Well, I have read and read and read myself into complete confusion! The "understanding" that I have always had is that more air moving into the stove should mean having a hotter fire and that less air moving into the stove should mean having a cooler fire. I thought this "understanding" of mine was validated with what my owner's manual states about airflow in several different spots such as...
"Caution: Unit may overheat if door is left open for too long."
and a little later...
"Caution: If the body of your unit, flue baffle or any part of the chimney connector starts to glow, you are overfiring. Stop loading fuel immediately and close the draft control until the glow has completely subsided."
But then in thread after thread recently regarding overfiring, I'm reading about advice that seems to suggest the opposite where one would purposely open the door to cool the fire.
Please understand that I am not arguing with anyone but myself here! In other words I simply cannot reconcile what's what anymore and I'm asking for clarity!
My own observations of my stove suggest that with the door closed and the air control fully open I get a good roaring fire in no time that within twenty minutes or so needs to be damped down to 1/2 open. I can then run the stove load after load by just waiting for good glowing coals, opening the air to full open for about 30 seconds, opening the door to add several more splits, closing the door as quickly as possible, leaving the air at full open for another 30 to 60 seconds at the most, then going right back to 1/2 open. The stove seems to cruise (as you all call it) at about 650 to 750 with this method. If I see anything above 750 on the chimney connector or on the actual top of the firebox I damp it down a small fraction of an inch and it settles into 650-750 again. Further, if I damp it down all the way the temps drop pretty dramatically. If the stove is damped down all the way with a good thick glowing bed of coals on then it will last a long time that way with temps in the 350 to 450 range (that's what we shoot for for our overnight burns so far) but if the stove is damped down before the fire takes the first batch to coals, then it will literally snuff out the whole thing.
So basically everything I'm seeing is that more air equals more heat and I'm trying to really reconcile that both for regular situations as well as overfire situations. I cannot imaging climbing above 750 even slightly and in response immediately opening the door though and that's where i'm obviously not understanding something. I'd appreciate any clarity y'all can give because right now the whole thing is about clear as mud mixed with ash and coal and then again with mud! Thanks.
"Caution: Unit may overheat if door is left open for too long."
and a little later...
"Caution: If the body of your unit, flue baffle or any part of the chimney connector starts to glow, you are overfiring. Stop loading fuel immediately and close the draft control until the glow has completely subsided."
But then in thread after thread recently regarding overfiring, I'm reading about advice that seems to suggest the opposite where one would purposely open the door to cool the fire.
Please understand that I am not arguing with anyone but myself here! In other words I simply cannot reconcile what's what anymore and I'm asking for clarity!
My own observations of my stove suggest that with the door closed and the air control fully open I get a good roaring fire in no time that within twenty minutes or so needs to be damped down to 1/2 open. I can then run the stove load after load by just waiting for good glowing coals, opening the air to full open for about 30 seconds, opening the door to add several more splits, closing the door as quickly as possible, leaving the air at full open for another 30 to 60 seconds at the most, then going right back to 1/2 open. The stove seems to cruise (as you all call it) at about 650 to 750 with this method. If I see anything above 750 on the chimney connector or on the actual top of the firebox I damp it down a small fraction of an inch and it settles into 650-750 again. Further, if I damp it down all the way the temps drop pretty dramatically. If the stove is damped down all the way with a good thick glowing bed of coals on then it will last a long time that way with temps in the 350 to 450 range (that's what we shoot for for our overnight burns so far) but if the stove is damped down before the fire takes the first batch to coals, then it will literally snuff out the whole thing.
So basically everything I'm seeing is that more air equals more heat and I'm trying to really reconcile that both for regular situations as well as overfire situations. I cannot imaging climbing above 750 even slightly and in response immediately opening the door though and that's where i'm obviously not understanding something. I'd appreciate any clarity y'all can give because right now the whole thing is about clear as mud mixed with ash and coal and then again with mud! Thanks.