Does coal have to be burnt on a stove with a grate?
A. You need a grate in your stove to burn coal which means that you need a multifuel stove. Nearly all multifuel stoves are designed to burn wood, coal, peat and other fuels. The grate in a stove is made up of bars of metal (nearly always cast iron) with gaps in between them. The bars may be fixed into one rigid unit or be separate and sit in a frame inside the stove. The gaps between the bars let air from below get to the coal. This also helps stop the grate bars getting too hot – they can get damaged otherwise. You need to make sure that the grate remains unblocked and that the ash in the ash pan does not come too close to the bottom of the grate or it will restrict the flow of air to the stove and your grate may get too hot and become damaged. Most multifuel stoves have a riddling mechanism. This is a method which lets you move the grate in the stove from the outside so as to shake any ash that is blocking the grate down, through the gaps in the grate, and into the ash pan. Riddling
