2025/26 VC performance discussion thread

[Woodsplitter67]

This is a general discussion of stove temperature and performance.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

We had our first fire this morning. Slept with the windows open house was on the chilly side at 56 degrees.

I did open up the stove last month and did a thorough cleaning. I took down the stovepipe inside and checked the double wall. I removed the top portion of the stove and checked the tightness of the bolts holding the damper housing. Did a complete cleaning. I didn't clean the stove after I cleaned the stove pipe this past spring.

Stove ran well from what little wood was put in it. The stovepipe got just warm enough to get the cat engaged. Cat temperature peaked at a little.over 800 which I thought was good the this time of year

Sat with the wife for a period of time and enjoyed her company

 

[kborndale]

Shouldn't it be 2025/26?

 

[Woodsplitter67]

yeah.. IDK what happened

 

[begreen]

Shouldn't it be 2025/26?

Fixed

 

[weee123]

Today was definitely a chilly one this morning and if it was Saturday I definitely would’ve lit the stove up as well!

 

[dmccoole]

Note to self, don't wait for the first frost to clean the stove! 28 this morning and 55 in the house! So I spent the first part of the morning cleaning out the stove. Once the frost was off the roof, I got up there and took off of the stainless cap, wire brushed that and then spun the cleaner brush down the pipe. Got it all back together before lunch. Now it's ready for the next frosty morning!

 

[arnermd]

All,

If you own a newer catalytic Defiant / Encore (after 2010) I am interested in your stack design and how clean it runs. See my thread in the main forum link below.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/should-i-insulate-my-liner.208090/

Would appreciate If you could respond to that thread and tell me:

• General description: single / double wall, insulated, exterior or liner, height, diameter
• How much wood you burn
• How much stuff you get out when you clean
• Any draft issues

Thanks....

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Hopefully having a fire this week.. probably maybe mid-week

 

[AsylumResident]

Good to be back at it...soon. Hasn't been cold enough here yet to fire it up but it's coming!

 

[Smokey Da Bears]

I've been following and reading this thread for the last 4 years and for whatever reason I haven't previously been able to set up a Hearth account. I tried again today and well, it finally worked and here I am. A lot of the things I've read in this specific sub forum have helped me tremendously over the years in learning my stove. So thanks to many of you for posting your first hand experiences. And to be transparent, I have also experienced quite a bit of what has been described by many of you.

So to introduce myself I live on the South Shore of Massachusetts near "America's Hometown" of Plymouth. Been running a VC Defiant 1975 Cat C installed in 2021 to an unfinished basement. About 30 feet of Class A to the top of the house. The original ceramic catalyst that came with my stove lasted about 2 months before it crumpled. I switched to a metal catalyst at that time thanks to this forum - but I'm also already on my 2nd one of those after marked performance loss last season. I also use an Auber to monitor catalyst temperatures, also gleaned from this forum. Mostly burning red and white oak with some maple thrown in. I've never paid for wood and love bucking and splitting. Since installing the stove to compliment our primary source of heat (oil), we've cut the oil heating bill by 50% and we're actually a lot warmer. Also not a Bears fan...just an old fantasy football name that seemed appropriate.

I lit our first fire this last weekend but was glad to be able to have all the windows open as I repainted our single wall pipe and had some terrible burn off smells. Glad that's out of the way. Ready for winter!

 

[begreen]

Sorry to hear about the challenges getting on, but welcome aboard. If it's possible to insulate the basement the heat loss reduction will be large. About 1/3 of the heat generated, or one cord out of three, is typically sucked through the uninsulated walls.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I've been following and reading this thread for the last 4 years and for whatever reason I haven't previously been able to set up a Hearth account. I tried again today and well, it finally worked and here I am. A lot of the things I've read in this specific sub forum have helped me tremendously over the years in learning my stove. So thanks to many of you for posting your first hand experiences. And to be transparent, I have also experienced quite a bit of what has been described by many of you.

