EPA

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Do you have the manual for the stove? VC explains when and how to use the secondary port and thermostat. We left the secondary open all the time for our normal burning because we never did long burns in the updraft mode (bypass open).

The manual in three parts is located here. It covers all 4 original VC stoves.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/vermont-castings-older-stove-models/

That's real nice of you to provide the manuals, begreen. If we had the manual, I never saw it, and it did not even occur to me to search the site for it (until now). My job was to cut, split, stack, and then bring the wood inside, from wheelbarrow to the banana boxes from the time I was about 13, and remarkably, I never cut off any important parts. We never did burns in updraft mode, we did it just as you described it, and it really heated up the basement where we spent much of the winters, the kitchen and the dining room. Wonderful memories!