Of course you use the fireplace screen with the bypass door open so your not in the efficient mode,but for the few times you use it, its the ambiance of an open fire.
The TL-300 certainly has my attention! http://www.harmanstoves.com/Products/TL300-Wood-Stove.aspx They claim up to 18 hr. burn time and large firebox with a reasonable MSRP as well..
If you can see one in operation somewhere ,that would help with your decision. There are a lot of good stoves out there,when i was gettin started woodburning in 2008 i bought a cheap $500 non epa stove from TSC store. That almost poisoned me against wood stoves with its 3 hour burn times . I thought geez this is like a second job and what do you do overnight. But because i have wood coming out my ears and need to dispose of it i pressed on and decided to go to the top of the line with one more try.
Nothing to be scared of,it works better than the design with all the tubes with the holes IMO. Its designed to give as even heat output as a cat stove WITHOUT the cat. Other types of stoves (non cat) do not throw heat as evenly throughout the burn.
The firedome is a ceramic structure in the bottom -back of the stove When the bypass door is closed it forces the flue gas previously exiting the top of the firebox down and into the firedome where super heated fresh air is introduced into it. If internal stove temp is 1100 or above it ignites the gas and with the aid of some hi-temp refractory material inside the firedome burns extremely hot consuming virtually all the remaining wood gas. This fragile refractory material is up inside so its well protected,if you take the flue pipe off and look down you can see it.
I have mine 5 years and it still works like new,i checked it and its not dirty either, SO im hoping to go at least 10 years before i even check it again, I understand a replacement kit is about $300 so if it goes 10 years thats $30 a year.
