You might think that a tiled stove is a fancy front with a fireplace in it, and that the rest of the interior is just an empty cylinder, much like a chimney.

But then you have missed the most important thing; the whole idea behind the design of the tiled stove is to get the most heat possible for the least possible wood and work effort.
A tiled stove is designed to keep the flue gases inside for as long as possible before they are released. The tile stove mason achieves this when he builds the tile stove by building up a labyrinth of vertical passages through which the flue gases are led out so that the smoke has time to give off as much heat as possible before it is released into the chimney. The flues inside a tiled stove can be up to 10 meters long!

Heavy = warm

This is also why a tiled stove weighs so much – they contain so much brick and mortar. A tiled stove can weigh anything from 800 kg to almost 2 tonnes.
With its weight and mass, it simply stores the heat. In fact, the heavier the tile stove, the better it works in general, because the larger the mass that is heated and then slowly emits heat, the better for heat retention.

Don't make fire for the crows
It is usually said that if a normal fireplace has approximately 5 percent efficiency and almost only provides radiant heat - "making fire for the crows" - then a tiled stove can have an efficiency of around 80-85 percent. A huge difference in efficiency!In fact, a tiled stove emits heat for as long as 10-12 hours after you start a fire in it. 
Technically, the circulation inside the tiled stove works like this: when you light a fire, the air is heated. As is well known, the hot flue gases rise upwards, towards the chimney. A negative pressure is then created in the tiled stove, which means that new, fresh air is sucked in to the fire.
Conversely, smoke can come in when you first light a stove. This is because the air in the chimney is so cold and lies like a "lid" before the heat causes the air to start moving and create a draft. You can easily remedy that by burning in the right way.
Read more about how to fire smartly here.

FAQ - frequently asked questions and answers about tile stoves

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