I just bought a house with a Lopi Answer that was probably put in in the later 90s. It doesn't seem to matter whether I have the damper lever on the bottom front is in our out. The tubes at the top of the firebox seem like they are in good condition. I am assuming that pulling it out dampers the stove.
On my Lopi Leyden it pulls out to open. It’s called an Air control valve. Bottom left front of stove. It also won’t shut off the air all the way and seems to not make much difference. The big handle on the rear of the stove I would have called the damper is actually a diverter. Open (handle UP) let’s smoke flow up straight out pipe from firebox. Closed (handle DOWN) diverts the smoke through the back for secondary combustion. It never has been able to dampen down for an “all nighter” burn. It’s either feed it in the middle of the night on a bathroom run or restart it in the morning cause it will burn itself out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mine just has the lever right below the door in front and has no other damper/diverter device that i can see. I am enjoying the wood stove heat in our basement.
I am assuming it is a non EPA stove. Unfortunately it will not keep a fire going all night long. Do newer ones do this?
Many stoves will burn overnight easily. Welcome to FHC by the way. Poked around a bit here and it looks like member Sam possibly has the same stove. Hopefully he can chime in to assist you. In the meantime take a look at his thread related to troubleshooting that stove Lopi Answer | Firewood Hoarders Club
The Answer (at least newer ones) are small stoves. True overnight burns are probably out of the question.
We have a Lopi Liberty (2008 or 09) when we pull the air control out, it will close the air down but not all the way because of the EPA standards. If you have a Lopi dealer near you, take the information off the back of the stove and bring it in and they can help you.
I have a Lopi Answer from ~2007. It's a good stove, well-built. On this Lopi, pulling the handle all the way out restricts the air the most. On the Lopi Republic/1750, it is the opposite (go figure). My Answer can hold coals quite well for a morning reload on coals 10 hours after last reload (load at 8pm, reload on coals at 6am). You have to pack it full to get this type of burn, and keep the splits on the bigger side (4 or 5 per load, max, with maybe the spaces between splits filled in with small splits. You'll want to get a good pair of long welding gloves so you can reach into the stove and position wood when the coals are hot. With mixed hardwoods (but not hickory - the really good stuff), I can get stove top >500 for two hours, and >400 for 3 hours. Then, it will slowly fall overnight, and maybe be about 200 F stovetop by morning reload.