Looking at buying an old Vermont Castings Defiant

[MaverickH1]

I've been searching for a wood stove to replace our propane one in the house. We've never used the propane stove except as a novelty item. And with energy prices likely to increase, we've decided to look into a wood stove. We're on 8 acres that is almost entirely wooded.

I found this VC Defiant locally, I will be going to look at it in the morning. The ad says it is 30 years old, but I don't know which model it is yet. I'm guessing it's at least a Defiant III.

I've probably watched 2 hours of Defiant videos and read random threads and manuals for another 2 hours. I'm still confused about how to use it and if it would be a good fit. We just want a workhorse. I'd rather feed it more wood and be less efficient than it to be annoyingly unreliable. So I'm not sure if this stove is a good fit.

Here is the stove in question:

We have an L shaped house that is 2000 square feet and a single floor, and plan on putting the stove where the red arrow is pointing in the living room / kitchen area.

 

[peakbagger]

Its definitely not one of the original designs. They were side load and did not have glass front doors. If you see any non cast iron parts inside, its probably one of the less robust designs.

 

[MaverickH1]

Video of the inside of the stove:




It's a Defiant Encore 2190. Not really sure it's worth the effort. His offer is to let it go for $600. It seems to me that it'll likely need $300-$700 in parts and a lot of labor to get it running efficiently and safely.

Does that seem about right to everyone?

 

[Diabel]

Not worth the $$ and effort. This is not a work horse.

 

[MaverickH1]

Not worth the $$ and effort. This is not a work horse.

That's what I decided. I sent him a low offer and told him why. Never heard back from him.

No worries. I wish that kind of stove would work and be simple internally because I loved the options it had on it.

 

[clancey]

What kind of options do you like MaverickH1 because there are wood stoves out there they have a variety of options that the people on here can help you decide on...I look at it you saved about 1500 dollars on not buying it so start with that price for a stove and it might be less labor for you too.. Just thinking here...old mrs clancey..

 

[MaverickH1]

What kind of options do you like MaverickH1 because there are wood stoves out there they have a variety of options that the people on here can help you decide on...I look at it you saved about 1500 dollars on not buying it so start with that price for a stove and it might be less labor for you too.. Just thinking here...old mrs clancey..

My wife and I loved the window to be able to always see the fire. I loved the swing open ash tray. I loved the mechanical bi-metal thermostat to make it a little easier to run automatically. Loved the little warming shelves. Loved how it was symmetrical with the doors, which is nice because we're really tight on space and having a door that opens on the right side only might mean it has to go somewhere we don't want it to go. The top loading and split doors made it nice and easy to just fit it anywhere we wanted and build the necessary heat shielding to match.

If I could find a stove like that that internally only had a secondary burn to increase efficiency that was simple stainless tubing like on some of the newer stoves, I'd be happy. I don't like the complicated refractory parts and catalytic combustor of this stove.

Our budget is closer to $1000 installed. I own a CNC waterjet company, so I considered making a steel stove from scratch to fit what I need. I could easily cut the ceramic glass as well.

If only the EPA hadn't made stoves so complicated, I could have tried to be the Bob Fisher of 2021 with some of the ideas I already have. But I can't take the time to understand all of the EPA stuff, so I have to resolve to just being a consumer.

 

[clancey]

i wish you had a company and I would buy a stove off of you...Those items you mentioned are just wonderful and hoping someone can come up with a stove that offers at least half of those things so you can have the convenience of having a wonderful stove now...You might very well need to recondition that stove you like but there must be a better buy out there...especially since you need a work horse in order to heat your area...That EPA stuff in the future I see as getting worse but its for safety but so complicated and not readable by the normal public...What do you think about those wood furnaces that they sell.? To me they seem real good but then again--I see that they are very expensive and just wondering how you feel about them..clancey

 

[begreen]

If only the EPA hadn't made stoves so complicated, I could have tried to be the Bob Fisher of 2021 with some of the ideas I already have. But I can't take the time to understand all of the EPA stuff, so I have to resolve to just being a consumer.

There are many very simple EPA stoves with only an air control to operate. You don't need to understand a lot. Look for used, non-cat stoves by Pacific Energy, Regency, Enviro. Or get an Englander 32-NC at Home Sleepo. or a Drolet online.

Start a new thread in the main forum if you have more questions about these EPA stoves. This forum is for legacy stoves.

PS: Is there already a safe 6" stove chimney in place?

 

[MaverickH1]

There are many very simple EPA stoves with only an air control to operate. You don't need to understand a lot. Look for used, non-cat stoves by Pacific Energy, Regency, Enviro. Or get an Englander 32-NC at Home Sleepo. or a Drolet online.

Start a new thread in the main forum if you have more questions about these EPA stoves. This forum is for legacy stoves.

PS: Is there already a safe 6" stove chimney in place?

It'll be a new stove addition to the house, replacing a propane fireplace we never used. We have a couple of locations in the house where we want to install it, and once we settle on a stove we were going to finalize it. Some make better sense for being centrally located for better heat, some work better for aesthetics, others for ease of doing the chimney, etc.

I ended up buying a Dutchwest 2181 today. It looks to be in phenomenal shape and was only $400 and came with some extras.

I brought it to my shop to do a complete rebuild and probably make some accessories for it. For example, my wife loved the "wings" on the Defiant Encore, so I'll probably make a pair of them to use on the Dutchwest.

I'll start a build thread on it soon. Ordering parts for it now. I think all it will need is a gasket set rebuild and I'll go ahead and break it down into small parts, clean them indoors with the good equipment I have at the shop, then cement the stove together in place in the house so it won't be moved with the new cement.

The doors and all parts that were easy to remove for transport are missing in this picture. I just did a quick test fit of the fireplace screen.

 

[fsspeicher111]

Its definitely not one of the original designs. They were side load and did not have glass front doors. If you see any non cast iron parts inside, its probably one of the less robust designs.