So this is a brand new stove?I fired mine up for the fist time yesterday.
You replaced the rheostat on the stove, or you just turned it on for the first time? You can probably just put the switch in "man" until you can address the rheostat issue. Blower will run at full speed. $17, I see, but if it's a new stove they should send you a new one free, I'd think. Nothing wrong with 1500, although I like to run lower if I don't need that much heat. I just get less of the load burning at the outset. I may further tweak both slider rods so that the plates seal tighter, to give me more control over the air and allow me to better adjust the burn rate on the fly. I would just have to make sure I don't cut the air too much and crash the cat. Of course, air settings are dependent on how cold it is outside, which affects draft. I think the burn times, which are already respectable, would be even longer on a real low burn. I've been burning some White Ash, soft Maple and Cherry for the most part. Now that I've got it dry, I'm gonna haul some Pignut Hickory, White Oak, and BL over there and see what that stuff does...I just put that thing on and melted it in one day. The cat briefly showed 1500f during paint cure, but I thought that was normal.