Petromax Hänge-Rost 50 cm

A grate that needs a frame

The Petromax hanging grate is the part that swings over the fire once the tripod is standing. There is nothing more in the pack: a round grate and the chains it hangs from. On its own product page, Petromax calls it “Hanging grate for tripod” and describes it as a mobile swing grill for the Petromax tripod.

The article number is H-GRATE50, the EAN 4250435730850. Amazon lists the same model number H-GRATE50 under the ASIN B08ND5L27B, so the catalogue data there and the manufacturer’s details describe the same product.

According to the scope of delivery, the box contains a hanging grate and a chain with hook. A tripod is not included. The matching Petromax tripod with chain and hook (article number D1) costs €74.90 in the Petromax shop.

In our catalogue, the grate, which cost €39.74 on the Amazon page on 21 October 2026 (so approx. €40), sits in the category Grill accessories. We list it as a retrofit part. Anyone who buys it will in most cases already have a fire pit in the garden or on their land and want to grill over it, rather than just hang a kettle or pot.

Dimensions, weight and what the product photo shows

Petromax gives the diameter of the grate as 50 cm and the rim height as 2.7 cm. For the complete item, the manufacturer states 37 x 50 x 50 cm (height x width x depth), and the same 37 cm appears in the data again as the overall length. This presumably means the distance from the grate to the upper suspension point with the chains taut. The weight is 2.3 kg, 2.6 kg with packaging. The dimensions and weight in the Amazon catalogue match these values, and the colour listed there is silver.

The photo matches the figures. The grate is perfectly round, parallel bars run in one direction across the whole surface and end at a circumferential band that forms the raised rim. Three chains attach at the rim, roughly evenly spaced, and meet at the top at a common ring. The delivery list still says “chain with hook” in the singular. We read this as Petromax counting the three strands including the suspension as one component.

For the surface area, the manufacturer has only a paraphrase: the grate has “enough space for several portions”. We deliberately do not calculate an area in square centimetres from this. The diameter is measured across the rim, and how much of it is actual usable grate area cannot be cleanly derived from an outside dimension.

Petromax justifies the raised rim with a single sentence: it prevents food from falling off. For a grate that hangs on chains and moves when you turn the food, that is more than a decorative strip. Our assessment: 2.7 cm will hold sausages, vegetable pieces or prawns that roll sideways. Against fat dripping between the bars into the embers, no rim helps.

In detail: controlling heat via the hanging height

A swing grill has no control, no lid and no air vent. The only adjustable variable is the distance between grate and embers. Petromax says the distance can be conveniently regulated via the chain length of the tripod. So it is the chain hanging down from the tripod’s head, into which you hook the grate, that gets adjusted, and not the grate itself.

Why this works is quickly explained. Over a wood or charcoal fire, heat reaches the food in two ways: as radiation from the embers and as hot air rising upwards. With growing distance, the radiation spreads over a larger area and gets weaker per square centimetre, and the rising gases mix with ambient air and cool down. Even ten centimetres more or less therefore changes the heat at the grate noticeably. Exactly how much depends on fuel, amount of embers and wind, and Petromax has published no values for this.

We would work like this: hang low for searing, pull higher for thick pieces, and before adding fuel, hook the grate in a few links higher rather than taking it off entirely. There is a practical reason for this. Taking the grate hot off the chain and putting it down somewhere is more awkward than any height adjustment.

In the Amazon catalogue, Petromax also advertises the pendulum motion. It is supposed to cook evenly because the food touches the flames only intermittently. That is the principle of the Schwenker, as it is known from Saarland: the grate is nudged again and again so that no piece hangs permanently over the hottest spot. As physics, that is plausible; there is no measurement for this grate.

A second promise concerns the bars. According to Petromax, the grate structure gives the typical grill pattern and roasted flavours. Grill marks form where hot metal touches the meat; how strong they turn out depends on bar thickness and heat.

Will the grate fit my tripod?

On the Petromax tripod, definitely; it is built for that. Petromax has not published an approval for frames from other manufacturers. Whether a third-party tripod works is something you decide based on your frame, and you can check it before buying.

The hook first. The grate hangs from a single point, the ring above the three chains. Your tripod therefore needs a hook or a chain with a hook under its head that this ring fits into. This is the same suspension from which kettles and pots with a handle hang.

Then the height. Between the tripod head and the grate lie your tripod’s chain and the overall length from the dimensions section. If the frame is low and the tripod chain short, there is little room upwards when the fire burns strongly.

The load capacity. On top of the grate’s weight comes the food, and when you turn it, short jolts pull on the chain. How much your frame carries is stated in its documents; for the Petromax tripod you will find the figure below in the questions.

And finally the width. A grate with a 50 cm diameter must hang freely between the legs and must not hit them when swinging. With a small tripod with steeply set legs, it gets tight in our assessment, especially in the lower hanging position, where the grate swings out the most.

If you do not have a frame yet, the Grillfürst tripod for Dutch oven gives you a tripod from our catalogue. Whether its hook takes the Petromax ring, we found in writing from neither manufacturer; the best way to clarify that is with a photo of the suspension from the retailer.

Chrome, zinc and cast iron: what the material means

Chrome-plated steel is a steel core with a thin chrome layer over it. The layer shines and keeps moisture away from the steel as long as it is intact. If it is damaged, by scratches, hard wire brushes or flaking at weld points, the steel can rust at exactly those spots. Stainless steel works differently: it is alloyed all the way through, and its protective layer renews itself after a scratch. Cast iron, in turn, stores a lot of heat, but is heavy and needs a baked-on oil layer. Our grill grate guide explains the differences between the three materials in more detail.

