Questions on Vermont Castings Encore 1450 and secondary combustion

[VCencore1450]

Hello, I recently installed a VC Encore 1450 non-cat stove with 3ft single wall and 16ft double wall Excel stainless chimney. I have been searching this forum for a few weeks trying to gather information on this stove. Most important I want to know about stove and chimney Temps in relation to when to damper down? I have two magnetic thermometers one on the griddle top and the second on the single wall porcelain enameled stove, pipe approx 18" up.
I've been researching a lot on this topic and am guessing I am not running the stove hot enough to kick in the everburn feature. How do I know when the secondary combustion is or is not kicking in? I have seen people running temps of 600 to 800+ before dampening down. IS THIS OK, or am I overfiring the stove? What temperature can i safely operate thjs stove at and still benefit from the secondary burn? I know a lot of people have issues with this stove however, I want to make sure I am using it as it was designed before I form an opinion.
Also any advice on how to use this downdraft stove correctly, I've searched the forums and only found the similar Dutch west thread from trader Gordo. Also it is stamped manufacturer date code 0539. Any idea what year this stove was made

Thanks for any help or input it is very much appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

-Joe

 

[defiant3]

So did you get an owner's manual with the stove? Likely that would be spelled out in there, as V.C. usually puts together pretty good literature.

 

[VCencore1450]

Thanks for the quick response. Yes I have the owners manual for this model and read through it a few times. It reviews basic function of bypass but nothing near the level of detail I'm seeing on hearth.com. the stove was a gift from my uncle who had recently switched to coal and had this stove in storage. It is in good shape and does not appear to be burned much or pushed hard, so i built a hearth and installed 16ft double wall chimney. I'm really interested in the temp ranges more experienced users than myself are finding success with. As of now I have a standard Rutland burn indicator magnetic thermometer on the griddle and a condor chimguard stove pipe specific thermometer about 12" up the stove pipe. I typically get the initial fire going but have not been concentrating on quickly establishing a good coal bed. Once I get griddle temp up to around 400 I close the bypass damper and back down on the air control. Am I dampering down too soon to engage the everburn system?
How high can I comfortably go on stove or pipe temps without risking over fire or chimney fire. ( I have clean out in T at bottom and will keep up with my end of cleaning the chimney.

Thanks again

 

[Diabel]

Once the secondary combustion kicks in, you will know! It will sounds like a relaxed freight train!

How long it will let...,depends of the fuel quality

 

[VCencore1450]

Haha well I definitely don't remember hearing anything from the stove so it's safe to assume I have not been running this model as it was designed to be run. Thanks for the info. Do you put much stock in the magnetic thermometers or should I not pay as much attention to them and just run the stove hot?

 

[Diabel]

Yes, I do.
I monitor the temp closely.

 

[VCencore1450]

Yes, I do.
I monitor the temp closely.

So the 600F to 800F temps people are referring to are OK. Is that stove top I'm assuming, not pipe temps?
Thanks

 

[Diabel]

600 stove top is the ideal temp for that stove. When I had that stove I would close the damper at around 500 in order to get the everburn going. Trust me you will hear it once it engages!

 

[VCencore1450]

Thank you very much I'm looking forward to trying out the stove again. I definitely was not getting the stove hot enough. Does griddle top temps differ from placing thermometer directly on cast iron top? Which are you referring to for stove top temps?

 

[Diabel]

Middle of the griddle is where the thermo should be placed.