We have a large open fireplace with a cast iron fire basket, but we only burn logs so I'm considering whether to remove the basket so we can let a layer of ash build up on the fire brick base and burn on that. Any comments from those who burn logs in open fires?
We do both. Try it it cant do any harm
Mike
that works. Stuff is easier to burn in a basket due to airflow but it's not a necessity.
NT
We have an open fire with a basket and have only ever burnt wood, early on it was scrap timber such as old window frames etc. but that didn't last long and we've burnt logs for getting on for fifteen years. In our grate and chimney, I don't think burning them directly on the hearth would have been very successful. I had regularly to move the ash under the basket to one side while the fire was burning to keep it going. I suspect it was something to do with airflow and draft; the chimney itself is about twelve inches square, bigger than average, and goes straight up with no dog-leg. I reckon most of the air went straight up the chimney, bypassing the basket!
So long as you restrict the supply of air from underneath, it won't make any difference. I used to put a layer of cooking foil in the bottom of the fire basket to stop the ash from leaking out when we burned logs in an open fire in our last house.
But, TBH, I'd put in a log-burning stove. Since we moved and acquired one (well, two, actually), I'd never go back to an open fire. Our wood consumption fell about 90% ...
I guess that's what I was wondering - I believe a supply of air from underneath is needed for coal but not for wood, but does having it cause the wood to burn more quickly?
We've got wood burners in two other rooms, but this is a "feechur" fireplace so I'm told it's not to be converted.
Do you find the wood burns more slowly without the basket?
Hell, yes.
if the flue is designed to run with a basket, ou may get smoke escaping of you lower theh combustion area
I have seen pubs ho have done this raise the thing back with a layer of bricks..
A lot of problems are caused by insufficient air getting into the room.
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