For a hanging grate, weight is a real argument. You hook it in, you lift it out hot again, and it hangs with food on a single chain. A cast iron grate of this diameter would be many times heavier and would build up noticeably more swing when pendulating. For campfires and fire bowls, we therefore consider chrome-plated steel the more suitable choice, with the reservation that the surface needs care and dry storage.

The chains are galvanised. Zinc protects steel from rust, but melts at around 420 °C and forms zinc oxide fumes when strongly heated. Galvanised parts generally do not belong directly in the flames. With this grate, the chains hang above the grilling surface and so above the hottest zone. We would still avoid leaving the grate hanging low over high, blazing flames.

If surface rust shows on the bars after a season, our guide Rusty grill: what to do? describes how to remove it.

Safety, cleaning and storage

For the grate itself, Petromax provides only one warning on the product page, verbatim: “WARNING! Risk of burns! Hot surfaces. Do not touch. Wear protective gloves!” The page links no separate instructions for use for the grate.

The instructions for use of the Petromax tripod are more detailed. They apply to the tripod, chain and hook, not expressly to the grate. But because the grate hangs exactly there, we reproduce its safety notes in full:

• Use the tripod as a cooking and fire place exclusively outdoors, never in enclosed spaces, where there is a risk of fire and suffocation.
• Observe and comply with the applicable fire protection regulations and show consideration for animals and plants as well as nature reserves.
• When building a fire pit, keep the safety distance from flammable and heat-sensitive objects and materials.
• Tripod, chain and hook can become very hot over an open fire; always use heat-resistant gloves or pot holders.
• Let tripod, chain and hook cool down well after the fire has gone out before stowing them for transport.
• Never leave the tripod unattended when a fire is burning beneath it.
• Children and animals must not stay near the tripod unattended.
• Do not move the tripod while it is in use or while cookware hangs from it.
• Be careful when adding fuel and always protect your hands with fireproof gloves.
• Never extinguish embers with water; keep a bucket of sand or a dry powder fire extinguisher ready for emergencies.
• Before leaving the campsite in nature, make sure the fire is completely extinguished and the fire pit is cleared.

The point about moving concerns the frame. Nudging the grate so that it swings is something else, and that is exactly what Petromax advertises. We would do it with a glove and grill tongs and take care not to bump into a leg.

For cleaning, the same instructions say: when cooled, remove soot from tripod, chain and hook with a soft, dry cloth; for heavy soiling, clean with clear water, a mild washing-up liquid and a soft cloth, then dry thoroughly. They should not be stored unprotected outdoors, but protected from moisture and surface rust. No such care instructions have been published for the grate. We would treat it the same way, loosen baked-on residue with a brass brush or a wooden scraper rather than a hard steel brush so the chrome layer stays intact, and store it dry. What helps against burnt-on residue is covered in our guide Cleaning a burnt-on grate.

What Petromax does not state

Because there are no separate instructions for the grate, the list of open points is long, and it is collected here: the usable grilling area in square centimetres and a number of people, bar spacing and bar thickness, the load capacity of the grate bars, the length of the individual chains and whether they can be shortened at the grate, the maximum temperature the chrome plating and galvanising withstand, care notes and a statement on the dishwasher, warranty terms specifically for the grate, individual chains as spare parts, an approval for tripods of other brands, a statement on balcony and canopy, a minimum distance to flammable materials in centimetres, the country of manufacture and the year of market launch.

Three alternatives from our catalogue

The prices of the other models are guide values from our price boxes, as of September 2026, and change often for accessories. The rating is our editorial assessment based on manufacturer data, not a measurement result.

Grate and frame are furthest apart. The Grillfürst tripod stands at approx. €84.90 with us, the Petromax grate at approx. €40. The GRILLROSTPROFI grate (approx. €49.99) is a completely different design and only makes sense if you have a kettle grill. The Fire Pot ft6 stands at approx. €75 in our price box and has the highest rating of the four in our comparison, because it can do more at the fire than grill.

Who is it for? When this grate, when something else

If you have a Petromax tripod, the question is quickly answered: the grate is made for exactly that, and at approx. €40 it is the cheapest Petromax part that turns the tripod into a grill (stainless steel grate FC1000-HG50 €59.90, hanging grill pan €119 in the Petromax shop).

If you have a tripod of another brand, go through the points in the fit section. Hook, height, load capacity and leg spacing can be clarified with a folding rule and your frame’s documents. If any of this information is missing, we would rather ask the tripod’s manufacturer about a grate of its own.

Without a tripod, the bill gets bigger. Then you buy grate and frame, and the grate is the smaller part of it. Whether a Petromax tripod or one from our catalogue depends on what else you want to hang besides the grate; for an overview of what belongs in basic equipment at the fire, see our guide Grill accessories: the essentials.

If you would rather have a closed surface than a grate, Petromax offers the hanging grill pan H-GFS56 with a 56 cm diameter, for €119 in the Petromax shop. On a pan, small pieces and marinade stay put that would fall through a grate.

The wrong choice, the hanging grate, is for anyone who wants to grill on a balcony, under a canopy or in a room. The tripod instructions allow the fire only outdoors, and a tripod with open embers needs space all around. Equally wrong is anyone who wants to set and read a temperature: here there is only the height and your eye. For both, a closed grill with a lid thermometer is the better choice, and in the Grill finder you can narrow down which one suits your space.