Wood stoves with no cleanout chamber

[kelLOGg]

The house we bought in 1983 had a Vermont Castings Defiant woodstove in place and we have been heating with it ever since. It has no chamber for the ashes to fall in so I can burn wood in it for 2 to 3 days before it must be emptied; this is only an inconvenience and not a severe problem because our winters are not severe. It makes me think of people who heat with wood in extremely cold climates. I assume wood stoves such as mine are rare there. Having to let the fire die to clean it when the high of the day is quite cold would just not work. Who among us wood burners use such a stove as mine?

[Old Greenhorn]

None of the wood stoves I have ever had included a cleanout. That's more of a coal stove thing I believe. I have 2 stoves running now. On the shop stove I shovel out the ash in the front of the stove before I reload it in the morning every few days. Then I spread everything else out and reload. That's enough to keep up with it. If the stove happens to burn out overnight, I will do a full cleanout.
 On the house stove built more like you defiant, I slide the fire over to the left side and keep that going for a few hours during the day while the ash on the right side burns out to nothing. Then I shovel that right side out in the afternoon and re-spread everything else. I only do full cleanouts if the stove dies.

 The goal is to keep the ash level low, not clean it fully all the time. At least that works for me.

[mike_belben]

have had several of both and prefer the cleanout door, though it is one more air leak to manage. that is the downside to adding them to your stove design. lowers your control of combustion. 

[stavebuyer]

I currently have 2 stoves. One has no clean out and the other has heavy cast plug that has to be removed so you can scrape the ashes into a drawer below. Most times I don't bother with the plug. Using the plug does seem to keep more of the fine ash inside the stove when your shoveling.

Does anyone have a source for a "sifter" to separate coals from the fines? Surely somebody makes something to empty the ash and keep the coals.

[WDH]

 

 

No clean-out.  It has been going strong for 40 years.  Colony Hearth Earth Stove. The door comes off to make clean out easier.  Fortunately in Georgia we get enough spells where it warms up enough for a day or two to let all the wood burn to ashes although there will still be live coals too.

[bluthum]

I've heated almost exclusively with a one chamber Fisher wood stove since 1977. To clean out on a cold day I just let it die down a bit then rake the coals to one side then the other shoveling out the ashes as I go. Then I pull the coals up in a pile as dictated and start a new fire promptly on the coals. No problemas. I think there are more floating ashes escaping than might with other designs but that's life in the big city.... 

[SwampDonkey]

Cold weather clean out isn't an issue. The fire can be out for several hours here, stuff don't freeze that quick. I brush stove and pipes every month, they are poly brushes and fiber glass rod, so has to be a cooled down stove and pipe. Never much there, but routine stuff. ;D I don't use a stove in the house here, I use a forced air furnace. Heats basement and two floors. Insulated duct to second floor.  It has an ash pan and pan door. That door and the combustion chamber door are sealed with gasket and close tight. I actually open the ash door for 5 or 6 minutes to light the fire and close it up, and it stays that way. It draws quicker when starting up. It has a regulated damper.

[SwampDonkey]

Does anyone have a source for a "sifter" to separate coals from the fines? Surely somebody makes something to empty the ash and keep the coals.

Should be able to get a stainless strainer or colander someplace.  Amazon has'm. Might find one the size of a pale and pour coals and ash over it for the ash to drop below.

[farmfromkansas]

I built a rake for the coals, used a piece of flat metal and 1/4" rods, and a piece of 1/2" rod for the handle.  If I were to make a new one, would make the rods twice as long and use twice as many.  Think they are are about 1" reveal and 1" centers.  2" reveal and 1/2" apart would be better.  The flat metal is about 10" long.  

[Walnut Beast]

The Earth stoves were made in Waco NE. Good stoves

[moodnacreek]

I used to heat my shop with a 2' pipe 30" tall 2/3 top was lid with 8" oval straight pipe. [a vertical barrel stove]  For air I had a 2" drop pipe behind the lid.  To clean ashes I used a bent shovel and a wheel barrel twice a year.  This is a very safe design, sparks never get out.

[Nebraska]

@Walnut Beast  I didn't know that about the Earth Stove..hmm

[Southside]

I grew up with wood heat so it wasn't "my" stove, but I sure split plenty of fuel for it and fed it enough, that one was a fireplace insert style, since then I have owned 4 more wood stoves and none of them had any kind of clean out door, just manage it like the others said.  Sometimes you get a few coals in the bucket - just don't ever plan on placing the bucket in the laundry room closet, or by the recyclable pile and all has worked for a long time.  

