Metal Casting Zone Info Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Grate’

A CAST IRON FIREPLACE GRATES COMPARISON

Deciding what to use for a fireplace grate may seem uncomplicated, there are cast iron fireplace grates, steel fireplace grates, stainless steel fireplace grates and grate heaters or blowers.  This selection does present a choice in the selection process.  While you will find a 24 fireplace grate is the most common.  All have benefits, and the choice may ultimately be made by what is expected from your fire place.  For a pretty fire and room ambience using any grate will do the job, but if the expectation is for extra home heat the selection needs close examination. 

CAST IRON FIREPLACE GRATES:  The first thing we all think of when we hear the term cast iron is our mother’s skillet in the kitchen.  Cast iron has properties of heat being spread evenly throughout the metal.  That’s what makes a cast iron skillet cook so well.  Those same properties can be seen in a cast iron grate.  The grate itself will, when heated by a fire, radiate heat into a room.  This is a passive approach to expelling heat into a room but it needs to be thought of when figuring the best ways to do just that, heat a room.  This will help, but understand this should not be thought of as a major contributor for a room’s warmth. 

STEEL AND STAINLESS STEEL FIREPLACE GRATES:   These are available most everywhere and are reasonability priced.  The steel grates are generally made with the bars wider apart than the cast iron cousin.  The difference between stainless and regular steel is in the possibly of longer life.  Also, the actual visual looks are different.  The grate, stainless or not, will retain heat to radiate into the room.  There is small difference between the steel and cast iron grate.  Cast iron winning out but the amount is insignificant.

FIREPLACE GRATES BLOWERS:  This is a product that serves two jobs.  One, holds the wood that is being burned like a grate and two, takes the heat that is developed from the fire and sends it into a room with the use of a fan.  This could be considered a turbo charged fireplace grate.  There are many available and do a good job at moving warmth into a room.  If you are thinking about this avenue then an actual fireplace insert might enter into the discussion.  

A basic wood burning grate is a tool for your fireplace just like a fireplace tool set, fireplace screen and a fireplace hearth rug.  All these items are fundamental to the success of heating your home and enjoying your fireplace.  Keep the flue clean and happy warm nights.

James Dahlberg

If you burn coal on sand or just ashes from a previous fire, it would be nearly impossible to burn. Coal requires air under the fire or it will not ignite. Wood will burn without a grate but very imperfectly. There is a small amount of oxygen (air) in wood. Just enough to make a smoldering fire to create a great deal of creosote and smoke in your heating appliance, smoke pipe and chimney. To burn wood or coal on sand or just plain steel is similar to burning garbage in a barrel. If you ever try it you will have a very smokey fire because there will be a lack of oxygen (air). Unless you cut some holes at the bottom of the barrel.  Many outdoor boilers use this (non) technology. That is one of many reasons why they smoke so much.

To prove the above theory to your satisfaction, you can try the following if you have a wood-burning fireplace. Remove the grate. Start a wood fire on the firebrick or steel hearth. It’s not only hard to get burning, when it does start to burn, the flame will be uneven across the wood and it will be a smoky flame. For a second test, place the wood in a steel box with only the top open. That will cause even worse results than the first test.  Now place the wood in a fireplace-designed grate. Nice fire, right?  It is because you have provided air under the grate.

Consider burning on a heavy cast iron grate with an adequate amount of air available to the firebox from below the grate, regardless of what type of wood or coal burning appliance that you choose. Adequate air under the grate helps assure you of a reasonably clean fire with reduced smoke or creosote coming from the flame. A wood fire will last a little longer without a grate at the cost of a dirty fire and more smoke and creosote build-up on every part of your wood or coal burning system, including the firebox, smoke pipe and chimney.

If you want an even cleaner fire with less creosote and soot buildup in the system, provide a secondary air source above the flame. This is known as secondary air. If you provide 80% of the air from below the grate and 20% of the air from above the flame, you can increase the efficiency of the wood burning appliance by as much as 40%. This is because 40% of the energy produced by a wood or coal fire leaves the initial flame in the form of unburned gases. By igniting these gases, you not only get a cleaner burn with less soot and creosote, the efficiency of the wood or coal is increased dramatically, thereby stretching your savings on the purchase of wood or coal.