Bars on fire basket too widely spaced

[teddy...@hotmail.com]

I've just had my chimney uncapped, and last night lit a fire using smokeless fuel. The nuggets of black stuff are quite small, and I found that as the fire settled they fell through the bars on the fire basket and onto the hearth. Is there anything I can do, apart from spend £150+ replacing the fire basket, to sort this? I wondered about chicken wire (not attractive, but would surely work).
Thanks
Edward

[Bill Wright]

teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:
> I've just had my chimney uncapped, and last night lit a fire using smokeless fuel.

he nuggets of black stuff are quite small, and I found that as the fire
settled they

fell through the bars on the fire basket and onto the hearth. Is there
anything I can

do, apart from spend £150+ replacing the fire basket, to sort this? I
wondered about

chicken wire (not attractive, but would surely work).
> Thanks
> Edward

It wouldn't last very long.

Bill

[The Natural Philosopher]

chickenwire will simply burn through in short order.


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

[The Natural Philosopher]

On 12/12/12 14:45, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 12/12/12 14:41, teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:
>> I've just had my chimney uncapped, and last night lit a fire using
>> smokeless fuel. The nuggets of black stuff are quite small, and I
>> found that as the fire settled they fell through the bars on the fire
>> basket and onto the hearth. Is there anything I can do, apart from
>> spend £150+ replacing the fire basket, to sort this? I wondered about
>> chicken wire (not attractive, but would surely work).
>> Thanks
>> Edward
>>
> chickenwire will simply burn through in short order.
>
>

PS nuggets of smokeless fuel are not appropriate for an open fire.

In fact smokeless fuel doesn't really burn very well in an open fire.

Use coal. Or wood.

[Dave Liquorice]

On Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:45:57 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

>> I've just had my chimney uncapped, and last night lit a fire using
>> smokeless fuel. The nuggets of black stuff are quite small, and I
>> found that as the fire settled they fell through the bars on the fire
>> basket and onto the hearth.

Is a fire basket suitable for coal/smokeless anyway? I thought they where
really designed for logs And you'll damage the hearth with the hot
ash/embers landing on it.

> Is there anything I can do, apart from spend £150+ replacing the fire
> basket, to sort this? I wondered about chicken wire ...

>
> chickenwire will simply burn through in short order.

Well when we had an open fire burning mainly wood I spread a bit of 10mm
pitch galvanised wire mesh across the grate to hold the ash up better to
give a good bed for the wood. It lasted one if not two winters before it
fell apart. TBH I was surprised but it did last and stopped the ash
falling through so quick. Thinking about that for the current wood burner
as well as keeping a bed of ash on the grate is quite difficult.

--
Cheers
Dave.

[teddy...@hotmail.com]

Thanks everyone. Didn't know that a basket was unsuitable for the fuel I'm burning. Will persevere until it runs out and then switch to wood or coal.

[harry]

Old grill pan mesh?
Nothing made of steel will last long. Chicken wire only an hour or
so.

The grate will be cast iron, very fire resistant.
Probably intended for wood hence s[aces too big.

You could put some house bricks under the grate to fill the space in a
bit but it reduces airflow.

I would look for a different fuel. Bigger briquettes, wood or coke if
available.
Most built up areas are "smokeless zone" & burning coal is illegit
these days.

BTW some of these " small black nuggets" are oil derived and burn very
hot and quick.

[David WE Roberts]

<teddy...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:5f6a6f24-d922-4657...@googlegroups.com...

******************************************************

You can get wire mesh for rendering on to from a builders merchant and this
will last a bit longer than chicken wire.
I have used this in the past for lining a BBQ where the metal grid I was
using (old oven shelf) was too broad to hold the charcoal.
May not last long, but one sheet will give you a number of grate liners.

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

[Dave Liquorice]

On Wed, 12 Dec 2012 07:41:28 -0800 (PST), teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:

> Didn't know that a basket was unsuitable for the fuel I'm burning.

I'm not *sure* that a basket is unsuitable for smokeless/coal, I've only
ever seen logs in a basket. A bit of google should reveal all though.

Bear in mind that without an ash container of some sort
collecting/cleaning it up will likely put an awful lot of it up into the
air. A good capacity wet 'n dry vacuum cleaner is handy. I'm not sure how
effective the "Ash Can" attachments you can get for ordinary vacuums are.


--
Cheers
Dave.

[polygonum]

Or the special ash vacuum cleaner at Lidl this week!

