Lining grates

[Archminer]

I read somewhere that if you want to just burn wood in a wood/ coal furnace you just cover the grates with firebrick to burn better. Anyone try this?

I have a hotblast 1537 on order and don't mind experimenting. And i realize that you would have to pretty much shovel out all the ashes. I have about 3 tons of coal but. Was wanting to see just how good of a woodburner you could make it.

Any ideas or thoughts? Wonder how good it would work?

 

[AndrewPEI]

I think it would depend on if your primary air comes in underneath the grates. I have a wood/coal boiler, and blocked about half of my grates with firebrick - keeps coals longer. I wouldnt want to block any more than that off as the primary air for my boiler comes underneath the grates, so the fire would not burn very well if at all if I blocked it all off, plus it helps for getting the ashes into the ash pan in the half that is not firebrick covered.

 

[leon]

I read somewhere that if you want to just burn wood in a wood/ coal furnace you just cover the grates with firebrick to burn better. Anyone try this?

I have a hotblast 1537 on order and don't mind experimenting. And i realize that you would have to pretty much shovel out all the ashes. I have about 3 tons of coal but. Was wanting to see just how good of a woodburner you could make it.

Any ideas or thoughts? Wonder how good it would work?

You need to cover the grates with a piece of channel iron wide enough to
cover the interior width of the boiler then lay the firebricks on the channel iron.

I have a section of 12 by 12 blocked off with the channel iron and I then laid the firebrick
down to the height just below the flue height in the boiler.

This letts you shake the grates and also lets you burn coal better too.

I cut my wood 12" to make it easier to carry in buckets too so its a win win for me.

I have to install a chimney extension soon in my case to increase the draft as I have too
big chimney - 8 by 12 by 16 feet tall and itsbarely clears the roof peak.

 

[brenndatomu]

I covered about 2/3 of the grate in my Yukon with brick, it seems to hold hot coals a lot better for sure. Actually, I stacked up a full row of 4x2x9 firebricks in a 6" wide row, front to back, to make my firebox a little smaller. The idea being, it is hard to make a small but hot fire (read not a lot of wood) in the cavernous firebox of the Yukon (18" wide x 24" long and 18" high on one side, 12" on the other) so I effectively made the firebox smaller. It worked well, very well, I originally did it for those light heating days in the fall/spring, but it worked so well I left it for all but the coldest part of the winter, even then I never did take it all out.

I'd recommend using your new furnace in it's factory form for a while at the beginning just to get familiar with it and what is "normal"
That way when you make changes you will know what is better/worse.

 

[Archminer]

Thanks everyone. I should be installing the new furnace in the next month. I'll runner awhile in the stock form then start maybe messing with the bricks.

From what I have read one thing I want to do is knock the limiters off the the draft knobs so you can really shut her down if need be,

 

[brenndatomu]

Careful with cuttin 'er back like that, she'll turn into a creosote factory in a heartbeat even with good dry wood!