I have a similar type stove, but not plumbed into the HVAC. In my experience it is much easier to keep a fire going without a grate because the wood stays on the bed of coals. With a grate. the coals fall through and are not in contact with the wood. My process for building a fire is:
1) place two sticks of kindling in the ash bed
2) put two firestarter blocks on the kindling and lay 4 pieces of fatwood against the firestarter blocks
3) add 3 more pieces of kindling on top
4) crumple 2 sheets of newspaper into balls and place on top of kindling
5) light the firestarter blocks and once they have reasonably ignited also light the newspaper
6) close the doors and make sure the air flow is wide open
7) fix a drink and go to the garage
8) once the drink is done, go back to the fireplace and add two or three pieces of wood. I usually try to add two smaller pieces and one bigger piece at this point
9) once this starts to burn down and create coals you should be able to burn about anything
You can greatly control the rate of burn with the air flow control. Load it up at night and choke back the air and there should be coals in the morning.
Good luck. I lit my first fire of the season last night and am still enjoying it.
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