Question About Letting Fire Die

[sesro1978]

Hi-

As a fire is dying down for the evening/whatever, is it recommended that the air control be opened up to get more heat from the coals that are there or keep the air control (assuming that it is at something less than full open) where it is? I guess what I'm asking is will letting a fire die down to coals and then opening the air control cause creosote build up?

Thanks!

 

[David.Ervin]

By the time you're down to coals, all the volatile stuff that could otherwise condense back into creosote have been burned off and you're basically burning pure carbon.

If I want to burn down the coal bed so I don't have so much built up later, I'll open up the air. If I want to keep coals for a restart in the morning, I close it down.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

Agreed. By the time it's coals you're good, there's nothing there that can cause creosote. David.Ervin is exactly right on the coal bed too, if I'm going to reload before bed for instance and the coals are high, I'll open it up for a while to burn some of those coals down before reloading, or, if you leave the air cut down on a coal bed, it'll last a surprisingly long time for potential re-start after that. But there's no rule that says you "should" ramp up the air to burn the coals down, it's whatever you want.

 

[sesro1978]

Agreed. By the time it's coals you're good, there's nothing there that can cause creosote. David.Ervin is exactly right on the coal bed too, if I'm going to reload before bed for instance and the coals are high, I'll open it up for a while to burn some of those coals down before reloading, or, if you leave the air cut down on a coal bed, it'll last a surprisingly long time for potential re-start after that. But there's no rule that says you "should" ramp up the air to burn the coals down, it's whatever you want.

Great - thanks for that info. guys!