The problem
Your stove has a sweet spot. Hitting it was mostly luck.
The best stoves are built around secondary combustion — where the smoke inside the firebox, holding 30 to 70 percent of your wood's potential energy, actually ignites and burns.
But that only happens above a critical firebox temperature — roughly 1,100 to 1,300°F. Below it, the smoke passes through unburned and carries its energy up the chimney. Above it, the stove transforms: efficiency jumps, the fire burns clean.
Run the fan too aggressively and you can drive the firebox below that threshold in under a minute — we've watched it happen. Smoke stops burning, creosote begins to deposit, and no matter how much wood you add, you're fighting a losing battle.
Above ~1,100°F the smoke itself ignites
Below ~1,100°F
Smoke passes through unburned · creosote forms · energy lost up the flue
1,100–1,300°F · The window
Secondary combustion · clean burn · maximum usable heat
Too hot
Expensive heat racing up the chimney
