2015/2016 VC Owners thread

[jharkin]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2014-2015-vc-owners-thread.132919/page-5

moving on...

The Blaze King folks have beat us to it as usual and they probably have more discussion in their thread by October than we will get all season. But as always there is gene thing we know they will never beat us at:
Frustration!
Ok folks, lets get to it. Who is still burning the torch with VC this year... hopefully not torching their house in the process. Let the fun begin!

 

[jharkin]

I'll start. Nothing done yet. Assuming the tropical storm misses us next week I'm taking a week off work to finish fall home improvement projects. Part of the plan includes splitting up the cord of maple sitting in the yard from power company trimming (for 16/17 - this years wood is in the shed already), and doing the preseason clean out on the Encore.

 

[Mr.K]

I've been waiting for this thread! I hear you on the fall home improvement projects......My wood is already stacked and ready to feed the montpelier. Just waiting for some cool weather to clean the liner and make a few small fires....

 

[Reckless]

Ohhhhh yea Changing from oval to 6"round this year also burning 2yr+ red oak!! Changing most gaskets which seems to be a yearly thing now....... happy burning!!

 

[jharkin]

Ohhhhh yea Changing from oval to 6"round this year also burning 2yr+ red oak!! Changing most gaskets which seems to be a yearly thing now....... happy burning!!

Sweeeeeeeet on the oak.

I hear you on the gasket. I get about 2 years on the griddle gaskets and I have a feeling when I pop out the lower fireback to clean out the back chamber the gaskets is giong to fall out, so I'll pick up some rope before I even start the cleaning.

RIght now its near 80 degrees and pouring rain. Feels more like a tropical island than fall in New England.

 

[Reckless]

Sweeeeeeeet on the oak.

I hear you on the gasket. I get about 2 years on the griddle gaskets and I have a feeling when I pop out the lower fireback to clean out the back chamber the gaskets is giong to fall out, so I'll pick up some rope before I even start the cleaning.

RIght now its near 80 degrees and pouring rain. Feels more like a tropical island than fall in New England.

I was actually thinking of sealing the top load with furnace cement.... I really dont use it and it seems to be the one I replace the most as the gasket cement gets destroyed by the high temps I crank out.

 

[Diabel]

Good day everyone.
I might actually light a small fire tonight. First of the season. It will be a chilly one tonight and it would be nice to wake up to a warm house. The 0028 is about finished, it will provide some heat for a few fires still.
I will put the 2550 into service in a couple of weeks

 

[Reckless]

Good day everyone.
I might actually light a small fire tonight. First of the season. It will be a chilly one tonight and it would be nice to wake up to a warm house. The 0028 is about finished, it will provide some heat for a few fires still.
I will put the 2550 into service in a couple of weeks

That is an all too familiar sight.... thanks for the rehashing the nightmares I just started to get over

 

[Diabel]

All the sides are off and cleaned. I looked over the base and the seams look solid. The cement has no cracks at all. I will leave it as is.

I will start puting it back together this weekend (time permitting). I have two tubes of cement, it should be enough.

 

[jharkin]

Today I cleaned out the flues for the Encore and the den fireplace and did a full cleanout of the Encore. I got about 3 or 4 coffee cans worth of black soot and chps from about 1.5 cord last season. Not great in general but not bad by VC standards. The new ceramic cat I put in last year looks great, cat chamber and refractory good. The fireback gasket was loose but still usable - all other gaskets fine except the griddle.. I might go buy some and redo that.



before sweeping



after




Reminder that I have lots of 10-24 and 1/4-20 hardware left over from my rebuild. Anybody who needs some send me a PM, ill mail you a handful of screws for the cost of postage.

 

[ill_make_you_famous]

I just refaced my fireplace and put a winterwarm small. Bought it used in great shape. Gotta replace damper gasket and it'll be good to go. Nervous about the mixed reviews on this insert but it was the only flush insert within Our budget.

 

[Freddie's girl]

Have a 600 sq ft house. Just want an occasional fire, maybe with biobricks. Suggest an easy to use VC model?

 

[jharkin]

Ease of use is not a VC strength. Except maybe the Merrimac insert that uses burn tubes.

If you are looking for small stove with VC cast iron looks and simple one control operation maybe a small Jotul will fit the bill?

