Does wood burn better on a bed of ash?
A. If you have a wood burning stove then let the ash build up to a reasonable thickness on the base of the firebox around 25-50mm. Do not follow this to the letter – become familiar with your stove and how it works best. I use a shovel and metal bucket to remove excess ash when it gets too high. Always leave a bed of ash in place – do not completely empty it out. If you have a multifuel stove with a grate, but will be burning wood for long periods then let the ash build up on the grate so you have a layer covering the grate up. When you come to burning coal make sure to empty all the ash out or it will not work well and you may damage the stove parts. If you will only be burning wood then choose a dedicated wood burner if possible as it will be more efficient at burning wood and the firebox will be larger than the multifuel stove. We do not recommend that you burn wood and coal at the same time: burning coal produces sulphuric acid and wood can contain a lot of moisture – this combinat
