Going through the old pics shoeboxes over the holidays.... One pic is Vermont Castings original Insert (looked great but lousy heater) in my fireplace. Other pic is Efel Kamina in my dads house with straight up Class A chimney - this thing heated great and looked good.
Did that VC insert have any secondary combustor (cat, etc.)? Did it have a convection fan? My insert really throws out the heat. I have no complaints there. Your old VC heater looks a whole lot like my VC WWL, only without the 3-D victorian (or is it eduadian or queen ann) style cast iron pillars and lattice in place of that flat, sheet metal, facia on yours.
Mo, this looks to be the same insert I had until this year. No cat, and the "pillars" housed tall skinny fans that seemed to pull the air in from the sides, and blow it out the top. I have to agree with Craig, looks great, but not a great heater. We upgraded to a Jotul Kennebec 50% due to looks and 50% due to heat production. Not much to compare it to this year (!), but hopefully some cold weather will be here soon.
Mo, that insert had somewhat of a down draft design, but no real secondary combustion. It does look similar to the WW. An interesting note is that they had a coal kit for it - but the real story is that this coal kit actually worked well (unlike the coal retrofits on their earlier wood stoves.)
Hello I have the Efel Kamina (your right hand picture). I am in search of a manual. Do you know where I may find one? I am also looking for the clearance requirements for that model. It has been out of service for 6 years - used for 4 before that, out of service for another 10 years, and used continuously prior to that, since purchased in the late 70's. Thank you.
