Time to update this after a couple more months of using my Progress Hybrid. Steps that I've started to settle on as "best practices" (so far!):
- Initial stage: Start stove with kindling and a few splits, at some point reducing air from 3/4 open to 1/4 to keep pipe temps below the red zone. Temps wil be higher on pipe than on stove top.
Is there some reason you have 3/4 open rather than full open when starting a new fire? Most generally it is best to open the draft fully, but perhaps you have a very active draft and this could account for that.
- Middle Stage: Once stove top temp reaches 250, the wood will have settled and will be burning briskly. Refill stove, engage the cat, and keep air flow at no more than 1/4 (will still see a lot of flame at 1/4). Pipe temps should soon drop below stove top temps.
Here is the problem area. Usually there is no reason to refill the stove at this point because you already have good wood in the stove and with the temperatures reached, it is good to engage the cat. However, if you are refilling the stove and then engaging the cat, you will have some problems soon because that new load of wood needs some time to get rid of moisture and get fully charred before engaging the cat.
I see no problem with the 1/4 draft but once you engage, you perhaps could run it lower.
- Long Burn Stage: After a few hours, wood will be down to embers, and stove temps will inch downwards towards 250. I'll open the air, reload with largest splits I have, and close off the air. From there, I repeat this last step as often as needed.
Not really sure what you mean by a few hours but if you are filling that stove it should take a long time before that stove gets down to 250.
In addition, you say you reload with largest splits and close off the air. Do you first get the wood well charred? Do you also open the bypass when reloading those large splits? Remember, every time you reload that stove you need to open the bypass, usually 10-15 minutes but that time can vary.
I generally have revivable coals 8 hrs later. This morning, it was at 8 1/2 hrs (stove temp at 150), despite reloading too soon the prior night, and only having it about 2/3 full. I'm burning mostly birch and white spruce, seasoned, in 1/4 splits that are about 16" long and were 6-8" round. Next year's wood has longer, larger splits.
When you say the wood is "seasoned," what exactly do you mean by that? You should be getting a lot longer burn time than what you report. 12 hours with a hotter stove top should be reasonable here.
How long since this wood was split and stacked outdoors so that it can dry? I fear that your wood is not ideal. It sounds as if you are burning basically green wood else that stove should be putting out a lot more heat. If you are buying wood, that also would account for the results you are getting.
Hopefully this helps some PH owners.
I also note my stove top only gets to about 350 this way. Not sure what the benefit of getting hotter would be, or even how I would accomplish it.
The benefit of getting a hotter stove is simply so it gives more heat. If the wood is right and you run at 350, you should get way longer than 12 hour burn time. I can assure you that most folks would not be happy to get only a 350 degree stove top and for sure only an 8 hour burn with a 150 degree stove at the end.