Levers stuck on Vermont Castings "Winter Warm" woodburning insert

[Stunt Double]

I have a Vermont Castings "Winter Warm" model woodstove insert that's 19 years old. The control levers for air and fan are both stuck.

Does anyone have any experience with this and the potential remedies?

 

[webbie]

The linkages for those things are quite complicated......like all kinds of hinging, etc.

They can definitely get jammed, especially older ones - I assume VC made some changes to the design over the years. It's been a long time since I took one of these apart, but as I remember you may have to remove at least the outer columns to get to these linkages. The fan one might be accessible a little easier if you look at the sides near the bottom.

My advice would be to call CFM customer care and see if they have a tech bulletin or instructions on this. It would be easy enough to figure out once you remove the front pieces, but you want to make sure it is set right (it can be reversed if the linkage has went in the wrong direction).

The regular manual explains the proper way it should be facing.

Enclosed shows the fan control end of the one control and proper position of the linkage for that.