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We use the old fashioned side bricks - saves a shovelful of coal on each top up.
The only thing that worries me is that when we burned the containers of tea lights we quickly had damage to the fire grate - maybe not the reason but close enough in time to be. Anyone know if that particular metal would cause damage to the iron grate?

Personally I'd save the tins and use them for something else. pencil pots, flower pots, heck, you could even fill them up with custard powder bought err by the scoop (if such places still exist).

I would be very careful putting metals into fires, you could if unlucky get a thermite reaction, which could have been what damaged snapdragons grate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite

Bricks in the fire will act as a nice heat soak and radiate the heat out for several hours after the fire has gone out like the other said. Our stove has big stone panels in it for that purpose, but no room to add bricks as it is quite small. We do often put a pan full of water on the stove and use it for washing or in the washing machine, however if left there it is still above room temp the next morning, so it is releasing the heat slowly

matt_w wrote:Personally I'd save the tins and use them for something else. pencil pots, flower pots, heck, you could even fill them up with custard powder bought err by the scoop (if such places still exist).

I would be very careful putting metals into fires, you could if unlucky get a thermite reaction, which could have been what damaged snapdragons grate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite

Bricks in the fire will act as a nice heat soak and radiate the heat out for several hours after the fire has gone out like the other said. Our stove has big stone panels in it for that purpose, but no room to add bricks as it is quite small. We do often put a pan full of water on the stove and use it for washing or in the washing machine, however if left there it is still above room temp the next morning, so it is releasing the heat slowly

With respect, i think this is highly unlikely, lets assume you were even using aluminum cans, thermite is notoriously hard to make as the key to its successful ignition is the close combination of finely powdered aluminum and iron oxide - the fuel and reducing agent.

Granted many fires would get hot enough to ignite the combination, but you would have to have a very clean and rusty fireplace with the cans in direct contact and a fair whack of bad luck for it to occur hmmmmm

frozenthunderbolt wrote:
Granted many fires would get hot enough to ignite the combination, but you would have to have a very clean and rusty fireplace with the cans in direct contact and a fair whack of bad luck for it to occur hmmmmm

Million to one chance. Bound to happen then

I put a strong magnet through our ash to seperate out any nails and staples left over from broken pallets, there is always some rust like magnetic powder (might not be though!)

I'm not saying it's likely.. but I can't think of any other reason why the grate might get damaged.

matt_w wrote:I put a strong magnet through our ash to seperate out any nails and staples left over from broken pallets, there is always some rust like magnetic powder (might not be though!)

I'm not saying it's likely.. but I can't think of any other reason why the grate might get damaged.

Fair call

I used to save tins and put the coal dust in them - can't afford the coal now! - they lasted ages. pbf.

ooh pbf thats a great idea, I will try that!!