My Burnham Wood boiler is around 40 years old. It was a coal/wood hybrid with a bottom rotary grate. I got it free for taking it out of a very crappy install. When I got it, the rotary coal grate was in pieces and definitely not functional. In order to rebuild it would require chipping out refractory and repouring it. A friend made a welded up wood grate out of flat stock and square bar stock he had in stock. It just sats on the remains of the coal grate at the bottom of refractory lined pit. All the air for the fire comes
from below.
![20220918_185309[1].jpg](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/20220918_185309-1-jpg.299154/ "20220918_185309[1].jpg")
He originally made a nice neat straight grate which worked fine for 20 years but last winter I knew it was time for a new grate, but a broken ankle screwed up fabrication for a new one until today. Unlike the original I made the new grate fit the opening and tried to shift the air flow a bit by changing the grate bar spacing to be a bit more open at the back of the boiler to get a bit more heat under a set of baffle plates (which also need replacing.
I do not claim to be welder and my tools are kind of primitive but pictured below is the remains of the old one and the new one. The new one is definitely not very pretty and the gaps vary but my guess is its rugged enough to buy me a few more years. Unless someone wants to stick their head in the firebox with a flashlight no one is going to see it. I have a lightly used Tarm in the garage that may get installed to replace it, but odds are its going in new house (TBD).
![20220918_185253[1].jpg](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/20220918_185253-1-jpg.299155/ "20220918_185253[1].jpg")
![20220918_185309[1].jpg](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/299/299181-00b8cf757a13278016cfc2b32668afb9.jpg "20220918_185309[1].jpg")
![20220918_185253[1].jpg](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/299/299182-c45dfbe5207eee7ef2b109cd119d0746.jpg "20220918_185253[1].jpg")
from below.
He originally made a nice neat straight grate which worked fine for 20 years but last winter I knew it was time for a new grate, but a broken ankle screwed up fabrication for a new one until today. Unlike the original I made the new grate fit the opening and tried to shift the air flow a bit by changing the grate bar spacing to be a bit more open at the back of the boiler to get a bit more heat under a set of baffle plates (which also need replacing.
I do not claim to be welder and my tools are kind of primitive but pictured below is the remains of the old one and the new one. The new one is definitely not very pretty and the gaps vary but my guess is its rugged enough to buy me a few more years. Unless someone wants to stick their head in the firebox with a flashlight no one is going to see it. I have a lightly used Tarm in the garage that may get installed to replace it, but odds are its going in new house (TBD).
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