Most of the current stoves use a plug in the firebox floor which, when covered with ash, seems dang air tight. Unlike an ash grate made of cast iron, the plug system could also tolerate a leak and associated hot spot better than an ash grate that melts and warps. It's all relative of course, the current noncat stoves are anything but airtight so you really don't need to worry too much about leaky door gaskets, or ash plugs. Not sure why ash pans aren't extremely large, like 5 gallons. It can only improve their utility. In my pedestal BK there is a ton of unused space that could have been used for a huge ash pan.
Those plug type ash pans are not worth having IMO. Woodstock has a grate system which because of size of holes ash goes through and bigger coals stay out!!
I would love to try out a good ash grate system. I had a hearthstone with the grate but the design forced the grate closed if the ash pan door was closed and the ash pan was super small. Do the Woodstock grates allow ash to fall through all the time?
Highbeam I would say ash can fall through. The grate is only about 40% of the floor and the ash pan is half an inch bigger all the way around with a gasket at ash pan door. When I refill I rake drag everything across the Grate and 90%?? goes into the ashpan and I leave the rest..
I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how those Woodstock ash grates will work. Typically you want some ash left in the stove to slow down the burn...they call it "insulating the fire bed". It's insulating it from too much oxygen and burning up to quick I guess. Ash grates...maybe you push some of the ash to the outer edge of the stove floor? I don't know... Obviously the ash falls through the grates and into the pan. So when the pan is pulled out to empty it, how are you maintaining a certain amount of ash on the stove floor without it falling into the ash pan area and making a mess of the "holder" for the pan? That pan area that's enclosed would seem to fill up when you pull the pan out if there's additional ash in the floor of the stove, would it not? Stoves with plugs, you just pull out the plug, scrape some ash into the pan below, put the plug back into the stove floor...leaving ash inside the stove, then take the tray out and empty it. Seems easy enough. As does not using the ash pan and just shoveling it out...that works too.
If you’re a clean freak, shoveling hot ash out of the stove and filling a bucket produces a lot of airborne ash that settles out later and makes a mess. I don’t like that in my house but I have no problem with this amount of mess in the shop. Seems that an open grate instead of ash under the coals would mean the coals burn up faster. Especially if you manage to add some air to the ash pan chamber and it rises up through the coals.
My experience with the plug type especially if the stove is hot. Is that the lip around the plug makes the plug hard to set which causes air leaks. On the woodstocks no problem leaving extra ash in it you just rake it less. There are some members that have a 3/8 hole with a cover that really assist in burning down the coals when you're not getting a lot of heat at the end of the burn. I live miles from the Canadian border in New England and 40 below is not unheard of. At which point I like to keep my stove top temperatures at a minimum 500.. I've got a second ash pan I just pulled the first one, slide the second one in leave the first one till it cools off on the hearth and dump it outside later.. I use the plug type in NC 13 and it was easier for me just to shovel it out. The problem was I got a lot of coals when I did it. With the Woodstock I just get ash. Works better for me.
In my 6 years experience with the Woodstock ash system, the grate won’t let anything bigger than a pea get through (coals). And the ash doesn’t fall without a swirl of the poker. I like to keep an ash bed to prolong the coals. I swirl the ash down and reload on the hot, filters coals normally. The ash pan it larger than the grate. You can’t over fill the pan. Once it’s full nothing more goes down. Even if there’s more ash in the stove, it’ll stay above the grate while removing the pan for dumping.
Good info...wish you had some pictures of the ash pan. Don't think I've ever seen one on a Woodstock.
ok great...what's the chances of that thing spring an air leak? Is it pretty good design and build? Looks like it.
I think its a good design, quality build in the great state of New Hampshire!! Chance of leak is minimal, got a gasket to inspect just like a door. If a slow leak starts any burner with common sense will notice. Stove temps would increase and burn times decrease. Alerting user to give it a good once over..
Awesome design. I've used stoves with ash pans that were useless. I'd rather, and did, shovel the ash. Eventually, it'll need a new gasket. 6 years on all my factory gaskets so far....
