carlo said:
I've read many a thread on this forum regarding dampering down your stove and getting maximum heat output by doing this. It makes sense because the heat is not being wasted by running up the stack. BUT ..... In my experience I notice my house is warmer when my damper is more open then more closed. I know I'm wasting wood by running hot, but that's not the issue here. My house is warmer with a more open damper vs a more closed damper. I usually only put three 16" splits in a 1.7 cubic foot box. Is this the reason ? Does a more closed damper work better when the box is fully loaded with a great coal bed ? Not sure what the answer is, but I'm gonna run my stove by what makes sense to what my experiences are, and not by what common sense implies. My wood is dry. What do you guys and gals think ?
As mentioned there may be a variety of factors here.
First . . . is the room and stove actually warmer as measured by a thermometer . . . or do you just feel warmer. I know it may sound stupid, but the human mind is a funny thing and sometimes we may believe something when it is not actually true and measured (i.e. we may see more flames and based on our past experience associate more flames with more heat.)
That said . . . I believe you . . . as others have said, different stoves and different situations may result in different results. For example, you may be getting more heat with the draft open more if you have a lot of single wall stove pipe exposed to the room . . . the heat going up the stove pipe and outside will radiate off from the single wall pipe at a pretty decent clip . . . the flipside is that the fire may burn quicker, you may not have enough heat in the firebox to achieve good secondary combustion, you may end up going through more wood faster and as a result the overall efficiency of the burn may suffer . . . on the otherhand . . . if you're warm. . . .