There’s always a temptation to slow down a fire, either in an attempt to make it last longer or in order to reduce the heat, by turning down the air controls on your stove. Don’t do it. The fuel will still burn, but more smoke and moisture will be emitted. This is not only bad for the environment (and makes you Public Enemy Number One among your neighbours) it will ruin your flue. Moreover, you’ll get no heat out of it so you will be wasting your money.
The approval testing on our stoves was done with wood logs, these burn at a consistent rate & temperature according to the volume of air added. This is quite carefully worked out to achieve the efficiency figures quoted so that the glass, paint & vermiculite panels can withstand the energy dispersed. The issue with using other fuels is that they can burn too hot with air controls that are set up for wood & will not be sensitive enough for faster-burning fuel. This could overheat the glass, paint & vermiculite panels if allowed to burn on maximum air setting.
