Keeping the home fires burning clean

Fireplace grate creates so much heat that pollutants are incinerated

By Laura Maggi
STATES NEWS SERVICE

ashington - A roaring fire might be a rustically romantic way to heat the home, but one Bay Area inventor was more concerned about the pollutants hearth fires release into the air.

So after years working on more environmentally friendly ways to burn garbage, Richard D. Smith created a fireplace grate mechanism that fosters fires so hot pollutants are burned before they can be carried up the chimney.

"The whole objective is to reduce the pollution from open burning fireplaces," said Smith, who lives in Palo Alto.

Smith's invention is designed to replace the wrought-iron fireplace grates that hold wood logs. The base of the grate is made of stainless steel tubes about an inch in diameter resting on legs.

A fan attached to the grate apparatus blows hot air through the tubes, in which holes have been drilled - allowing the air to rise to feed the fire.

Behind the grate is a shield that curves slightly forward toward the fire. The inside face of the shield is a thin layer of stainless steel, which can heat up quickly to radiate heat back toward the fire and into the room. The hot air shield combine to create an extremely hot fire. The air blowing through the tubes also creates a more uniform fire with fewer logs, Smith said.

"A regular fire is not uniform and is difficult to maintain. This fire is warmer and much easier to maintain," he said.

While a regular fire typically reaches temperatures of 1000 or 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, a fire built on Smith's grate can reach temperatures of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Those extra degrees mean pollutants, such as hydrocarbons, can be burned fast, before they escape into the air, Smith said.

"You have to burn this stuff while it is right there in the fire. If it gets any chance to get away and cool down, you've had it. The hotter the fire, the better you are," he said.

Smith is part owner and technological advisor to Andiron Technologies in Woodside, which is currently marketing his grates in the Bay Area.

Smith received patent N0. 5,850,830 in December.