A wood-burning stove has heated our home for almost 40 years. The stove receives a clean out every two to four weeks in the winter. My experience and research on cleaning a wood burner is the topic of this article.
Do I need to extinguish the fire in my wood burning stove completely to clean it? Wood burning stoves do not need to be extinguished completely to clean them. You do, however, have to lower the temperature and use a specific set of tools to safely clean a wood burning stove when it is still burning.
Typical Operating Temperatures
My wood burning stove is lit in mid-October and burns continually until mid-April, depending on the weather,
During those five months of burning wood, my stove ranges from a low of 150 degrees F to a normal high of 375 degrees F when heating my home. The newer wood burning stoves will operate at a slightly higher temperature than this.
Manufacturers must now reduce the amount of PM or Particulate Matter output of a stove to meet the standards set by the EPA. To comply with
Typically these stoves, that have been around since the early 1990s will burn between 300 degrees F, and 600 degrees F. To clean your stove you will need to lower the temperature of the stove below 125 degrees F. This will allow you to work with the coals and ashes, and safely remove them.
Required Tools
Here is a list of tools recommended to safely clean out a warm (or even cold) wood burning stove.
- Safety Glasses. Whenever you are working with fire, the wood can suddenly and unexpectedly pop a spark. This seems to happen more often with softer wood but can and will happen any time. That spark could possibly hit you in the face or worst case the eye. Always protect your eyes.
- Gloves or better yet Welders Gloves. Welders gloves have a sleeve that will cover you up to your elbow. Even if a spark or coal hits your arm, you won’t be tempted to let go of anything and drop a bucket of ashes on the family room floor.
- Coal Rake. Mine has fine fingers so I can rake the coals out of the ashes. The other side is flat and wide, so I can push the ashes into a pile.
- Ash Shovel. They usually come in a fireplace kit. The best size is about 4 inches wide by 6 inches deep.
- Ash Bucket. These are harder to find. I purchased my last one at an Amish country store. The top is oval which works well for setting on the edge of a stove while the long part of the mouth extends into the stove.
- Fire Extinguisher. Type A fire extinguisher is sufficient for any wood burning materials. This should be kept close to a wood burning stove at all times. Just check the gauge before you begin cleaning to make sure it is charged.
Steps to Clean a Warm Stove
Safety should always be the first thought when burning wood or cleaning out a stove. Accidents do and will happen. Always have a plan and before starting, take the necessary precautions to avoid what could go wrong.
Allow the stove to burn down to a low temperature. The first thing in the morning is a great time to clean the stove. A few coals should remain in the stove but no logs. The temperature should be around 100 to 125 degrees F.
Open any damper in the chimney pipe or if you have a catalytic stove, open the bypass damper. This allows as much heat as possible to go up the chimney. It also will pull the loose ashes you stir up to move up the chimney. That is so much better than to have the ash particles drifting into the room.
Next, always have a clear path from the stove to the exit of the home. Do not have any toys, furniture, or especially flammable materials in the pathway to the door. Leaving the door or doors open or having someone nearby to open the door is even better.
If you have carpeting, linoleum, or hardwood floors, a temporary fireproof covering is highly recommended. You could possibly start a fire with a loose hot coal, but more likely it would just make a black spot that is not repairable. Better safe than begging forgiveness (we are all pretty good at it) if it is avoidable.
Rake the hot coals to one side with the coal rake. Make a pile of hot coals on one side of the stove and only ashes on the other side.
Place the ash bucket on the side where the hot coals are located. Set the bucket on the ledge with the long nose sticking into the stove. Make sure the handle is to the outside and accessible.
With the welder’s gloves on, shovel the ashes into the bucket. This is when it will get slightly hot even though the stove may only be at 125 degrees F. You are stirring up the ashes and introducing air to them. Shovel the ashes, dumping them slowly into the bucket.
With the heat as low as it is, the ashes will not all go up the chimney. That is why you will want to slowly pour them in the bucket. Placing one of your hands with a welder’s glove on between the top of the bucket and the top of the stove opening will reduce or even eliminate the ashes entering the room.
Leaving the hot coals in the firebox encourages the heat in the stove to continue to rise up and out the chimney. They should still not be burning, only red glowing coals.
When half of the stove is cleaned out, carry the bucket out of the house and leave it to cool or dump the ashes in a safe place if you only have one bucket. Having two buckets is a better plan as it allows for this to be done later.
Rake the hot coals to the empty side of the stove. Then follow the same procedure and remove the remaining ashes from the stove.
Do not dump the ashes where they could start a fire. They will. They may be hot for another 10-15 hours. Dumping the ashes on a garden is an excellent form of recycling. Pouring them in a field with bean or corn stubble may start a fire (not that I have ever done that) be aware of your surroundings!
If you do not have a safe place to dump or bury the ashes, let them set in the bucket for 48 hours. One small coal in the bottom insulated by the ashes could start a fire in the garbage. Better to wait than burn a garage down.
Stoves with Ash Pans
Many stoves come with an ash pan in the bottom of the stove for the ashes to fall into when logs and coals are burnt up. In the case of a wood burning stove with an ash pan, follow the manufacturers’ recommendation on cleaning. The recommendation may be to let the fire burn completely out before cleaning. Safety is always first and following the manufacturers’ recommendation trumps this article every time.
Additional Questions
Do pellet stoves require cleaning like a wood burning stove? Pellet stoves do require cleaning. They burn pellets that are made from wood and a substance that bonds the pellets together. Some pellet stoves require more frequent cleaning since they have a smaller firebox.
How often does my chimney need to be cleaned on my wood burning stove? A chimney for a wood burning stove system should be inspected (at least by the owner) for creosote and other buildups at least every month during the