Anybody still running a vc down drafter?

[Jones93]

Have a few questions about them. Currently running one long story short was in house a rent, found a second for one dirt cheap and like new shape as first one was toast.
just have few questions about closing it down and “secondary light off” along with burn times

 

[fbelec]

welcome to the forum. post your questions i'm sure we can get a answer. there are lots of us running them

 

[Jones93]

welcome to the forum. post your questions i'm sure we can get a answer. there are lots of us running them

Sounds good.
Is it normal to take about 1-2 day’s to get a good coal bed built up? And actually get more than 6 hours to a full box?
Also my first one had the bi metallic controller mounted down on the back wall of the stove this second one has it on the stack, which location is better?
and finally I see great light off anytime I have good coal bed and stove top temps over 400 when I close the by pass you can physically hear the stove start to rumble faintly and see the blue flames in the front two wholes, but the sound fades after a few minutes temps stay good and you can still see blue flame .
btw this one that I currently have has the flat bottom grates the first one I had had the V bottom

 

[fbelec]

doesn't sound like my defiant. take a few picture of the stove and post them. for some reason your description doesn't sound like a vc

 

[Jones93]

doesn't sound like my defiant. take a few picture of the stove and post them. for some reason your description doesn't sound like a vc

No sir this was the first big time Vermont casting stove to my knowledge .

 

[fbelec]

the picture doesn't get big enough for me to see the name on the front but i have never seen that stove in any post. from what i see that stove has been over fired several times and also there has been at a connector pipe fire which should mean a chimney fire also. you need to get a stove top thermometer on the top of the stove and it should be magnetic and you can also stick it on the stove connector pipe. as far as taking two days to coal i have never heard that happening unless the stove is running to cool. if you were running it to cool it would build up lots of creosote for a prime chimney fire. but the white on the stove and the connector pipe says that it is running to hot and overfiring. i'm not sure how big that fire box is but from what it looks like that should be baking you out of your house. i run my defiant hot but not overfired and i get 5 to 9 hours of burn time depending on the type of wood and how much is in the fire box

 

[Jones93]

the picture doesn't get big enough for me to see the name on the front but i have never seen that stove in any post. from what i see that stove has been over fired several times and also there has been at a connector pipe fire which should mean a chimney fire also. you need to get a stove top thermometer on the top of the stove and it should be magnetic and you can also stick it on the stove connector pipe. as far as taking two days to coal i have never heard that happening unless the stove is running to cool. if you were running it to cool it would build up lots of creosote for a prime chimney fire. but the white on the stove and the connector pipe says that it is running to hot and overfiring. i'm not sure how big that fire box is but from what it looks like that should be baking you out of your house. i run my defiant hot but not overfired and i get 5 to 9 hours of burn time depending on the type of wood and how much is in the fire box

Stove is a downdrafter like I said above. Picture is of the stove that was here when we started renting. We replaced this one with the exact same thing that’s not half melted. Yes I have a stove top thermometer and an infrared gun. Box on these is 24” deep and not quite that tall

 

[fbelec]

wow. well never seen one til now. i now the way my defiant heats that must be a beast. my defiant is run about 575 to 650 and the connector pipe runs about 300 to 400 not much in the way of creosote so i suppose thats good. if your stove is steel and not cast iron you could run it hotter. sorry i don't have the answer for you but thats my knowledge of these things

 

[Jones93]

wow. well never seen one til now. i now the way my defiant heats that must be a beast. my defiant is run about 575 to 650 and the connector pipe runs about 300 to 400 not much in the way of creosote so i suppose thats good. if your stove is steel and not cast iron you could run it hotter. sorry i don't have the answer for you but thats my knowledge of these things

Hey no prob! I played with it a lot last night now that I have good coal bed. At 450 on stove top and 400-600 on flue I could get it to light off and rumble low continuously I think I’ve just been running to cool to keep the secondary burn going.
it’s been 30-40 degrees here so not cold enough to need her to really rip.
no if the stove truly stalled when I shut the bypass would the fire completely burn out?
my main concern and question is how do I know if I’m getting a good secondary burn? The low rumble sound? Flue temp drops to about 250-300 external after awhile of running with bypass shut

 

[Jones93]

Hey no prob! I played with it a lot last night now that I have good coal bed. At 450 on stove top and 400-600 on flue I could get it to light off and rumble low continuously I think I’ve just been running to cool to keep the secondary burn going.
it’s been 30-40 degrees here so not cold enough to need her to really rip.
no if the stove truly stalled when I shut the bypass would the fire completely burn out?
my main concern and question is how do I know if I’m getting a good secondary burn? The low rumble sound? Flue temp drops to about 250-300 external after awhile of running with bypass shut

