We use our pellet stove to heat our home for most of the winter, but when it gets really chilly outside we fire up our old Royall wood burning furnace that is in the basement. Although it is old it burns great and really kicks out some major heat which we have run venting for to the main level. To control the amount of air going into the stove (as well as the combustion rate and temperature) I have been adjusting the metal slide that covers the draft inducer fan. I'm not entirely sure if this is the correct way but it is the only way that I can figure out on how to regulate this. If I leave it wide open the fire gets raging hot but will burn too fast, so after I get it going good and get the stove temp high enough I usually close it halfway. Before turning in I load the stove up and turn the slide to maybe a quarter open and that way it burns slow and steady all night. So here is my problem. The screw that holds the metal cover has stripped the metal behind it enough that there is now no hold and the plate cannot be held in place anymore. I unscrewed and removed the plate and noticed that the previous owner must have had the same problem as there is another hole there which the screw won't catch on either. I could just use a thicker diameter screw but that seems would just be another temporary solution. Because of the fan inside there isn't enough room to get a bolt in there. Is there another type of slide, maybe horizontal, that I could attach? I don't use this draft inducer fan very often (it seems to blow the ash too much and increases my chimney cleaning) so I would be willing to remove it, but I would still have to attach some sort of damper to the front and there is a lot more heat there. Sorry about being so long winded and thanks in advance for any help