Happiness is a warm mass!

Hi All;
7:00am , 16F outside 45F in studio/greenhouse. It was 48F out there at 5am when I got up. Time to go wake the dragon.

Acording to my T&G dbm (thermometer)  gas tempurature in the chimney stack is just over 150F.
Waking up a still warm dragon is SO EASY!!!  They practically light themselves!  A few larger sticks to block 75% of the burn tunnel, handful of chaff (small wood debri) piece of paper, another larger hand full of chaff on top, and light it up. Most of the time my long reach lighter wants to blow out from the draft...  if nessisary I light a paper outside the feed tube and drop it in. within 30 seconds the fire is ripping and I can start piling full size fuel in the feed tube! 5 minutes after walking outside, I am back in my comfy chair sipping coffee, a good 45 minutes before it needs checking. Having a wireless tempurture sender for that building is essential.  HAPPINESS IS A WARM MASS!

In comparison.  I have a brick bell J tube in my unheated auto shop. It has an awesome 5 minute riser.   In a cold building with no solid rock filled mass. Startup is a slightly longer process.
Chimney stack temps will be bottomed out. Brick bell might be 50F . That awesome riser has a super draw but no residual heat. The 50 degree bricks are not hot enough to help very much.
Start up fire building is the same as the studio, block most of the feed tube to keep your paper from flying up the riser. Pile chaff, add paper, add more chaff, another paper then split kindling down to long skinny pieces and light her off.  Starts right up, no smoke back BUT... you must keep a close eye on the fire , adding larger wood slowly untill its roaring.  It is very easy to snuff out that first kindling fire.
I spend no less than 20 minutes watching to make sure she won't blow herself out.... lot colder out there than wifes studio!

If this brick bell was in a warm insulated location it would fire up almost as easy as the greenhouse rocket.

Morning Thomas,  Thank you for the update. Your proving that there is quite a difference between how the two types of stoves you have behave which is important to know since each person has different circumstances that one type would be better for than another. To me, there really is no real winner (in terms of materials) between the two stoves, just different characteristics that we have to
decide which ones we want for our needs and situation.  The information your providing us is very valuable for those that do not have our own comparisons to make or those that are just starting out and can count on solid evidence of how each material will behave.  So....keep that valuable info coming!