leeave96 said:
Sounds like you are on the right track. If that stove don't work out - it's definately going to be the stove, not the set-up or operator. I'm intersted in how this stove works. My Dad had one of these, but he didn't have much luck with it. In his case, I think it was more the operator/wood vs the stove. It was one of the best looking stoves I've ever seen.
Yeah, I was, and still am, concerned about the stove's performance due to the well known VC issues. Due to the low cost that I was able to get the stove for, I am using the Encore as my test case to figure out if a Defiant is worth the gamble.
As far as the low burns, I find that with my Keystone, once you have lit off the cat, pretty much smoke alone will keep it burning without relying on additonal heat from the firebox to keep the cat temp up so it will burn. I have burned mine with just a trace of orange coals in the stove bottom, but the cat was glowing and the stove top easily 500+ degrees. The only downside to this type of burn is that the glass will blacken overnight due to very little air wash velocity across it. The Keystone also has a small hole in the ash pan housing to let a touch of air make it's way up through the bottom of the coals. I imagine the Encore would have a similar unregulated air supply too. When I open the damper up during the day, the blackened glass burns off to clear.
I'm pretty sure Woodstock's cat design is better, or more efficient, than VCs based on burn times. We'll see if I can get the stove locked in at about 400 with the cat engaged instead of 600-700 and see what happens with the burn times.
The cat burn on my Keystone is so much different than my Englander in that you HAVE to have firebox temps up to keep the secondaries lighting off whereas the cat is feeding/heating itself via smoke. It makes for a really wide burn range. For large stoves, the addition of the cat really makes them more versitle - which is probably why the Blaze King is such a popular stove.
Didn't think of that. When I was messing with the stove I disengaged the cat when I saw smoke in the firebox thinking I smothered the flame. This stove is completely different than the Intrepid due to the larger firebox. It looks different and there is more to see, which might make me miss-interpret things.
Speaking of glass, how well does the glass stay clean? How is the flame view?
The glass is staying remarkably clean so far. A lot less fly-ash than the Intrepid and the Heritage.
I have two dark marks on the glass right now when I had two splits shift and were resting on the glass and the andirons. When I restart tonight I want to see if they burn off.
In regards to the flame view, that is undetermined yet as I am still trying to figure out the best configuration for burning. Right now I am basing it on the way the Intrepid burned which was slow bubbling flame and a lot of glowing. This translate to not a lot of firebox activity.
Also, the front doors work a lot better than any other front doors I've used. They really swing out of the way and give you access to the entire firebox.