[uncle Will in In.]

Cabin made a valid point that can sour the use of a wood burning stove or furnace. We had an oil and wood combination furnace. It was just great other than the creosote problem. The oil fire would even light the wood fire as the flames passed over the wood. When the house got warm the thermostat shut down the damper on the furnace. This stopped most of the air going to the chimney. The smoke slowly went up letting it cool off right in the chimney. When wood smoke cools in the chimney the creosote condenses into liquid and deposits its self onto the chimney walls eventualy plugging the chimney. I can tell you for sure that is not anything you want to happen. Its true that dry cured wood will create less creosote, BUT it is also true that the driest hardwood will still plug a chimney if the smoke is always cool going up it.
I cast my vote for manual opperated dampers. A real hot chimney at least once per day is a good thing Martha.