So far, I've followed the process stated in the owners manual for curing the paint correctly. Smaller fires followed by progressively larger fires. I must say I'm surprised by the low output of heat. My old woodstove was a model from the early 80s and while it was certainly inefficient it really threw out a lot more heat, more quickly. In less than 30 minutes I could feel lot's of heat coming up through the grille in the hallway of my home with the old stove. Not so with this new one and my home is under 1200 square feet.