I've told the story before of my wife babysitting the stove one day when I came home. It was pretty warm in the house and she said she'd been sitting there for quite some time opening the bypass to let the stove cool then closing but the temperature would climb right back to 700. When I looked, she had the draft completely closed. So I simply told her to open the draft and she about flipped! lol Well, we opened the draft, I think to the setting of 1. Stovetop cooled down quite rapidly toward the 650 mark or maybe 680 (don't remember for sure).
Point is, she had forgotten that when the stove top temperature goes up around that 700 degree mark, it is time to open the draft a little bit. In effect, what happens is that the stove will give off more heat from the sides and front and less from the top. So many times you can actually get more heat from the stove at, say, 550-600 than running the stove top to 650 or higher. It all depends upon how much heat you need at the moment.
Point is, she had forgotten that when the stove top temperature goes up around that 700 degree mark, it is time to open the draft a little bit. In effect, what happens is that the stove will give off more heat from the sides and front and less from the top. So many times you can actually get more heat from the stove at, say, 550-600 than running the stove top to 650 or higher. It all depends upon how much heat you need at the moment.
