Warning: burnt 40 pounds of coal before I figured out my fire pot was too deep
Been fighting cold fires in my forge for about 6 weeks and blamed the coal, the blower, everything except the fire pot itself. Turned out the pot was 2 inches deeper than it should be, so the air never hit the sweet spot. Welded in a shallow liner last Tuesday and now it hits welding heat in 4 minutes, anyone else run into depth issues on a shop built forge?
Ran into the same thing with my first brake drum forge, air was hitting way too high above the coal bed and I kept getting a cold little fire that wouldn't do squat. Dropping the tuyere down and packing the pot shallower fixed it in one afternoon, now it lights up fast and stays hot. Depth is one of those things nobody mentions when you're building your own setup, but it makes or breaks the whole thing lol.