Amount of Shake?

How do I know when I have "shook" the grates enough when using my Hitzer 50-93?

With the coal so thick in the burn box, its hard to "dig" down to get a good feel to whats down there.

Thanks

I usually shake it down until I see about half a dozen small live coals in the ash pan. The colder it gets, the more live coals I want to see.

Is there a such thing as shaking too much?

(sorry about these newbie questions but I feel my stove went out because I wasn't shaking enough.)

Rex wrote:Is there a such thing as shaking too much?

(sorry about these newbie questions but I feel my stove went out because I wasn't shaking enough.)

Most definetly!
If you shake too much you will be wasting good coal & you can smother your fire or even dump most of it into your ash pan. (I know with my Harman you can even jam the shaker grates into the full-open posisition)

Will it hurt the grate if you keep red hot coals right on it? I try to keep some ashes between the grate but not allways sucessful P.S. amount of shake sounds like a question for the Howard Stern show

The idea is to try and maintain a layer of ash between the grates and the active coal fire. Its thickness will depend on the type of unit you have, the coal you are burning and how hard you are pushing it. There is a learning curve, just don't take big steps as coal reacts slowly to changes. The ash acts as a damper for the inrushing air to the coal fire and insulates the grates from the intense heat of the coal fire. If the layer gets too thick it will choke off the fire. If its to thin, it may warp your grates. I would say to look for a happy medium, obviously you want to see some live coals when shaking. But if you fill the ashpan with live coals, your throwing heat away too.

It is most definetly an art rather than a science. Only experience with your particular stove will tell. (we have all shaken both too little & too much so don't sweat it....a few bad shakes wont warp your grates. Good luck!

Agreed with all of the above. Since Harman is the only stove I have experience with, I agree with Devil. I've under shook, over shook, jammed the grate lever all the way back, etc. Don't 2nd guess. It's something that you learn with time. I still think I over or under shake at times. Just about 6 coals in the pan is right.

All answers are very good, on my Victory 700 I shake till I just begin to see live coals drop, but just a few then I kind of just jiggle the grates enough to shake down the fine powdered ash . Its kinda of like old fashioned recipes just got'a get a bit of a feel an taste for it after a bit ya just know when ya got'er perfect

If you shake it too much people will talk and acuse you of just playing with it . SOrry I couldn't let it go .

Thanks for the reply..

I have taken into everyones advice and settled in with shake until a see a dozen or so hot coals fall.

So far its been running fine on a slow burn by doing this.