The house we moved into had a Vermont Castings Defiant 1945 installed already. Long-term we want to get a new stove, but we’re not the types to get rid of something if it‘s still working fine.
When I fully load my stove which is usually 6-8 good sized splits of 16”-18” laid parallel to the door in a tight stack with the coals raked to the front and sometimes a few short pieces leaning vertically against that stack (it’s a really massive box imo), I can’t seem to get the stove to maintain a constant temperature. It doesn’t ever feel like the fire is out of control, the bypass seems to work fine, but even if I put the airflow down to the bare minimum the STT will eventually creep up to ~675F (and sometimes a bit beyond that) plateaus for a while then starts to come back down.
In the dead of winter I burn a mostly ash and maple with a bit of cherry and oak mixed in (fall and spring there are more softwoods in there). It’s been split and seasoned as people here direct and I do occasional re-splits to check moisture content.
I also redid the door gaskets this fall and the doors both passed dollar bill tests.
I’m new to both catalytic stoves and Vermont Castings, so I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong, or if the stove is supposed to have a temperature curve that looks more or less like a normal distribution.
Please ask questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability, bearing in mind that 1. I didn’t install the stove, and 2. I’m not that well-versed in engineering or mechanics.
When I fully load my stove which is usually 6-8 good sized splits of 16”-18” laid parallel to the door in a tight stack with the coals raked to the front and sometimes a few short pieces leaning vertically against that stack (it’s a really massive box imo), I can’t seem to get the stove to maintain a constant temperature. It doesn’t ever feel like the fire is out of control, the bypass seems to work fine, but even if I put the airflow down to the bare minimum the STT will eventually creep up to ~675F (and sometimes a bit beyond that) plateaus for a while then starts to come back down.
In the dead of winter I burn a mostly ash and maple with a bit of cherry and oak mixed in (fall and spring there are more softwoods in there). It’s been split and seasoned as people here direct and I do occasional re-splits to check moisture content.
I also redid the door gaskets this fall and the doors both passed dollar bill tests.
I’m new to both catalytic stoves and Vermont Castings, so I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong, or if the stove is supposed to have a temperature curve that looks more or less like a normal distribution.
Please ask questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability, bearing in mind that 1. I didn’t install the stove, and 2. I’m not that well-versed in engineering or mechanics.
