Hello and thanks for this nice website!! My wife and I just bought a house with a 5 year old Vermont Casting Defiant 1610 non-catalytic woodburning stove. It sits in an enclosed sunroom porch and has a nice 8" chimney. I have lit it twice and overall it heats up well. I read the manual several times regarding where to set the damper and airflow. The stove gets very hot and heats the room and adjacent rooms. That is all we really want it to do.
Here is my question:
1. With the damper closed we smell smoke in the sunroom but can't see it. The wood burns slowly. The CO alarms don't go off. Smoke is clearly visible out the chimney. It's not bad but I would prefer not to smell it. When I open the damper the smoke smell goes away but the wood ignites in a fury and makes me concerned that it will overheat. The airflow knob doesn't seem to make much of a difference in any position. What I would like is to be able to throw three pieces of wood in and leave it alone for a few hours.
I could be missing something. For example, this was on a fairly warm (65) day when I was just testing it. Maybe the draft was insufficient. Also, these were the first pieces of wood in the fire, maybe the coal bed was not yet adequate. I would appreciate any good advice here.
Here is my question:
1. With the damper closed we smell smoke in the sunroom but can't see it. The wood burns slowly. The CO alarms don't go off. Smoke is clearly visible out the chimney. It's not bad but I would prefer not to smell it. When I open the damper the smoke smell goes away but the wood ignites in a fury and makes me concerned that it will overheat. The airflow knob doesn't seem to make much of a difference in any position. What I would like is to be able to throw three pieces of wood in and leave it alone for a few hours.
I could be missing something. For example, this was on a fairly warm (65) day when I was just testing it. Maybe the draft was insufficient. Also, these were the first pieces of wood in the fire, maybe the coal bed was not yet adequate. I would appreciate any good advice here.