On Mon, 23 Feb 2009, Christina Websell wrote

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...


You should not have that much ash, a wood burner needs to burn on a bed
of
ash - I only empty a bit of mine out once a week.


I never burn on a bed of ash and I have a multi fuel Hunter stove. It
wouldn't get enough draught beneath the wood to burn properly. Only needs
a bed of ash for coal. I burn all the time and would always riddle the ash
away before reloading in the morning .

I beg to differ. The air inlets in the doors of my woodburner are high
enough to let me burn wood on a bed of ash for probably a fortnight without
having having to remove the ash.
I do not have to riddle the ash if I do not use coal (mine is a multi too)
but I tried coal in it and wouldn't bother with it again. It takes ages to
heat up and I had to riddle the ashes ;-)
The ash I get from my wood is almost like talcum powder, requires no
riddling and does well on the compost heap.


This is all very interesting. We have a wood-burning stove, a squat
square Godin, in France which occasionally gives us a lot of trouble.
We don't use it often enough - perhaps ten days/ a fortnight in the
spring and again in the autumn. It takes in air from below the grate
and also from a self-adjusting one at the top back. We usually find we
have to riddle the ashes a bit otherwise the wood does not burn - and
then we find later that the wood is burning all too hot and won't stay
in for long.

The wood not burning at first may be partly because it has been stored
in a rather damp cave (ground level, but carved out of the limestone).
We built a new store last summer in the open air and hope the wood will
be drier this year. But how do you all keep a fire just smouldering so
it keeps in for a few hours?


--
Kate B

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