wrote in message
...
Thank you very much for all your enthusiastic responses.

To address some points.
I was aware that too much air may be slipping in through the door, so
I recently replaced the rope which I tend to do about every two years.

I think I will just go ahead and run it with ash directly sitting on
the bottom - thank you for the advice on a stove which has been run
unprotected and survived.

Virtually all the wood being used is Conifer. It's a mixture of large
logs 7" in dia, medium 3-4" and small 1-2" I will now try to get hold
of some denser wood perhaps Oak or Beech

I think I may have to resolve to let it burn out overnight to save
stock - but it was nice to retain some heat flow throughout the house
during the recent cold spell, and it was most convenient and easy to
fire up in the mornings because the box was still warm and just a
couple of embers ere enough to catch new logs alight.

Running 1/4 full on full air is the way I used to do it. It means that
very little ash is left because it all burns efficiently (I only
cleaned the ash out twice from October to March in 2007 with this
method but the wood all burns away quickly and never makes it through
the night.

Thank you so much for the help,
kind regards,
Kev.


Get hold of your local tree surgeon. He'll probably be more than happy to
deliver FOC as it costs them usually to have the trees which have been cut
down disposed of.
Local one here is a friend anyway and occasionally dumps 4 tonnes in my
front drive when I ask !