fire control on the excel

fired up my excel today, first run, dry run, sorry no food porn yet. i started with a full basket of lump and briquettes, and some mesquite chunks mixed in, dug a little pit in the middle, fired up some hardwood chunks in my chimney, dumped them in. Temps came up fairly quickly, however once they broke 230, there was no stopping it. Started with all the vents open, then shut them all down to about a 1/3 when temps hit 220. closed off 2 more, left one at a 1/3, now its been humming along at 300 for almost 4 hours. Water pan was half full with hot water to start off, thinking about filling it with sand, and running it again with only one vent open on the bottom. Let me know what u guys think, or have any suggestions. my guess is running all the vents at a 1/3 gave too much air all around the fire, and it just spread too fast. need it to be stable at 225

Try capturing the temps on the way up and seal it for cooking at about 190.

This is a picture from yesterday, she ran perfect.



As you can see all the vents were open so the fuel burned evenly to start then I shut two of them to about half way.
*Note I have a home made chimney and it holds about half as much as a Weber.

ran it yesterday, half pan full of clean sand, thing purred along like a dream at 235 for 12 hours. this thing is awesome, but has some pretty big air leaks, any suggestions??

Air leaks where? I get them around the door but it dosent bother the temps. I figure wit use the grease build up will seal them. I did tighten down the latch though by squezing it with plyers.

Here is all that was left after yesterdays cook...

Untouched so how it appears is how it finished.

air leaks on most levels of the grill, around the stackers. Any suggestions

Just let the 'seasoning ' build up. Mine is a tight fit out the box with very little leaks.

i was thinking about that, i was also thinking of finding some sort of thin, heat proof felt gasket to go around the base of each stacker, it was leaking around all of them, all the way up, still held temps fine, however, i had 2 of the vents completely shut, one of them almost completely shut and it ran at about 230-240 all day.

I say leave well enough alone. Sorts like Chevy did with the passenger doors on all their trucks. After a few months they squeek.lol

I think felt would be too thick perhaps metal tape ? ( I don't know the correct name but it's that same a duct tape just not really cloth.)