2015/2016 VC Owners thread

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My AT100 arrived some time ago. Only today I opened the package. Did you guys receive programing instructions with the unit? Or is it trail and error method?
Thanks
 
My AT100 arrived some time ago. Only today I opened the package. Did you guys receive programing instructions with the unit? Or is it trail and error method?
Thanks
 
Diabel said:
My AT100 arrived some time ago. Only today I opened the package. Did you guys receive programing instructions with the unit? Or is it trail and error method?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Sorry for the double post, not sure what happened there....
 
Sooooo. Got home from work today at 5. Decided to light a small load so I can reload at 9 before its lights out. Seems ok right. Well I stepped away to take care of things only to come back to the cat climbing up past 1500 degrees with all the flames in the box shooting up the hood. Looking for any ideas and or explanations as well as suggestions. Thanks guys. Stay warm. It was a whole 17 degrees here today.
 
RandyBoBandy said:
Sooooo. Got home from work today at 5. Decided to light a small load so I can reload at 9 before its lights out. Seems ok right. Well I stepped away to take care of things only to come back to the cat climbing up past 1500 degrees with all the flames in the box shooting up the hood. Looking for any ideas and or explanations as well as suggestions. Thanks guys. Stay warm. It was a whole 17 degrees here today.
Click to expand...


On few occasions recently I have watched mine climb to 1700*F and then slowly go down. On these occasions the firebox was completely black and air 100% closed.

Was your primary air fully open?
 
Last season I had a scare when some debris got into the primary inlet preventing it from closing completely. It doesn't take much for it to go out of control in that case with really dry wood and strong draft.

Check that and all the usual gaskets for tightness.
 
Diabel said:
On few occasions recently I have watched mine climb to 1700*F and then slowly go down. On these occasions the firebox was completely black and air 100% closed.

Was your primary air fully open?
Click to expand...
My primary was around 1/2. I have a very short stack and my epa holes plugged.
 
If I have cat engaged and keep primary open above 1100 she surely does slowly climb to 1700.

if I turn primary down to half at 900 - 1000 it will peak around 1400 and slowly come down
 
Excavator said:
If I have cat engaged and keep primary open above 1100 she surely does slowly climb to 1700.

if I turn primary down to half at 900 - 1000 it will peak around 1400 and slowly come down
Click to expand...

Mine behaves exactly as you just described.
This AT100 works sooo much better than the 4.99 junk I bought from ebay
 
I feel if I close my primary all the way the stove will back puff at some point in the burn cycle. It will do that a few times than "balance" itself out. I'm wondering if I should unplug the epa holes? I know I need to add some height to my chimney but I don't really want to add six feet of brand new chimney to a 20+ year old existing chimney. I have plans to redo my entire setup but the funds were not there this year.
 
Wondering if I should buy this stove? Intentions would be sandblasting, recoating, all new gaskets, new cat and new refractory if necessary. I know from posts these stoves can be temperamental but willing to try. For the experienced people here can you see anything in the pics that would steer you away from this stove? The owner had it given to him and he never used it so knows little about it. Its Model # 2190

He's asking $250.00 but I'm sure is willing to negotiate. If it's worth buying how much do you think it's worth?
Thanks image-jpeg.171788.jpgimage-jpeg.171789.jpgimage-jpeg.171790.jpgimage-jpeg.171791.jpgimage-jpeg.171788.jpgimage-jpeg.171789.jpgimage-jpeg.171790.jpgimage-jpeg.171791.jpgimage-jpeg.171792.jpg
 
Welcome to the forum.

From one of the pics, I see the hood is warped from likely overfire. I am pretty sure the damper assembly will be warped as well due to the same overfire.

These stoves are pretty easy to rebuild if you are a bit handy and have time to spare. The two parts I mentioned plus the other parts (cat, refractory etc) will not be cheap. By the time you are done with this stove, I believe you will be a bit over 1000 into it!

