Hi wood burners!

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

spkay31

New Member
Jan 3, 2024
4
Princeton, MA
Hi All,
Scott here, new to the forum. Been running a rebuilt Vermont Castings Encore/Defiant circa '92 for the last 15 years. Just installed a brand new VC Encore in Black. Getting through the first burn. Will be letting it cool then doing 2nd burn later tonight and third one tomorrow. Amazing having a brand new Encore after my old one. Looking forward to breaking this in and getting it cooking for the rest of the winter!

Cheers,
-Scott
 
Welcome. We love pictures, especially with stoves that have fire in their belly. Does the new stove have the catalyst?
 
Hi Begreen,

Yes, this Encore has the cat. I owned a much older one with a cat and that's something I wanted to keep with the new stove.

20240103_190544.jpg

Just the little break-in fire right now, need to cycle a couple times before I start using the bigger logs.

Cheers,
-Scott
 
Nice! The cat versions seem to be the best behaved.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ctreitzell
It will be interesting to see what your experiences are from the old to the new. Why did you change stoves? Did you have a cat temperature probe on the old stove? Have one on the new?
 
It will be interesting to see what your experiences are from the old to the new. Why did you change stoves? Did you have a cat temperature probe on the old stove? Have one on the new?
LOL, Well the old Encore/Defiant was well beyond her life expectancy. It was new in '92 and rebuilt around '02 and new to me in '04. Had plenty of hours on it including quite a few overheating incidents (I am sure that occurred even before the first rebuild); so even with a new cat, new gaskets, and prep before the season it burned through wood at a good clip faster than as originally designed. So this is essentially the same stove only updated 30 years later! And seeing how much heat this thing generates on even the little kindling fire I built in it today I am really looking forward to seeing how efficient this is compared to my old stove. My guess is I will be loading this no more than half as often as the old girl.

Cheers,
-Scott
 
  • Like
Reactions: ctreitzell
Will be curious too. I had an old school defiant over 35 years ago.
Burned green wood because that's all i could get, And i kind of had no idea what i was doing back then.
But I did realize that even with that old beast, green wood stinks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ctreitzell
My Encore was purchased new in 1987 and I've had it in 2 houses. No major rebuilds just gaskets and new cats.
 
Looks nice. When I was a kid, Dad kept wood in an old copper tub like that. My brother has it now.