Similar to
@Dieselhead , my combustor stays in the active zone from November into February.
On a 12 hour reload cycle I don't even look at the combustor probe temp, it is time to reload. Move the lever to bypass, turn the throttle to wide open and go pee or make some coffee or something. Come back in 5-10 minutes, crack the loading door open, wait a two count, open the loading door wide, maybe wrangle the remaining coals to a relatively level layer, load it up to the gills with fresh fuel.
Swing the loading door to just a crack open, hold it there until the whooshy-whooshy stops and the draw is sounding more like a hurricane or an engine just pulling steady nears its peak torque, one steady noise. Close and latch the loading door. Give it, oh 1-5 minutes there with the loading door closed, throttle wide open, combustor bypassed.
At this step you need the fuel to char. A fresh split of wood has essentially infinite surface area from all those little hair sized fibers sticking up. As it catches fire and chars it is going to release LOT of VOCs really fast. Once every surface is charred the amount of wood on fire is pretty simple to calculate, this side is 3x16 inches for 48sqin on fire, the next side is 4.5x16 for 72sqin on fire etc, instead of infinity plus infinity plus infinity... The drier your wood is, the faster this step goes.
Engage the combustor, leave the throttle on full tilt and bake the lastof the free water out of your fresh fuel. I think the book says 30 minutes for this step. If my fuel was up around 18-20-22%MC I would stick to 30 minutes for the free water bake. I am running 14-15%MC again this year and 20 minutes is working good for the bake.
Once the free water is baked out, adjust the throttle knob to your desired setting, come back in 12 hours.