If you are looking for a project, then by all means....
But if you are looking for a reliable heater then there are new better stoves you can buy for 1000.
 
In your second pic the rectangular iron part inside the stove at the back. It protects the cat from direct flame.
It is warped. Does the damper door move freely? The left hand side lever as you face the stove.
 
Also, sand blasting it might be a challenge.

I personally would only consider taking this stove if it was free and in a better shape in terms of cosmetics.
 
Ok. thank you for the reply. I haven't looked at the stove yet. These are pics that he sent me so I don't know if the damper works freely. As far as sandblasting that enamel is that tough to get off? I am in the auto body business and have a commercial sand blaster. I figured that would be the easy part. Lol. Sounds like I should keep looking. I appreciate all the info
 
RandyBoBandy said:
I feel if I close my primary all the way the stove will back puff at some point in the burn cycle. It will do that a few times than "balance" itself out. I'm wondering if I should unplug the epa holes? I know I need to add some height to my chimney but I don't really want to add six feet of brand new chimney to a 20+ year old existing chimney. I have plans to redo my entire setup but the funds were not there this year.
Click to expand...

Unplugging the holes is certainly worth a try. The backpuff happens when you close it down to far to fast; with those holes closed you are really starving the fire for air when the primary is shut, give a short stack and moderate draft.
 
So today I happened to work from home and its one of the first really cold days of the seaoson that Ive been here to fire the stove. High only in the mid 20s and winds are blowing - 20 gusting 40.

I fired it up from cold around 9am with a 4 split load. Really need the heat so Ive left it at about 1/3 open... 3 hours in Ive got moderate flames in the box, my griddle temp is just under 600, cat temp is 1330, surface temp on the flue pipe right at the exit is 250.

Inside temp has climbed only from 68 to 73 in the stove room. Once it hits 74 I'll shut her down all the way and cruise... From experience 74 in the stove room will keep the rest of the first floor around 70 and the upstairs in the high 60s.
 
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jharkin said:
Unplugging the holes is certainly worth a try. The backpuff happens when you close it down to far to fast; with those holes closed you are really starving the fire for air when the primary is shut, give a short stack and moderate draft.
Click to expand...
Unplugged them this morning. I do believe this helped some. Not sure if this is a direct correlation but the secondaries seemed a little more prevalent today. Next step is to redo the griddle gasket, door gaskets, and ash pan gasket. I'm hoping I can just adjust the damper a little to get through the rest of the season. I have been experiencing some smoke out of the chimney even with the cat cruising at 1300-1400 and GT at 500-600
 
Last year we said goodbye to our VC Vigilant because of a bad connection/impossible to remove liner. We bought a VC Encore FlexBurn 2040 that didn't get installed until mid-February last year so I didn't get a good chance to get a good feel for it.
As I read through the previous posts, I saw that there was supposed to be a cat thermometer included? We didn't have one included and I don't see, in the manual, where one would go.
I have a question, if anyone has experience with this stove- the manual states that the ash pan needs to be cleaned out when it ash gets to the top but it seems that I can never get a good bed of coals as they slip into the ash pan. I left it somewhat full yesterday and it seemed to hold the coals much better. Should I still be cleaning it out daily? I am still trying to get the hang of this stove. I miss my old Vigilant and am just having a heck of a time working this new girl like my old one to run for long periods of time without reloading.
 
I run mine 24/7 these (cold) days and usually have to clean/ empty the ash once every five/six days.

Stove runs better with a full ash pan in my opinion.
Once the ash gets to the same level as the bottom of the windows I know it is time to remove it.

Btw get the cat thermo!!
 
Wow... I wonder whats different about my wood. Running 24/7 my ash pan is full to the top every 2 days. Any longer and its starts overflowing into the ash pan chamber
 
Where does the cat thermo go?
We've spent so much re-doing the stove/hearth/chimney, whatever the thermo costs won't even matter at this point....
 
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