I too had to learn to not "burn you out of house"...as long as it's above 20 at night I will fill the box full...CLEAR FULL with the air full open (Mine has an air inducer too that's about 3/4" open) until the thermometer on the flue reached 300 to 350...then I close the induction off to about 1/8" and the draft shut down completely then open 1 turn (about 1/16"). Within a half hour the flue will be reading 500 and will stay there for about three before it starts to fall off. I can usually get 7 hours of sleep. By morning I will have about 8" of coals to restart the process...The flue will read just above 200 at this point.
When it's really cold (below 10 for daytime high) the air gets opened up and I can get about 5 hours of sleep, any more than that and the house will drop below 68...
Mine is a Fire Chief 700.
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I also have a firechief unit, going on its 4th season. I have the model 500, I've saw the 700 and what a massive firebox. At what blower speed do you run your unit? I always use low. The blower, or plenum fans on these units are larger than most wood furnaces and move a ton of air. Sometimes I think they move too much air which can cause the firebox to cool down, requiring a hotter fire to keep the furnace from cycling. The hotter the fire, the more wood they burn. I've learned to use less wood and seem to get the same result as filling up the firebox full. Your correct in saying they can eat wood, but it seems to me once the house is warmed up, and the furnace is hot, the wood usuage can be streached and still put out the needed heat. I live in minnesota, so this unit sees plenty of cold weather. Right now, its -6F outside, 10pm, this mornings fire died out around 10am, and its still 73 degrees in the house, and I'm just about to lite the furnace for the night. I hardly ever keep a fire going during the daytime, a overnight fire keeps the house warm until the following night, even in these temps.