What is a riddling grate?

A riddling grate is a grate featuring a mechanism that allows the bars of the grate to be moved.

The benefit of this is that the bars are tilted to allow ashes to be tipped directly into the ashpan without you having to worry about facilitating that particular journey.

A riddling grate will be found on a multi-fuel stove, rather than a wood-burning stove. Wood burns best on a flat bed of ashes, so many wood-burning stoves do not incorporate a grate or an ashpan. Please note: other woodburners are designed to have a grate – often a non-riddling grate – so if you have an appliance that has a grate, it is important that you continue to use one.

Many modern multi-fuel stoves will have an externally controlled riddling grate, which is even handier for the user. With the mechanism to move the grate bars accessible via a handle on the outside of the stove body, ashes can be tipped into the ashpan without the need to even have the door open. That helps with limiting the amount of dust that gets into the room, but its key benefit comes when the stove is in use…

Smokeless coal, which is the type of coal that should be used on multi-fuel stoves, burns best when there is a good supply of air from beneath. This air supply could become limited if cinders and ashes start to block the gaps between the bars. You can immediately alleviate this problem by riddling the grate and clearing some of the ashes. This task is much easier to accomplish with the aid of the external controls, which can be easily used with the aid of a stove glove and avoid the need to access anything inside the firebox.

More wood-burning and multi-fuel stove jargon-busting here.