clean stoves burn hotter?

[volks-man]

never noticed this before last week.
our wood stove is very small. the firebox is approx 18" x 12" x 12".
we have burned more wood in the last 3 weeks then the 5 or so prior. during the super cold in the last few weeks we were unable to let the stove go out and clean it. the ash was about 1 or so deep. we had to burn with the draft wide open to keep up with the temps! friday was 50* here so we let it die and cleaned it out. saturday right back to the cold temps but now the stove is obviously putting out more heat and with less draft.

i usually cut a furrow in the coals under the logs to promote air circulation, the wood is all from the same pile. what gives?

 

[Zodiac45]

Obviously your right about the cleaner hotter situation. It's just more air is available too combust. The other thing is that the colder it is outside, the hotter the stove will burn at a given setting. This is just due too draft I guess? It always seems that the larger the variable between outside and in, the more pull you get on the chimney. My cookstove always cranks when it's cold outside even at low settings while on balmier days it just chugs and needs way more dampers open too maintain same temps.

 

[gink595]

My wood stove is smaller too, maybe a bit bigger than yours but not much. I bet I haven't had to start a fire since early November, it's always going. When the ash gets to high I scrap the hottest coals off to one side clean half out and scrap the hot coals back and then clean the other side. I have a dislike for starting fire from scratch and it is the only source of heat I have so down time in unwanted.
But to answer your question I haven't noticed any difference in BTU's if it's fullor not. It seems to put out the stove temps I need wether or not I'll have to pay more attention

 

[projectsho89]

I cleaned out my NC yesterday also. Pulled out half a wheelbarrow of stuff.

I noticed a beautifully maintained 160-170 boiler temp all evening (the HVAC blower was running about 50% of the time all evening). Temp never spiked up when the HVAC blower wasn't running and it still kept the water temp close to even even while pulling heat. Draft blower was running continuously...

Wish it burned like that all the time. Maybe it was the combination of being clean and the crap wood I'd thrown in there for the evening.....and I got lucky.

Normally, I see it spike up to 180-190, then draw down to 158-160 before the draft comes back on. If it drops down to 140, the only thing that will get it to pick up more heat in the water while simultaneously drawing heat is to throw some old dry stuff in there. That stuff burns hot and fast.

Steve

 

[ray benson]

I dig out the stove each morning just before a reloading. Move the good chunks to one side, dig it out. Then do the other side. You lose some good, redhot, small chunks but the stove never goes out. Reload stove and vacuum mess around the stove.

 

[atvdave]

I dig out the stove each morning just before a reloading. Move the good chunks to one side, dig it out. Then do the other side. You lose some good, redhot, small chunks but the stove never goes out. Reload stove and vacuum mess around the stove.

:agree2: :agree2:

This is what I do as well.. Sometimes I can go 2 day but after that I must scrape out some ash. I try to keep all the large chunks in the fire box and take out ash only... kinda hard to do sometimes...

It lets more air get to the bottom of the logs so they will burn hotter..

 

[hangnail]

I dig out the stove each morning just before a reloading. Move the good chunks to one side, dig it out. Then do the other side. You lose some good, redhot, small chunks but the stove never goes out. Reload stove and vacuum mess around the stove.

same here, i am lucky though, since i have a jotul, it has an ash door and removable tray. i just brush though the coal,s and try and get as much ash to drop into the tray in the morning, and hope to leave a few red coals, and then i can open the ash door. if i through some kidning wood in there, just having the ash door open for a few monemts is long enough to fire that all back up again. when the fire goes completly out, i clean out all the ash from the fire box.

 

[JONSEREDFAN6069]

i have a johnson energy systems inc. made in milwaukee wisconsin and is the total opposite, i have about 2.5" of ash in the fire box and ash tray is full and burns hotter than when it's cleaned out, wood last's way longer i get maybe 3 hrs clean and 5 to 6 dirty and about 120 to 150 degree's hotter. i know it makes no sense, but thats what i'm getting.

 

[rngrchad]

Odd as it sounds, depending on the cloud cover or lack thereof, will have a lot of affect on how our stove burns. On clear cloudless nights the stove seems to really "pull" oxygen well and burn a bit hotter (on these nights I just cut down the oxygen to the stove). On nights with a lot of humidity and heavy cloud cover I have a harder time getting enough oxygen to the stove...ie it seems to smolder a little easier so in this case I have to open up the oxygen to it.
Just my 2 cents.