 

[pixelmountain]

I came back here after a few years hiatus, because we finally had the chimney relined (6" stainless) and I'm beyond excited to start the first fire of the year. But it's too warm to make a fire in our tiny house, so I'm coming here for a fix in the meantime. I was glad to find you've been creating yearly VC owners threads.

Our biggest (only?) problem is that our chimney height is technically far too short for this stove, especially at 6000' altitude. However, we actually get good draft. The only times we have a problem with draft are when it's foggy, aka we're "in a cloud," which is typically in late spring and summer anyway. After discussing with others, it seems we get some sort of benefit from our particular position on the lee side of a hill. Maybe the air currents down the hill manage to create draft. I don't know, but it works, so I try not to question it. And now that we have a 6" liner I know it's supposed to be even better. Hence my impatience to start the first fire of the year!

Edit: Oh, and we have since trimmed back the tree you see too close to the chimney in one of these photos. These Russian/Siberian elms grow like weeds.

 

[Diabel]

Welcome back!

It could just be the picture but is that a 6" pipe coming right off the stove? To me it looks like 8".

 

[pixelmountain]

Welcome back!

It could just be the picture but is that a 6" pipe coming right off the stove? To me it looks like 8".

Thanks!

It is 6". To further confuse matters, I just changed that photo because I realized I posted a photo from before the reline, which had a 6" to 8" adaptor as it entered the chimney. The new photo is after the reline, sans adaptor. But the pipe from the stove has always been 6".

 

[droppinloads]

Hi all- I bought a house in this past spring that has a VC Encore 2250. I have no experience with VC stoves. The issue is that the damper won't close. I opened it up by taking off the flue collar & the damper bar doesn't really connect to the damper. It catches it for about 1/2in & then the damper just falls back. Is this bar warped possibly? I assume the previous owner over-burned this stove pretty often because a lot of the paint is peeling on the left side. Not sure whether or not to rebuild it or just look into getting a new stove. I'd like to hear thoughts. If all i have to do is fix the damper, i can probably do that on my own. But I have a feeling this thing will end up needing a full re-build. Nothing on the inside of the firebox appears to be warped. So far I bought a gasket kit to replace those, but that's it. Would like to get the damper situation squared away before winter in VT really gears up...

 

[Diabel]

Hi all- I bought a house in this past spring that has a VC Encore 2250. I have no experience with VC stoves. The issue is that the damper won't close. I opened it up by taking off the flue collar & the damper bar doesn't really connect to the damper. It catches it for about 1/2in & then the damper just falls back. Is this bar warped possibly? I assume the previous owner over-burned this stove pretty often because a lot of the paint is peeling on the left side. Not sure whether or not to rebuild it or just look into getting a new stove. I'd like to hear thoughts. If all i have to do is fix the damper, i can probably do that on my own. But I have a feeling this thing will end up needing a full re-build. Nothing on the inside of the firebox appears to be warped. So far I bought a gasket kit to replace those, but that's it. Would like to get the damper situation squared away before winter in VT really gears up...

Most likely it is the upper fireback that is warped.
Take some pictures from looking into the stove angle.
We will be able to tell more then.

 

[droppinloads]

ok will do thanks. Am i correct to assume that VC Fireback kit #5927 works for the VC 2250? I know that kit is for the 2550, but i haven't been able to find anything for the 2250. I know the stoves are pretty close to the same

 

[Diabel]

Are you sure it is a 2250 not 2550?

 

[droppinloads]

It's definitely an Encore 2250. I can't really find anything at all on this model

 

[Diabel]

I could be wrong, but I have never heard of this Encore 2250 model.

Picture of the back plate??

 

[jharkin]

Loads, can you take a photo of the information plate on the back of the stove? Ive never heard of the 2250 either.

There is a history of the encore line here: http://www.fergusonfireplace.com/
Defiant Encore 0028
Defiant Encore 2140
Defiant Encore 2190
Encore 2550
Encore Non-Catalytic 1450
Encore 2n-1 2040

 

[droppinloads]

Ok snapped a few pics. Back plate & then some of the inside

 

[Diabel]

This is just too bizarre.
I stand corrected!

The insides look ok to me.

What is interesting is the bilingual plate. This could have been a limited number of units produced for the Quebec consumer group. I have gone through four Encores and none of them had French on the back plates. And I am in Canada (the country of English ((eh)) and the other "funny" tounge.......spoken).....