"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"K" wrote in message
...
Janet Tweedy writes


You should not have that much ash, a wood burner needs to burn on a
bed
of
ash - I only empty a bit of mine out once a week.


I never burn on a bed of ash and I have a multi fuel Hunter stove. It
wouldn't get enough draught beneath the wood to burn properly. Only needs
a bed of ash for coal. I burn all the time and would always riddle the
ash away before reloading in the morning .

That's interesting, because our stove came with a grate to use with coal,
and instructions to remove the grate and use a bed of ash for wood -
entirely the opposite way around.

I can only say that my stove came with the same instructions and I've been
burning wood on a bed of ash for more than 20 years now. It seems to
work.

Same here. In the last house we had a large Hunter stove which came with a
grate for coal and instructions to remove it for wood. We never burned coal
and the grate was never used. We found it in the shed when we moved and left
it along with the instruction book for the new owners. I have installed a
smaller cottager style stove here which came with a grate but no
instructions. Again I have removed the grate as we only burn wood. This one
(if used every evening as in the recent cold snap) only needs emptying every
two weeks or so as the old Hunter did. I find this an advantage as it
minimises dust from cleaning.

May I suggest you try with the grate removed. Wood does not need a strong
draught from below to burn, you will probably find it burns for longer
without the grate. Take a look at
http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/how-to-burn-wood.html for advise on using a
wood stove.

Mike