northwinds]

Thanks for the input. I have very good seasoned hardwood (mixture of maple, oak, cherry, hickory and beech). Sometimes when I pack it in tight, it's hard to get them going because there is no air to help out, wood just turns black.

Also, what do I do with the continous buildup of hot coals? I try to move as much up to the front (from reading previos posts), but they do take up quite a bit of room in the firebox.

I usually can get 3 large logs in the box, but 4 is pushing it. How many large logs can people get with the Castine?

Thanks again! Last burn last roughly 5hrs without adding logs.

Everyone's draft set-up is a little bit different. If your temperature is dropping at 90%, I recommend not closing your draft that far.
Try 85%, 80%,75%, until you find your sweet spot where the temp levels off without dropping or losing your secondary burn before
the smoke burns off.

On the coals, patience is required. It's not enough to move the coals up to the front. You have to let them burn down a bit; otherwise,
they will keep building up.

 

[f3cbboy]

hi - i have the next size smaller jotul and i never clean out the ashpan except at the end of the season. I let it fill up and then clean out ashes every other or third day out of the firebox. What i do to get rid of the coals is after the main burn of the splits is over and it is just coals pumping out heat, i let that go untill the stove begins to lose a little temperature. Then i open up on the air about 50% and burn up most of the coals, pumping out some more heat out of them in the process(i understand u will lose a little extra heat up the stack, but you also get all the btus out of the wood) At this point i use a shovel and move the coals to one side of the firebox and remove all the spent ash that i can, then move the coals to the other side and repeat.
I only clean out the ashpan once because i got frustrated with ash getting behind the pan and not being able to close the door correctly without beating up the ashpan handle. I belive the F3cb and the castine have the same type design. I was using a shopvac to get the ash from inside the ashpan compartment, and burned up one of the HEPA filters ($30) that are used for ash or joint compound dust. I was doing it with stove in operation at first. Then i read it on here that someone else cleaned out the firebox only and that method has worked for me since.

 

[argus66]

my stove is a lot smaller then yours but for me to get a good coal bed and overnight burn i need a pretty good layer of ash in there like if i burn all day pack it at night damper down about 80% when i wake up under the thick ash layer will be some sweet coals glowing. sound to me like u are doing pretty good just need a little tweaking, good job by letting it burn hot.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks for the input. I have very good seasoned hardwood (mixture of maple, oak, cherry, hickory and beech). Sometimes when I pack it in tight, it's hard to get them going because there is no air to help out, wood just turns black.

Also, what do I do with the continous buildup of hot coals? I try to move as much up to the front (from reading previos posts), but they do take up quite a bit of room in the firebox.

I usually can get 3 large logs in the box, but 4 is pushing it. How many large logs can people get with the Castine?

Thanks again! Last burn last roughly 5hrs without adding logs.

Burning down the coals is part of the cycle. If you don't burn them down, either they keep piling up, robbing you of space or else you end up shoveling them out; a terrible thing to do.

What usually works best is to do the opposite of when reloading. That is, begin giving the stove more air as the wood burns down. Late in the burn, when the temperature of the stove begins to drop, give it 1/4 to 1/2 open draft. When it has gone almost to the coaling stage, open that draft full. It also helps to rake through the coals and pile them towards the front of the stove.

Emptying the ashes, just wait until you are down to coals and have let those coals burn down a bit. Then ash removal is easy. Not so easy if you just let those coals build up.

As for keeping the stove at a steady temperature, that is not going to happen. A wood stove just don't work that way. There will be peaks and valleys. You've already perhaps noticed that and you've tried to keep that temperature up by adding wood....too soon. Therefore you have a problem with too many coals.

Once you learn the best way for your stove, you'll find that the temperature of the house need not vary that much. You just have to spend a little more time with a wood stove than you do with a gas furnace.

 

[Soadrocks]

You guys rock! Thanks for the awesome feedback. Let the fun commence.

 

[adrpga498]

I empty the ash drawer when I need to in the morning during a reload. Quick open & close , dump ashes, replace ashpan and good to go. The quick open gives the new load a shot of air and I'm off and running for a few more days.

 

[firefighterjake]

I have the Oslo, but the principle of cleaning out the ash pan would be the same for the Castine.

I typically only unload the ash pan once to twice a week . . . and almost always in the morning after an overnight fire when I'm down to low coals. I would never attempt to clean out the ashes when the fire is going full bore.

What I do is to open the ash pan door, give the ash pan a quick shake to knock down any ash hung up between the grate and pan (this also levels out the ash a bit), pull out the ash pan and put it on the hearth and shut the ash pan door. I then walk the ash pan door outside and dump the contents into my covered galvanized pan to cool down for several days. I then walk back inside, put the ash pan on the hearth and use my flat shovel to scoop out any errant coals or ash that has dropped down into the ash pan compartment (usually there isn't much now thanks to my "shake and bake" method) and then I replace the pan, shut the door and I'm ready to go. Easy peasy . . . and hakuna matata . . .

Sounds like you're running the stove right . . . you're not going to get a steady 500 degree stove top temp with the Castine . . . or any other similar stove for that matter . . . for several hours. The temps will peak and stay pretty high, but as the wood burning process progresses the heat output will slowly decline . . . to the point where you need to start the whole process over again.

Coals . . . if you're getting an excessive amount of coals you're probably doing one of two things. 1) You're making the newbie mistake (like I did at first) of adding wood to the coals way too soon . . . just try adding wood a bit later . . . wait until you're down to smaller coals or 2) you're adding wood to the fire too soon since it's wicked cold outside and you're trying to keep the house warm . . . but you can fix this "problem" on one of the reloads by throwing in a single, small split, opening up the air and waiting for 45 minutes or so . . . the split will catch on fire and with the air control open all the way the coals will go to ash in no time.