Defiant FlexBurn?

[Kool_hand_Looke]

Can anyone give me a review on this stove?

Does anyone have this stove or know someone with this stove?

 

[Toploader]

I know someone who is an experienced wood burner but sold this stove after 1 season because of run away burns on cold days and back puffing on warmer days. He really wanted to like the stove but just couldn't deal with it's attention getting behavior. He sold the Defiant and bought a Jotul F600 and loves the simplicity and worry free operation.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

Damn it. I was hoping to hear good news. I want to love it, and VC.

 

[Toploader]

Yeah I know how you feel, I had an original defiant and a resolute and loved them both, the top loading is so nice and there is a lot of nostalgia for the company because of those first great stoves. Maybe they will figure it out someday, making the defiant like the Quadrafire Isle Royale might be a good way to go since down draft stoves are troublesome by nature.
Just my opinion, hopefully someone with a defiant will give you a review.

 

[Charles1981]

I have the Encore flex burn, same stove little smaller basically. Runs like a champ thus far. Occasional back-puffing but usually due to the user shutting the air down to soon because he stayed up to late and forgot to load the stove earlier.

My installer has a huge house and runs a Encore and a Defiant together (both new 2n1 flexburns) and loves them. I got to see them in action before purchasing mine.

My encore has no problem heating 1900sq feet from the basement as long as it stays above zero degrees Fahrenheit.

I think its a wonderful stove, but that being said...VC do need a little more attention then other stoves and take a bit of time to learn their little nuances given that they all seem to act a little difference in everyone's situation (liner location, wood moisture content, draft and chimney variables ect ect).

The general consensus on here lately has been to be wary of VC products. The 2n1 is their newest system and I actually don't know too many others running it, but it is supposed to be a variant of a system they used to produce that was not very heavily praised (and nicknames the "neverburn" ).

I love my stove (thus far), but your mileage may vary.

I'm not quiet sure there is anyone posting regularly that has a flex burn stove here (encore or defiant)... there have been a few random threads about it, but in general not a lot of available information from others about this stove in particular.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

I have a 3200 squares I heat with DW. Truth be told...I'm ready to move on from this thing. It came with the house. The 1st floor is open with a vaulted loft above my hearth besides our "magic room" and another bathroom. The second floors has 3 bedrooms and another bath...needless to say, upstairs stays nice and toasty and I'm fine with that. The Defiant would just look GREAT in our place...I just hope it'd be less work than my DW.

 

[Diabel]

What is wrong with the DW?

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

It's just real finicky. The slightest change in anything and it sets me back. In reality it just needs to be rebuilt. Besides, the 2 in 1 idea sounds right up my ally. The top load feature on the Defiant seems legit too. As well as the cat being under a flap versus having to unbolt my stove now. Idk how bad the previous owners beat the snot out of the DW because it looks great, except the heat shield in the back is cracked. So something happened.

Also, I would like to load my wood before work and come home to 350 degrees instead of 150 after a 12 hour shift. And it's not something I'm not doing or doing; this DW won't get more than 8 hours steady heat.

 

[Diabel]

General consensus here is that all downdraft stoves seem to be finicky. In most cases it is the wood then draft.

This could be up for a debate, but a well rebuilt DW XL cat (me thinks) will have a better chance of heating 3200 square feet than a Defiant 2 in 1

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

The wood I rip through is D R Y. I swear it makes my hands dry bring up loads. All except maybe some larger rounds.

Toploader suggested an F600 any thoughts?

 

[Diabel]

No personal experience with F600, but from what is said here....great heater.

 

[begreen]

In the reliable big cast iron stove range the Jotul F600 and Quadrafire Isle Royale are the front place champs. Hearthstone introduced the Manchester which is pleasing folks so far and Lopi has introduced the Cape Cod which is a hybrid.

 

[Toploader]

The wood I rip through is D R Y. I swear it makes my hands dry bring up loads. All except maybe some larger rounds.

Toploader suggested an F600 any thoughts?

You might not get more than 8 hours of steady heat with the F600, if you are looking for long burn times, assuming you want a cast iron stove, look into the Blaze King Ashford, lots on this site about the Ashford, very positive.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

Hearthstones are gross. I'll give up some heatability for some looks. I'm fine with that.

