Coal Bed Depth

[lopiliberty]

My coal bed is usually 1 or 2 inches and the rest is ashes. I find this stove is ALOT more controllable with the ashes up to the bottom of the door ledge but it cust way down on the wood I can get in. I usually take the ashes out every Thursday. Because of this cold, I can't let the fire go out to remove the ashes, so this morning I removed 3 shovels full of hot glowing ash and as careful as I was the fly ash went everywhere. I knew what was going to happen before I started but needed more room for wood. Spent ALL day cleaning this house top to bottom. When ashes are cold I have no fly ash at all. Next time I don't care if its 50 below the stove is going cold before I remove the ashes. And yes before anyone says anything the ashes where placed in a metal bucket at the edge of the patio in the snow 8 feet from the house

 

[pen]

I guess this info is only for stoves with grates. Over the years I have had my share of burned out, twisted grates. A few years ago I showed one to a friend and he said that's caused by leaving too many (too deep?) hot ashes in stove. He said his Dad (old timer farmer) told him this years ago.

So since then I have been minding my ashes. I empty the drawer every day. Grates are looking fine. I have 3 grates in my Johnson Wood Burner and they cost $104 EACH, so I ain't takin any chances

Having a lot of coals in there could especially be an issue of the ash pan door isn't sealing properly or if it gets used to supercharge a sluggish start.

pen

 

[xman23]

Yep, a good bed coals are were it's at for us. Reloads are no issue, the stove hangs in there at 250-350 just on a bed of coals 1 to 3 inches. Even at single digit temps we can't run to hot for to long without cookng the house.

 

[Trilifter7]

I usually keep my ash bed around 3-4" deep. Any less and the coals go out after 3-4 hours of no fire. A good coal bed and I can have nice hot coals for 12 hours after the fire goes out no problem. In keeping this ash depth I normally empty my bed out once or twice a week depending on the wood and burn conditions.