Un-burnt wood coal left? Let talk about it........

[Roospike]

I had read a post that was mentioned about.... wood coal still left unburnt in the stove . I would see this in my P.E. summit when loading al the wood at start or at refire then when the wood starts to die down hours later and more wood is loaded on top. One keeps adding new wood and some of the wood coal that was there ends up getting unburnt under the stack and over time can build up . I do two things #1 when there is only hot coal left in the stove and need more heat i will open the damper to med setting and crank the coal heat up , move it around every once in a wile to get all the coal burning and work the coal bed down . Once the coal bed is burnt down i can now take out "ash" and reload. This way normally take about 3 + hours in my stove . The other way is #2 I will also add "one" small to med size log every 3 or so hours. By doing this i get the new burning wood heat and also the coal logs that just went to coal logs keep burning and also the left over smaller coal that was there before the coal logs will keep buring and not get a next layer of wood right on top. This way i do get more even heat over the day but one would have to be around the home to do the 3 hour "one log" reload. I work from home so i can do this in the day. These are my thoughts and the 2 different ways to work down the wood coal to ash with more even heat . I know some stove owners need more of the wood-heat and just cant keep the house warm with the left over coal that is on the lower setting over 6+ hours. I have been burning wood for over 12++ years so i know stoves , houses , wood , were one lives make a big difference so i thought we could post some of our "thoughts" and "how 2's" on the burning of wood and burning down the coal with less left overs.

 

[Rick]

I have the same problem when I'm home all day. I end up with a huge bed of coals that feel like they could slag metal inside the stove, but the stove itself doesn't really give off much heat. I have to be careful not to over-fire my stove when it's like that. A normal load of wood takes off too fast, even damped down. I do the same thing you do to get rid of some, one or two small logs at a time. I'm away from home at large stretches of time, so this only happens once or twice a week for me. Good post though, it happened to me yesterday.

Rick

 

[Rhone]

There's three things I do with them depending on my mood.

1.) I throw it out with the rest of the ashes. 2.) When cleaning the ashes out I leave them behind to be burnt later. 3.) If I'm up to the task when I clean my ashes I take out the unburnt coal, build a new fire and before lighting it I throw them on top, then light the fire.

 

[DavidV]

I just rake them back and forth a bit over the ashpan vent and let the ashes fall away. just this alone usually gets them cherry red and I put more wood on top...let it burn 5 minutes and close the door. almost ready for the damper. This isn't a problem for me, it's an objective.

 

[wg_bent]

Hey Roo,

Thanks for posting, I should have created a new thread on this. You were reading my post, so I'll put the post here for the benefit of the thread.

Sounds like my technique is about right...

Original post
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What I do find is that after 24 hours of more some of the lower coals aren’t really burning, and I have to sort of stir them up. Problem is that they’re not putting out much heat at that point. What I tend to do then is put smaller loads on top to get the air flow going due to increased draft of the flame. I think the problem is actually loading too much wood at at time.

I’d like to hear from others on how it works. Is there a difference between how a steel stove works vs the cast? One thing I noticed about some of the cast stoves (Morso, VC, and Jotul all had this....) Grates formed the bottom of the firebox, where the steel stoves from Osburn, Lopi, Quadrafire, Harmon, Avalon....etc… all had a solid firebrick floor. From burning coal, I know that you need air from below in order to effectively burn coal. Seems to me that the cast stoves I mentioned would be considerably more effective at burning wood (and coals...NOT COAL) to completion.

Do others experience incomplete burn of coals within the coal bed?
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[Roospike]

Good subject....I'll post more, later. Meanwhile, question fer ya: Does that PE Summit have an ashpan??

Dylan

Hi Dylan , Yes my Pacific Energy Summit does have the ash pan clean out "OPTION" The ash pan clean out system was a $160. upgrade. Most of the ash pan systems i have use on other stoves i have owned or seen were a joke so i almost didint get the option. BUT the clean out hole on the floor is in the front "left" in the stove , so where the hole is make things a lot easier to work. The clean out hole has a spring loaded flap door with an front handle that you have to pull and turn up to open , when done you let go of the flapper door and you spring it back and it locks. I really do like this ash pan clean out system on this stove 90% less dust than doing it with a scoup and bucket.

 

[Roospike]

Hey Roo,

Thanks for posting, I should have created a new thread on this. You were reading my post, so I'll put the post here for the benefit of the thread.

Sounds like my technique is about right...

Yep . thats the one . I thought the topic needed its own thread so it didnt get swallowed by the other topic. plus its easier to search the topic in "search" with its own thread.