Vermont Castings Defiant Encore Model 2550

[rwh63]

ok, i recently picked up a red defiant encore model 2550 on the cheap. spent a couple of hours pulling some stuff off of it. got some questions!

date code of 0907, so would it be september 2007? anyone know the years these were made?

at first i thought the upper fireback/damper was badly warped; came to see that it is cast in a funky manner. i'm used to straight lines with dampers, not curves. any comments on this observation?

the refractory and cat are totally gone (missing; not sure if anything else os missing yet. do have the internal heat shields). i think the refractory package and cat would total about $400 total.

thoughts on the stove in general? was it a good model (made during the CFM years). heavy as heck, with lots of heavy cast pieces. i guess built like a tank (i like light sports cars!).

anyone have andirons and the manual for this model lying around?

thx for the comments.

 

[rwh63]

and, anyone know the difference between the 2190 model and the successive 2550 model? maybe just some EPA tweaking.

 

[aansorge]

I am not an expert on these stoves but I have developed a general feeling of fear of VC products from reading this forum.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I'm not sure about the 2250. The stove i have is a later model. I know that there have been some issues. with earlier stoves. That being said you will get some years out of a rebuild for sure. There have been some draft issues, make sure you have plenty of draft. My house is a single story so I went with an 8in a stove pipe

 

[rwh63]

in washing it down, i noticed that there is a crack on the top that runs from the griddle back corner towards the rear. i decided to completely dismantle the stove, and may decide to part it out. lots of nice parts to this stove, might be able to help others before heating season.

 

[Diabel]

From your description of the stove it sounds like to stove had seen better days. A complete rebuild of that stove will run you about $1000.00 and many sweat hours of your work. I would walk away....

 

[rwh63]

From your description of the stove it sounds like to stove had seen better days. A complete rebuild of that stove will run you about $1000.00 and many sweat hours of your work. I would walk away....

too late, already have it! happy to advertise the parts.

 

[rwh63]

thx to cover-19, part of the holiday weekend was tearing apart the 2550. i've done that to some older VC's, like the resolute. this thing is built like brick s*^#thouse! refractory, cat, cat hood, andirons MIA. managed to crack one of the ceramic front door glass pieces while cleaning it (weirdly fragile, maybe two decades of heating got to it).

always interesting to tear something apart. most likely going to part it out.

 

[rwh63]

forgot the pic