After cleaning the hound out of my 1975 VC Defiant yesterday it is purring away with temps in the low 20's outside. This old girl has never performed so well for me. A good cleaning goes a long way.
At the recommendation of "fraxus" I partially disassembled and cleaned behind the fire back and secondary vent tubes for the first time...Hey... I didn't know. Even though some old stove putty came loose and rattled into the Shop Vac and I discovered a nasty old hairline crack on the fire back I reassembled and fired up some Black Walnut at about 6:30pm tonight. About an hour later I loaded up the huge Defiant fire box, gave it enough time to catch and shifted into "Horizontal Burn Mode". Much to my surprise it's 7 hours later (1:30am) and the stove is still putting out more heat than I can believe.
The Chimgard surface thermo is reading 850* on the front doors of the stove and it's showing no signs of slowing down. The brick directly in front of the stove is to hot to stand on bare foot and the heat scorches my legs if I stand there more than a few seconds. The digital thermometer 30 feet away says 84.3*F.
I slipped on the Croc's, then marched outside armed with my trusty 3 million candle power spotlight to check the smoke output. I found a small amount of clear blue smoke wafting into the clear night sky. I thought I would see a black monster writhing from the chimney with the cruel Smoke Dragon handle everyone uses to describe my old dear. I know...I know...if I had one of the new breed stoves I probably wouldn't see any smoke at all. But don't ruin the moment.
I have to admit I have been studying the newer stoves features, pros and cons and prices since I have been logged onto Hearth.com the last few days. I am impressed with the Englander 30's performance and affordability and the Pacific Energy Summit sure looks nice and many have great things to say about its attributes. Who knows? I may take the leap for a new stove...one of these days. I am planning a major home remodel in the next few years...Perhaps a new state of the art fire breather would be nice. But for now the old classic VC Defiant sure feels good. The only creatures that may be enjoying the radiant warmth of the Defiant more than my wife and I is the several cats conked out and soaking up the heat strategically positioned around the stove. A favorite spot for my many friendly felines. You may not know but cats make excellent thermal mass and provide an extra benefit called "Fur Therapy".
As I sit her in mid winter enjoying the copious amounts of low cost heat I am contemplating my plans for this summer. I have decided to get the Defiant into tip top shape. I will be installing a new two piece fire back, all new gaskets, seal all the joints and who knows what else..perhaps some nice stove black and a chimney extension may be in the works.
I am looking forward to filling up my new, scrounged material, wood shed (6' deep X 8' high x 40' long) made up of rescued pallets for a floor, raised off the ground with treated landscape timbers for longevity. The uprights are 8' landscape timbers, cross members are treated 4x4's and the roof is rust red corrugated metal to match my future new home roof. All and all I have about $125 in the shed but I think it looks great and it does my heart good to look at my creation while thinking about the Red Oak I will be stocking it with. Ahhh... the joys of wood, warmth and self reliance.
I'm glad I stumbled across Hearth.com. Feels like family already.... For now... Happy Burning!
At the recommendation of "fraxus" I partially disassembled and cleaned behind the fire back and secondary vent tubes for the first time...Hey... I didn't know. Even though some old stove putty came loose and rattled into the Shop Vac and I discovered a nasty old hairline crack on the fire back I reassembled and fired up some Black Walnut at about 6:30pm tonight. About an hour later I loaded up the huge Defiant fire box, gave it enough time to catch and shifted into "Horizontal Burn Mode". Much to my surprise it's 7 hours later (1:30am) and the stove is still putting out more heat than I can believe.
The Chimgard surface thermo is reading 850* on the front doors of the stove and it's showing no signs of slowing down. The brick directly in front of the stove is to hot to stand on bare foot and the heat scorches my legs if I stand there more than a few seconds. The digital thermometer 30 feet away says 84.3*F.
I slipped on the Croc's, then marched outside armed with my trusty 3 million candle power spotlight to check the smoke output. I found a small amount of clear blue smoke wafting into the clear night sky. I thought I would see a black monster writhing from the chimney with the cruel Smoke Dragon handle everyone uses to describe my old dear. I know...I know...if I had one of the new breed stoves I probably wouldn't see any smoke at all. But don't ruin the moment.
I have to admit I have been studying the newer stoves features, pros and cons and prices since I have been logged onto Hearth.com the last few days. I am impressed with the Englander 30's performance and affordability and the Pacific Energy Summit sure looks nice and many have great things to say about its attributes. Who knows? I may take the leap for a new stove...one of these days. I am planning a major home remodel in the next few years...Perhaps a new state of the art fire breather would be nice. But for now the old classic VC Defiant sure feels good. The only creatures that may be enjoying the radiant warmth of the Defiant more than my wife and I is the several cats conked out and soaking up the heat strategically positioned around the stove. A favorite spot for my many friendly felines. You may not know but cats make excellent thermal mass and provide an extra benefit called "Fur Therapy".
As I sit her in mid winter enjoying the copious amounts of low cost heat I am contemplating my plans for this summer. I have decided to get the Defiant into tip top shape. I will be installing a new two piece fire back, all new gaskets, seal all the joints and who knows what else..perhaps some nice stove black and a chimney extension may be in the works.
I am looking forward to filling up my new, scrounged material, wood shed (6' deep X 8' high x 40' long) made up of rescued pallets for a floor, raised off the ground with treated landscape timbers for longevity. The uprights are 8' landscape timbers, cross members are treated 4x4's and the roof is rust red corrugated metal to match my future new home roof. All and all I have about $125 in the shed but I think it looks great and it does my heart good to look at my creation while thinking about the Red Oak I will be stocking it with. Ahhh... the joys of wood, warmth and self reliance.
I'm glad I stumbled across Hearth.com. Feels like family already.... For now... Happy Burning!
Sorry just kidding it was a well written explanation I could feel the warmth from the old stove.
