Cast Iron Fireplace grates make a beautiful addition to
any fireplace as well as adding function. A fireplace log grates is a must to keep your fireplace burning hot and clean.
Fireplace Grate Benefits
A fireplace log grate provides many benefits and a hot
burning fire is one. When the logs are elevated off the firebox floor,
air is pulled from under the burning logs creating a draw. This causes
a cycle. The draw of air burns the logs hotter and the hotter the logs
burn the more it draws. This causes the fire to burn cleaner which
means less pollution and less creosote in your chimney reducing the
chance of a chimney fire. A hot fire also means more heat for you.
When the firepace grate is positioned towards the back of the firebox,
the heat hits the slant of the fire back. The slant of the fire back
slants forward reflecting the heat out into the room.
Another
benefit of fireplace grates is they securely hold the burning logs in
place so they are not rolling out onto your floor. This benefit should
be obvious. Fireplace grates will also keep the burning logs compact
which makes them "feed" off one another instead of having them spread
out burning independently.
Fireplace grates also make lighting
the fire easy. Simply crumple up newspaper and stuff it under the
fireplace grate. Next, put kindling on the fireplace grate. On top
of the kindling place medium size pieces of wood and on top of that
place a log or two. Presto, a full size fire. The importance of the
fireplace grate in all of this is to keep the weight of all the wood
off the paper, which would smother it, not allowing it to get hot
enough to ignite the kindling.
Sizing Your Fireplace Grate
When measuring your firebox for a fireplace grate,
simply measure the back of the firebox. This is usually the narrowest
point if the colvings (sides) slant in. Make sure the is at least 2-4
inches of clearence on each side. The fireplace grate should have 6-8
inches clearence front to back to keep it as far back as possible away
from the doors or screen.