[Larry]

My 31 year old Vermont Castings Defiant Encore.  Take the filled ash drawer out to dump every few days.  After putting it back in the stove I scrap ashes into the drawer again.  Doesn't matter if I have a fire so long as it's not big.  Rinse and repeat.  This one is in the shop.  Have a knock off in the house that works the same way but not as efficient.

Hank says the stove is great!!!

[Walnut Beast]

We had a Ashley stove and it had a sealed chamber and a lower one with the separate door for the ash pan 

[mike_belben]

A flour sifter can recover just the coals. 

[Corley5]

I've had them all. I wouldn't have one without rocker/shaker grates.  My OWBs have them.  Stationary grates with a pan would be a bare minimum.

[SwampDonkey]

Rocker grates are a plus for sure. I have a poker I just scrape the grates. I have to use it anyway to pull some coals to the front for morning fire anyway. Did I say I love my furnace? ;D

Now boys, take your pale of ashes and set it out doors. :D  I've had two neighbors that tried to set the place on fire putting ashes in cardboard boxes and leaving them in the house or on a wooden deck. ;)

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

I have a Craft stove insert in my house and an Englander stove in my shop. I do like others have said and slide fire to one side and scoop out a bit of ash and then rake back out. Our winters are mild so I get an opportunity to do a bigger clean out on a regular basis. I saw an ash shovel years ago called the "Coal Keeper" I think it was. Kinda like a big slotted spoon. I think about trying to find one every time I shovel out but I have yet to hunt one down.
     Hey Bob it looks like we might want to clean out good in the next day or two. Some sort of winter precipitation headed our way!! Stay warm all, Brian

[DMcCoy]

Does anyone have a source for a "sifter" to separate coals from the fines? Surely somebody makes something to empty the ash and keep the coals.

Here is mine, I made it from rebar.  This is version #2.  My first version the gap between the teeth was too close and plugged up.  Super small coals do make it through but for the most part this has done an excellent job.  I rake the coals to one side and scoop out the ashes, then do the same to the other side. The teeth are about 3" long.  The little bend on the handle end is super important for control.  Our big leaf maple makes big ash clods, the other woods don't.


 

[stavebuyer]

Does anyone have a source for a "sifter" to separate coals from the fines? Surely somebody makes something to empty the ash and keep the coals.

Here is mine, I made it from rebar.  This is version #2.  My first version the gap between the teeth was too close and plugged up.  Super small coals do make it through but for the most part this has done an excellent job.  I rake the coals to one side and scoop out the ashes, then do the same to the other side. The teeth are about 3" long.  The little bend on the handle end is super important for control.  Our big leaf maple makes big ash clods, the other woods don't.

Your mini offset rake is perfect! Sifting would be more trouble and stir up more fine ash than needed.

[snobdds]

My stove(s) have a plug to put the ash into.  Well, it's too small to really be of any value and it just creates more of a mess than anything. So I don't use it.  

I just get my small metal trash can and scoop the ash in, coals and all.  Take the can out and dump it into the outdoor fire pit or incinerator. 

Put in new wood and light it off. 

[KEC]

I have a Thermo Control stove made in Cobleskill, NY; started out years ago with a mid-sized Fisher stove. They recomended to leave a bed of ash in all the time. I tend the stove and rake everything towards the door. In the am I'll take some ash out from just inside the door. When the fire is out or low I'll use a long ash shovel to remove ashes that got pushed way in and that ash is very fine powder, no coals. I don't load too much wood at one time and I don't split my wood small. A short fat piece is better than a long skinny piece  of the same volume. My ash is usually very free of coals. My ash, after being allowed to cool, gets spread out on the land, being mindful not to start a wildfire. The stove has no grate or ash pan. Works for me.

[kelLOGg]

I have raked and sifted a lot but in my experience it is not as convenient as a grated stove where the ashes fall to a pan for easy removal. In the 70s we had a Vermont Woodstove Downdrafter with a door to open and shovel out the ashes. I still prefer that but I'm not switching now.  

Here's my rake for the Defiant.



