White coating

[BigJ273]

Noticed this white coating in my stove tonight. Decided to look up the pipe and found the pipe seemed to be coated with it too. Any ideas or is this normal? Had temps around 550 last night, but nothing concerning happened that I can remember. Brushed right off of the metal in the firebox. Still don’t ever remember seeing white in my old stove or in the pipe before. I will also say that last night was likely the hottest fire I’ve had going consistently in this stove since I got it this year. Idk if that had something to do with it also???

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like ash to me that has had every bit of carbon burnt out of it. IMO it means good combustion. Ash varies with wood type. Have you changed your wood supply since your prior stove? Fully burnt out ash is fluffy and leaves no traces of soot. Soot is unburnt carbon so if you see dark ash with coals in it, it means partial combustion.

BTW the same looking deposit can also appear if folks are burning coated paper. The coating is a mix of finely ground clay and titanium dioxide. It doesnt burn and gets carried along for the ride. Not very good for a catalyst. Glossy coated paper can be 1/2 non organic fillers and they dont burn. In rare occasions at high temps the ash can fuse into chunks and form klinker.

 

[BigJ273]

Looks like ash to me that has had every bit of carbon burnt out of it. IMO it means good combustion. Ash varies with wood type. Have you changed your wood supply since your prior stove? Fully burnt out ash is fluffy and leaves no traces of soot. Soot is unburnt carbon so if you see dark ash with coals in it, it means partial combustion.

BTW the same looking deposit can also appear if folks are burning coated paper. The coating is a mix of finely ground clay and titanium dioxide. It doesnt burn and gets carried along for the ride. Not very good for a catalyst. Glossy coated paper can be 1/2 non organic fillers and they dont burn. In rare occasions at high temps the ash can fuse into chunks and form klinker.

I have not changed my supply, but have been burning mostly soft woods this season. Loaded it up w oak last night which had the stove around 550 and secondaries we’re going nuts

 

[Diabel]

You just had a nice hot burn! The last pic .......no idea what that is

 

[bholler]

I am not sure but it doesn't look like you have a proper appliance adapter on the end of the liner

 

[BigJ273]

I am not sure but it doesn't look like you have a proper appliance adapter on the end of the liner

Here’s my appliance adapter

 

[bholler]

Here’s my appliance adapter

Ok good

 

[BigJ273]

Ok good

You may recall the convo we had in a private message....where you recommended I use a ball peen hammer to bang the crimp out. There was a small portion that didn’t lay completely flat, which is kinda creating an illusion in that photo

 

[bholler]

You may recall the convo we had in a private message....where you recommended I use a ball peen hammer to bang the crimp out. There was a small portion that didn’t lay completely flat, which is kinda creating an illusion.

I remember the conversation just didn't remember that it was you.

 

[BigJ273]

You just had a nice hot burn! The last pic .......no idea what that is

That’s the top on the inside.

 

[Kevin Weis]

I get that on my andirons when there is high heat around them. Figured it is just very fine ssh attaching to the cast iron. No biggie.

 

[Sawset]

Ash varies with wood type

Besides maybe quantity, to a small degree? Most ash is gray, fly ash exits the flue and may stick to surfaces, bottom ash - is just that?

 

[peakbagger]

Ash is generally defined as what is left when the wood is fully combusted. Wood is made of organic molecules that all contain carbon and if its burnt fully all the carbon eventually is converted to CO2. Air is only 21% oxygen so there is bunch of Nitrogen 79% and some water vapor that mostly goes along for the ride, although any liquid water (in the wood) has to go from liquid to vapor. The ash is what will not burn.

When a tree grows, it pulls in various trace minerals from the soil and incorporates them into the wood's structure. Different trees types in different environments pull in different minerals. Some woods like teak have the reputation of having lots of minerals in it making it hard on tools. Bark has a higher ash content than the underlying wood. Not sure if its part of the bark's growth but suspect its just environmental dirt that goes along for the ride. Anyone who has seen commercial logging, mud is part of the process despite attempts to minimize it. That mud gets in the crevices in the bark and its difficult to get off. If it goes to a sawmill they frequently debark the logs and even small sawmill operators will frequently add a debarker option that remove the bark ahead of the blade to extend blade life. Talk to anyone who burns sawmill ends or scrap wood from a wood operation and they will usually comment that there is minimal ash. On the other hand folks who get slab wood with a high ratio of bark to hearthwood know that it generates copious amounts of ash.

So dependent on the where the ash came from what is in it will vary widely but calcium carbonate is big part of the mix. Its the active part of lime and most gardens need lime so that why many folks dispose of it in the garden. Farmers frequently line up to get the ash from wood fired power plants to plow back into their fields to replace depleted minerals.

Some of the ash will get hot enough in the fire that it will stick to itself and form clinker or deposits on the walls, some just sink to the bottom of the fire and some will be light enough that it goes up the stack as particulate. In some cases the particulate drops out of the flue gas stream as the exhaust cools down in other cases it goes into the local environment. On large wood burning plants there are particulate control devices that can remove the particulates from the air stream but wood stoves do not. That means the air quality around any wood burner is going to have some particulate from a wood stove but its typically diluted over a wide area and not an issue but get a bunch of wood stoves in a concentated area and it can be an issue if local atmospheric conditions are wrong.

As for the bottom ash unless there are rocks or chunks of metal in it, there should be no charcoals in it. Some folks actually screen there bottom ash and salvage the charcoals that still have carbon in them and throw them back on the fire.