Yes, yes, no.
It works very well at warming the house quickly. When I first used it I got it to 92 in the house. Its 1800sqft. It's a very fine line that moves with the type of wood i use. I can fill it with wood get a good fire going then damp it way down but itll still get extremely hot, or, smoke will start coming out of the door. Sometimes i can get it just right and other times not so much.
a thermometer for the stack is a good tool on the single wall stacks with old stoves , your looking for enough heat up the stack to keep from creosote up but not give up much more than you have to
it sounds like that big stove will cook you out in a hurry , when wood was basically free for a little labor and many houses lacked much in the way of insulation , you just cranked out the heat and your not very well insulated house leaked it out slower than your stove could make it you called it a win.
my parents house got very well insulated , Dad sold an installed early foam insulation that expanded in the wall in 78 so the 1950 ranch house went from open wall cavities to good insulation , he also put about 14 inches of fiberglass in the attic. later they got new windows and had the house vinyl sided it is very tight now. they don't use the stove much any more but when they do one fire about cooks you out so they build it small and hot and it is mostly for recreation and emergency heat than actual heating.
could you make a fire box inside your fire box and would it allow you to make a small hot fire that kept from over heating your house and provided more even heat , yes but it would still not carry you through the night
what do you set your thermostat to?
I set my thermostat to 65 and I sometimes get the house in the dining room where the thermostat is to 78-80 with my stove before bed in the living room where the stove is 90 is not unheard of , my wife gets cold when she sits , but her recliner is closest the stove and she will get to basically beach attire when she is normally sweat pants , sweat shirt , wool socks , and a blanket at 68-70 thats when you say but it's a dry heat it certainly warms the bones. if you close off the bed room doors and heat the living room or area where the stove is then it will often keep above 65 till morning . it sort of depends how you like to sleep cool or warm. personally I like cool for sleeping so closing the doors heating the living room , dining room and kitchen that are open works for me.
I will second that I think you would be much better served by a smaller air tight epa stove . I like Quadrafire for their reburn system and how little I need to clean my chimney 1800sq feet if you can probably heat it very well with a 3100 if it is very well insulated you could probably go with the 2100 , they are an investment but you can get many years out of them and if you can keep steady heat and cut your oil/gas /lp consumption , you can save money if your cutting your own wood.
the 2100 may not have the room in the fire box for a long burn but I can get about 7 hours on the 3100 step top when dampered down I pull all the way out then go back in about 1/4 . I loaded up the stove last night before bed 11:30 pm no I don't get 8 hours of sleep at 6:30 Am I had sufficient enough coals and my stove top temp was 125 degrees that I raked the ash back pulled the coals forward to the air feed at the front of the fire box tossed some approximately 2x4 by 16 inch splits on and opened the primary air fully in a minute the new wood caught and when it was going well I added more larger wood again.
outside temp is about 25 and my furnace never kicked in set to 65.
when it is 20 below zero I can load up the same way but the furnace is going to kick in about 4 am unless I get up and feed in the middle of the night.
if you want really even heat exactly 72 at all times , that is what OWB out door wood burners and hot water base board are for , but if you like intense sauna like heat to really warm your bones and radiate heat to the rest of the house an indoor free standing wood stove is the tool.
you can obviously control a lot with how much and what size wood , but better air controls help a lot to reduce the frequency of tending.
