1. R11 in 2X4 walls/ R 11 in the ceiling. Normal amount of windows.
2. OSA @ 3:00AM =33F
3. ISA=71 It could be lower but we like it hot.
4. 160 F next to the flue pipe. Note The stove top temp varies widely as the cat is producing most of the heat.
5. 27" up from the stove top.
6. Condar mechanical probe type.
I have been burning for almost 50 years. I purchased the house from my father. You can see below my different stoves. I purchased the Ashford stove after much research. What sold me was the low burn rate. The turn-down rate is 3:1. Having a small house , the low number is more important than the high.
The 30.2 is rated at 11,553-27116 BTU/Hr, however I do believe mine is running well below the low BTUs stated. I have run electric space heaters and compared the heating to the stove's lowest attainable output that keeps the cat active. Although the comparison is crude, I believe the stove output to be well below 10,000 BTUs. You can just barely hold on to the front corners of the stove top.
Room size is a very crude way to size a stove but that is what most people want to use as BTU numbers are meaningless to them. A mechanical engineer would calculate needed BTUs to find the needed BTUs and would be spot on.
Temps here are rather mild compared to the rest of the country just dipping below freezing in the morning for a few hours.
Since the stove runs for most of the 24 hours I fill it in the morning when the house is the coolest. At bed time the load is extremely well charred so the stove can be turned down to an extreme low setting. We, and most people, want it a bit cooler at night so in the late afternoon the stove is set to a very low setting. Just before sleeping a quick check to make sure the cat is still active and that the stove is at the lowest possible setting. Each load of wood is a bit different.
Rarely do I fire the stove hard. In the morning I run it at medium fire for ~3 hours to warm the house up, then the stove is turned down somewhat low. It depends on weather conditions how low.
Most of my wood loads are mixed. I don't pay any attention to what goes into each load. The thermostat controls the burn nicely.
If you miss and get the house too hot just crack a window.
It is all about the minimum CLEAN burn rate. If run below this, it will smoke and deposit creosote. This will make your neighbors hate you and create a fire hazard.
I have found turning the stove down to an extremely low setting after it has been burning all day permits operation with flue stack temperatures of slightly below 200 without condensate forming. The catalytic combustion process involves the production of H2O but somehow it all seems to work out. No creosoting.
Load planning or matching the stove output to the heating needs, as in my example above, permits operation of a somewhat oversized stove to function nicely. Burning a lot of pine with its' attendant relatively low heat BTU content, I opted for the Ashford 30.1 to get a 24 hour burn. It has worked out well for me.
Being a full time burner, I get 3 burning seasons out of the cat. In season 4 the minimum low fire is too high and overheats the house. Cats are good for~12,000 hours but the decline is gradual. I have a 17' straight flue. Deduct 1' for each 90. I have found 17' to be optimum by experimentation.