I Have My Base Burner (BB)

Having a too large gap between the outer front grate and the center next bar( more than what you see on the photo), I put flat bars between the triangular grates. The front of the bars exceed at the front to fill the gap. Seems to work good and less anthracite falling in the pan. The center is less agressive and dump less ash at the time.
Now I shake the outer a little and the center grates jut a little and the life is nice and warm.
I wish the same pleasure to all anthracite burners.
Now I think I said about all I could about the Bride's life.

Very interesting Nortcan, Do you think that either or both grates has burned away over the years allowing more space between the two sets ?

Do you have a half circle cut out of the new pieces to allow them to sit on the existing grates? I can visualize this would keep the new pieces located and still be able to shake the center grates as long as one doesnt get to aggressive. Have you had any problems with the new pieces wanting to "walk" off the center grate centerline ?

echos67 wrote:Very interesting Nortcan, Do you think that either or both grates has burned away over the years allowing more space between the two sets ?

Do you have a half circle cut out of the new pieces to allow them to sit on the existing grates? I can visualize this would keep the new pieces located and still be able to shake the center grates as long as one doesnt get to aggressive. Have you had any problems with the new pieces wanting to "walk" off the center grate centerline ?

I tried to see why it was like that but ??????. The bar at the back has the good gap and the 2 triangular bars look identical and not burned away, the outer grate seems round so?
I tried to center the outer, pulling it forward but then it was out of the slides.
You got it right, I made 2 half circles under the bars to keep them from going out of the grates. No problem when shaking, before I could only vibrate the handle or all the ash and good coal was falling down in the pan. Now I can even turn the handle 360* without loosing too much ash/coal. When the triangular grates rotate, only about half of the triangle is over the added bars. Not too agressive but enough to make the job. The bars beeing not tight on the grate supports make them having some play if hard pieces get on them and avoid to get jammed.

Hi Norcan, I have a tool that came with my stove not Shure what its called but I have been slicing the ash between the firepot and the ring. seems to work good especially when I want to get a bit more radiant heat from the lower door area

nortcan wrote:Having a too large gap between the outer front grate and the center next bar( more than what you see on the photo), I put flat bars between the triangular grates. The front of the bars exceed at the front to fill the gap. Seems to work good and less anthracite falling in the pan. The center is less agressive and dump less ash at the time.
Now I shake the outer a little and the center grates jut a little and the life is nice and warm.
I wish the same pleasure to all anthracite burners.
Now I think I said about all I could about the Bride's life.

Very clever, A really good solution. I knew we would learn a lot when you got that stove.

Agree Franco, Leave it to Pierre to find a better way!
Very clever and the fact that you can rotate the handle completely is amazing. "As is tradition" in our favorite "sport" different minds find better ways.

smithy wrote:Hi Norcan, I have a tool that came with my stove not Shure what its called but I have been slicing the ash between the firepot and the ring. seems to work good especially when I want to get a bit more radiant heat from the lower door area

I tried with the tool like on your photo( a poker) but found that some dirty. So I found in my crap box a stove tool handle with nothing at the end. I hammered the end to make it a little flat on it and made a goove to have a sort of mini hook/poker. Works good cause I only wanted go to the slopped center of the grates and get some ash down to the pan, also a little dirty when removing it even if I place a paper towel on the rod when pulling it out.
After fixing the outer grate slide jamming and the big gap at the front of the center grate, I don't use poker or sclicer. And I get less unburned ant in the ash pan.

I see that your fire pot got a dental job at the front. Did you tap or welded the new teeth? Very good idea.

franco b wrote:

nortcan wrote:Having a too large gap between the outer front grate and the center next bar( more than what you see on the photo), I put flat bars between the triangular grates. The front of the bars exceed at the front to fill the gap. Seems to work good and less anthracite falling in the pan. The center is less agressive and dump less ash at the time.
Now I shake the outer a little and the center grates jut a little and the life is nice and warm.
I wish the same pleasure to all anthracite burners.
Now I think I said about all I could about the Bride's life.

Very clever, A really good solution. I knew we would learn a lot when you got that stove.

Thanks Franco. I also learn a lot from this forum.
Good thing we have guys like you with so much knowledge/experience on the "stove world".

SteveZee wrote:Agree Franco, Leave it to Pierre to find a better way!
Very clever and the fact that you can rotate the handle completely is amazing. "As is tradition" in our favorite "sport" different minds find better ways.

I know that you guys can find lots of solutions to get the anthracite world a better and easier world.
Talking about sport, if we take the last, the better, the one car, brand new, coming out of the shop, engineers are already and since a good time working on the feature better car... And it's the same for all ""new"" better,best...products.
As already said : if nothing is perfect in this World, so all can be improved.
Be safe when on our favorite "sport", wear all safety devices you can get. Don't drink (too much) when at it.

This stove reminds me "The time machine" not the newer movie but the original one. Wow, what a stove! How thick is that mica? On my palour stove the mica is as thick as card stock paper.

Smokeyja wrote:This stove reminds me "The time machine" not the newer movie but the original one. Wow, what a stove! How thick is that mica? On my palour stove the mica is as thick as card stock paper.

Thanks Smokeyja. In fact considering the age of my stove , you'r right to say " time machine". I don't really know how thick are the micas, plus there are some thicker than others. Maybe like a credit card?

Oops.... lost the fire this afternoon. Is it possible that with a magazine I need to shake the grates at the morning, after 12 Hrs bun time? Without the mag, I didn't shake it at the morning like I do with the Vig, once for a 24 Hrs period. Maybe the load in the mag pushes on the ash bed and cause fire choking? That arrived 2 or 3 times yet.
But gives me the occasion to practice an other sport: photos.

In this mild weather, your draft may not be strong enough to hold a fire with a thick bed of ash.

Hi Norcan, with the little experience I have noticed the 2 x per day shake down keeps it going about 250- 300 f mpd almost shut, main air just cracked and bypass gate adjustment will give + or - 100 f .
I have been using the magazine as it is not removable on my the stove and as Steve said the added weight of the coal on top will give a better shake down.
These things are realy hot!
Question what do you clean you mica with?

I bought a little package of Huggies unscented baby wipes per someones advice here on the site. They work well for cleaning the mica's and can be done with the stove burning. Gentle swipes with a folded up corner and they clean up the inside soot of any starter fires nicely.