Am I wasting Fuel?

[Kosmik]

In what is perhaps the longest wait for a picture ever I have taken one today while cleaning my chimney/stove. I'm guessing it was over-fired a few times, (when I bought the house I have to replace the upper baffle as it was broken and moved to the side, the first time i lit the stove I noticed the top got red.) I'm just surprise that any amount of wood heat could do this.

A few people here have overfired theirs beyond 1,000 (which means God only knows how hot the firebox is).
Maybe they threw coal in there too. Old timers, with poor insulation, are fond of that one. That's how my buddy bought a half-burnt house for cheap. Dude threw in some coal, fell asleep, got too hot, started a house fire, ended his life.

 

[ddahlgren]

Did the stove have a lower grate with air in from the bottom of the firebox? If not it is very hard to believe coal would even burn. Wood wants air over the top and coal air under and through the coal bed. So two different things in a lot of ways.