From cold start light up to no smoke and secondaries going well is about 15 to 20 minutes using several splits with a cross section of a couple square inches or so. These are ignited with smaller kindling rather quickly. By the 30 minute mark the stove top is nearly 500 degrees. The stove and liner always make sounds at start up and if you hang around long enough, you'll hear some at cool down as well all due to thermal expansion/contraction. Increasing the quantity of very dry small splits brings up a roaring fire even quicker. However, seems like temperature change over a 20 minute period would be easier on the stove than hitting it hard with more heat at cold start up. Any thoughts or risks with too quick of a temperature change?