New Vermont Castings Defiant Catalytic Draft Problem

I just replaced an Avalon Olympic insert with a brand new Vermont Castings Defiant Catalytic (model 1945) free-standing stove. The Olympic burned well, but I wanted a free-standing stove pulled out from inside the fireplace in a quest to get more heat in the room. The problem is that the draft with the Defiant is not very good, even with the damper fully open (catalytic NOT engaged) and the air control fully open. As soon as I open the ash tray door slightly, I have a roaring fire; but as soon as the ash pan door is closed fully, it becomes a very lazy fire, sometimes completely reduced to a smoldering smokey mess. I did not have this problem with the Olympic using the same wood, which is dry (not ultra dry, but not sizzling). I have an insulated 6 inch pipe which has a 90 degree bend from the back of the Defiant, then straight up the masonry chimney. The Olympic did not have the bend, since it was inside the chimney with the pipe going straight up.

I read a post somewhere on this forum, that the Defiant has some sort of air intake plate that is different (smaller holes?) for the U.S. that the rest of the world, and changing it to the other version may help with the draft. I also believe that Vermont Castings recommends an 8 inch pipe, but that a 6 inch will work as long as I don't use the stove as a fireplace with the doors open.

Anyone else have a similar problem? Any ideas on what I should do? Is the 6 inch pipe too restrictive? It doesn't seem logical to me that this is the case if opening the ash pan door slightly turns a smoldering mess into a roaring fire. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks much for all the responses and great information. My chimney is a two+ story chimney, probably over 30 feet tall. The guy who installed it came over this morning, brought a bunch of his own wood, and showed me the best way to light and operate it. With him doing this, there was no draft issue. This stove is different than my Avalon, that seemed to have a huge amount of airflow, and burn through a lot of wood quickly. I think his wood was better as well, as mine probably contains more moisture. For next season I will get my wood at the end of this season so it has a longer time to dry out.

Once the damper was closed and the catalytic engaged, I'm amazed at how much heat this thing puts out considering how little wood it seems to need. My Olympic needed to have a roaring fire and burn through a lot of wood to get a similar heat output. It's also very cool to see no smoke coming out of the chimney! All I see are the heat waves at the chimney exit.

I'm about to head down to 85 degree weather down in the Carribean so won't need a wood stove for a little while ! When I get back I'll continue to figure out how to use the stove correctly. Thanks again for the responses.

Highbeam said:

Good deal.

"For next season I will get my wood at the end of this season so it has a longer time to dry out."

I realize that you're pretty much forced to do this this year but you will likely still have problems with wood that has only cured for one summer. I have the next year to two years of wood already drying in the backyard on top of this years wood. You want to get ahead by more than one summer.

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You might be right, but I don't think I have the space to store wood for two season. The space I do have is convered and gets a lot of air flow, so hope that it will be Ok. I did have some wood leftover last season which seemed to dry out very nicely before the beginning of this season. Even wood I got about two months ago is starting to burn nicely, so think I'll be all right.

maxed_out said:

glad you got it. you could always burn pallets to get you going. these things hate non seasoned wood unless they are really hot or if there is a big wind blowing across an open chimney. If the wind is blowing real hard I get a big draft and tons of heat. Sometimes I can put in something greenish to slow it down. happy travels!

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It seems that as once the stove is nice and hot, the wood I have works Ok. I occassionally open the ash pan for a few minutes to get more air which seems to really help get it going.

Gark said:

One more thing to check is if your primary intake shutter is opening and closing when you operate the primary air handle
through its range. If your Defiant is built like our Encore (CAT), the shutter is a 1" X 3" door located in the rear of the
ashpan enclosure. I lay on the floor on the right side of the stove and watch the shutter open & close while turning the intake handle and looking at the shutter. The handle operates the shutter via a cable. If you can get the stove burning like a blast furnace by cracking open the ashpan door, it may be an intake problem. The primary intake is the lever on the right side. Maybe the cable is
broken, or interfered by too much assembly cement (this was one of the issues with our stove).
We also have a 90 degree hard turn in our flue and 6" stainless liner the whole way. Ours burns so well it wants to overfire.
There is a screw on the shutter that lets you open it more on the cable - you may want to call your dealer for warranty
adjustment.

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Thanks for the tip. Interestingly the intake level does seem rather sticky, which the sweep also noticed. I looked at the intake shutter, and I was able to open it further even when the level was in the fully open position, so it might need to be adjusted. The sweep will be coming soom to check it out. It's good to know that your setup seems close to mine and works well.