Air Wash Warp Affect Stove Performance?

[tayreed]

A couple years ago, we purchased a 2021 Lopi Answer (1.5 sq foot firebox) to heat our 1,200 sq foot 100 year-old farmhouse in Northern Michigan. I'll say right away that it's undersized for our home.

After we purchased it and had it installed, we had a lot of problems with down drafting. At that time, in order to keep it from smoking us out, I fired it hot... to the point where, early on, the lip of the air wash system warped and the weld split. After that, we added four feet to the chimney and haven't had any backdraft issues.

Despite having a lot of work done on our home insulation, the stove has struggled to heat our small home well. I have a blower on the way next week as we're trying to exhaust our options before accepting that we need a larger stove. And here's my question: do you think the warp has affected the stove performance at all? Our sales rep told us it'd only affect the glass cleaning, but we haven't really noticed any effects there...

In the photos, it's the top lip of the firebox opening. The second photo shows where it's split.

Thanks! Stay warm.