ok, so here it is. all set up and its been keeping us more than plenty warm this weekend.
I can already see that we will be using way less wood than before - although, since its so easy to run it 24/7, it may even out a little, but i still think probably less overall - while our comfort level will be greatly improved.
for example, with the old stove, it would be 80-85 degrees when we go to bed, and then 60-65 degrees in the morning.
With this stove, its been about 75 degrees when we go to bed, and about 72 or 73 degrees when we get up
last night, I put a load in at 9pm, and this morning at 6am, we still had plenty of coals and loaded it up again, and I spoke with my wife on the phone and she reloaded it around 1:30pm. amazing.
the only problems so far is that the glass is not clean - i think i might not have run it hot enough at first, and then yesterday, it did this weird thing where it shot smoke out the side, but that might have been operator error as well.
so here are some pictures - the first is me and my boys starting it for the first time, and the next two are just shots of it in place.