Advice on burning Progress Hybrid for maximum heat output?

[Slow1]

Ok - this cold weather has really set in for me. Yesterday the DW simply "forgot" to feed the stove - guess she was warm enough at the time - so when I got home (she had left for evening activities) the house was rather cool. Not really the way I like to go into the evening/night when it is to be a low of 1* you know? Anyway, I loaded up for a quick hot burn planning for 4-4.5 hrs before overnight load which then leads to my question here -

I've been burning longer burns and have not tried to get maximum heat output. I have read that on non-cat stoves with burn tubes you can get maximum heat once the secondaries are firing well, if you give too much air then you actually reduce the heat from the stove as much goes up the flue. I wonder if this principle applies to the PH as well? Anyone have any thoughts or experience in this realm yet?

What I ended up doing was trying to adjust the air high but just to the point where the secondaries were firing inside the stove. It did get hot and warmed the place up. This morning I did the same thing with a full load and hit a new personal high temp (about 580 IR top temp measured on cast next to the vertical flue exit) - inside looked like plasma with jets of fire, heat out the glass was intense to say the least.

I have no idea how long that load is going to burn but it was warming up the house well - kitchen (closest thermometer) was showing a 5-6* rise after 90 minutes which is very good for us. I also put a fan on the stove to try circulating the air in the house more (pointing at the stove, set low from direction where most of the house is) and that seems to be helping to spread the heat faster than without. I have to note that I'm impressed at how much heat this stove is throwing and that we can actually heat the place (not just hold the temp) when it is 4* outside this morning.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Slow, it sounds as if you did it correctly. Stay warm!

 

[Waulie]

I hear you. We've had lows below zero for a few nights. I think you're running about the same way I've been. I've been doing two full loads a day and burning them with more air than usual. Where I normally run just a hair above closed, I've been running probably jush shy of 1/4 open. Stove looks life the firey gates of hell and at 2 feet in front of the glass my skin feels like it's melting. Perfect!

My top temps aren't much higher than usual, but there is no question I'm getting way more heat from the stove. While the full load burns up most the way after 12 hours running it like this, I've been throwing 2 small splits in after work and burning with the air around a half closed. This keeps the stove up to a decent temp until the night load and burns down the coals that have built up over 24 hours.

We're staying toasty too! House has ranged between 66 and 70 in the kitchen, which is the coldest room.