2013 VC Burning Thread

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Any time I see the cat temp hit above 1750 the wood just disappears in few hours.
I just have to monitor the cat temp when burning black locust or dry oak. I still believe it is the wood causing the high temps.
What was your griddle temp when this happened?
 
Any time I see the cat temp hit above 1750 the wood just disappears in few hours.
I just have to monitor the cat temp when burning black locust or dry oak. I still believe it is the wood causing the high temps.
What was your griddle temp when this happened?
I bet it wasnt in the 700 range. I hate where the cat throat is on this stove!! You really have to load this stove perfectly and either pile everything towards the front or completely try to block the opening to get good burns with good time and good heat.... BAD STOVE!! I told you not to eat all my locust!! I think Im getting a jotul next year to replace this stove and move this one to the basement OR Im just getting a wood fired boiler and say F#kc it. Stay warm boys and girls its getting COLD out!!
 
Would a stove pipe damper help with this? Also when I started I was getting short burn times and kept hearing about long burn times. My oak was about five years old and obviously very very dry. I have it stored in my basement in 290gal totes so I dumped water all over it and let it soak for a few days. Now I get 10 hours or so out of a load with out any issues.

Thanks,
Glenn
 
I find it easier to mix some greener wood with the very dry wood to get longer burn times
 
I find it easier to mix some greener wood with the very dry wood to get longer burn times
I find that wood with an MC of 20 - 25 percent gives me about 12 hour burn times at 450 gt, with 16 hours not unheard of. I am burning mostly red oak. Cat temps are also a non issue. When I load something like kiln dried wood the cat can skyrocket to 1800 easily. This is with about 450 gt also. The stove temps also run hotter at the same setting and I lose some control since when I close it down the temps get up there. I also notice that burn times are also shorter. Either way she runs clean at the stack with both wood types.Oh I forget to mention that this is with my 1945 Defiant but the 2550 ran similar. However, it did blow a little bit more smoke. I can't be certain but the path way to the cat in the 2550 doesn't have a grill to cause turbulence like the 1945. With the 2550 the path is unimpeded. Also on both, the path to the catalyst is very short. Not sure how it is on say the Blaze Kings or wood stocks but I know on the Jotul Firelight 12 the path was much more convoluted. The smoke would have to travel through the rear burn plate then down to the bottom of the stove to the refractory opening and then up through the cat then down again. The firelight seemed to burn a little cleaner than the VC stoves and it also had a bit better burn times even though the firebox was smaller.
 
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I bet it wasnt in the 700 range. I hate where the cat throat is on this stove!! You really have to load this stove perfectly and either pile everything towards the front or completely try to block the opening to get good burns with good time and good heat.... BAD STOVE!! I told you not to eat all my locust!! I think Im getting a jotul next year to replace this stove and move this one to the basement OR Im just getting a wood fired boiler and say F#kc it. Stay warm boys and girls its getting COLD out!!

It wasnt... I dont recall exactly but not over 550F. I could have opened up the primary air to bring down the cat temp but I didnt need the heat. I wanted low and slow.

On the bright side, I had a great coal bed and nice clean glass at 7am.

I need to be careful with this locust. Especially tomorrow night when we hit negative digits.
 
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It wasnt... I dont recall exactly but not over 550F. I could have opened up the primary air to bring down the cat temp but I didnt need the heat. I wanted low and slow.

On the bright side, I had a great coal bed and nice clean glass at 7am.

I need to be careful with this locust. Especially tomorrow night when we hit negative digits.
Yea when I loaded up with white oak the other day it tried to take off on me. Its the nature of the stove I guess and there isnt any mods we can do unless making a partial block off plate for the cat opening to restrict air flow to it (that would probably blow the stove up LOLOL)
 
Yeah it a learning curve every time with this beast... New wod species = new technique. Part of the problem last night was I put in a few big splits then filled in chunks to pack it. All the small chunks got it going to fast.

This afternoon I put a half load of 4 big locust splits in at 3pm, then ran hot about half air for almost 2 hours then turned it down low, now at 4 hours I still have 1350 cat temp. Amazing. In mild weather I'd probably get 10 hours of usable heat on this load.

I'm hoping my stash this year will stretch. Till now I've been burning light stuff like maple and have used half my wood. It was looking like I wouldn't make it to Feb but the rest of my stash is now all Locust, Oak and Ash.
 
Yeah it a learning curve every time with this beast... New wod species = new technique. Part of the problem last night was I put in a few big splits then filled in chunks to pack it. All the small chunks got it going to fast.

This afternoon I put a half load of 4 big locust splits in at 3pm, then ran hot about half air for almost 2 hours then turned it down low, now at 4 hours I still have 1350 cat temp. Amazing. In mild weather I'd probably get 10 hours of usable heat on this load.

I'm hoping my stash this year will stretch. Till now I've been burning light stuff like maple and have used half my wood. It was looking like I wouldn't make it to Feb but the rest of my stash is now all Locust, Oak and Ash.
Ash is my favorite thing to burn in this stove right now. On 4 decent pieces I get 4-6 hours of GOOD heat at 1350-1450 cat and 6-700 GT....... heaven
 
I have another full load of locust in, but this time I used just 5 or 6 huge splits. This one is cruising nicely at 1200 cat 2 hours in with -1f outside. Must have just been how I loaded it last night....