 

[SwampDonkey]

I have next to no charcoal unless it's still burning in the stove in the morning. Just 99% fine ash. Any charcoal is smaller than your thumb and not much. I have a video of starting a fire, but that is obviously all live coals burning. Some extra draft from the ash clean out door being open and you see them glow up quick.

[Don P]

I don't care if it has active flame  :D. Swipe right to knock the big stuff that way, drag left and start shovelling into a stainless pail. That gets a lid and set outside on gravel till cleanout time again. It works best if there is enough of a glowing coal bed to have a good draft pulling the fine ash up the chimney.

[Nathan4104]

The day before you know you want to empty the ashes, burn some Poplar, or spruce for the day.  You won't have a coal problem in the morning! 

[stavebuyer]

The day before you know you want to empty the ashes, burn some Poplar, or spruce for the day.  You won't have a coal problem in the morning!

I had a stand of mostly 100 y/o hickory that was devasted by an ice storm. My firewood stacks probably ran 75%+ straight hickory for several years. Was hard to find ashes among all the large coals. Too much of a good thing

[Joe Hillmann]

I use and old boxwood stove.  Originally I thought the lack of a grate or a clean out would be an issue.  In practice it isn't.  When the ashes build I rake the ash towards the front of the stove and push the fire and coals towards the back. Then I shovel out the ash(a few coals included) and pull the fire and coals back to the front of the stove.

I have also used several stoves that had a grate and ash shaker that had melted or broken parts so they no longer work.  I kind of like the simplicity of a flat bottom on a stove.  There is nothing there to break.

[SwampDonkey]

I clean the ashes once a week here into a galv 3 gallon pale. She's dumped in the ditch on the snow or if no snow on an old burn pile I use every spring from brush. ;D There no swipe left of right, just shovel, straight in, ash. ;D

Are you guys into the charcoal business or something?

[hedgerow]

The Earth stoves were made in Waco NE. Good stoves

Back when I sold firewood in the 80's and 90's a lot of my customers had earth stoves as they were built in our area. Back when I burned wood in a stove I had three Lincoln stoves that were built in Lincoln Ne. No ash clean out on them. They looked like two propane tank ends welded together. They were a good stove and still a lot of them in the area. My Garn has no ash clean out on it but you batch burn it so I clean it out after every run. 

[stavebuyer]

I clean the ashes once a week here into a galv 3 gallon pale. She's dumped in the ditch on the snow or if no snow on an old burn pile I use every spring from brush. ;D There no swipe left of right, just shovel, straight in, ash. ;D

Are you guys into the charcoal business or something?

You will be if you put hickory in a gasifier. Coals are great for BBQ but you need some flames to get serious heat from a gasifier.

[SwampDonkey]

You will be if you put hickory in a gasifier. Coals are great for BBQ but you need some flames to get serious heat from a gasifier.

Sounds like I might need a lot more wood for one of them things.
I seen my neigbor go through 32 cords of maple with an OWB one winter to heat water for the greenhouse and I assume the house. That soon ended after the 3rd winter. And that wood was all bought. I was surprised it lasted past the first.

[stavebuyer]

You will be if you put hickory in a gasifier. Coals are great for BBQ but you need some flames to get serious heat from a gasifier.

Sounds like I might need a lot more wood for one of them things.
I seen my neigbor go through 32 cords of maple with an OWB one winter to heat water for the greenhouse and I assume the house. That soon ended after the 3rd winter. And that wood was all bought. I was surprised it lasted past the first.

Maple and Ash don't coal like Hickory does. Hickory puts out more BTUS but you will also have a serious amount of live coals versus ashes the next morning compared to most other species especially in a low draft EPA gasifier.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, hickory has more energy for sure. Was just wondering what folks was doing with all the charcoal. I burn mostly less dense woods here, softer than maple or ash for 99% of it. They most always burn complete to ash like I said earlier. All kinds of sugar maple around here, have burnt a mountain of it the last 50 years I've been on the planet. But I just burn what I thin these days, I tend to promote hardwoods by leaving it to grow and cut the poor ones if need be. My father used to cut sugar maple and ash, both for tool wood. A lot better money than pulp.

[farmfromkansas]

I burn some hedge, but can't put a lot in my wood stove.  If I burn all hedge, it sparks up when you open the door to add wood, like to set a fire if you are not careful.  A piece or 2 with other woods, no problem, the coals last longer than other woods if you want to wait a while to add wood, in case the weather warms up a bit.  

