First year burning with the Vista and we have been very pleased with our purchase. Burned a little over a cord this season. Wood all tested at 20% and under and supplemented red stones bricks with my splits during the season. Scheduled my chimney sweep to clean the stove and flue in May. Really want peace of mind to see how everything went. He also installed my setup and said that if I’m burning properly seasoned wood he thought I could go every other year. That remains to be seen. My question is does the baffle have to be removed? The manual says it does not if you can disconnect your stove pipe. He installed a slip pipe in the connector so I’m thinking I can leave the baffle as is. Just in case I did buy a few extra gaskets for the baffle for about $5 a piece.