So ive had a bunch of litttle fires to cure the finish on my stove and break it in. Started off kinda small and have been adding more wood. Kinda just playing and getting used to starting a fire in the stove. I had a bunch of them so far. My wife keeps asking if i really need to have all these fires to break it in. I just tell her that iam doin what the manual says, as i go out the door to get some more wood. So it was kinda chilly one night in the house cause i left the windows open all day on accident. Started another break in fire. Got a nice bed of coals after a whille. Then i packed the box right full. The splits lit off right away. Stove top temp got up to 600 or so. Then i closed the air to about half. A while after that i shut the air right down. I couldent belive what happend next. The wood stoped burning and then the top of the fire box went all crazy like. Flames were just burning up top and the wood was just sittin there. Pretty cool. Stove puts out a ton of heat. Its goin to be a warm winter i think. Inside anyway.