Vermont Castings Merrimack/Montpelier

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Can someone take a picture and circle where the air intakes are on the bottom? I have a Merrimack, did the mod to the air tubes (which made the stove much much better), and now I'm curious as to how closing off the air intakes would work. But I can't for the life of me figure out where they are!

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To actually see them you have to remove the andiron, front ledge 3 bricks and unscrew the cast iron plate (4 screws) that covers the air channel.

You can feel them however by sticking your hand in the corner access panels and feeling up from there. It's about a 1/2 inch circle. It's easier from the right side as the fan control knob is in the way on the left side.

I've marked the approx location with red dots.
[Hearth.com] Vermont Castings Merrimack/Montpelier


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Here a video of the air hole location...

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Just bought one of these have been running it for a week and I feel the same way that I wood is burning so fast in it. With the damper shut it seems like its roaring to me. Tonight is my first attempt at an overnight on it. I doubt I'd have much of a coal bed left in the am. Look great. Cost me 5000 with an insulated 2 story liner. I feel the stove cools of very fast. Just hope I made a good choice with this stove...
Make sure your start assist isn't stuck open mine was and still doesn't close consistently. Its supposed to be temp controlled but like I said it's not consistent it will stay stuck open and you'll burn through loads of wood in an uncontrolled stove. I disconnected mine,i have the little wire stick out the front so I can pull it to open the cold start assist and I use a pen to close it. This way i have full control over the primary air all the way left without opening that cold start assist. It's a good idea but it needs work on the mechanics. You need to lift the cap off when it's cool to see how it works so you know how to close it when your done using extra air
 
Make sure your start assist isn't stuck open mine was and still doesn't close consistently. Its supposed to be temp controlled but like I said it's not consistent it will stay stuck open and you'll burn through loads of wood in an uncontrolled stove. I disconnected mine,i have the little wire stick out the front so I can pull it to open the cold start assist and I use a pen to close it. This way i have full control over the primary air all the way left without opening that cold start assist. It's a good idea but it needs work on the mechanics. You need to lift the cap off when it's cool to see how it works so you know how to close it when your done using extra air
 

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It's funny, the first week I had my Merrimack that wire broke off from the lever and I operated it exactly like that with the wire hanging out of the lattice like that.

I've since just removed the whole "restart assist" mechanism and blocked the hole off with a magnet. Never looked back.

If necessary on restarts I just leave the door cracked open a little bit for a few minutes.
 
Just bought one of these have been running it for a week and I feel the same way that I wood is burning so fast in it. With the damper shut it seems like its roaring to me. Tonight is my first attempt at an overnight on it. I doubt I'd have much of a coal bed left in the am. Look great. Cost me 5000 with an insulated 2 story liner. I feel the stove cools of very fast. Just hope I made a good choice with this stove...

How's it going with the new stove?