Hit 500 hours on my main forge and it made me rethink my setup

I was cleaning out the firepot yesterday and saw the hour meter on my Johnson gas forge read 500 exactly. I always thought that was just a number, but it hit me that's a full year of weekends and evenings. The burner tips are shot, the insulation is thin in spots, and the whole thing runs about 50 degrees cooler than it did new. I used to think you just ran a forge until it died, but now I see the slow drop in efficiency. Anyone else track their forge hours and notice a performance cliff?

4 comments

4 Comments

corap212mo ago

You're right about the slow drop. My old forge got like that too. It just starts eating more gas for less heat. Replacing the burner tips made a huge difference for me, way more than I expected. The insulation is the real killer though. Once that goes, you're just heating the outside air.

foster.jordan2mo ago

Nah, I gotta disagree. I ran my old one into the ground and the insulation held up way longer than the burners ever did. Maybe @aaron740 sees it differently, but for me the tips were always the weak link.

aaron7402mo ago

Ever track the gas cost creep?

phoenix_bailey1mo agoMost Upvoted

the insulation is the real killer though" yeah man, that hit home for me. I've been fighting with my setup for months now and it just keeps getting worse. You can patch burner tips and adjust the flow but once that insulation starts flaking or breaking down you're basically dumping money into thin air. I tried the cheap route with some refractory cement and it helped for a bit but it's just delaying the inevitable. It sucks when you know the whole thing needs to be rebuilt but you keep hoping you can squeeze another season out of it.