NC30 and coals

Oh, a wise guy, eh? Why I ought a... !

 

As I get older my projects get more interesting, dangerous but interesting.

 

I pushed them to the side (left) and put new wood in on the right. Seems to be working.....

 

It's a rare thing for me, but I gotta tell ya, if I'm ready to load wood, and the coal bed is a half a foot deep or more, and it's howlin' cold outside, I'll shovel out them coals in a heartbeat and not even bat an eye.....just sayin'

 

I've done that. There is a point where I am just tired of the fight. I'll just clean it all out except for some ash. Kind of like rebooting the computer.

 

I dunno guys; even when I put the one split on a lot of coals and leave the air control wide open, I can still get my stove 500*+!! Quite easily in fact!!

Then, when that log is gone, I can load a full fire box of wood because the mass of coals is mostly gone.

Lucky I guess.

 

Oh yeah, no doubt.
I wouldn't hesitate (well, maybe for a minute), but it really is against my "frugal" nature.
Did that a couple nights ago.

 

When the Temps hung at or below 0 outside I had some coaling issues last winter. I am seriously hoping that with all my insulating it is a non issue this winter.

Anyhow, do not use hardwood to burn coals down make sure it as light of wood as possible. I usually use pine or buckeye. Burn it hot and fast couple it with the fact those woods don't coal and it shoud help you out.

 

Yeah, gooder idea on the softwood, but I have maybe 2-3 days of Maple left, before getting into the Oak.
1.5 cords of Oak in front of the Maple scheduled for sometime in the spring.
I'm stuck with the Oak for a while. I know, tough problem to have.

 

I've never had to throw out coals out, but coaling can be a problem for sure

 

I'm seeing that it depends on the stove too. In the Dutchwest, I can open the air on the coals and the stove top will run up to 350 or better for quite a while before falling off again. That isn't the case with the Keystone...only gets to 275 or so. The worst it has been here is low 20s/low40s for a few days...average in Jan, but certainly it can get much colder than average, and that's where coals start to catch up with me. You don't hear much said about it, but coaling is one of the main reasons I want stoves with a grated ash system; Stick that poker in there, swirl it around a bit, and all the ash is gone, and you're getting plenty of air to the coals. And if you're a bit more aggressive, some small coals even break off and go through the grate. But they are still in the stove giving me heat, no outside contributing to global warming.

 

Get some bio blocks of one type or another rake coals forward put bio block on top -nice heat coals get burnt down and bio blocks burn down to nothing. Now I can reload for the day. this is what works best for me.

 

When I reload, I push all the coals to the front of the Fv, then in that bottom back spot I'll put a big wedge of oak. then refill the stove E/W on the Fv for a normal burn. By the next morning (or next reload point, that back wedge) gets pushed up on top of the front coals, and is a good tool to bring down those coals some more. I sure an jealous of those dudes with the Woondstock PH that has such a great ashpan/grate system.

 

I started out this year burning a mixo combo of small rounds and was getting a lot of coal build up. Started running the stove with a little more air (hotter)which seemed to help out. Now I'm into some nice ash splits 6-8" x 18-20" long and man they burn good and always reduce to mostly ash with no coaling.

 

I've really been enjoying the pine burning during the shoulder seasons... Light to move, quick to start, burns hot, and very little ash.