[KEC]

When I remove ash from the stove I do it when the fire has died down and I CAREFULLY scoop, carefully lift the shovel and place it in the metal ash bucket. Then slide the ash shovel out from under  the ashes. Then you don't have all that airborne ash. 

[John357]

To seperate the coals from the ash I use a cat litter scoop.  Made of aluminum it works great.  Took me a while to find it. 

[customsawyer]

I have a ash pan on mine. I can have it carried out, dumped and put back in before y'all are done raking. I've had one stove in my old shop one time that didn't have a ash pan. I won't be doing that again.

[Corley5]

My requirement of grates comes from burning sugar maple.  It makes lots of charcoal in stoves with no grates.  It was always an issue with the old stove we had when I was a kid and the stove that we had originally in this house.  It was to the point that I avoided cutting sugar maple preferring beech or ash instead.  It was a routine that every Saturday the house was cold to allow the coals to burn down some so a five-gallon bucket of them could be shoveled out.  Which made much dust no matter how much care was taken.  That stove was replaced with one with stationary grates.  A real improvement.  I've also found that sugar maple burns better with combustion air coming from under the grates.  That holds true with our OWBs as well.  The Heat Master gets it air from under the grates.  The Heatmor comes in at the front over the grates.  I much prefer the under grate air.  Both OWBs have shaker grates.  That was my reason for buying the Heat Master and when Grandma was in the market for one she went with the Heatmor with the "coal" option shaker grates.  Both have been good.  Next summer I need to pull them out of the Heatmaster and re-pin the shaker linkages.  No signs of degradation of the grates themselves.  The stove is over ten years old and has been used pretty hard.  I was told by my ancestors to "keep the fire off the grates".  Leave ash and coals between them and the burning wood and they'll last.   

[OH logger]

I've got a blaze king catalytic stove that has a small-ash pan under a small plug. Thought it would be great.  Never used it. Too small. Maybe the size of a shoe box. No grates. I just shovel ashes out every three days or so otherwise not enough room for a days burning of wood.  I burn ironwood sugar maple and oak. Way to many coals or "klinkers". My quadrafire high efficiency non catalytic fireplace upstairs  burns the same wood with no grates and all that's left is FINE ash. I blame it on cat vs. non cat. I'd that true or What am I doing wrong??

[SwampDonkey]

My furnace I use has a two stage burn. No catalytic. Uses a four stainless steel tube combustion system to achieve a secondary burn cycle. Horizontal jets of super heated secondary air are mixed with the fire's smoke to burn off released smoke particles. You can watch the torch-like secondary flames just below the ceiling during the burn resulting in more heat, cleaner air, fast start up.

[Firewoodjoe]

This is exactly why I bought the hearthstone Bennington stove I bought today. I hate no grates. I wanted grates, a bottom ash pan door and a end load door. This will take 23" wood from the end. 

[kelLOGg]

The day before you know you want to empty the ashes, burn some Poplar, or spruce for the day.  You won't have a coal problem in the morning!

I may not have a coal problem but I would have a cold problem. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

The day before you know you want to empty the ashes, burn some Poplar, or spruce for the day.  You won't have a coal problem in the morning!

I may not have a coal problem but I would have a cold problem. ;D

Why cold in NC? That's mostly what I burn, never been cold yet. I don't think 75-80F is very cold. If you're cold, I'm sure I can push to 90F with no trouble. :D

[Spike60]

Every now and then I'll do a partial cleanout on a hot stove to get the coals down. Typically on a real cold weekend where I'm letting it run more than half throttle and filling more often. By now there's always a good snow cover on the ground, so no problem getting rid of the hot coals. Never thought of this as being a big deal, just something that occasionally needs to be done.

[DMcCoy]

Discussing burning Hickory for firewood while out here on the left coast I bought a little bag of blocks for my BBQ.  Have you guys no shame?  :D

[kelLOGg]

If my fire in the wood stove gets so low that there are no hot coals in the AM the the house temp goes below 60F and that feels cold to me. 

[SwampDonkey]

furnace here, so coals does not always mean hot enough to trip a fan. Never been cooler than 68F here when I throw a stick in in the morning. And be 75F in 10 minutes. Much adoo about nothing. Up here we have real cold, 0F not 30F most winter mornings. Poor Jeff at -30F the other morning in northern MI and he's measuring propane bottles. 'I need more wood'!!  :D