beehive kiln and cremation furnace fuel.

[fluffydragon]

just how much fuel would i need to fire them? I just built the kiln and am working on the furnace. and what fuel would be best? 

[Teh Pizza Lady]

I have never messed with the beehive kiln before but I believe the cementation furnace requires 16 x2 for both fuel piles x4 (1 initial pile and 3 refills) or about 128 coal to run a full cycle plus the charcoal/black coal needed inside the coffin to infuse the carbon into the iron to make steel. It may actually require less if you don't let the fire burn out because it has to reheat everything if it does.

[Foe Hammer]

1 hour ago, fluffydragon said:

just how much fuel would i need to fire them? I just built the kiln and am working on the furnace. and what fuel would be best? 

For the Beehive Kiln I have used peat and firewood, and have found that of 9 full 32 stacks of wood, I was able to save about 2 32 stacks after it finished firing, and the kiln was mostly full if I recall correctly. I do not know the numbers, or how exactly it is calculated however.
As for the furnace my observation matches that of Traugdor above, though I use charcoal as the fuel. Two full stacks of charcoal looks to be sufficient, though I will try to remember to make an edit if I find I am off.

[LadyWYT]

25 minutes ago, traugdor said:

I have never messed with the beehive kiln before but I believe the cementation furnace requires 16 x2 for both fuel piles x4 (1 initial pile and 3 refills) or about 128 coal to run a full cycle plus the charcoal/black coal needed inside the coffin to infuse the carbon into the iron to make steel. It may actually require less if you don't let the fire burn out because it has to reheat everything if it does.

You are correct in that the cementation furnace needs 2 full piles of coal underneath the stone coffin in order to function(I think 3 refills is accurate as well, though it could be 4). However, you need charcoal or coke inside the coffin; black coal isn't a high enough quality to carbonize the iron ingots. For the fuel underneath the coffin though, any type of coal works. Personally, I use brown coal when I can, as it's easier to find than black coal or anthracite and doesn't require as much work to acquire en masse, unlike charcoal or coke.

For a beehive kiln...honestly, I dunno on that one. I've not messed with them that much, and never done the math on the fuel costs. I just throw a few piles of firewood or peat underneath the kiln and call it a day; those fuels are easy enough to amass in quantity that I don't really mind wasting a bit in order to ensure the kiln fires in one attempt.

[Vratislav]

If the cementation furnace is fired using brown coal, then 32 x 4 plus a little bit over it (2x 1-2) is needed. Three refills from zero coal end in 99% finished. It is probably effective to fire last 2 pieces of coal at the end, as it also makes the blister steel hot enough just to put it under helve hammer just in time you need it.

For the Beehive kiln, I am not sure, only I know, that exactly 1/2 of wood pile (16 pieces of wood per square) is not enough. 24 pieces was enough,. 

[zand]

Greetings Fluffydragon,

At a rate of 500°C per game hour, the Beehive Kiln takes 1.9 game hours to heat an item from 0°C to 950°C plus another 9 game hours to progress from 0% to 100%. Peat and firewood stacks burn for 0.5 game hours per item in the stack. Each stack would need to have at least 22 items, but you also need to consider that it could take over 1 game hour for the fire to spread to all the stacks. So even though 24 per stack can work if all piles are lit in 1.1 game hours, using 26 per stack will provide 2.1 game hours for all the stacks to lite.

If you are using coal, all types of coal, including charcoal, burn for 2 game hours per item in the stack. In my testing, it seemed to take less than a game hour for the fire to spread to all the stacks. So 6 coal per stack is sufficient.