New report. Have had the stove up to 590. It was throwing nice even heat, but I burned it down in about 4 hours from a pretty full load. Not the most efficient burn ever as far as heat in the house I am sure. It was 15 last night, and the stove had trouble bringing the temp up in the house. It seemed to be able to hold it, but I really had to crank on it to bring the temp up. Once up, it kept the house warm, woke up to a nice bed of coals, and a 68 degree house. I do not think it has quite the brute force the fisher had, but overall am very happy. It is difficult to keep the stove around 600 for a long period of time. 500 is easy
I did finally get a nice hot cat burn. I just needed to wait a bit longer to shut it down. I had been shutting down quickly, but once I waited for 10-15 minutes, the stove did just fine. Kept it over 400 for a loooonnngg time. The top was over 500 for around 2.5 hours. I also think I was letting too much air in. I felt I needed to have a little flame in the box. Apparently I don't. I have never shut it all the way off, but basically there is a point where the metal touches in the butterfly. I leave it about there...I can turn it down another 1/4 in or so if I wanted. I did find I could end the secondaries if I needed to doing this, if I bumped the draft open slightly, they did not relight right away.
I did finally get a nice hot cat burn. I just needed to wait a bit longer to shut it down. I had been shutting down quickly, but once I waited for 10-15 minutes, the stove did just fine. Kept it over 400 for a loooonnngg time. The top was over 500 for around 2.5 hours. I also think I was letting too much air in. I felt I needed to have a little flame in the box. Apparently I don't. I have never shut it all the way off, but basically there is a point where the metal touches in the butterfly. I leave it about there...I can turn it down another 1/4 in or so if I wanted. I did find I could end the secondaries if I needed to doing this, if I bumped the draft open slightly, they did not relight right away.