44 elite said:
On a cold stove I will load her up top down full air by-pass pull open.
5-10 min in 100-150 deg stove top close the by pass so half flames go straight up half go thru the cat
15 min close by pass 200-300 deg close down air 1/2 watch the flame show
30 min 500 deg close down air completely usually will get 4.5 hr peaking at about 650 deg
Last night I tried this.... I dont have a thermometer so no temps to go by
Cold start - Bypass fully open and full air - loaded with 5 med size splits of cherry, 1/4 super cedar and some splitter scraps
After about 8min with a good set of flames I moved the bypass to 1/2 open, still full air
Another 5 min (fire really going strong) I shut the bypass completely, still full air
5 more min - Cat is really glowing, shut air down to 1/2 way
fan kicked on about 2 min later - approx 20 min from cold start
5 more min - air down to 25% open - left it there (fell a sleep in my chair)
I will try this approach again, it appears that adding in the bypass 1/2 way step helped speed up the process of bringing the temps up quicker making the overall burn more efficient.
Thanks