Vermont Castings Encore 2550 secondary air intake question with picture

[Eddie24361]

I have been checking out my new stove. I have a question about the secondary air intake on the back. When I first took off the cover plate, I thought the shutter opened up to give more air as the catalyst got hotter, since when it was cold the shutter was closed on it's stop. When I fired the stove up and engaged the catalyst, the wire that moves the shutter moved down. As far as I can tell, the shutter never moves, only the wire. I have attached a picture showing cold (no fire), medium (450 stovetop - catalyst engaged), and hot (550 stovetop - catalyst engaged).


How much is the shutter supposed to be open when the stove is cold?
When the catalyst heats up, is the shutter supposed to open (more air) or close (less air)?
If this factory setup is wrong, what do I need to do to fix it? Shorter wire? Rotate the thermostat? Something else?

Thanks in advance. You guys are great!

 

[Eddie24361]

I checked the installation manual for a new fireback, and it says this about the probe

Note the tab on the end of the coil is in the 4 o’clock to
5 o’clock position, when the stove is cold.

and that is where mine is.

 

[jetmech]

Ed, i own a intrepid with the same secondary air intake as your stove. The shutter should be open when the stove is cold and close as the stove heats up. It is designed to supplement air during cat engagement as the stove cools the shutter should go open, at least thats how it works on my stove, i just replaced my probe yesterday due to stove being over twenty years old.

 

[bmwbj]

Ed, i own a intrepid with the same secondary air intake as your stove. The shutter should be open when the stove is cold and close as the stove heats up. It is designed to supplement air during cat engagement as the stove cools the shutter should go open, at least thats how it works on my stove, i just replaced my probe yesterday due to stove being over twenty years old.

Ed, I checked out my Intrepid II a while back and it works the same way...I thought it was
backwards too, but the stove works great just the way it is, so I never bothered to
complain. I know it seems backwards, but it works.

Ed, according to your pic, it appears that the shutter is stuck up, and not resting on the wire.
Make sure the securing screw for the shutter is not to tight. I believe there is a spacer on the
screw so you can't over tighten it and bind up the smooth operation of the shutter.

After a closer look at the pic, I see that there is a slight "dimple" in the baffle plate that will
hold it open slightly .... my bad ...

 

[Gark]

On my 2550 cat there is a "peg" attached to the sliding plate. On your picture, the peg is seen just below the "T" of the word "hot".
This peg projects into the cast iron aperture and acts to keep the shutter from closing completely. Methinks it's per EPA regs or
whatever so the cat never starves for new air. BTW, I once had the lower fireback off and shined a light into the little secondary air intake. That air flows under a cast iron floor the secondary refractory sits on, flows up the backside of the lower fireback (gains heat) and is mixed with firebox gasses just under the hood. There they (new 2nd air and gasses ) do a u-turn into the cat and light it up.
Forgive my going off onto a tangent, please, but it took me months to realize how the 2550 secondary works. My 2550 looks exactly the same when running a good cat burn - the wire has gone well below where it can close the shutter any more... the peg limiter keeps it open some.