So to introduce myself I live on the South Shore of Massachusetts near "America's Hometown" of Plymouth. Been running a VC Defiant 1975 Cat C installed in 2021 to an unfinished basement. About 30 feet of Class A to the top of the house. The original ceramic catalyst that came with my stove lasted about 2 months before it crumpled. I switched to a metal catalyst at that time thanks to this forum - but I'm also already on my 2nd one of those after marked performance loss last season. I also use an Auber to monitor catalyst temperatures, also gleaned from this forum. Mostly burning red and white oak with some maple thrown in. I've never paid for wood and love bucking and splitting. Since installing the stove to compliment our primary source of heat (oil), we've cut the oil heating bill by 50% and we're actually a lot warmer. Also not a Bears fan...just an old fantasy football name that seemed appropriate.

I lit our first fire this last weekend but was glad to be able to have all the windows open as I repainted our single wall pipe and had some terrible burn off smells. Glad that's out of the way. Ready for winter!

Welcome aboard

 

[Smokey Da Bears]

Sorry to hear about the challenges getting on, but welcome aboard. If it's possible to insulate the basement the heat loss reduction will be large. About 1/3 of the heat generated, or one cord out of three, is typically sucked through the uninsulated walls.

We're insulated, just not finished walls (sheet rock, etc.). Some day I hope to get around to that.

 

[begreen]

Ah good, all is well then. Enjoy the warmth.

 

[dmccoole]

First fire! 34 outside 59 inside. It was time!

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Had a small fire last night. Small amount of wood, got the cat to 1060. Wife and I just say there and enjoyed

 

[arnermd]

Welcome Smokey,

Always happy to have another Defiant owner in the mix. I think our stoves are particularly sensitive to typical VC issues (backpuffing, nuclear cats, etc.). Maybe its becuase of the larger wood capacity coupled with the same refractory as the smaller Encore, or maybe its my imagination..... I look forward to hearing about your experiences.

Crumbling ceramic cat in 2 months is pretty quick, my ceramics usually last at least a season.
3-4 seasons on 2 metal cats seems about right. I have been getting 1.5 - 2 seasons out of mine.

30' of class A is pretty tall compared to most of us. Mine is 20' of single wall inside a masonry flue. What diameter you running?
Curious to know what your draft is like, you ever measure it?

Add your stove make and model to your signature line so we know what you are dealing with....

 

[arnermd]

Lit off this AM,

• Half a load from cold start
• Let the griddle come up to a touch over 500 (longer and hotter than normal as ther cat was cold)
  • Had to dial the air down to ~30% to keep the flue gas under 700 with the bypass damper open.
• Closed the bypass damper increased air to 100%
• Cat slowly climbed up to 1000F, dialed air down to 75%
• Cat climbed to 1200F dialed air down to 50%, griddle at 550F
• Left it alone for about an hour and all seemed perfect....
• And then I heard it, whumpf. What was that? Maybe a log just shifted,....
• Few minutes later.... whumpf, I smell smoke. What the hell? We were doing so well.
• Measured the draft, it was 0.1 iwc which seems pretty healthy to me.
• Let it puff for about 20 minutes to see if it would stop, it did not.
• Bumped the air up just a smidge (<5%), some flames appeared and the puffing stopped for the rest of the burn....

House is warm..... gonna be another long winter with this fickle beast.

 

[VRB Farm]

anermd - seems to be the nature of these 2 in 1's during the shoulder season (lets be honest, for the burning season as well), mine was doing great the last few days then decided to puff for no apparent reason. I did the same increased airflow slightly and it cleared itself from burping. Just think it is "cabin-scented" air freshener that doesn't cost anything.

 

[Smokey Da Bears]

Welcome Smokey,

Always happy to have another Defiant owner in the mix. I think our stoves are particularly sensitive to typical VC issues (backpuffing, nuclear cats, etc.). Maybe its becuase of the larger wood capacity coupled with the same refractory as the smaller Encore, or maybe its my imagination..... I look forward to hearing about your experiences.

Crumbling ceramic cat in 2 months is pretty quick, my ceramics usually last at least a season.
3-4 seasons on 2 metal cats seems about right. I have been getting 1.5 - 2 seasons out of mine.

