2025/26 VC performance discussion thread

[Smokey Da Bears]

Welcome neighbor. Have you verified the STT with the IR to be sure that thermometer is accurate?

Other than that, have you checked all the gaskets to be sure they're not pulling in air? You can use incense or something a little smokey to see if it pulls into the stove around the gaskets.

go Pats! Yeah the IR and magnet are close. I have replaced front door, ash pan, and griddle gaskets. Also had to adjust front doors, they were super leaky.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

STT - a magnetic inferno from Condar on the back of the griddle. I also have a cheap infrared that I don’t use much.

Normal cat temp runs anywhere between 900-1400. I like trying to keep it in the 1100-1300 range. Highest cat temp I’ve seen is like 1650 when I’ve gotten brave and packed the stove or while the cat was new and hyper.

With a cat temp in the 1100-1300 range I have a STT running 500. No smoke out of chimney. I have a magnetic chimguard 18 inches up at a 45 elbow, running around 275-300.

It sounds all decent, but this is like a 3-5 hour burn cycle…maybe 7-8 if conditions are absolutely perfect.

Do you know why your stove backpuffs what the cause is.

Most of what your saying looks to be correct. I'd double check your magnetic thermometer many are really off. 900 sounds super high.

Just to make sure . When your stove backpuffs all your doing it turning up the he primary air.. correct

 

[Smokey Da Bears]

900 is my cat..not stove top. That would be enough to never burn wood again 😂🤣

Yes, when I see or smell a backpuff, I’m opening primary air. My assumption on a backpuff is a build up of gasses not exhausting that ignite. They are kind of cool to see. But campfire smell in the house.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

900 is my cat..not stove top. That would be enough to never burn wood again 😂🤣

Yes, when I see or smell a backpuff, I’m opening primary air. My assumption on a backpuff is a build up of gasses not exhausting that ignite. They are kind of cool to see. But campfire smell in the house.

Ok.. so backpuffing is from the lack of draft. A strong draft will keep this from happening.

When this happens open the bypass and turn up the primary air and Re-Establish a good draft. Close the bypass and turn the air back. This will lessen the need for you to baby sit the stove this should only take a few minutes. You shouldn't have to constantly set the air.

I believe you said the stove top gets extremely hot when your cats engaged like around 1jk can you go into detail of what's happening.

 

[Rusty18]

Just finished the upgrade from custom adapter (previous owner built)/13” clay tile to 6” stainless flex insulated and what a difference! 3’ horizontal out back of stove then up 13’ to chimney cap. Been trying to make the stove puke the last 2 loads and it apparently has enough draft to keep it sucked up the pipe. I’m the old setup it’d puke just cause I looked at it.

Also I have a 2550 with separate secondary air damper and made some mods to allow it to over clock when the cat runs away to air quench it vs cutting all air. I also have a small chain attached so I can manually add cooling air if needed. Judging by the way it’s running this evening may have it finally tuned in though.

 

[Rusty18]

Just did a reload. 400 stt 900 cat. Filled it half full of maple. Closed damper as soon as I had the top door shut on in it and cut primary air to zero. No visible flames but cat temp is rising (it dropped to 817 during reload but back to 900 and climbing now)

 

[Rusty18]

Just did a reload. 400 stt 900 cat. Filled it half full of maple. Closed damper as soon as I had the top door shut on in it and cut primary air to zero. No visible flames but cat temp is rising (it dropped to 817 during reload but back to 900 and climbing now)

0-90 min mark: 350/400 stt 1000/1100 cat temp
At 90 mins stt 450 cat at 1350 and started flashing but not puking.

At 120 mins stt 425 and cat at 1200. Flashed hard enough to puke just a little “cabin scent” out the top. Up till this point primary air had been full close since engaging cat immediately after reload. Opened approximately 20% to get sustained flame and stop the flashing.

Still much better behaved than previous years.

Also note at the 1350 cat temp secondary air door was over clocked and adding cooling air. With the oem door and tuning the stove would likely have been going nuclear at this point.
And the process of typing this gave the me the thought it was likely robbing draft from my primary and causing the flashing.
After further review my wife also shut the front door around the same time. It is air tight, the screen door is not. Will have to redo the experiment…

 

[JohnDaileyNH]

Iv posted this before. I know some of you are newer. I run my stove pretty much by cat temperature only.. once it's going.

From a cold start it's the normal get the stove warm I don't worry about STT at all I strictly go by stovepipe temp, engage the cat and get it going.

On a hot reload I look at the cat temp and see where it is. If it's say 1k there is nothing to do except put wood in it and close the bypass and set the air, REGARDLESS of STT because the cat is already lit and running. You don't need to let the wood catch my friends.. it will do this ALL BY ITSELF. A cat temperature of 1k is not hot at that temperature it's mostly coals at that point and your done off gassing your current load.

If the cat is say 1200 I let it ride, wait till it off gasses more then reload. If it's like 800 I'll add a little wood and get the cat temp up some and when I say a little wood I mean a couple really small pieces like 2"x2"

Yes.. I stuff it to the gills with a cat temperature that hot.. STT may be 400/450

You guys do realize that putting wood in a warm stove starts the off gassing process. Putting it in a cool stove will delay the process and most times the load will off gassing all at once.

