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No, shouldn't be. This stove is designed to have to clean out the ashes, not the kind that you don't. As the wood sits on a metal bit with slats in it for the ashes to fall through it would be impossible not to!

Yes, my stove is the same - with a bit of a drawer that you pull out to empty the ashes... but my ashes only need emptied once a month during winter (that is with all day and all night burning) The fitters told me it is best to leave the ashes in as they hold the heat very well and all the little scraps will burn away too.

Ours needs emptying every day as it is half full at least and is on all day in the winter months! I guess different ones burn differently, or something. Mine's a big 14kW one designed for heating a huge area.

From what I've read it is recommended to have your chimney cleaned twice in a season if it is on all the time, which is basically for us from say Sept evenings through to May evenings. It's just that it could do with being done 3 times in that season - it hasn't been though, cos of course it starts to smoke a bit and by the time we call the sweeps, leave a msg, wait for them to get back to us.... several more weeks have gone by.

We do have to have our chimneys swept for insurance purposes in France every year by the way. Otherwise no cover if there's a fire caused by anything relating to your fireplace and chimney!

So we'll wait and see whether leaving the vent open a bit at night makes a difference!

it might be worth experimenting with leaving the ash in.. I used to clean it out until the chimney sweep pointed out it was inefficient. I had a multifuel stove back then, so had the bars as you sa. but we were only brnign wood - so we took the bars out and set the fire on the floor of the stove. let the ash build up a bit. and suddenly we were getting through less logs and getting up less to put another log on.

Now I only take a bit of ash out once it gets difficult to get logs in!

of course maybe your stove is just made differently.. but it might be worth experimenting.

OUCH - I only bought the thing on Wednesday and I've already burnt myself on it. A bit of aloe vera has eased the pain a bit but it's still OUCH.

Zoe

OUCH - get yourself some welders gauntlets... worth every penny We got ours from Homebase in the sale but I am sure any good hardware store should sell them.

red wrote:it might be worth experimenting with leaving the ash in.. I used to clean it out until the chimney sweep pointed out it was inefficient. I had a multifuel stove back then, so had the bars as you sa. but we were only brnign wood - so we took the bars out and set the fire on the floor of the stove. let the ash build up a bit. and suddenly we were getting through less logs and getting up less to put another log on.

Now I only take a bit of ash out once it gets difficult to get logs in!

of course maybe your stove is just made differently.. but it might be worth experimenting.

We did try soon after we got it actually because so many people on forums kept saying you are supposed to leave a bed of ashes (can't take the bars out though) but as the air vent is right by the floor of the stove it didn't work cos the ash build up got in the way of the air flow.

Annpan wrote:OUCH - get yourself some welders gauntlets... worth every penny We got ours from Homebase in the sale but I am sure any good hardware store should sell them.

That's the worst part. I was wearing a glove on one hand. It was the other hand that got burnt. It shouldn't have been anywhere near the stove!

Anyway, fire is working well at the mo. I now think that the wood has got muddled up. I had two distinct piles, one of apple and one of laylandii. The apple for burning the laylandii as a log pile for insects. I think now that I am burning the laylandii by accident. That would explain the tar on the door.

Will need to sort out the wood again, see if I can tell it apart after all these years!

Zoe