Freakin unpredictable beast........
 
Update - last nights locust load never went over 1300, and now this morning I have a mixed load of locust and oak in and again its cruising nice around 1200. The key was remembering my own lesson - for big loads on cold days use only BIG splits.

I do LOVE that locust. Now I wish I had more than a measly half cord of it....
 
Update - last nights locust load never went over 1300, and now this morning I have a mixed load of locust and oak in and again its cruising nice around 1200. The key was remembering my own lesson - for big loads on cold days use only BIG splits.

I do LOVE that locust. Now I wish I had more than a measly half cord of it....
Use sparingly.... by the looks of it I may run out of seasoned wood before the end of feb. I have 3/4 of a cord of ash that is mostly seasoned that I should probably start mixing in now :(
 
I'll be out by Feb also, don't feel bad.

In good news, I talked to Condar, they are sending me a ceramic cat no questions asked. They even said to wait for the new one before sending the steel back. Good company.
 
Burning hardwood for the first time this season with the cold spell we are having. The Defiant's glass is staying remarkable clean. Both, the 30 and the Defiant have had really clean glass all season.

The Encore gets sooted up more than the other two. Two dark patches on the Encore right now.
 
Burning hardwood for the first time this season with the cold spell we are having. The Defiant's glass is staying remarkable clean. Both, the 30 and the Defiant have had really clean glass all season.

The Encore gets sooted up more than the other two. Two dark patches on the Encore right now.
Usually far left and right near the door hinges? I get a spot or two sometimes either there or right infront of the andirons but they disappear pretty quickly.

So the wife had me put away the fans I use to move heat for the holidays AND THANK GOD the holidays are over!! House has gone from 63 to 68 in about 10 min!! LR where the stove is always sits around 68-70 but heat doesnt move well in this big house. Stay warm everyone!!
 
Nope. Dead center on the left door and half of the right door.
 
Finally had to cover the 4 bay windows with heavy blankets last night. -8 degrees outside last night with -20 windchill and couldn't get the upstairs higher than 65degrees. Covered windows helped upstairs get to 67. It is 25 today and upstairs soared to 73 :p.

I can't believe how much a difference the negative temperatures and wind affect the ability to keep the house warm. There is definitely a point at about 5-10 degrees above zero the encore really starts to suffer and only heats the basement efficiently.
 
Crazy!
41 at the moment
Calling for -11 for tonight
Windchill -40
Trying to heat up the house as much as possible right now. The encore will need the help of NG in the morning however.
 
Crazy!
41 at the moment
Calling for -11 for tonight
Windchill -40
Trying to heat up the house as much as possible right now. The encore will need the help of NG in the morning however.
Yea Im figuring Ill fire up around noon and get this place up to 80 or so.
 
Stove is misbehaving with this super high winds UGH!!! But anyway Im starting to wonder, how does one differentiate between smoke and steam? I always thought that steam dissipated faster but I think I have something confused. Right now Cat 1400 and all I see from the stack is heat waves earlier when I first loaded I wasnt paying attention and let the stove on bypass too long (kinda 6-700 gt) I closed the bypass and watched it go to 1550 or so in 10min went outside to check and what appear to be "steam" was coming from the stack but I still smelt a little smoke........
 
Steam clouds are white and quickly dissapate. Smoke is grey or black and tends to lings much longer.
 
With the negative temperatures I've never seen as much steam from my stove, its been pretty crazy. It has been very white in color no grey appearance...

I finally got on top of my roof today (i had to shovel 17 inches of snow off...worst job ever) I could see some areas were ice dams might become a problem and with temperatures warming up over the next 2-3 days really needed to get it off the roof. I took some pictures of the chimney and shot some pictures down the liner I will post later to get everyone's opinion (might actually be a new thread). But based on what I see I am headed out to the depot to get a sweep kit tonight and gunna sweep tomorrow (nothing terrible but definitely the brown flaky creosote buildup in the liner).
 
Yup, lots of white smoke/steam when we have anything below -20*C

I will be cleaning the pipe this weekend! And if it makes anyone feel better.....shoveling 30" of crusted snow off my upper deck (just can't wait).....
 
I'm happy to report that other than that first load I have not had a repeat of problems with locust loads. I'm really loving that stuff, truly amazing how much longer a load will maintain active catalyst temps vs the mix of maple and lighter hardwoods I was burning earlier, or even than oak. I'll be sad when I use it all up!

On the downside, the extreme cold snap really makes the poor wall insulation and window draftiness in this old joint stand out. My wife is not happy that its toasty by the stove but cool sitting on the couch by the wall in the TV den or in the bedroom and would rather we just shut it down and crank up the central heat so all the radiators along the outside walls pump out heat.


In other news, I got a notice Condar shipped my ceramic cat, It should arrive next Monday. Weather outlook is calling for 40s and 50s through the middle of next week at least and we are going out of the town the weekend of the 18th so not sure when I'll get to test it out.
 
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