Just curious as to what kind of performance you're getting. This is going to be first full season with it, having replaced on original 601 (which itself I used for less than a season). It took me a while to figure out how to get heat out of this thing, but basically:
I need to run it HOT. I figured out that I initially was damping it down too early. Now I need to get the cook plate up to 800-900'. Yup, that's hot. Weird thing is that at that temp, the rest of the top is much cooler, by about 200'. The sides are cooler still, at around 500' at the top. The chimney is at about 500'. Anyway, once it gets that hot I can shut it down all the way, and it will cruise at that temp for about an hour, and will slowly die down after that. Optimal reload time is 1.5-2 hours to keep it cranking, and if I don't reload within about 3-4 hours the coals aren't hot enough (note that I haven't broken into my good wood yet, so that may change a bit).
I need to run it HOT. I figured out that I initially was damping it down too early. Now I need to get the cook plate up to 800-900'. Yup, that's hot. Weird thing is that at that temp, the rest of the top is much cooler, by about 200'. The sides are cooler still, at around 500' at the top. The chimney is at about 500'. Anyway, once it gets that hot I can shut it down all the way, and it will cruise at that temp for about an hour, and will slowly die down after that. Optimal reload time is 1.5-2 hours to keep it cranking, and if I don't reload within about 3-4 hours the coals aren't hot enough (note that I haven't broken into my good wood yet, so that may change a bit).
