Hi - I've been browsing this website for a few days and registered yesterday. I'm glad I found this site. I've burned wood my whole life - we used a traditional fireplace for a while then an appalachian woodstove. Now, on my own, for the past 14 years I have heavily burned wood in a dumb old prefab fireplace- always wanted a woodstove or insert. A month ago I had my Regency R90 fireplace installed. WOW! Now after reading this website I'm finding I still have a lot to learn about burning a fire in a woodstove. For now - I have two questions (actually 3). I've spent 2 hours trying to figure out how to add an avatar - thought I had it resized properly by Picasa but I must be doing something wrong. How can I get my avatar uploaded? Keeps saying it's not in the correct form but it is jpeg. Second question is, what are "secondary flames"? I don't like to ask a common question that has been answered elsewhere on the site but cannot find the answer. Also, never heard of using a thermometer. Where would I put a thermometer on my relatively flat fireplace? I've already learned from this site that my glass will stay cleaner if I leave the draft open a little more than I have been!
OK, my luck with photos this morning is not good but I'm trying to attach a photo to see if I can get that to work.
OK, my luck with photos this morning is not good but I'm trying to attach a photo to see if I can get that to work.