Smokey said:It's a new stove and doesn't leak. The secondary combustion plate was alive with flames. I had the damper open until the stove got hot, then shut the damper, and it baked at the 650 for quite a while (could smell paint and I had baked it a few months earlier) and then gradually went down. I had very dry small splits and it was loaded to the gills. I believe the very dry wood and the small size caused the minor overfire. Good thing I was in the living room and shut the damper, or something bad could of happened. Never had a fire like that since.
Smokey that's part of the learning curve with a new stove...maybe on your stove you have to close the damper down before the stove reaches critical mass. Anyway I'm sure you figured it out by now. 650* is too hot imo but with my non EPA stove I use to burn in hotter than that twice a day but like you I was right there keeping an eye on it. Just say'en one good thing you can do with a run a way fire is quickly smother it with ashes and damper down.