HehHeh . . . SZ . . . you're learning that to teach us men you sometimes have to make us think we came up with the idea . . . but for the record, he is wrong and you are right . . . and the sooner he learns that this is almost always the case he will be much, much happier . . . and will be able to stop sleeping on the living room sofa. 
As you no doubt know . . . the fire from the active burn produces a lot more heat than the coals . . . and when the temps are as cold as they are you may be doing more frequent loading . . . the key is to every so often burn down some of the coals . . . my favorite trick is to throw on a softwood split or slab, open up the air all the way and let it burn things down . . . this works pretty well when either the place is pretty warm already so short amount of time that the stove isn't cranking out the high heat will not be missed . . . or you can do so after a long overnight burn if need be when things are already cool and the short amount of time it will take to get the heat cranking will not be noticed.
As you no doubt know . . . the fire from the active burn produces a lot more heat than the coals . . . and when the temps are as cold as they are you may be doing more frequent loading . . . the key is to every so often burn down some of the coals . . . my favorite trick is to throw on a softwood split or slab, open up the air all the way and let it burn things down . . . this works pretty well when either the place is pretty warm already so short amount of time that the stove isn't cranking out the high heat will not be missed . . . or you can do so after a long overnight burn if need be when things are already cool and the short amount of time it will take to get the heat cranking will not be noticed.
