Leyden stove damper will not open

[EagleWorks]

Hello all ...
I am house sitting for some folks for 6 months and they have a Leyden-Arbor stove.
The stove was manufactured in Sept of 2007.
I have the serial number if that helps.
Thing was plumb full of ash when I moved in.
I have it all cleaned out and it is burning pretty good.
Problem ...
Closing the damper is no problem. That part works fine.
The problem is that when I open the damper with the lever, the damper itself does not fall down open.
I have to poke at it with the poker.
Then it falls down and open.
Kind of hard to do when the stove is full of smoke.
I don't believe the damper itself is attached to the damper control rod, so I think it is a gravity thing.
Could be wrong on that.
Any thoughts on what I can do?
I have searched the internet, done a bunch of looking in this forum, but can't seem to find anything that helps me troubleshoot the problem.
The place where the stove was bought would be happy to come out and look at it!
To the tune of $150 or so!
I am mechanically inclined and have tools.
Can the stove be taken apart to get in there and figure out what is wrong?
Looking for some advice, thoughts, instructions, etc.
Thanks for listening ...
Bob

 

[EagleWorks]

Anyone have some thoughts or knowledge on this?
Thanks
Bob

 

[begreen]

Some past info on the Leyden damper
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lopi-leyden-wood-stove-main-damper-problem.124194/

 

[branchburner]

With some stoves you can access, evaluate and work on the damper and damper mechanisms simply by removing the stove pipe when the stove is cold. I had a different stove than yours, but had a problem that I identified and fixed just by sticking my hand in and feeling around. Didn't need to disassemble the stove at all.

As an aside, make sure you are burning dry/seasoned wood in this thing, and not closing the damper too soon into the burn, or it can be a real creosote factory!