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[woodywoodchucker]

We been having a cold spell up here in Maine, the temp. hasnt been above 30 in 2 weeks and I was thinking that I should clean out the ash to get more wood in the fire box.I hadnt cleaned is out yet and have been burning sence sept. The stove has been working great this year,I thought cuz the house was tighter.I cleaned out the ash and it was like last year.burns not lasting as long and using a ton of wood.That ash has more heat in it than i thought.Anyways this wood stove thing just gets better all the time.

[willieG]

Woody i have often thought i noticed a difference too but put it out of my head as just being silly. But now that you have mentioned it, i wonder if all that ash actually raises your fire and gets the hottest part of your fire a little closer to the top of the water jacket that in turns absorbs more heat??

[Scott7m]

Ash is an insulator, we put ash around the flu's on our homemade rocket stoves.  It could be like he said your getting your fire closer, I don't know.  I do know from experience in other stoves that ash is a good insulator.

[woodywoodchucker]

Think about it.That ash is hot, well over the 180 degree water temp we are trying to maintain.I think that you have to maybe rake the ash around every now and again to ensure the ash still looks loose, almost liquid looking.