I must say a positive thing about the Drolet escape 1800. I have twice started a load and forgot about it while I went to cook dinner. Suddenly remembered, went out to the stove room to see unbelievable flames in the box. Temp gauge on the stovetop buried WAY past 800 degrees!! Crap pants and open stove door wide to cool firebox. However doing that sure heats up the stove pipe and started getting that new stove smell and visible smoke off of the pipe. Just terrifying. I was real concerned that the wall thimble was so hot that the insulation in the wall was going to catch fire so I stayed up most of the night to monitor the wall. Didn't start a fire thankfully! I was concerned that the stove would be damaged by my careless actions and have watched it very closely for the last 3 weeks. I am happy to report that it appears to have survived without any harm. Nothing warped, firebricks didn't crack, reburn tubes still not sagging and vermiculite baffle still hanging in there.Whew!! I have since taking the advice to put a timer near the stove that goes off 5 minutes after I load it just to remind me. I am impressed with the quality of this sub $1000 stove. You could do a lot worse for the same price I think.
