Reducing coal build up ?

[acritzer]

Today the house was pretty cold waking up. Low temps today. Wife burned all day throwing things in aggressively. As such, we have a lot of coals built up. Other than scooping out really hot coals, letting it burn down and then scooping out, is there a decent way to deal with this?

Maybe burning a load full open?

Thanks.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Today the house was pretty cold waking up. Low temps today. Wife burned all day throwing things in aggressively. As such, we have a lot of coals built up. Other than scooping out really hot coals, letting it burn down and then scooping out, is there a decent way to deal with this?

Maybe burning a load full open?

Thanks.

A known good way to help this is to rake the coals forward and then putting on some kindling pieces on top of that raked up coals. Turn air intake to high. Let burn down. After the kilndling burns down you probably have to do this another time or two. This has worked well for me. It’s a nice way to get some heat while you’re reducing that excessive coaling.

 

[ADDvanced]

^ that. Also make sure your wood is dry.

 

[NickW]

I burn a load of softwood on excessive coals if I need the heat but can't get a decent size hardwood load in.

 

[velvetfoot]

I leave the door cracked open on the coals and poke 'em every once in a while.

 

[Bad LP]

I open my air. Rake them around prevents lumps in the ash.

 

[clancey]

I.m afraid of them because they fly out at me..clancey

 

[ABMax24]

Rake them to the front and open the air.

Spruce works great for this too, adding it on top of the coals allows you to maintain heat output and burn the coals down at the same time.

 

[clancey]

Don't have spruce but that is sure nice to know..Suppose to snow this Friday and I will lite my stove again and I like starting off cold... When it burns low I will put on a full armor made of sheet metal to load it up again....You want me to rake them to the front--you must be crazy but I will and open the air a little--just a little and shut the door quick...Thanks kidding I will try to do better...clancey

 

[firefighterjake]

Doesn't often happen unless it is really, really cold and I'm loading her early and often to keep the heat output up . . . in which case every so often I'll keep the air control all the way open and toss in 2-3 softwood splits to burn down the coals. Manages to keep the heat up more or less and burn down the coals in quick order.

 

[ohlongarm]

Today the house was pretty cold waking up. Low temps today. Wife burned all day throwing things in aggressively. As such, we have a lot of coals built up. Other than scooping out really hot coals, letting it burn down and then scooping out, is there a decent way to deal with this?

Maybe burning a load full open?

Thanks.

You've been given good advice by many here, however one contributing factor to a large coal bed forming is less than ideally seasoned wood. That's a fact been there done that back in the day. My wood now some 4 to 8 years seasoned will seldom even leave a discernible coal bed, and that's a 4.4 cu ft box, just ash usually after a long burn.

 

[jwoair23]

This is one area where I really like having both a front and side open door. It makes it a lot easier/safer to rake coals to the front through the side door vs. pulling them to you in the front door.

Also - I have noticed the amount of coals (as well as ash) leftover can change quite a bit based on what wood you are burning, as well as how hot the burn was correlating with how much air you were giving the fire.

 

[John B]

Turn the air up a bit when the fire starts to fall down from its peak, so that it burns hotter. Also, only load once and let the load burn down before fully reloading. Constantly adding in new splits will cause this issue for me pretty heavily, but if I just let the load run its course it isnt an issue.

 

[saberbass]

I also rake the coals forward and throw on poplar splits, they are so light that they don't really coal but you get some extra heat from the flames and they help burn up the coals.

 

[ericm979]

You've been given good advice by many here, however one contributing factor to a large coal bed forming is less than ideally seasoned wood. That's a fact been there done that back in the day. My wood now some 4 to 8 years seasoned will seldom even leave a discernible coal bed, and that's a 4.4 cu ft box, just ash usually after a long burn.

I am seeing the same burning two summer dried wood this year vs one summer dried last year. There's coals when the fire is going and for reloads, but when I let it burn down the coals are nearly all ash when last year there'd be more coals left.

Last year I got an ash/coal separating scoop. It's an ash scoop with mesh so the ash falls out with a little shaking and you can put the coals to one side. This lets me remove ash while leaving coals.

 

[acritzer]

I am seeing the same burning two summer dried wood this year vs one summer dried last year. There's coals when the fire is going and for reloads, but when I let it burn down the coals are nearly all ash when last year there'd be more coals left.



Last year I got an ash/coal separating scoop. It's an ash scoop with mesh so the ash falls out with a little shaking and you can put the coals to one side. This lets me remove ash while leaving coals.

That sounds helpful. Does it make a big mess though, shaking with ash in it?

 

[NickW]

I bought one last year too. Love it. I push everything to the left side, scoop some, shake the ash into a pile in the right front and toss the coals & charcoal to the back right. Repeat until all seperated and scoop the ash out into the metal pail.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

when you start to get a bunch of coals.. turn the air up this will help burn them down quicker