About those coals, cold start

[Berone]

I understand the concept of keeping a bed of glowing coals, even when removing the ash. I'm still doing my first few burns and I've let the stove go cold, per the manufacturer's instructions, to clean the glass. Should I leave the dead cold coals at the bottom? Or clean everything out before starting the next fire?

Thanks,

 

[Jotulf3cb]

Leave everything! You need to establish a good bed of coals usually leaving about 2 inches of coals in your stove to get a good burn

 

[Berone]

Okay, so those coals will light up again? That was my concern, that I would leave coals at the bottom that wouldn't burn, just take up space.

 

[Pagey]

A 1" layer of ash is desirable and acts as a good insulator. The charcoal left over from the previous burn has some fuel value, so leave it and let her burn.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

*singing* Let it be, let it be, let it be, oh let it be...." *singing voice off*


Why are ya cleaning the glass? Is it black or covered with white or brown ash?

Matt

 

[Berone]

Because the big sticker on the glass told me to! A bit of white residue which the sticker says will become harder to remove if not done immediately. This is for the first couple of burns. Since they also say to never clean hot glass, I let the stove go cold. Oh, and it was 60 degrees here a couple of days ago.

Thanks,

 

[derecskey]

Yeah, I have to clean mine occaisionally too. Sometimes I wake up, and it's just black. Not usually. But sometimes I'll load her up, look at the clock. Half hour later, go to bed and choke down the air. Great secondary burn for 10 minutes and then just a red glow. Usually the glass will stay clean. Sometimes not. A good hot morning fire will often take care of it.

I find it hard sometimes though to keep clean glass when I'm away from home as much as I am. I'm up at 6, out the door by 7, and not back home until almost 5pm. If I'm lucky, the wife, who gets home around 3:30, has thrown a few splits on and has a very moderate fire going. I have from 5pm until 10-11 pm to do some good burning. Then it's the overnight burn again.

So my schedule looks like:

12:00am (air closed)
1:00am (air closed)
2:00am (air closed)
3:00am (air closed)
4:00am (air closed)
5:00am (air closed)
6:00am (light from coals, air wide open)
7:00am (air closed)
8:00am (air closed)
9:00am (air closed)
10:00am (air closed)
11:00am (air closed)
12:00pm (air closed)
1:00pm (air closed)
2:00pm (air closed)
3:00pm (light from coals, air wide open)
4:00pm (actively tended fire)
5:00pm (actively tended fire)
6:00pm (actively tended fire)
7:00pm (actively tended fire)
8:00pm (actively tended fire)
9:00pm (actively tended fire)
10:00pm (prepare for overnight burn)
11:00pm (air closed)


Seems like there just isn't that much time in the day to do some good clean burning. Do any others struggle with this?

 

[firefighterjake]

Well it's been said before, but I'll chime in.

Hmmm . . . I would recommend following a stove manufacturer's advice . . . but while I would not attempt to clean my glass with a firebox full of glowing red coals or visible flames, I have cleaned the glass when the stove was still warm with no ill effects . . . just be careful to not burn yourself if the glass is warm to hot . . . and I wouldn't throw a large cup of ice cold water on the glass.

Live coals = very good. Great for starting up fires.

Dead coals = also very good. Dead coals (aka charcoal) is like left-over pizza . . . it was good the first time and just as good the second time. Dead coals often relight fairly easily and contain untapped BTUs. Definitely save them . . . and by the way, treat all coals as live coals as many people make this mistake when disposing of these coals.

As mentioned, do not clean out all ash . . . you want to keep 1-2 inches of ash and coals in the firebox as it will keep your coals alive longer and provides some insulation.

 

[madison]

They burn, keep 'em,

it so inclined, there is a slotted "kol keeper" shovel to assist with separating coals form ash if you really need to clean out the stove and want to keep the hot coals. warning, can make more of a mess of an already potentially messy act of cleaning out a stove.

 

[Berone]

Thanks, all. Got a good fire started before heading to work. My wife is in charge of keeping it going through the evening. I'll see what I find when I get home. Shouldn't be a problem, since she's the one that wanted the insert and she loves a good fire.