2022/23 VC Owner thread
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looks like I’ll have to settle for the #2 post for this season...
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
I may have a fire in 30 days.. cant wait.. Ill be going the griddle gasket in the next couple weeks.. its looking a little beat up.. I cleaned out the stove pipe in may.. need to clean the i side of the stove a little..
The little girl is 15 months old, gonna be some additional precautions taken to keep her out of reach of the stove but I’m willing to be she will be pointing at it every evening and babbling “fire” or something there abouts.
In the next couple weeks I'll go through my stove and just make sure that the gaskets are good and that everything is tight. Mid way through last year I noticed that the nuts holding the top of the stove on were loose. I'm just going to blame heat cycling. Just to be sure I am going to go through everything before I fire it up for the year.
This year is year 2 for me so I am looking forward to having better wood. Everything I have has been stacked covered for a year or so at this point so it should be a good year. Also I got a new job where I am remote 2 days a week so that will help with the oil bills this year.
This year is year 2 for me so I am looking forward to having better wood. Everything I have has been stacked covered for a year or so at this point so it should be a good year. Also I got a new job where I am remote 2 days a week so that will help with the oil bills this year.
bert670
Member
Just got my dauntless installed, did about 8 fires in it (a few low temp fires + some shorter modest temp fires). Still too warm to run this for very long, although one night I did fill it up fairly full and woke up to a cold stove with very little ash. Oh well. Much to learn still.
I have a slight concern as I noticed smoke coming from the back of the stove. In another thread, someone suggested looking down there a bit with a flashlight with the lights off to see if I could pinpoint where it is at. I dont think it's manufacturing oil or anything. I didnt really want to take a big whiff to tell what it was. We shall see. Hopefully Im not having warranty service done on a brand new stove. That would really set my tone about this brand back a few notches having paid 3.1k for it (plus all the pipes etc)
I have a slight concern as I noticed smoke coming from the back of the stove. In another thread, someone suggested looking down there a bit with a flashlight with the lights off to see if I could pinpoint where it is at. I dont think it's manufacturing oil or anything. I didnt really want to take a big whiff to tell what it was. We shall see. Hopefully Im not having warranty service done on a brand new stove. That would really set my tone about this brand back a few notches having paid 3.1k for it (plus all the pipes etc)
I truly hope. I had a ton of stuff coming from the stove when we first fired it. It was less and less as we burned the next couple. I just noticed this last burn. Seems pretty potent and what worries me is when I shut down the damper inside forcing through secondary it stopped.
Closing the bypass would have lowered the flue temp so if it was hot paint it would make sense it quit when closing the bypass. Or did you mean it immediately quit smoking when you closed the bypass (as in your hand was still on the handle)?
Hey Bert,
Do you get the long burn times of 11 hours with the cat ? how is your stove holding up in general?
I dont know
I dont remember. I was a few drinks in and very tired from other work that I was doing that day. I perked up alot when I saw that smoke, but all I recall is that when I got a good blaze going I switch to secondary burn, probably sat there a bit scratching my butt watching the stove, then grabbed a flashlight to check and the smoke was gone. I'll report back this weekend what happens when I fire it again. I'm probably the only one in my state (aside from the skiers/snowboarders) looking forward to the cold weather.
Question - VC Dauntless, the optional catalytic package. Their website states "get 15% greater efficiency on 'low burns' with the catalytic installed.
What is a low burn?
I thought the idea routing to the secondary (where the catalytic would sit) was to do so when the stove temps are high enough to create secondary combustion.
Is the idea of the catalytic that you can switch to secondary sooner?
What is a low burn?
I thought the idea routing to the secondary (where the catalytic would sit) was to do so when the stove temps are high enough to create secondary combustion.
Is the idea of the catalytic that you can switch to secondary sooner?
The catalyst will burn smoke at temps as low as 500+º It helps to have a catalyst thermometer on the stove to know when this temp is reached at the catalyst.
but until it hits those optimal probe temps, you should continue to burn with the damper open, avoiding routing it through the secondary?
Without being a VC owner/enthusiast, I would certainly guess that engaging your Catalyst at 500F relates to the Catalyst temp itself. Not stove top. Rather important as the Cat temp will be at 500F long before the stovetop. My experience with other Cat stoves.
A Catalyst temp probe will be required to ascertain when it's time to engage the Cat.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
A Catalyst temp probe will be required to ascertain when it's time to engage the Cat.
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this is incorrect.. the cat probe is to see exactly what temperature the cat is running at, or if its running at all.
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this is incorrect.. the cat probe is to see exactly what temperature the cat is running at, or if its running at all.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
The object of having the cat in is increasing your efficiency as well as burn time and also burning cleaner.
You can burn low but also have the cat engaged whick makke the stove great. When someone or manual is saying burning low this means that you have gotten the stove up to temperature and have gotten the cat engaged and running. At that point you have many options on running the stove, you can turn the air all the way back (low) my stove temperature dropping to 300/350 degrees but cat temperature being 800 to 1000 degrees..
this is incorrect.. the cat probe is to see exactly what temperature the cat is running at, or if its running at all.
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Sooooooo? When can you tell that the Cat is hot enough to be active and ready to be engaged without a temp probe? Curious.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
Sooooooo? When can you tell that the Cat is hot enough to be active and ready to be engaged without a temp probe? Curious.
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ok.. this will sound weird.. the stove temperature will heat up the cat.. when the cat gets hot enough the cat lights its self off basically.. the way this is done is by getting the stove up to an operating temperature with established draft. The cat probe isn't even in the actual stove box but in the catalyst chamber... My stove can be 550 degrees and the cat probe can be reading only 140 degrees. When the damper is closed the smoke/air will no longer go directly out of the stove and into the stove pipe.. the smoke/air will now go to the cat.. through the cat heating it up and now go to the stove pipe.. Now that all of the smoke/air is going to the cat you will watch your cat temp rise and if you did it correctly your cat should start to light off around 550/600 degrees.. you will know its lit when the probe temp keep climbing.. I like to keep mine like 1000 degrees.. even with the air all the way back the cat temp can be between 1000/1350 degrees and the stove temperature be like 350..
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