ok here
I will say again -- THANK_YOU for all the great advice on how to drive a stove. I filled them with about a bag and a half of fresh stove coal around a center coal of old charcoal I had laying around. I lit the charcoal "chimneys" about 2pm and there was NO smoke in the building - a pleasant change.
The stoves really didn't get hot - till 5 pm
I shook the grates about 7 and added maybe a third of a bag to replace the pit that formed where the charcoal was
This was unburned coal from seasons past
I shook again about 9 with out adding and all the rock [old and fresh] was hot and glowing red - I thought I shook enough - I had hot glowing ash falling
I was pleasantly surprised at the full hot pile of red rock in both stoves and how much more heat they were producing than past years
But I lost track after that.............
I was up to check for casualties about 8am and fully expected the stoves to still be hot but they were stone cold with both fire boxes half full of unburned coal --- maybe I hadn't shook enough - Don't under stand why the fire did'nt keep going - but they did their job - Maybe later this month Ill clean out and see how much ash I really had - maybe - maybe Ill just leave them till next fall as I have in the past
I lit the propane heaters and started frying bacon on the gas grill and pouring red juice drinks with celery sticks - that took the chill off enough with the solar gain of the morning -
the group was only a 1/3 of normal - lots of no shows this year but still - good times!