--
Rod

[RJS]

I've been burning logs straight on my hearth for the last 10yrs without problem having burnt through the grate the first winter we were in the house.

R

[RJS]

I bought one form Machine Mart with my last discount voucher. I presented it to SWMBO who had hitherto simply swept the ash into a bag. She observed that the logs-on-hearth burning leaves such a small amount of ash that it was another example of a typical bloke solution to a simple situation that isn't a problem. It's still in the box. <sigh>

[Man at B&Q]

On Dec 12, 2:48 pm, The Natural Philosopher <t...@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

> On 12/12/12 14:45, The Natural Philosopher wrote:> On 12/12/12 14:41, teddysn...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >> I've just had my chimney uncapped, and last night lit a fire using
> >> smokeless fuel.  The nuggets of black stuff are quite small, and I
> >> found that as the fire settled they fell through the bars on the fire
> >> basket and onto the hearth.  Is there anything I can do, apart from
> >> spend £150+ replacing the fire basket, to sort this?  I wondered about
> >> chicken wire (not attractive, but would surely work).
> >> Thanks
> >> Edward
>
> > chickenwire will simply burn through in short order.
>
> PS nuggets of smokeless fuel are not appropriate for an open fire.
>
> In fact smokeless fuel doesn't really burn very well in an open fire.

That will be why you can buy it specifically for open fires, then.

MBQ

[Dave Liquorice]

On Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:58:48 -0800 (PST), RJS wrote:

>> Bear in mind that without an ash container of some sort
>> collecting/cleaning it up will likely put an awful lot of it up into
>> the air. A good capacity wet 'n dry vacuum cleaner is handy. I'm not
>> sure how effective the "Ash Can" attachments you can get for ordinary
>> vacuums are.
>

> I bought one form Machine Mart with my last discount voucher. I
> presented it to SWMBO who had hitherto simply swept the ash into a bag.
> She observed that the logs-on-hearth burning leaves such a small amount
> of ash that it was another example of a typical bloke solution to a
> simple situation that isn't a problem.

Wood is supposed to burn best on a bed of ash, does she sweep it up for
every fire? I empty the ash tray on our woodburner about once a week and
never clear the ash from the grate, unless completely cleaning the
interior of the stove, to check ash/soot build up behind the boiler and
flue bottom.

I guess she hasn't yet noticed the fine grey layer of dust in the room or
perhaps she has and doesn't worry about it?

> It's still in the box. <sigh>

eBay.

--
Cheers
Dave.

[stuart noble]

Out of interest, is there anything else you can burn on an open fire in
a smoke control area?

[Dave Liquorice]

On Fri, 14 Dec 2012 19:07:20 +0000, stuart noble wrote:

>>> PS nuggets of smokeless fuel are not appropriate for an open fire.
>>>
>>> In fact smokeless fuel doesn't really burn very well in an open fire.
>>
>> That will be why you can buy it specifically for open fires, then.
>

> Out of interest, is there anything else you can burn on an open fire in
> a smoke control area?

Approved smokeless fuels in England, Scotland, Wales & NI:

http://smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/fuels.php?country=a

Note that a given fuel may not be approved for use in all countries.
The list does includes various manufactured "firelogs".

--
Cheers
Dave.

[RJS]

On Friday, 14 December 2012 16:54:10 UTC, Dave Liquorice wrote:

>
>
>
> Wood is supposed to burn best on a bed of ash, does she sweep it up for
>
> every fire?

No, just when it starts to spill over the draught control bar that sat under the grate.

> I empty the ash tray on our woodburner about once a week and
>
> never clear the ash from the grate, unless completely cleaning the
>
> interior of the stove, to check ash/soot build up behind the boiler and
>
> flue bottom.
>
>
>
> I guess she hasn't yet noticed the fine grey layer of dust in the room or
>
> perhaps she has and doesn't worry about it?

She's in charge of household cleaning! Jokes aside she vacuums after cleaning the hearth. In some ways I'm sorry that we don't have a cast iron fireback and grate, or even better, a Yorkshire range so that I could introduce her to the joys of black lead. Then there's that nasty red paint for doorsteps. Ah, happy days :-)

>
>
>
> > It's still in the box. <sigh>
>
>
>
> eBay.

Too lazy. And I thought that it might do for when I'm cleaning up after DIY as an intercepter to increase the life of the filters in my Nilfisk vac.

>
>
>
> --
>
> Cheers
>
> Dave.


Cheers

Richard