I have had an old stove installed a couple of months ago and so far I've really enjoyed it. With the help of folks like you I think I had an advantage going in from the start. With good seasoned wood I get smoke out the chimney for the first 30 minutes, after that all I see at the cap is a blur of heat with the stove pipe temps cruising at 300-400 degrees. I think I am doing something right. The ambience of the fire is truley relaxing. The stove is a Franklin Fireplace and when I know I'm going to be sitting in front of it for at least 6 beers I open the doors and watch the fire untill the pipe temps start falling below 300 degrees. Then I add wood close the doors and let the temp build back up. I have let it rip a few times to the point that my rutland stove theremoter was well into the overfire zone. When I check the pipe temps with my digital gun it shows 450-475 on the pipe and 600-650 on the stove pipe itself. The rutland isn't too accurate but helps with a ballpark anyway. This whole wood burning expierence is very very cool. When it's time for bed, I shut the damper and close the air and it burns itself out.