Quickly getting the firebox on my insert up to temp vs slowly getting it there

My observations are on my PE summit insert with blower and automatic thermastat.

I have tried various ways of getting my firebox temps hot enough to make the automatic thermastat kick the fan on and this is what I have noticed. It doesn't seem to make a difference whether I burn it wide open until the thermastat works or if I start wide open and damper down asap without causing lots of smoke. It seems the thermastat takes close to 30 minutes either way. It also seems that wide open burning consumes more wood because more air is being used and consequently more heat goes up the chimney, it makes more sense to damper it down as quickly as possible if the burn is free of smoke. It seems by dampering to a minimal amount of air, but maintaining a clean burn, that the flow of heat must be staying in the firebox longer and heating the metal just as quickly as burning wide open until firebox gets up to temp to kick on the fan. Is this how most of you here at hearth.com keep wood consumption to a minimum?

WES999 said:

You might try letting it burn for a bit wide open until the wood is flaming nicely, then closing the air down in small increments. You need to balance heat up the flue and air to the fire.

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Yeah thats pretty much it I think. At first I thought burn it fairly hard and I would get heat faster but now I think that by dampering down quicker it kicks the fan on just as quick and my wood is not as cindered and coaling as before.