I usually do a full reload around 800 cat temps. Cat back to 1000 and cut the air to my overnight cruise temp which is about 90% closed. I go in to an office Tues and Wed. My stove runs all winter wed night until I leave Tuesday morning. Clean it and repeat. If I wait till 600 cat it takes too long to get back up to temp and doesn't burn right. Generally I load up around 630-7 at night, toss a few splits on when I wake up to hit the gym at 430.

Everyone has a different setup and sweet spot. No one size fits all for these stoves.

 

[Rusty18]

Hard to tell from the pic but filled to 2” from the top plate and abou 2” space on the left end, most I’ve filled this stove since the first season.
Stt 400 cat 800 when I started the reload (first reload after cold start/getting everything up to temp)
90 mins in cat climbed to 1290 then back down on its own, has cycled between 1040 and 1150 ever since. Stt slowly climbed to 490 and has leveled off. From splits still not showing char.
120 mins Stt 490, cat at 1040, very minimal flame in the back corner.

Ash pan mostly empty and as soon as wood was in the stove bypass was closed and primary set to minimum. Cat had dropped to 650 but started coming up immediately so I just let it ride. No back puffs or flashing, I did leave window beside the stove cracked so I think the issue yesterday was caused from the house being sealed up too tight.

 

[skb31]

Encore 2040 cat-c (manufactured 2023) owner going into season 3. I use the AT-100 meter/probe in place of the factory bimetal cat probe. I use two bimetal stove top meters with one in the middle of the griddle and one between the griddle & flue collar along with a stove pipe meter ~18 inches up on single walled pipe.

I only clean the ash pan after the season for the cleaning/maintenance. I’ve got a key damper I installed after the first season to help manage draft but haven’t had to use it. I am having my first sustained burns of the season with day time temps down into the mid 30s.

I’m burning larger splits seasoned for 2 years that read around 16% on my moisture meter. Cat lives between 1150 and 1350, STT 450-550, stove pipe meter~350 once settled in and primary air cut back. I run it based on the cat meter info which keeps the other temps in line.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Encore 2040 cat-c (manufactured 2023) owner going into season 3. I use the AT-100 meter/probe in place of the factory bimetal cat probe. I use two bimetal stove top meters with one in the middle of the griddle and one between the griddle & flue collar along with a stove pipe meter ~18 inches up on single walled pipe.

I only clean the ash pan after the season for the cleaning/maintenance. I’ve got a key damper I installed after the first season to help manage draft but haven’t had to use it. I am having my first sustained burns of the season with day time temps down into the mid 30s.

I’m burning larger splits seasoned for 2 years that read around 16% on my moisture meter. Cat lives between 1150 and 1350, STT 450-550, stove pipe meter~350 once settled in and primary air cut back. I run it based on the cat meter info which keeps the other temps in line.

This is the way...
May the force be with you... Always

 

[Turbo89]

Just reloaded the encore for the night, one big piece of ash in the front and the rest is maple.

A little early for an overnight reload, but we’ll see how it goes. CAT was at 1030, air just barely cracked when I walked away.

 

[VRB Farm]

Turbo89 - are you using "braided" rope gasket on your griddle vs steel-reinforced gasket or are my eyes getting to be that bad? Curious how that it seals and is holding up. Seems like it would be more surface area to seal with which has me interested.

Thanks!

 

[Turbo89]

Turbo89 - are you using "braided" rope gasket on your griddle vs steel-reinforced gasket or are my eyes getting to be that bad? Curious how that it seals and is holding up. Seems like it would be more surface area to seal with which has me interested.

Thanks!

It’s woven fiberglass / graphite, I think this is the stuff I bought last year when troubleshooting the leak.

https://a.co/d/iCJF5Vi

No issues with sealing, passed dollar bill and lighter test.

 

[Turbo89]

View attachment 342119Just reloaded the encore for the night, one big piece of ash in the front and the rest is maple.

A little early for an overnight reload, but we’ll see how it goes. CAT was at 1030, air just barely cracked when I walked away.

View attachment 342118

when I came back out to the shop this morning, it was 56 degrees. STT was around 200, CAT down to 180, and I had enough coals to re-light with kindling.

This was a little over 13hrs after last nights reload. Pretty good burn time for maple and one piece of ash.

 

[arnermd]

It’s woven fiberglass / graphite, I think this is the stuff I bought last year when troubleshooting the leak.

https://a.co/d/iCJF5Vi

No issues with sealing, passed dollar bill and lighter test.

His point was with regard to your griddle gasket, the stock VC part is a rope gasket wrapped in a wire mesh, pic below. I noticed it to....
Curious to see how the "standard" unreinforced gasket holds up there.

And.... I have found Ash drives my Cat temps up, more so than red oak.....

 

[Turbo89]

His point was with regard to your griddle gasket, the stock VC part is a rope gasket wrapped in a wire mesh, pic below. I noticed it to....
Curious to see how the "standard" unreinforced gasket holds up there.

And.... I have found Ash drives my Cat temps up, more so than red oak.....

View attachment 342143

Roger, it’s funny the piece I pulled off didn’t have wire mesh on it either (used stove). I don’t plan to change it until it leaks, so I guess we’ll all find how it weathers its second season together.