New approach to loading the Woodmaster

[oneoldbanjo]

I have piled up all the large diameter wood in my woodshed and I have a large pile of limbs outside that are 2-4" around and 36" long. I left these long so that I would have a decent amount of wood in each piece and I would'nt have to handle a bunch of them with each load of the OWB. I usually need to load about 2 arms full in the morning and night to keep us warm and toasty. I am trying to burn up all these limbs before I start on the bigger wood in the shed - I want my yard back when spring returns.

The problem I have noticed in burning small diameter but long length wood is that it takes a lot of it and I get a thick layer of coals that don't burn well. As the small wood burns and loses strength and collapses it covers up the coals beneath and prevents any combustion air from reaching them. When I tend the fire in the morning and night I only add as much wood as I think I will need for the day/night - but there is a thick layer of coals that I cover up with the new wood and as the wood burns it seems to prevent the coals underneath from being able to get any air and burn into ash.

Last night I might have had a revelation about how to burn the coals and the wood together. I moved the coals over to the right side of the firebox and raked them into an even layer - and then I threw the new limbs onto the left side in a stack up against the side of the boiler being careful to only get one or two pieces over onto the coals to get the wood burning. This morning when I went out the coal bed on the right side was mostly ash and the wood on the right side had burned to a nice coal bed with just a couple of partially burned limbs remaining. I moved the remnants of the limbs over onto the ash bed on the right side and raked the coals out on the left side....and then threw the new load of limbs onto the right side.

When I am using shorter wood I have always pulled the coals forward prior to stacking the wood in the back and the coal bed has been manageable for me - but with the long 36" limbs there was no room at the front to spread the coals out and let them burn. It appears that banking the wood up onto the opposite side of the coals may the the answer.

 

[Butch(OH)]

We are 2 1/2 seasons into our 4400 and I am still learning. One thing we do that seems to help the build up of coals is to rake them into a heap up front so they get the combustion air first. Overloading sems to make the problem worse so we try to meter the inputs. Still most Saturdays are coals burn down days which is not all to big a deal. I rake them forward before breakfast, about noon and before adding wood at night, of course depending on the load we are putting on it, I think of it as a free heat day, LOL.

Gas meter hasnt moved since Sept and still grinning

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Butch:

I have only one full season of burning last year.....and this season. I do as you say and rake the coals forward when there is room - but this wood is long and doesn't give me any room at the front.

I also have the free heat Saturday about once a month. I am making a new tool that will be about about 18" square with a hardware cloth screen and a long metal handle that will allow me to dig into the ash pile and pull the unburned coals to the top while the ashes filter through - and this should help cut down on the raking chore as it will let the fine burned ash stay on the bottom while I pull the coals to the top. (I am not smart enough to figure out how to make a tool that will pull the fine ash out and leave the coals behind).

 

[Jon E]

Can you post a picture or a description of that tool you are talking about? I have been thinking of something similar but haven't come up with a good solution yet. Like you, I'd love to pull the ashes out and leave the coals behind, but haven't figured out how yet.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Jon E:

Basically what I am going to build is a grain shovel with a bottom made out of 1/4 inch mesh screening. I will push it underneath the ash/coal layers and pull it up and shake the ashes out the bottom....then dump the coals that have not fallen through at the front of the OWB near the blower. I tried to find a grain showel to cut the bottom out.....but all the local stores only had aluminum or plastic grain shovels.

 

[Laird]

ebay

May not be exactly what you are talking about........

http://cgi.ebay.com/Outdoor-Wood-St...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

 

[Sawmill]

This tool that you are making, why don't you get one of the forks that they use in a stable. It has tines spaced about 1/2 or so apart and it works great for what you want. I know I am using one.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Laird:

That tool isn't any better than a rake that I use. The rake will pull the coal forward or push them back....but isn't great at bringing them up above the ashes.

I wan't a square fireproof tennis racket....that I can use to sift the large pieces out of the ash.

 

[JAL]

I think outside the boiler when sifting ashes. I also have a fee burn Saturday where I burn down as much as possible to take the ashes out of my OWB.
The tool I made is to ash out and throw the clinkers back into the boiler.

