For many years using my wood stove, I have used only a very short grate under the wood - really almost a flat screen. Fires were great. Recently the fires are very hard to start. The ashes are not that high even after a number of days. That says once I get a fire going, the wood burns thoroughly. What I find is that for some reason I now need to empty the ashes almost daily, and then the fire gets going fairly quickly. Note the ashes were not blocking the air openings.
I today bought a new grate that has legs about 3 inhces. I expect that will let lots of air circulate under the logs and up.
Does anyone recommend for or against using a grate? Until this, the burning logs settled nicely into the hot embers on the stove floor and burned well.
I today bought a new grate that has legs about 3 inhces. I expect that will let lots of air circulate under the logs and up.
Does anyone recommend for or against using a grate? Until this, the burning logs settled nicely into the hot embers on the stove floor and burned well.