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[aries9245]

I have a question for all the cb owners how high of a coal bed until she gets cleaned out? I seem to have a lot of nice coals at the end of the burn but it's pretty thick bed what do you feel is the best way..

[MerrellRoofing]

When I had my 6048 I would let my coal bed burn down on the weekend when I was around. Instead of loading on a weekend morning I would stir every couple of hours to get it to burn down.

[sam-tip]

Trick is don't let the ash build up to much with the coals.  To much ash and you will smother the coal fire.  Lots of coals with little ash is great. Burns hot and clean.  Lots of ash and will not burn clean.  You can put out a fire with just ashes.

[fireboss]

I take a few shovels out every day so it never get to full  the ash acts like an insulaiton  and the heat won't transfer

[aries9245]

Sounds easy enough..

[woodywoodchucker]

ok. Heres my thoughts on ash. Ive heard that the ash insulates the bottom of the fire box and wont allow heat transfer from the fire to the water. Im thinking that heat rises and the ash keep the water hotter. any heating of water is done at the top of the fire box. Ive been on line for a month and took out some ash but didnt have to and just by raking the coals around alot of the ash goes up the stack.The ash in my stove while raking it around looks almost fluid and its as hot as any coals in there.
  I make sure to touch every corner of the firebox with a pocker I made.Its 8' piece of 1" steel pipe. The end is cut at a 45 degree angle. welded on a piece of 1"x6"x3/8 flat bar on the 45 angle in the middle of flat bar.also welded a t handle on the other end. works great as a scratcher and can be used to pull back logs and straighten up wood in the firebox.

[aries9245]

That's a great idea so how often do you scrap the box ?

[woodywoodchucker]

every chance i get

[MTJAG]

I take my rake and push the large coals to the rear, then shovel out three shovels of coal dust.  Then I take my rake and pull the coals back to the front.  I then take my hoe and scrap down the back of the floor and walls as much as possible.  I then push the coals back about 10" from the door.  Then I cross hatch my wood on top of the coals.  On a really cold night like we've had here recently with temps -teens, I place a few pieces behind the coals, then cross hatch on top of the coals, and place two pieces on either side at the door.  My burn last night lasted for 7.5 hours with -12 degrees but had dropped below 170 by the time I got out there.

[aries9245]

Do you guys notice the pieces behind the coals don't burn as well.. I would imagine with the draft up front and coals being up front they wouldn't tend too burn as well..

[MTJAG]

those pieces beyond the coals in front don't burn well, but they pre-heat/dry out nicely.  Once the pieces on the coals burn out, and after I clean out the ash dust, I pull those pieces back to the front.  On especially cold nights, those pieces up in front burn as well.  It just depends on how much fuel is needed for the temperature.

[aries9245]

How about stacking the wood I feel that if I toss them in randomly I do not get fast recovery as to if I stack the wood nicely on top of each other with some small gaps..