View attachment 83788

 

[oneoldbanjo]

JAL:

You bucket with the screen in the bottom is one way to approach it. I tried the "outside the boiler" method a few times when I set the hardware cloth over the top of my trash can and shoveled the ash on top. When I shook the cloth to help the ash get down through the larger coals we all got covered with the fine ash.....it also seem that when I shake it and the air gets to the coals there is a bit of a flare up.

I hope to be able to keep the dust and smoke inside the OWB when I am doing the sifting. It might be a week or two until I can get it made with the holidays coming up.....and plenty of evening meetings and Christmas parties to go to.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

This morning when I loaded the OWB using my new approach for long wood I was again pleased with how well this is working for me. The coals are getting burned away really nicely and the ash bed is not filled with unburned coals and the ash bed is not building up very quickly. l am burning a lot of small diameter wood and as it burns down it was covering up the coals and not allowing them to burn away. My stacking the wood on the sides and alternating sides is allowing the coals from the previous loading to burn away almost completely. When I was just piling the long wood in the middle the coal layer was getting really thick in a hurry - I could not rake the coals to the front as I can when I use 24" long wood and load it in the back of the OWB.

I took some pictures this morning and although they don't show the coals on the right side very dramatically (the flash causes them just to look like ashes), I think the pictures will help show what I am doing. It is hard to tell if I am using more wood as a result of the long length allowing the heat from the front portion of the wood to exit without passing over the heat exchanger tubes at the top of the Woodmaster - but it does take a lot of these small pieces to provide a 12 hour burn.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Man, lookie at that "cold" OWB fire. Everytime I read that on some stove burner site I wanna bring them over and stick thier arm in my coals, LOL

Shoot banjo man is that right after cleaning? My coal pile is up close to door level when I rake them forwards. In our weather the past few days (20-35 degrees) I add about that much wood about 530AM and double that amount sometime around 7PM.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Butch:

I did shovel out a bunch of ash on Sunday but did leave about 2 inches behind as coals that needed burned up. Those logs (sticks) in the fire are about 3 feet long and that will be enough to keep me warm and keep me in hot water until about 8:00 tonight. It is amazing how well my house and garage are insulated - I keep my 2,200 square foot house at 68 and my 1,800 foot garage at 55 degrees. We just built them and we used SIPS panels that are styrofoam insulation glued between OSB plywood.

 

[Jon E]

OK, I look at a picture like that and realize that I'm not doing something wrong. Mine looks like that after a complete cleaning and maybe two weeks worth of burning after that. Right now, if I raked my ash bed level all the way from front to back, I'd have about three inches of ash in my firebox. Even a fire that's burned all the way down, if there's a pile of ash, there's still an amazing amount of residual heat in there, all those little tiny coals buried in the ash, just waiting to get a puff of air and light some fresh firewood.

I have thought about keeping the roundwood longer but it doesn't "fit" into my firewood planning, and I only burn in the front half of my firebox.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Jon E:

As I indicated......the photo is a bit misleading as a result of the flash. The right side is some ash - but there is about a 2 inch layer of hot red coals. By tonight that right side will be burned down to ash completely and the left side will be a layer of coals. I only have to clean ashes out once a month and I get about half a standard size metal gabage can in 4 weeks of burning.

 

[Sawmill]

Ideas like this is what makes thie site so great. When you get as many people as there are on this site posting ideas it sure cuts down on the trial and error process. That is a real nice house you built, nothing beats a lot of insulation when the temps drop below 0. What is the R value in the panels that you used.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Gorgeous home!...I may try what your doing in my WM 5500. I usually just mix the smaller stuff in w/ one good size log...after I've leveled the coal bed out. I also make sure to stir up the ashes/coals atleast once a day to get a complete burn.

 

[Jon E]

I only have to clean ashes out once a month and I get about half a standard size metal garbage can in 4 weeks of burning.

Sounds about right. I cleaned out my CB in early September and I estimate I have a little more than a 20-gallon can worth of ash in it right now.

 

[Scootermsp]

Ash

I've only removed about two 5 Gal. pails of ash since Sept, guess I should get on it. I scrape down to the bottom every 3-4 days, no moisture or rust underneath.

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Last year I got a little carried away with the log splitter and made my firewood too small for my liking. I noticed an immediate increase in coals every morning, deep enough that I have to rake them more than once to get a complete burn. The bigger rounds must burn slow enough to prevent the coal buildup.

Looks like I have a couple months of coal raking ahead of me