From my limited experience gassification of wood reduces consumption substantially . We had one appliance that got into that mode occasionally. If it's presence was suspected we tried not to disturb it.

If we saw a purple glow through the draft vents we knew it was online. Either we got a real clean flameless burn or a light gas explosion of no consequence instead.

If you can reliably get into that state anytime you wanted to would be very nice. It is old technology and probably was not developed previously to any great extent for home heating as all energy sources where fairly cheap.