Hoytman, when I raise the griddle on my Vigilant 2 stove to fill coal, the coal bed is directly under the stove top, so it is very hot for cooking. When the baffle is closed to direct venting from out the back, there are side ports in the upper firebox on each side, so that the fumes are drawn by the chimney draft down the stove sides and up the back to the flue.Hoytman wrote: ↑Fri. Jun. 11, 2021 12:39 pmMost modern EPA wood stoves direct most of the heat to the top of the stove whether they be secondary air tube stoves or catalytic stoves. A few like modern Harmon’s, no longer made, were down draft models direct exhaust up then down the back, and then back up the back of the stove and out. Vermont castings are similar, yet both have cook plates.
Buck stove, Lopi, Englander, Quadra-fire, Regency, Jotul, Drolet/Osburn, Blaze King etc., etc., etc., many direct most of the heat to the top of the stove and give plenty of heat on top to cook off of.
When I find the video of the Lopi/Travis Industries President cooking his homemade chili recipe on a Lopi stove I will post it.
This replaced an extremely clean EPA wood stove that was not very hot on top; above the secondary air tubes was a baffle with asbestos shield to keep heat in the firebox and burn the smoke (which you could see, orange rather than yellow). The firebox was separated from the stove's top and the flames were not right under the stove top, unlike my Vigilant 2. There was no direct vent baffle mode--only indirect. It was an Iron Strike model Striker S160. I kept a tea kettle on it, but it never boiled. The sides and back had built-on heat shields you could touch.