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When cooking comps on our FEC-100, we'll burn at 180 from 7:30p until 6a, then 250 from 6a until 1p or so. I figure we could go 24 hours until that pot is full of ash. Not a problem for a single comp, but a full weekend of cooking could be tricky.

A friend cooked for a big party Friday night and wasn't able to get get his pot cleaned out before starting his comp cook.

I don't know what this post is meant to accomplish other than just thinking aloud that without an ash clean out, you kinda have to plan ahead on a super long or back to back cooks to have an opportunity to clean that pot. Otherwise, your pot will over-floweth!

And on a related thought, does anyone think the cooker performs differently at the beginning of a cook on a clean pot versus late in the cook when ash builds up? Harder to maintain high temps? More smoldering and less BTU's?

Probably over thinking again.
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I have a pre-ramp FEC 100 and have had no problems running it up to 36 hours one time. The only thing that concerns me to change the foil in the bottom of the cooker if I plan on using higher heat to make some chicken. But with that long a cook, there is still very little ash in the pot of my cooker.

Regarding performance, the only difference in performance I have ever noticed is that the smoker seems to cook more efficiently the more I load it up. When I put a full load (16 butts) in it, it seems to cook better than if I put two butts in and cook it. But with a full load, there are a few other things you need to do also.
When I have a full load of butts on the FEC, I swap the top and bottom racks of butts about halfway through the cook. And make sure your unit is level or even leaning slightly forward because there will be a lot of grease coming off that I don't want building up in the bottom of the smoker as opposed to the grease pan.

Also, when I cook less than a full load, I will run the smoker at Smoke for the first two hours, then 180 for another two hours, and then 240 for the rest of the time. But with a full load, I will run it at 180 for four hours and then 240 for the rest. With a full load of butts in there, it is difficult to keep the temps up while cooking at Smoke. There is just too much cold mass there to hold the temps up. Just a safety precaution.

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