Elaine I just did my high heat burn in and Dennis said fill your charcoal basket full and get your temps upto 500f-550f and keep them there. It takes a while for the KK to heat soak. You will smell like an acrylic/paint smell that normal. When you can't smell that smell anymore your done. Inspect your KK for spots in the grout the have a white residue thats where it vented, look to make sure the grout sealed up, if not use some of the grout to fill in.