I have a fireplace in my CT home and am having a problem getting it to burn well. I can get it started nicely and it draws quite well but I use a starter log to get it going. When the starter burns out the fire dies. I'm thinking that the grate I have may be toohigh so the logs don't get the benefit of the embers below. Is there a recommended height a grate or andirons should be above the floor of the fireplace?
Thank you in advance,
Rudy
rudyeb wrote in news:ab5f9b04-a69b-47e3-896e- snipped-for-privacy@t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
You can either leave a bed of ash under the grate [~1"-2" below the grate] or use andirons that keep the logs about 1 1/2" above the "floor" of the fireplace.
For a grate, you can also put a layer of sand under it.
Most grates hold the wood rather high and you want the coals to be just below the grate.
A good layer of kindling between 2 logs can also help IF you light them from underneath the grate. They'll provide the coals to keep the logs burning.
I threw my damn grate away before i built my first fire in the fireplace 18 years ago. I heat my home with the fireplace.
if you you want a quick flaming fire that goes out right away, use a grate.
Karl
My grate (which seems like a pretty generic grate to me -- my research when I bought was basically "grate. Ogg say good") is able to hold coals, while letting ashes fall through. I'm able to stackpretty much any sort of incompetent pile of wood on it, turn on the gas and light it off, wait until the wood is burning well, turn off the gas, and just keep adding wood whenever the fire gets low.
Amazing how much easier it is to build a fire now that I've got gas. It was a *whole* lot harder when I had to stack paper and kindling in a way that would create a coal bed before burning out....
I have a stove rather than a fireplace, but they light about the same way.
If there is a layer of charcoal from the last fire underneath I rarely need kindling.
I found a wire screen hemisphere (picnic bug cover) that fits into the top of my enameled ash can (chipped spaghetti pot). I shovel the ashes into the screen, shake them out over the lawn or compost bin and dump the charcoal back into the stove. The new fire is made from 3-4" logs on either side and a few 1" - 2" sticks in the middle, with a rolled, spindled and mutilated junkmail page underneath. You are prequalified to BURN!
My trick fire booster is a rubber hose with a brass nozzle (fired shell casing found in the woods) that I use to blow a narrow stream of air into the fire.
All I have to do is light the paper and then blow enough air on it to spread the fire to the charcoal. Once that's all glowing its radiant heat keeps the logs burning.
If last night's fire is still warm I don't need the paper. I hoe everything to the back and then rake the charcoal forward, load in new logs, blow the charcoal into a fire and it's done.
For my stove at least there has to be a hollow tube of burning logs and charcoal centered on the air intake, each side radiating its heat onto the other. IIRC fireplace fires need glowing charcoal on an insulating ash layer fairly close under the wood to keep them going. Flames by themselves apparently don't radiate enough heat to decompose the next layer of wood fast enough. When you pull a burning stick out of a bonfire it soon goes out.
Jim Wilkins
Your wood is wet or you waited too long to put it on. I never empty the ashes completely, leave a bed there for hot embers to fall on this will keep them closer to the grate.
My fire place is dead, damper rusted off, waiting for my pellet insert to arrive. Although pellets are now impossible to get around here. Thank You, Randy
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I cut about an inch and a half off each of the back two legs of my grate, which besides putting the logs closer to the coals, has an additional benefit of making the logs all roll together towards the back as they burn.
I was always taught that you should have at least two, and preferably, three logs in the fire at any given time, to help contain the heat to keep the fire going. If your logs are too spread out, they cool off and won't burn very well. The water in wood that hasn't been dried will have the same effect. (In my area, you need 6 months to a year for it to dry out enough to burn.) --Glenn Lyford
rudyeb wrote in news:ab5f9b04-a69b-47e3-896e- snipped-for-privacy@t54g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
Put a layer of 1/2" mesh hardware cloth in the bottom of the grate (to hold up the coals) and use "match lighting" charcoal instead of the starter log.
The ashes will fall through but the charcoal will keep things going.
If you're using split logs, position one large piece at the back of the grate and another at the front with the charcoal in the middle and some smaller stuff angled across the two larger pieces.
I must admit as well that I find a pile of ashes under the grate to be a good way to keep the coals close and keep the fire going. It was also my initial thought that you had wood that was not seasoned long enough (wet or green) and some types of wood just dont burn well at all. I had some cherry that dried in my garage for 3 years and it still didnt burn well and it smoked like crazy.
Personally, I am with the guy (Randy) who gave up on the fireplace and went with the insert. A fireplace is a lousy and wasteful way to generate heat and it just sucks furnace heat out of the home. My way of weathering the energy cost storm was just to plug the fireplace with a chimney balloon to stop the draft from the rusty damper, and I upgraded my furnace to a 90% efficient power vent.
snipped-for-privacy@jasonshelly.com wrote in news:84bc66a3-ffbc-47b7-aa4c-17a65c659ca7 @t65g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:
Having heated a house solely with a single fireplace, I'll stick with one.
The "secret" is to keep a bed of live coals close enough to the backing logs.
These backing logs reflect the heat into the wood that's actually doing most of the burning while they just develop surface char.
By having the grate/andirons as close to the fireplace opening as possible (without pouring smoke into the room) the maximum heat output is assured.
For those who want even more heat, consider a chambered metal firebox that has an airspace through which air is routed and heated before being vented into the room. [Mine was basic brick.]
A year ago they were $234 a ton in the White Mountain region of NH, with plenty available all fall/winter long. Matter of fact, in Feb, the price dropped to $219/ton.
This year we had to get on a waiting list for $298 tons. Only got 4 for now because as oil goes down, pellets shouldn't be too far behind. (Last year we burned 6.82 tons + ~260 gallons)
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