We have a big[gish] multifuel stove in our lounge which is seeing a lot of use this year with the recent cold snap. We have lots of our own wood so it's pretty cheap to run (until we've chopped down all the trees we don't want - we're considering growing some for firewood).
However a couple of questions have occurred to me:-
Why don't these stoves have lots of fins or similar ways of maximising their surface area so that as much heat as possible gets into the room? I realise a certain amount of heat needs to go up the chimney to keep a draught going but once heated up it feels like it should be possible to suck more heat out into the room. Is it just a style thing - i.e. the triumph of form over function or am I missing something obvious?
When we 'damp it down' for the night, i.e. pile up some fuel (often some coal for overnight) and shut the air inlets so it burns slowly, is it burning the fuel very inefficiently? Since we're starving it of air there is presumably more unburnt carbon monoxide going up the chimney and also more soot being deposited. Are there not more efficient ways of slowing things down?