OK, after reading advice yet again, I tried the 'top down ' method on a cold stove. We rarely have a cold stove but it's been milder and the sun has been shining so our solar house hasn't needed the stove during the daytime. I posted earlier that loading a full stove did not work for me when the kindling is on the bottom.
For 'top down' I had large splits on the bottom, medium in the middle, small above that, then a few pieces of newspaper and some dry cedar kindling. I do not use super cedars as I have no intention of buying wood, got way too much.
The first light seemed to go well, then sizzled out so I put in more paper with more kindling and it caught on very nicely. I turned the stove to 1/2 after 6 min., then had to open up again as it started to die out. Once I got past 10 min.,, I could turn it down to 1/2, then fully closed after another 10. It worked well but honestly, I doubt I got the room warmer any faster than my old method. I saved a tiny bit of time, maybe. You still have to 'attend' the stove to turn it down, so the only difference is in not opening up and tossing in a few splits but you are still loading the same wood, just all at once instead of a bit at a time.
It's certainly not a big deal for me, with my stove which method I use. I've got a large stove with plenty of draft so others may find it works better for them. Well worth seeing it work though and I would suggest anyone who has not tried it, give it a try and see if it works better for you.
For 'top down' I had large splits on the bottom, medium in the middle, small above that, then a few pieces of newspaper and some dry cedar kindling. I do not use super cedars as I have no intention of buying wood, got way too much.
The first light seemed to go well, then sizzled out so I put in more paper with more kindling and it caught on very nicely. I turned the stove to 1/2 after 6 min., then had to open up again as it started to die out. Once I got past 10 min.,, I could turn it down to 1/2, then fully closed after another 10. It worked well but honestly, I doubt I got the room warmer any faster than my old method. I saved a tiny bit of time, maybe. You still have to 'attend' the stove to turn it down, so the only difference is in not opening up and tossing in a few splits but you are still loading the same wood, just all at once instead of a bit at a time.
It's certainly not a big deal for me, with my stove which method I use. I've got a large stove with plenty of draft so others may find it works better for them. Well worth seeing it work though and I would suggest anyone who has not tried it, give it a try and see if it works better for you.