steponmebbbboom

Mike, i lift the fire by rotating the clinker breaker. generally it helps quite a bit with airflow but does not bring the fire high enough. i also dig clinker out of the fire periodically and feed coke from the outside in as the green coal is burned down. thanks for the response.

thats what im finding Tom, i can hump on that blower all day and never get beyond dull cherry until i dip the iron about an inch down. im using bituminous coal, piled about two inches over the opening, cant get the fire up less than an inch and a half below the opening. to respond to your comment Ian i have considered using refractory mortar to bring the bottom end up but i cant see it staying in place long without cracking or lifting, and of course the clinker breaker is now that much further down and the shape of the firebox is now different, and refractory mortar is not that cheap. of course milling the firebox and flange isnt cheap either. in any case i have to do something as i am wasting a lot of fuel trying to get my iron hot. thanks for the advice.

hello everyone. i have a champion 400 forge with a new aftermarket firebox. this firebox is made of cast iron and is bolted to the bottom of the original flange on the forge body. in the hours i have been working with this forge i have found the fire never seems to come high enough and i am wondering if it is because the flange on the body sets the top of the new firebox a good inch and a half down, and its flange is over an inch thick itself. so the clinker breaker is a good eight inches down? i think. perhaps more. well how deep should my firebox be? i can mill either the firebox or the flange to bring it up higher, but i cant bolt the firebox in from above as the opening is too small. thanks for any input.