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[onezero1010101]

Ok, still in my first week of fire in my new Legend 6180, and have question regarding coals and ash.  I am burning a mix of wood, mostly green tops that loggers fell few months ago.  I have been filling the box to the gill at night, then about 75% at 7am before work, then when I get home at 4pm I usually shift coals and what's not burnt until 8 or 9 when I fill it up again for night.  My question is I now have about 12 inches or so of this mixture in the bottom and I'm not sure at what point I need to shovel it out.  I have never had a stove that didn't have a lower ash tray.  A lot of the stuff is 1 to 4 inch black charred stuff.  When the blower is on, coals make them glow good so I'm thinking they can burn more.  As I shovel it around I do see some gray light ash, but there's not much that I see yet.  Am I filling to full and not letting it burn down enough between fills?  I'm just scared to not fill it and have it go out.  I tried to take a few pics to show what is there, hope they work out.  I will have to post them from PC I think though.  Thanks

[onezero1010101]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oorqakgfj0x5w3c/2013-11-26%2017.18.57.jpg

Seems the IMG tags don't like Dropbox links

[jerkash]

I have a Legend and I would say you are not letting it burn up enough before you add more wood.  It could also have something to do with green wood.  I wood is 2 - 3 years old and usually when I put wood in my furnace, there is nothing left but gray ash.  Let it burn longer.  Trust me, it won't go out.  I have opened mine and saw no red coals.  Stirred it up and saw some red coals and added my wood and it lit right back up.  Keep your wood to the front if possible.  My furnace would last 3 - 4 hours on what you have in your picture, but I live in NE North Carolina.  50's during day and 30's at night.

[onezero1010101]

So maybe not fill it as full to make it thru night till I get it burned down?  Hopefully I'll get it figured out over the holiday time off from work.

[koutsman]

onezero,     You are probably going to have to get some seasoned wood and burn and maybe mix it somewhat . It would be best to have all seasoned wood but maybe the mixing would be the best of both worlds for a while. Make sure you have  high cutoff set at 180 and your low to kick on at 165. No colder than its's been you should be able to go 12-15 hours or more on half to three quarters of a load of hard wood depending  how much of a pull it has on it . Try some better dryer wood!!! Let us know if that helps. 

[onezero1010101]

I didn't load the stove as heavy as last night and looks like the big chunks have burned down quite a bit.  The default setting on the aquastat was 180 high to 170 low, does lowering it to 165 make a difference?  After today I'll be off for the holidays, and I plan to let it burn more between filling since I will be there to keep eye on it.  I just been afraid to go light on the wood being gone at work all day, with my wife and our 1yr son at home, I have the electric furnace breaker shut off right now, just have the fan running for the owb.  Still need to call Honeywell and talk to them about the config on my tstat.  The wet / green wood has been burning really good, think I just been putting to much in for no colder then its been, and not letting it burn down very well. 

[chillyhiker]

Great question.im in my first week also and the fire box seemed to be filling up faster than I thought it would.Other guys have mentioned that they have just a fine ash when all is said and done and I have alot of chunks in mine along with the ash. Ive been trying to pull the coals forward but like you I may be tinkering with it to much and addding wood to often for fear of it going out.

[ITO]

 Its like a recipe, you will soon be able to look at your wood and know how much to add and what to mix (wet, variety, dry) to make it come out right, after you let the coals heat your water for a while they will turn to ash. The heat load you have, temps outside, wood and particulars of your individual setup all come into play.