Grate for a Liberty

[djblech]

I was at Menards yesterday and picked up a fireplace grate for 15$. I am going to try it in my Liberty. If I try to start a fire E/W it never seems to get going. I always have to start with N/S wood that is 15" long which is a pain because all of my wood is 16". I will need to cut the legs of the grate off some, but this should give more O2 to the fire. Anyone think of a reason this won't work? With temps in the 60's today I think the boiler will get shut down this week and I will just be using the Liberty. It's been nice not using any propane since Dec 1st.

Doug

 

[fossil]

Dunno what the problem is, or why you would need to put a grate in the stove. Every woodstove manufacturer I've heard of sez don't do it. My Liberty burns just fine without a grate. I always maintain ~ 1"-2" bed of ashes in it. If I have any doubt about air circulation when lighting from cold, I'll clean out a N-S trough of ashes in the middle of the stove. Maybe your kindling is larger than ideal, or you're not getting a good coal bed formed before loading larger splits, or whatever. Have you ever tried building a top-down fire? Rick

 

[djblech]

I am wondering if my draft is enough. Where my chimney goes up it follows the rule but the main house rises above it about 13' away. I have never been able to get higher than 500* stove top temp. I am planning to add 2 ft to my chimney in hopes this will help. I have been leaving more ashes and always make a N/S trough in the middle of the stove. If the E/W wood sits down before I have a really good bed of coals from N/S wood it will go out or just sit and smolder. It has been worse with the warmer temps which is to be expected. I have not tried a top down fire in this stove. Did not have good luck with them in my other stove. I know the Liberty is a great stove from all I have read. I just have to learn how to run it.
Thanks
Doug

 

[begreen]

Oh, at first I thought this might be a Wisconsin "Cheese for America" program. ;-P

Skip the grate. Lopi says in the beginning of the manual don't do it.

"For use with solid wood fuels only (cord wood). Operate with
feed door closed - open to feed fire only. Do not use a grate
or elevate fire - build fire directly on the hearth."

How dry is the wood? If it is not fully seasoned, it is going to be balky and temps will be below normal. The 13' flue is not helping, but be sure the wood is dry first, then tackle the flue. If you can add a couple feet, that's a good plan.

 

[thewoodlands]

I was at Menards yesterday and picked up a fireplace grate for 15$. I am going to try it in my Liberty. If I try to start a fire E/W it never seems to get going. I always have to start with N/S wood that is 15" long which is a pain because all of my wood is 16". I will need to cut the legs of the grate off some, but this should give more O2 to the fire. Anyone think of a reason this won't work? With temps in the 60's today I think the boiler will get shut down this week and I will just be using the Liberty. It's been nice not using any propane since Dec 1st.

Doug

I have been burning east/west in the Liberty most of the winter plus had a nice fire last night, we have been burning cherry that has a M/C between 14 & 20 percent.

We burn small and hot.

Zap

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

13' from floor to cap, or stove top to cap?
they'd like 15' floor to cap?

 

[djblech]

The height of my chimney now is 20' floor to cap. The problem is that the main house 2nd story goes up about 9.5' away. I added 2 more feet to the chimney today which should put me above the 2nd story roofline about 2'. I think I might have been getting a downdraft from the 2nd story roof. I never had a problem with draft with the dutchwest cat I had before. If it cools off tonight (temps in the upper 50's now) I will fire and see if that works any better.
Doug