Or does it mean opening the damper? That seems to make more sense, but it's only a guess.

That sounds logical, doesn't it? The damper is actually opened by a lever directly above the fire. I guess the best thing to do is start a fire with the lever in the lowered position, which is where it already was, then pull it to the upper position. There *are* vent slots above and below the glass doors.

You know what they say about the simplest explanation being the most likely? ;-) This gives me good reason to clean the ashes out that I've been putting off.

LOL. Well, open the door on it, turn the lever to "open", light a match and see if it blows the flame out and sucks the smoke upward. If it does, you know that "open" means to open the damper.

You don't want to build a fire with the damper closed or the smoke will come into the room. The way to build a fire is to open the damper, light the fire,and close the door but leave it open a crack to fan the fire. Once you get it going good, close the door. If you get a lot of smoke build-up, crack the door again. You usually have to get some hot coals before you can really close the door.

By the way-----you never know how well the last homeowner took care of this fireplace. It would be a good idea to have the flue inspected/cleaned before you use it so that you know the condition of it.

I know this is forever old (8 years) but could you tell me if you ever found the answer? I have the same model fireplace and for mine there isn't a lever, just a screw BUT when you move the screw up you hear stuff shift. I would bet it is a vent but would like to know for sure. The superior company website doesn't allow you to send questions to ask them.....

I found that it opens a draft vent just behind the glass at the bottom. This appears to let the fire suck in air from outdoors. The problem was that it seemed to cause a strong draft and it would prevent the front of the wood from burning. I guess it's meant to be controlled, not just left wide-open.

I've since sold this house but, for how poorly insulated the fireplace was, we would have replaced it with something better if we had kept the house. In the end, moving out of Alaska solved the drafty fireplace problem for us. :-)

Thank you very much for the reply... I do not see any vent that moves when I move the screw but I certainly do hear something sound like it moves (besides the slide) :) .
In the front I have a metal "bump" that has a lot of round holes about 1 inch in diameter across the top. In front of that bump is a plate that I removed and see two 5 inch long oval holes. I'm glad I opened that plate since that entire area was full of ash. So a good vacuuming and that is good to go. Then next fire I'll move that slide all the way up and see if I get the same results as you did.

Again, Thank you for the reply I thought it was a long shot since the post was so long ago.

Greetings All, i am trying to understand the functions off a lever at the back of my fireplace where the chimney starts.it moves either left or centre or right ..how does this work