A.     Do not use any lighter fluids, any types of charcoal with petroleum in them, or any types of fire starters with petroleum in them.
 
        1.  Your food will taste exactly like what you use to cook it with.
        2.  I recommend a  brand that is paraffin base and non petroleum base.      
 
B.      Charcoal briquettes can be used, but 100 percent natural lump charcoal works considerably better.
 
        1.    Briquettes frequently contain other ingredients in addition to charcoal to improve the performance characteristics of the product. As a result, they leave behind a considerable amount of ash.

 

        2.      Kingsford, who is America's leading manufacturer in briquettes has listed their other ingredients as: mineral char, mineral  Carbon,limestone, starch, borax, and sodium nitrate.
        3.      Briquettes burn at 900 degrees and lump charcoal burns at 1250 degrees, therefore when using lump coal, you will use a lot less and have a manageable fire.
 
C.      Build a fire large enough to be manageable, not so small that it manages you.  If you are using an Open Range, use 10 lbs charcoal, 20 lbs with the Marshall, 30 lbs with the Rodeo, and 40 lbs with the Trail Boss.  You can always cut off the oxygen to smother unused coal and reuse it during your next cook.
 
D.     Allow your fire to get 95% red before shutting the lid.  If you are shutting your lid too soon, your Good-One will burn left to right or right to left.  That is fine as long as you are ok with cooking temperatures of 225 degrees.  The greatest success you will have is cooking at 250 to 280 degrees on the Good-One smokers.
 
E.      Layer 2 inches of unlit charcoal in the bottom of the fire box.  Start one or two chimneys.  Once they are glowing red, empty the hot charcoal evenly on top of the unlit charcoal, followed by another layer unlit charcoal.  Leave the lid up long enough to allow all charcoal to be 95 % red.  Make sure you air intake spinners are 80 % open during this starting procedure.  After your fire is where you want it, close your air spinners down completely and open back up two turns.  It also helps to open your damper and smoker box lid to increase air flow while starting your fire.
 

 

It is important that you keep your smoker clean and maintain the protective coating on the inside. This is done by keeping the ashes out of the ash pan and food build up out of either the drip pan in the Open Range or the bottom of the Marshall or Rodeo. This is not scrubbing or power washing the smoker down to the metal. You may need to clean out the smoker completely from time to time and re-season it if you want to maintain the oily, smoky surface in the smoker to prevent rusting. But I'm serious about keeping the ashes out of the smoker. Don't let ash sit in there for long periods of time. Ash absorbs water and oil and will cause rusting in your fire box ash pans. Grease can also trap water against the metal so any large deposits of grease need to be scraped out. I find that scraping away the grease gently with a 6 inch putty knife solves most problems.
 
Your Good-One Smoker/Grill has been painted with a 800°F primer and paint to help prevent rust. However, with regular use, various cooking temperatures and all kinds of weather, there will be small amounts of rust. This is normal. To remedy this, periodically brush rusted spots with a wire brush and paint with a high-temp, "BBQ-Black" spray paint. We also recommend a weather cover and removing the ashes and closing the spinners when your grill is not in use in order to prevent moisture from accumulating and causing excessive rust to the inside.

 

Other General Maintenance:  
    Old Style Spinners Lock up (All Models)
        1) Remove Spinners completely from the smoker and treat threads with either di-electric grease or cooking spray monthly.  
        2) Old Spinner Removal- if the spinner has became locked up.
            A.  Located a large pipe wrench, open up to completely cover the entire outside of the spinner and remove clockwise. 
        3) Replace with a new version of Spinner that is now available.