2013 VC Burning Thread

[Excavator]

jharkin, today i had another scare. it is very windy here and cold. I let the gridle get hotter before closing bypass and sure enough the cat probe kept climbing and today it hit 1850 for a short time and very slowly came down to 1700. I did not have the nerve to open by pass as afraid of liner getting hotter but after you said you did it I will try next time. It too was roaring in back of stove
I also took a mirror and light and looked at secondary flapper. Sure enough it started to open as temps went to 1700+. I dont know why they do it as it sure does let more air in

 

[Reckless]

Well just to let everyone know I completely blocked my secondary air with a folded up piece of tinfoil and it seems to be doing the trick. I had been up in the 17's for the past couple days and now with the secondary probe disconnected and the air inlet blocked its been holding steady and not peaked past 1450-1500 and most of the time settles in at 13-1400. I will keep you posted. Keep in mind my house has SUPER draft.

jharkin, today i had another scare. it is very windy here and cold. I let the gridle get hotter before closing bypass and sure enough the cat probe kept climbing and today it hit 1850 for a short time and very slowly came down to 1700. I did not have the nerve to open by pass as afraid of liner getting hotter but after you said you did it I will try next time. It too was roaring in back of stove
I also took a mirror and light and looked at secondary flapper. Sure enough it started to open as temps went to 1700+. I dont know why they do it as it sure does let more air in

What type of wood was it? This is just a guess but keeping the damper open and getting hotter GT is causing more wood to reach its gas off point. So by the time you are trying to damper down and close the primary air most of the wood is on fire and its too much gas/smoke for the cat to handle? What you should try next time is get the fire going w/ primary full open once you see a GOOD amount of flame close the damper and watch the flame. If the flame stays the same size and just shifts direction towards the cat you will have light off in no time if the flame starts to die down and is still going up towards the griddle reopen the damper. If you are looking for higher GT then do as I said and once the Cat is active adjust the air so the flame stays a decent size but is moving up towards the griddle and not back towards the cat.

 

[Reckless]

**UPDATE** Stuffed full of oak and a good slow flame running GT 600ish and CT solid 1250 and hasnt budged in over an hour! G'night

 

[Excavator]

**UPDATE** Stuffed full of oak and a good slow flame running GT 600ish and CT solid 1250 and hasnt budged in over an hour! G'night

The thought of disconnecting that pin crossed my mine also
Reckless - I started another thread on my latest with the secondary coil adjustment on my 0028 encore
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/vc-encore-0028-secondary.118499/

 

[jharkin]

Interesting results. Maybe I'll open mine closer to 3 o'clock cold as well. Seems like its most important function is helping cold light off and the more open the better for that.

 

[Excavator]

jharkin - I just can not see why the coil will start to open back up after getting over 1600 degrees either. Once that happens there seems no control and she just roars. Now at the 3 o clock position I have not seen the flapper reopen and the coil holds lower than before when crusing.
Also my old coil did the exact same thing and I believe that helped all the over firing and warped the fire backs

 

[Reckless]

Interesting results. Maybe I'll open mine closer to 3 o'clock cold as well. Seems like its most important function is helping cold light off and the more open the better for that.

I will admit it takes about 5-10 min longer to get it going on light up. By changing the secondary to 3 your accomplishing pretty much the same thing as disconnecting the pin, I just took a step further and couldnt be more pleased with the amount of control I gained. I would suggest trying it for a few loads (fold up a piece of tf about 3 times and slide it right in between the door and opening) if something goes wrong open the bypass and let it burn out. Good luck guys!!

 

[jharkin]

I didn't turn mine all the way to 3, more like 3:30.... just so the flap is at the top of the opening on the right side (looking from the back). I'll see how that goes for a while and then adjust depending on results.

 

[Reckless]

**Update 2** Another 3/4 load after getting home from PIL's and fire was out 20min in and the cat is up to 950. I watched it for 1.5hrs and it never went over 1500 and GT stayed at 550-600. I may try this..... Take off the door and remove the pin that stops it from closing then set the probe to somewhere between the 1-3 postion (door fully open on lite) and I want it to be fully closed by the time it hits 14's. Or maybe I will just leave it blocked completely and enjoy full control. No joke guys its like a whole new stove!

 

[jharkin]

I dont know if you need to go that far. I ran mine all day yesterday with it set to 3:30 cold and there was a definite improvement. I also never saw over 1500, and the cold light off seemed even better.

 

[Excavator]

Same here, never went over 1500 and I see better burn times as a result

 

[Reckless]

I dont know if you need to go that far. I ran mine all day yesterday with it set to 3:30 cold and there was a definite improvement. I also never saw over 1500, and the cold light off seemed even better.

Now that Ive run it from cold a cple times (sub 200) I have no problem with cold starts like I thought. I'm glad that we have figured out this secondary thing, FINALLY! I am going to leave mine blocked off because I have a crazy strong draft and I think its just better that way. Happy holidays and keep warm with your "new" stoves!!

 

[jharkin]

I'm stillunsureaout messing around with the ssecondary so much. Tonight my stove did something it never does. I loaded a fresh load, very little coals but got it going good, full load shut down cat lit off and settled at 1250. Air on 1/8.

