I painted my wall dark brown - now its 185 degrees.....too hot?

[jwscarab]

Ok, good info all - Thanks!! But excuse my ignorance - smaller loads + lower temps - means you gotta be there to reload and monitor more. When I go to work and come home 10-11 hrs later and still have a good coal bed to reload on, thats from the full load, right? Im not going to get that 24/7, 3x a day easy reload, burning with small loads?? Thanks again!!

 

[Battenkiller]

Ok, good info all - Thanks!! But excuse my ignorance - smaller loads + lower temps - means you gotta be there to reload and monitor more. When I go to work and come home 10-11 hrs later and still have a good coal bed to reload on, thats from the full load, right? Im not going to get that 24/7, 3x a day easy reload, burning with small loads?? Thanks again!!

Smaller, I said, not small. It's not all or nothing, it's a matter of degree.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a full load, it's more how you are starting it. Once you have a raging fire in there you have to deal with how it burns. Pay close attention to the fine details of how experienced burners are running their stoves. Plenty here will have a nice coal bed after 10 hours. Running it hot that way will only eat up the wood faster, not make it last longer. You'll get it. At least you have no problems getting the stove up to operating temps. ;-)

 

[begreen]

I left the house 20 minutes after the last post. The stove top was at 625F, flue at 575. No smoke at all coming from the chimney cap. Inside the firebox, just robust secondary combustion. This is with a big load of fuel and the air all the way closed.

Shut her down earlier. Practice this weekend during the day when you can watch temps and see what I mean. The life you save, may be your stove's!