Maintaining 225 temperature for 7, 8 , 9 hours at a time - how do you do this?

Hi Anna! I moved your thread over to our "Charcoal Smokers" forum, I think you will get a lot more responses over here. I don't have a Kamado or use charcoal that much but we do have a lot of Kamado owners here so you should get all the help you need.

When you get a minute come back over to "Roll Call" and tell us a little about yourself, Thanks!

Anna, morning and welcome to the forum.....   have you heard of the minion method ??  

Using briquettes, Kingsford blue seems to be a good choice although other brands will work, have a  pile of unlit coal and add to it a small amount of lit coals....  top damper open at all times for air flow.... As the temp goes up, start closing the bottom air inlet to regulate the heat.... There are different configurations for the charcoal....   most use an elevated wire basket so the ash will have somewhere to fall....  Total length of time burning depends on how many unlit coals are used to start...   

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/newsearch/?search=minion+method&type=all

Above is a link to many threads on the subject.... Dave

Two questions come to mind right away-

What temperatures have you been able to maintain?

How do you start your fire?

I am including a link to the nakedwhiz website that you may find useful, it's the FAQ page-

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm

I have done low and slows, near 24 hrs. on my Primo XL Oval. Here's my run down. Make sure cooker is fully cleaned out. I use a shop vac to  make sure all ash is cleaned of the fire box and all vents are unobstructed. Load fire box with a good quality lump charcoal, don't use briquets, they produce more ash. Put a layer of the larger chunks of lump in first, to keep from plugging up to vents in the grate and smaller lump on top. Add in wood of choice, for smoking. Light lump in one spot, a mapp torch works well. Never use lighter fluid. Install deflector plates and cooking grates. I leave top and bottom vents wide open, until the temp is 50 degs. below my target temp. Close down vents to hold at your temp. And your ready to roll.

Not sure what brand of grill you have, but this should give you a general idea. Do some practice runs, to learn how to use the vents to control the temp.