VC Encore repair or replace

[tbarnett]

First, glad I found a place for woodstove questions.

We have moderate winters here in balmy Southern, IN, but we still have 3 ir 4 months of fire burning weather.

We've had an Encore for about 8 or 9 seasons and have replaced many items...(catalyst, lower fireback 3 times, andirons and glass), so on top of an expensive stove, we've invested some capital in keeping it buring well. It has burned very well doing a good job of heating our house alone on all but extrememely cold days/nights.

My question is, as I look at yet another season of replacing parts that are expensive and slow arriving I'm starting to think replacement might be cheaper in the long run. Had I known about this site I might have never purchased a cat. stove to start with, but live and learn.

Should I replace or repair? The following is a partial list of what will need to be replaced the end of this season:
1. Cat. & refractory box
2. lower fireback again???
3. upper fireback and damper

We have an 8 inch chimney (triple wall SS, so replacing that is big $$) so we need a stove that will heat 2000-2500 sqft with an 8inch flue...I'm open to just about any brand, but VC (I've been generally pleased, but tired of the endless up-keep).

Thoughts would be great! Thanks again!

 

[snowdog]

Tbar,
I have the same problem as you, I need to dump about $ 500-600 in parts on my stove also. I have own VC Encores for the last 25 years. When Majestic bought out Vermont Casting it when to hell in a hand basket. Just read all the reviews in this forum about VC and the encore. They have separate wood stove/insert review section on this web site and it is very enlightening to say the least. The first VC Encore I had was before Majestic bought them and it was a quality stove, the last two I bought after Majestic bought VC and they were riddled with assembly flaws. In one case the poor qualities even cause a serious over fire condition in the stove. But anyways, one thing I have recently found out with this stove is that if the secondary air probe in the secondary (catalytic) chamber isn’t working it will cause an over fire condition and warp all the items you mention fire back catalytic converter, fire hood, etc. If the probe goes it won’t regulate the fire and will cause an over temp condition in the stove’s secondary chamber and it won’t really show up on you temp gauge on top of your stove. This is not good thing, because it caused on the warping in stove back plate, flame hood and you think everything is all right cause your temp gauge is reading a little high be not that high to worry about. Vermont Casting does offer a non-catalytic Encore version, but with all of their problems, I’d think twice.

See ya,

Snowdoggie

 

[begreen]

Greetings Tbar and welcome. How many sq ft are you heating?

I love the VC stoves aesthetically, but these maintenance costs are killers. There are several stoves out there that will heat as well and will get you off the VC maintenance merry-go-round. I'd swap out for another stove. Odds are the alternative will work ok on the 8" flue. For a simple stove that will work well I'd be looking at the Napoleon 1900, Quadrafire Isle Royale, Jotul F600, Morso 3610 or the Pacific Energy Alderlea T6. Or, if this is a smaller home, I'd look at the next size down from these manufacturers.