Vermont Castings Resolute III Issues

but if it is closed at 300 degrees stove top temp then it needs to open more.

I think that you need to do what Fbelec suggested. You said in your initial post that you might just get the stove to 400-500 degrees.That is really quite cool. You also say that the thermostat closes fully at that or a lower temperature; well it shouldn't. It isn't really practical to do experiments with the stove running as it is likely to burn you seriously if you mess about round the back where the thermostat is. Therefore you cannot know whether the thing will operate properly when it is very hot.It certainly should not be closeing at 300-400 when the lever is fully open. I strongly suggest that you wait until the stove is cold and then shorten the chain a link or two and then see what happens. Since I have not been round the back of my Vigilant I don't know if this suggestion is practical but could you tie a couple of links together with a metal paperclip as a temporary measure to see if it improves the stove. The thermostat on my stove is quite sensitive:- a change in the position of the little lever of about 40-50 degrees (rotation) changes the stove from a raging inferno to a smoldering cresote generator.This suggests to me that the thermostatic mechanism is quite sensitive and that yours is incorrectly adjusted.
Regards Peter

ntomsw said:

I really wish they had wood stove classes. I feel like such a failure for not knowing something that seems to be easy for everyone else.

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Every stove is different to operate and takes time to perfect

don't feel bad about not knowing. i think the woodstove companies should provide the customer with the first stovetop thermometer. it would help the person running the stove get to know how and what to do and would probably cut down on calls back to the company asking what is wrong with my woodstove and also prevent damaging stove parts on a warranty and out of warranty

I guess I missed this thread when it started. I've got the same stove and there are actually 3 controls. Damper bypass which is the big handle on the left side. The secondary air supply which is the stick that pokes up at the back left and works the heat controlled damper PLUS, there's a small round hole on the bottom left side that has a small swivel cover.

The operation information you have rec'd here is correct. Close the main lever once your fire is running well, which is usually 15 min. The back stick adjustment is normally left, except when you want a hotter fire or one not as hot. The small hole should be open all the time, except when your fire is too hot.

As others have said, I suspect your wood is too wet but I doubt that you need to clean out anything more than you have already. This is a pretty easy design and one of the best stoves made in it's day. I sold mine only because I wanted more heat than it could make. I regularly ran mine at 600 and back decades ago when I had to buy wood, it was a constant battle to create enough heat when the wood was too wet. In the last year, it actually was a problem overheating using very dry wood.

Keep in mind that new stoves will be even more finicky with wet wood than this VC. This forum is full of people who have wood problems that are sure the real culprit is something else.