Clydesdale insert. Questions for users

I had my Clydesdale stove installed last week and have been heating my house for one week. I have been pleased with how much heat I get out of it, but I dont think I am using as efficiently as possible. I seem to reload with wood too often. I have tried different ways of loading with not much change. I know everyone will probably say it the wood, but my moisture content of the wood is between 4% to 12%. It is most likely operator inexperience. I have a infrared red heat gun and have been monitoring temps on top on stove centered just under surround. Heres what I have tried and the results

Stove temp at top 400
Adding only 2 logs, split coals to left and right to allow air up center, air opened up 1/2 way, good heat but adding wood every 1 1/2 hours

Stove temp at top 500-550
Adding full load of wood, split coals left and right for air, air opened 1/4 way, good heat but stove top temp will drop over burn time. Burn time to reload is maybe 4 to 5 hours.

Over night burn
Start with a bed of coals and stove top temp around 300
Split coals again, fill with wood, shut air all the way down. After 7 - 8 hours stove temp is around 150. I empty out what coals I can, split hot coals and can get a fire going again with-out kinling.

Pleased with the heat but seems like I am using more wood than everyone else and far less burn times to reloading. Any advise

begreen said:

Welcome, good choice on the insert. With the recent cold snap, much shorter burn times are not uncommon. Do you know what species of wood you are burning? I get short burn times with soft maple, but good times with locust. Something is wrong with the moisture readings. Perfectly dry wood flooring is 8%. 4% would almost be dust. In order to get an accurate reading you never check end grain. Instead, resplit the split and check the moisture on the freshly exposed face of the re-split. If the wood is very dry it will read 13-18%.

For the longest burn times, load on a burned down coal bed, use big splits and pack the gaps with smaller ones.

Click to expand...

I measured the wood at the end of the log. The meter is brand new, but it was a cheap meter. Either way the wood has been down and covered for a couple of years so I feel confident that it is dry. The wood is a mix of maple and red oak. Thanks for your reply

Thanks for your input. I have been playing around with fan speeds and it really affects the stove temps. The blowers move so much air it can cool a stove down quickly. I have found running the blowers on 5/8 speed seems to be the best. granted with the extreme temps we have been having I have been running the stove pretty hard and hot so the wood would be used up a little faster. Going to be a learning curve this year