Another to add, on each side is your reburn chamber on the front of each one is a small whole so you can see in I guess. When you can hear it rumble you can see the glow of the fire sometimes it’s a blue flame other times it’s just a regular orange / reg. Regardless when the bypass is closed the smoke has to go down through the coal bed to escape

 

[fbelec]

flue temps will drop even tho you have a secondary fire going. secondary fire will be a lot shorter than the whole burn. so like this when the temps outside are not cold just put in a smaller amount of wood and you won't fry yourself out of the house or open a window to cool off. but if you run you stove at a good hot temp you should have a good secondary. when you see it burning blue and it's a soft lazy blue that's about perfect. mine is the same way starts off yellow and sounds like a blow torch then settles into a soft nice shade of blue

 

[Jones93]

flue temps will drop even tho you have a secondary fire going. secondary fire will be a lot shorter than the whole burn. so like this when the temps outside are not cold just put in a smaller amount of wood and you won't fry yourself out of the house or open a window to cool off. but if you run you stove at a good hot temp you should have a good secondary. when you see it burning blue and it's a soft lazy blue that's about perfect. mine is the same way starts off yellow and sounds like a blow torch then settles into a soft nice shade of blue

Perfect I think the DD and defiant are pretty similar, defiant is just newer and more perfected. What sucks right now is we’re about 40* during the day high 20’s-30’s at night so constantly idling stove, otherwise it’s 72 on my ground level and 85 up stairs . Thanks for your input, I just wasn’t sure about the secondary deal, as I had no instruction ever it’s all out doorboilers around here or Lopi inserts.
now if I was ever to upgrade would you go with and older original defiant or save up big for a glass door newer defiant?

 

[bholler]

Perfect I think the DD and defiant are pretty similar, defiant is just newer and more perfected. What sucks right now is we’re about 40* during the day high 20’s-30’s at night so constantly idling stove, otherwise it’s 72 on my ground level and 85 up stairs . Thanks for your input, I just wasn’t sure about the secondary deal, as I had no instruction ever it’s all out doorboilers around here or Lopi inserts.
now if I was ever to upgrade would you go with and older original defiant or save up big for a glass door newer defiant?

Are you sure this is a vermont castings stove? I can't find anything indicating that it is. Regardless downdraft stoves are very problematic. It has never been done in a way that didn't have reliability and functional issues.

 

[Jones93]

Are you sure this is a vermont castings stove? I can't find anything indicating that it is. Regardless downdraft stoves are very problematic. It has never been done in a way that didn't have reliability and functional issues.

Yes it for sure is a vc stove. And yup exactly why I am here there is no info about them, I’m hoping to upgrade to a defiant sometime this winter yet or by next year at latest. I bought this second one because it was hardly ever used and dirt cheap and I knew everything in the house would match right up. Tonight I’ll get a pic of the door where it says Vermont casting

 

[bholler]

Yes it for sure is a vc stove. And yup exactly why I am here there is no info about them, I’m hoping to upgrade to a defiant sometime this winter yet or by next year at latest. I bought this second one because it was hardly ever used and dirt cheap and I knew everything in the house would match right up. Tonight I’ll get a pic of the door where it says Vermont casting

Why a defiant? There are do many other stoves that are more durable and easier to use.

Everything I have found says simply vermont downdrafter I found nothing saying vermont castings.

 

[Tylervt]

Why a defiant? There are do many other stoves that are more durable and easier to use.

Everything I have found says simply vermont downdrafter I found nothing saying vermont castings.

Vermont Down Drafter I believe had nothing to do with Vermont Castings. They were made in Bennington Vermont famous for the

Battle of Bennington in 1777 American Revolutionary War, Vermont's version of Bunker Hill.​

​

 

[bholler]

Vermont Down Drafter I believe had nothing to do with Vermont Castings. They were made in Bennington Vermont famous for the

Battle of Bennington in 1777 American Revolutionary War, Vermont's version of Bunker Hill.​

​

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Yeah I didn't think it was a Vermont castings stove. For one it's not cast it's plate steel.

 

[Tylervt]

Yeah I didn't think it was a Vermont castings stove. For one it's not cast it's plate steel.

Vermont Downdrafter - $2,600​

(broken link removed to https://vermont.craigslist.org/for/d/chesterfield-vermont-downdrafter/7551259099.html)