2 hours later cat temp down to 700, stove top 250. Complete stall!

Open the air and cat died out completely.

Now I have the bypass open nursing the charred load back to life. I really believe that secondary feeds oxygen to keep the cat burning and im afraid messing it with it too much could have unintended consequences.

Edit... 20 min later we areback in action, air closed cruising at 500 griddle/1550 cat. 21f outside drafting like mad. Going to bednow hope it doesnt act up anymore.

 

[Excavator]

I have not had that happen as of yet ans still feel much better not having my cat sneak up to 1800 range any more.
I feel like gonna be a learning curve for me but ever since installing ss insulated liner i have seen the stove run away too many times until I adjusted the coil down too 3 o clock

 

[Reckless]

I'm stillunsureaout messing around with the ssecondary so much. Tonight my stove did something it never does. I loaded a fresh load, very little coals but got it going good, full load shut down cat lit off and settled at 1250. Air on 1/8.

2 hours later cat temp down to 700, stove top 250. Complete stall!

Open the air and cat died out completely.

Now I have the bypass open nursing the charred load back to life. I really believe that secondary feeds oxygen to keep the cat burning and im afraid messing it with it too much could have unintended consequences.

Edit... 20 min later we areback in action, air closed cruising at 500 griddle/1550 cat. 21f outside drafting like mad. Going to bednow hope it doesnt act up anymore.

I mean we all have had stalled loads right? With the probe set normally I had a stall, opened the damper got it going closed the damper and that was the night the stove tried to have a nuclear melt down, I am going to leave mine blocked completely. I have also found out that when I close the bypass I can leave the front door unlatched to assist in getting the cat to fire off and once I reach the 8-900's I just latch the door and proceed as normal (puts me back to the 5min cat engage). Man I hope who ever reads this thread just reads your rebuild in the beginning and not all this tinkering we have done......... or maybe it will help someone in the future idk. Stay warm!

 

[BrowningBAR]

Hey! Just noticed this thread!

Hope all the VC burners are burning trouble-free with no glowing flue collars, no roaring back castings, no one is waiting on parts, and you all have trouble-free heat production.

For me, the Encore has not been used much this year at this point, but the Defiant has been the main stove so far. The Defiant loves pine a little too much. Likes to climb in temp even though the primary air is shut down. Other than that, the two VCs are burning well.

 

[Reckless]

Hey! Just noticed this thread!

Hope all the VC burners are burning trouble-free with no glowing flue collars, no roaring back castings, no one is waiting on parts, and you all have trouble-free heat production.

For me, the Encore has not been used much this year at this point, but the Defiant has been the main stove so far. The Defiant loves pine a little too much. Likes to climb in temp even though the primary air is shut down. Other than that, the two VCs are burning well.

BBar you have a cat probe setup on that Defiant?

 

[begreen]

I'm surprised you VC owners find time to burn between repairs, tweaks and retweaks. J/K. there is a lot of good information being shared here and I would love to see VC reclaim their good name.

 

[BrowningBAR]

BBar you have a cat probe setup on that Defiant?

Unfortunately I do not. If the Defiant stays with me after this year, I will be purchasing one.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I'm surprised you VC owners find time to burn between repairs, tweaks and retweaks. J/K. there is a lot of good information being shared here and I would love to see VC reclaim their good name.

VC stove owners spend more time with the stoves during the warmer months performing maintenance than we do when we are using the stoves to keep us warm.

 

[Excavator]

I'm surprised you VC owners find time to burn between repairs, tweaks and retweaks. J/K. there is a lot of good information being shared here and I would love to see VC reclaim their good name.

Now camon, we love to tinker and tweak these on VC stoves. They burn HOT lol

 

[jharkin]

Hey! Just noticed this thread!

Hope all the VC burners are burning trouble-free with no glowing flue collars, no roaring back castings, no one is waiting on parts, and you all have trouble-free heat production.

For me, the Encore has not been used much this year at this point, but the Defiant has been the main stove so far. The Defiant loves pine a little too much. Likes to climb in temp even though the primary air is shut down. Other than that, the two VCs are burning well.

BeGreen used his magic mod powers to split off the last 3 pages of my rebuild thread (thanks BG).

I will say that other than the weird mid cycle stall mine is working better than ever. I think Reckless is really onto something adjusting hte secondary to be further open cold. Its made a big difference in how mine operates.

 

[jharkin]

I mean we all have had stalled loads right?

Ive had quite a few stalls trying to get the cat started where it just sits at 800, but Ive never had a mid cycle stall after it was lit and burning over 1000. Im hoping it was just a fluke.

 

[Excavator]

Nah Recklass has his blocked off and then unhooked it lol. I have mine set to 3 oclock

 

[Reckless]

Nah Recklass has his blocked off and then unhooked it lol. I have mine set to 3 oclock

Yes blocked and disconnected and I am now getting 10hr over night burns and cat never really goes over 14-1500 and the stove is operating flawless. I really suggest you try blocking it like I did thus eliminating the need to purchase new secondary probes in the future.... blocking is easier than adjusting the probe somewhere between 3-6 o'clock and hoping to not overfire and really takes 5min if it don't work pull the tin foil out.