Blocking a Grate To Burn On One Grate

This is how I did this with my Riteway so it would be about the same with a Hitzer 82. Maybe some of my ideas will help someone. Im not going to give measurements as mine was a very early model and it could have changed over time. I dont have a welder or torch but did use a jigsaw and drill.

I blocked the closest side to the chimney as the louvers are on the far side plus it puts the fire further away from the chimney to keep heat in the stove longer.

I put down fiberglass insulation first, with brick on top of that, then spread coal ash on top of that. In 2 years I have not seen any blue flames coming from anywhere but the fire so it must be sealed good.

Then I looked around my place and found a heavy piece of steel with a bend in it, perfect for what i needed. I cut it the size I wanted and also bolted an angle iron under the bend for strength. A flat piece of steel would work too if an angle iron was attached. i wanted the angle iron for strength and to make the steel more vertical to the fire.

After getting it to size I put it in with the lip going a little behind the center support so it wouldnt move.

Then I put in firebrick and lit it up. The one thing not pictured that I did later was I sat another piece of angle iron on top of the bend to hang over the firebrick a little bit as I was getting small pieces of coal behind them and had to pull firebrick out and clean behind them, a real pain with a live fire. After adding the angle iron it has been trouble free.

I havent had to yet but if I ever get another of those -30 degree spells its not a bad job to pull it all out and use the whole grate and then re-install it. But I do like how it runs on the one grate. Ive burned wood and lignite in it too with just one grate without issues.

Nice!!!!

Thanks McG! I did forget to mention it still holds over 60 pounds of coal vs maybe 100 before.

Very similar to what I had in mind for a different fire box.

To be honest, in my experience with the Clearview, if you're burning only wood you don't need to touch the riddling lever normally. Just keep letting the ash build up on the grate but empty what falls naturally into the pan. Soon you'll notice hardly any falls through into the ash pan and after a week or so hard lumps of 'baked' ash form on the grate. When the grate gets full, like halfway up the wavy bar and falling into the trough at the front, then start to riddle occasionally to keep the level constant or just poke it about a bit in the morning with a rake-like I do. If you go too far and clear too much ash off, you'll notice a drop in performance.

This doesn't seem to completely block the grate so when you're lighting the stove and you open the spin wheel, enough air can still get through to get the fire going.

I had a big tidy in the stove after a bit of a chimney clean at the weekend (hardly needed to bother, there wasn't much up there). I decided to knock most of the ash through and generally tidy it up. It's taken a couple of days for the fire to stay in well and behave itself since then - should have left it alone - silly boy!

You'll see what I mean if you give it a go. This should also help improve your fuel consumption a bit. I've noticed that this week.



Quick edit to drop in a photo. Not a brilliant one but I just popped a log (ash, no pun intended though...) onto the fire and snapped it while the door was open. The ash on the grate is about level with the bottom of the wavy bar here, all the hot embers are sitting on that layer.