30' of class A is pretty tall compared to most of us. Mine is 20' of single wall inside a masonry flue. What diameter you running?
Curious to know what your draft is like, you ever measure it?

Add your stove make and model to your signature line so we know what you are dealing with....

Here are some pictures of my set up. I’m sure there will be questions as to why I have a class A directly aside of a 3 flue masonry chimney. 1 is for our oil burner, 1 to an open fireplace on the 1st floor (someday will put an insert in), and 1 to the basement. And since I’ve ultimately come to peace with it and I’ll leave it simply…ultimately hired the WRONG company to do my initial install. Our basement flue became unusable and I had really no choice but to put the Class A on in order to have the basement stove without spending a boat load more money. Had to hire a 2nd company for that and I wish I would have hired them first. You live and you learn.

But yeah, like I said I’ve lived with this stove and in my opinion the Defiant is actually a great heater. I just wouldn’t go to bed after loading it or leave the house unless it’s in a coaling stage. Chimney is a 6 inch diameter flue. I’ve never measured my draft but I suspect it’s a strong breather. I toyed around with the idea of a key damper but haven’t wanted to introduce another variable as I think I know how to run the stove under current conditions. We’ve definitely cut our oil bill in half with this stove, but I don’t see myself rebuilding it when that time comes and would rather spend that money on a substitute.

 

[steel city fire]

48 degrees in Pittsburgh…start of my 3rd year with Dauntless. It gets better each season. Mostly an evening/weekend user but we really enjoy the stove and this community has been so helpful. Hope everyone has a cozy weekend!!

(Posted in last years thread accidentally)

 

[AsylumResident]

Here are some pictures of my set up. I’m sure there will be questions as to why I have a class A directly aside of a 3 flue masonry chimney. 1 is for our oil burner, 1 to an open fireplace on the 1st floor (someday will put an insert in), and 1 to the basement. And since I’ve ultimately come to peace with it and I’ll leave it simply…ultimately hired the WRONG company to do my initial install. Our basement flue became unusable and I had really no choice but to put the Class A on in order to have the basement stove without spending a boat load more money. Had to hire a 2nd company for that and I wish I would have hired them first. You live and you learn.

But yeah, like I said I’ve lived with this stove and in my opinion the Defiant is actually a great heater. I just wouldn’t go to bed after loading it or leave the house unless it’s in a coaling stage. Chimney is a 6 inch diameter flue. I’ve never measured my draft but I suspect it’s a strong breather. I toyed around with the idea of a key damper but haven’t wanted to introduce another variable as I think I know how to run the stove under current conditions. We’ve definitely cut our oil bill in half with this stove, but I don’t see myself rebuilding it when that time comes and would rather spend that money on a substitute.

Your comment about not leaving the house or going to bed after loading is heart breakingly true. The reason I spent the extra money for the bigger stove (Defiant) was the capacity, but I do not have the confidence to load 'er up and walk away. I love burning wood, I love the heat, I love the general ambiance.

 

[AsylumResident]

Lit off this AM,

• Half a load from cold start
• Let the griddle come up to a touch over 500 (longer and hotter than normal as ther cat was cold)
  • Had to dial the air down to ~30% to keep the flue gas under 700 with the bypass damper open.
• Closed the bypass damper increased air to 100%
• Cat slowly climbed up to 1000F, dialed air down to 75%
• Cat climbed to 1200F dialed air down to 50%, griddle at 550F
• Left it alone for about an hour and all seemed perfect....
• And then I heard it, whumpf. What was that? Maybe a log just shifted,....
• Few minutes later.... whumpf, I smell smoke. What the hell? We were doing so well.
• Measured the draft, it was 0.1 iwc which seems pretty healthy to me.
• Let it puff for about 20 minutes to see if it would stop, it did not.
• Bumped the air up just a smidge (<5%), some flames appeared and the puffing stopped for the rest of the burn....

House is warm..... gonna be another long winter with this fickle beast.

You have been fighting with your stove much longer than I have, but at this point I plan to approach burning this year just like I did last year. No more than three decent sized splits for a "full" load.