With dry grass and temp near 100 I have delayed the next test until rain comes and greens things up again. The sand from the last pit fire has been sifted and it in buckets in the garage waiting to be used again. The pit has been reshaped and rocks have been bifaced out so now I am just waiting for rain. I will be covering the pit so that I dont have to wait for it to dry out after the rain.
Note from last pit fire....the probe of the pyrometer needs to be buried 2" deeper to prevent plastic wire from melting. I noticed some effects of heat near the termination of the plastic coating. The solution is to place the probe vertical for 6 -8" before running horizontal.