Vg2500 cant get coal to stay lit, never had a problem when burning wood in unit.

Yes it is called a 'Damper' and controls the draw up the flue chimney. The more open it is, the more the fire with 'draw up', get hotter. It can be used for wood or coal.

Gibraltar makes coal, pellet and wood stoves. Stoves that burn wood pellets have a hopper and feeder auger that feeds pellets into the burning chamber. They also require electricity to work. From what I read online you should be able to burn wood in the stove but I believe the coal stoves have a smaller burning chamber.

Anyone heard of a Waterford 103? ' Hearth.com Forums Home

www.hearth.com/talk/threads/anyone-heard-of-a-waterford-103.9653/
Nov 28, 2007 - Hello, I'm new here and I have a stove in my house that arrived with no... Does anyone know anything about this stove? Coal? Wood? Age? Make? ... The 103 was a wood-burning "Fireplace Stove" from the mid-80's. Installing an insert without using 6" flue liner tube because of ...
Sep 23, 2014
Looks like it's officially 24/7 burning time...
Dec 10, 2009
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This might help:
http://www.fergusonfireplace.com/Defiant_Vig_Res_Intre_Pre88-0029.pdf

Some other resources:
http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-1611594.html

http://www.hearth.com/talk/categories/main-hearth-forums.4/
You burn wood, and smoke goes up flueway.
You're not running chimney smoke through ductwork so you have a heat exchanger.
What kind of heat exchanger?
probably air since you're running through ductwork?
How much hot air or hot water is coming off heat exchanger?
How big of a space can be heated with that amount of heat?
Is the exchanger located in optimal location?

Considerations.
One room log cabin with fireplace will not stay very warm.
One room house with big wood burning stove in center, with hot flue pipe running across the room and exiting on far wall, will get warm-hot, but will cool off fast.
Why?
Because the BTU output of firewood is much less than electric, coal, oil, or gas.
Otherwise they would have made wood-burning steam locomotives. But the locomotive boiler cannot get hot enough with wood ... the boiler needs coal to produce enough BTUs to boil water fast enough to rotate the turbine and turn the wheels.

Maybe your wood stove output should be measured.
Don't forget a huge percentage of fire heat goes straight up flueway.

If you need further help, I’m available over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/gene_9f0ef4df2f9897e7

You may be emptying the chimney too soon. Give it time to ignite all the coals. If you spread out the coals too soon, they will not support each other to stay lit. You also need enough coals for them to ignite each other if one goes out. Every briquette should be touching at least one other unless you are doing a long, low-slow roast where you have a separate fire going to heat replacement coals.

The chimney needs to be 3 feet taller than the highest point of the house . If you are running the clothes dryer, bathroom vent fan, or exaust hood in kitchen it makes a vacum in the house that can draw smoke into the house down the chimmney . I think when you burn wood or coal in a house it is pretty hard not to be able to smell it. Our house and clothes do not smell like smoke any more since we stopped burning wood.

air is still getting in from somewhere when you shut all the dampers and doors. door seals if fitted may not be sealing. if you have only tryed wood as a fuel try coal to see if it stays in. but air feeding the fire is the problem

wood chips and chunks go on coals if using chips you may want to soak in water so they wont burn so fast

Put the briquettes in the bottom pan and put the wood chips around the outside edge. Put water in the top pan. All this must be done before you light the charcoal. Using an electric lighter works best and won't change the flavor of your food like starter fluid will. After coals are lit, place meat on rack and seal everything up. Now you're Smokin'!