This forum has been great as we've gotten to know our PI29 insert installed in October. We've had a decent arctic blast here in Wisconsin already, and I'm proud to say we have yet to turn on our furnace in our leaky 1967 built 2400 sq. ft ranch. We're used to adjusting to temps in the 60s, and 50s at night, which obviously helps. We've been running 24/7 for a month or so and the ash is really building up. I know .5 inch is ideal, but wondering how serious it is to let it build up. I think I've read of people being less judicious, so wondering how big a safety and performance issue it is to run with several inches of ash.
Big Ash
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Thanks for your response. Is there an upper limit where performance will start to decline? Why do people empty more regularly if it actually enhances how it works?
I have about 4” from the bottom of the loading door to the bottom of the firebox. When the ash builds up close to the level to the door I’ll clean out the ash. At the point or close to it I’ve lost the room to add a row of firewood.
I take out some ash every chance I get to keep it under control. Rarely do I let the stove go cold. I use a coal sifter to separate the coals from the ash, ash goes to one side and coals to the other. Then I build a smaller fire on the coals. The heat from the fire burns out the embers left in the ash so I can scoop them out at the next reload. If I let it build up too much I don't have room to do this and the pile of coals is too much. More ash keeps coals longer, but at some point you have to let it go cold to clean it out.
My Chinook only has about 2" to the door, so I need to clean out ashes a bit more frequently.
I'm not so sure about the rumor that the fire burns better with an ash layer. Sure, if you don't sift the coals, you'll need to start the fire all over again, but other than that I don't see a benefit. Rather a downside since pieces of wood can sink into the ash layer, where they won't burn due to lack of oxygen, leaving unburnt "coals".
The buried wood depends on the species and loading (I never load oak (coaling) under maple (ashy)).
And it also will depend on the type of stove (how it burns, a cat stove running low may be different in this respect than a hot tube stove).
I personally don't see much wood sinking in the ashes.
Other than that, much ashes allow for less new wood in a new load. Currently (here) that's not a problem, but if it gets arctic cold here I do empty ashes out beforehand so I can load more.
Besides these secondary issues, having "too much" ashes is not a problem.
And it also will depend on the type of stove (how it burns, a cat stove running low may be different in this respect than a hot tube stove).
I personally don't see much wood sinking in the ashes.
Other than that, much ashes allow for less new wood in a new load. Currently (here) that's not a problem, but if it gets arctic cold here I do empty ashes out beforehand so I can load more.
Besides these secondary issues, having "too much" ashes is not a problem.
There is no safety or performance problem with too much ash in the box. If stuff starts spilling out when you open the door then I suppose that could create a safety problem and foul the door gasket seal. The best reason for keeping ashes low is to allow more room for fuel.
Try it, clean out all the ash one time and relight the fire. I did many years ago and haven’t done it since. That was with a Regency stove not a BK, I still leave 1/2” minimum in the bottom of my BK. Every summer I clean out the firebox to inspect the brick, once the inspection/replace any broken bricks is done I put about 1/2” of ash back in.
Did that just yesterday since we had a few warm days and the stove wasn't on. Relighted the fire without any issues...plus I could fit at least two more splits in ;-)
Good, makes clean up quick and easy. I’ve always had to run the stove longer on high after all the ash has been removed.
I've found it makes much more of a difference regarding how cold the stove has gotten on the relight. The bricks retain a lot of heat, and even if it's been half a day since the fire went out, the fire relights much quicker. I found the amount of ash has no influence there.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I'm burning a lot of ash wood which unfortunately for me leaves a ton of ash, so I clean the stove out once a week, the deeper bellys of the BK's really help in this, but once the ash level gets to the point of where I cant do my normal wood loading, then its time to clean out. I do see a little more performance with ash in the stove, but that is outweighed by being able to fill the stove on a cold night, I think I'm more inclined to leave 1" of ash in the stove during the shoulder seasons vs dead of winter when I need more btu's
Once the cold of the season sets in, I leave ash in. From about mid fall shoulder season and on. From my 1st All NIghter stove, to my 2nd, and now wood furnace. I keep my practices the same. A cold stove takes longer to heat up, as well as the flue. Coals are a welcome sight on reloads. Ash helps keep the coals around. I leave an inch or so to harbor them. When I can, I let them burn down a bit to make room. Sometimes with assistance. I pull as much ash out of the front as possible before a reload. Level coals and reload splits.
Relighting a cold, early shoulder season stove, becomes a chore.
Relighting a cold, early shoulder season stove, becomes a chore.
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