The Best Way to Burn

Yeah, you pretty much screwed up for the last 14 years. Cat stoves were designed to burn long and slow with a low air setting. Best efficiency is to turn down the air til the flames slow down, turn a darker orange or blue color and start to lift off the logs. The new stove you bought shouldn't be burned wide open as well except for the first 10-20 minutes or so.

Welcome to the forums, Jim. Basically the goal of any new stove on the market is to achieve higher efficiency by burning the volatile gases released by wood during its primary combustion. In other words, the goal is to achieve what is termed "secondary combustion". In a non-catalytic stove that uses the "burn tube" type technology, this secondary combustion will appear as flames above the wood in the top area of the firebox. It can be anything from a slow, lazy, and whispy "ghost flame" to the full on "bowels of hell" type flames with jets of flames shooting out the holes in the burn tubes (similar to jets of flame on a gas grill).

As you adjust the air control, you are basically changing the balance of primary air vs. secondary air in the stove. For example, on the bottom of my Lopi Endeavor, there is a huge squarish hole that is wide open when the air control rod is pulled all the way out (thus, open). Pushing the air control in causes a metal sleeve to slide back and cover this primary air opening. This causes the stove to pull in more of its combustion air through the channels on the side of the stove that feed the burn tubes. Each stove's secondary air setup is unique, but the principal is the same - you are shifting the balance of air in the stove to favor secondary combustion. This extracts heat from the volatile gases that would otherwise go up the flue, wasted.

As you play around with the stove, you'll learn when to adjust your air and by how much to adjust it. For example, if I already have an established coal bed and a warm stove, I can have my air control almost all the way closed only 15-20 minutes after reloading the stove. If I am starting from a cold stove, it takes longer of course. Some people can completely close the primary air on their stoves and maintain active secondary combustion for hours. My stove, even with well seasoned wood, requires the air control to be pulled out about 1/4" to perform its best.

You'll have it dialed in before you know it!

you also havent said what you are burning. Northern sierra means mostly pine (seasoned or not) unless you have oak almond or other hardwood delivered.

That's a great looking install, by the way! Very cozy looking. Have you experimented with your burn technique any more?