You might not get more than 8 hours of steady heat with the F600, if you are looking for long burn times, assuming you want a cast iron stove, look into the Blaze King Ashford, lots on this site about the Ashford, very positive.

The Ashford seems legit as well...BUT...I'm sick of looking for prices and not seeing any. I keep getting the "call for price"...no, I don't want to call and talk to you salesperson.

 

[Charles1981]

You have a large area to heat. I don't think any solitary stove alone is going to do a fantastic job. The defiant can do well, but again its firebox is a scooch smaller than the dutchwest.

Btw dutchwest is in the same family or was as Vermont castings (VC/Majestic/Monensin) so take that with a grain of salt as well given the information provided before

As a VC owner I love my stove. That could change. It has only been two years. If I could do it over again (before i purchased by stove I didn't even know about hearth.com) I would have probably done everything in my way to get a blaze king...

And the blaze king - king size. It will be in the same price range as the Defiant as well...but no it don't look near as pretty.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

You have a large area to heat. I don't think any solitary stove alone is going to do a fantastic job. The defiant can do well, but again its firebox is a scooch smaller than the dutchwest.

Btw dutchwest is in the same family or was as Vermont castings (VC/Majestic/Monensin) so take that with a grain of salt as well given the information provided before

As a VC owner I love my stove. That could change. It has only been two years. If I could do it over again (before i purchased by stove I didn't even know about hearth.com) I would have probably done everything in my way to get a blaze king...

And the blaze king - king size. It will be in the same price range as the Defiant as well...but no it don't look near as pretty.

I'm aware of the VC trinity. I was and am just hoping someone can give me a "its crap" or "it sweats me out" reference(s) + heated squares. And maybe the defiant would get close to BK raves. I kind of like my DW, and it doesn't back puff, runaway, or generally suck too much. So I figured id stick to same trifecta, maybe.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

You have a large area to heat. I don't think any solitary stove alone is going to do a fantastic job. The defiant can do well, but again its firebox is a scooch smaller than the dutchwest.

Btw dutchwest is in the same family or was as Vermont castings (VC/Majestic/Monensin) so take that with a grain of salt as well given the information provided before

As a VC owner I love my stove. That could change. It has only been two years. If I could do it over again (before i purchased by stove I didn't even know about hearth.com) I would have probably done everything in my way to get a blaze king...

And the blaze king - king size. It will be in the same price range as the Defiant as well...but no it don't look near as pretty.

What's your burn time?

 

[Charles1981]

Honestly it depends on burn time classification. If I pack the stove right, I can get 8 hours and load on a good bed of coals (stove top around 250-300). If I really let the coals burn down (stove top ~150) and load small splits I can stoke the fire at 10-12 hours still, but no longer.

The defiant is bigger and will probably go 10-12 hours more easily... but don't expect the advertised 14...and at 10-12 hours don't expect significant heat.

 

[Charles1981]

I really don't want you to sway away from the defiant. Just want to let you know consensus here is not favorable for VC. That being said I do still like my stove and my installer did, and there haven't been hoards of people flooding here complaining about the 2in1 system, but i don't know how many of floating out around there.

 

[BrotherBart]

VC still makes great wood stoves. The issue for a long time has been the ownership and its support of the dealers and by association the stove owner.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

I really don't want you to sway away from the defiant. Just want to let you know consensus here is not favorable for VC. That being said I do still like my stove and my installer did, and there haven't been hoards of people flooding here complaining about the 2in1 system, but i don't know how many of floating out around there.

I read something where me people were getting 18 hour burn times? Maybe I read i wrong.

If you hd t do it again, would you get the ame stove? What dd you pay as well?

 

[Charles1981]

I don't think 18 hour burn time on a defiant is possible in all honesty. I have no experience with it however. I know my installer loads his twice a daily routinely. The only posters here reporting burn times that long own a progress hybrid or blaze king.

I can't say it isn't possible. I only have an encore. But I would say 18 hours is very unlikely especially when the website only claims 14 hours.

 

[Charles1981]

I would have tried to get a Blaze King - King or Princess If I could go back. Because everyone that has one on here make me envious when they talk about it.

I paid 2299 for the stove, but got the 300$ tax credit so ~ 2000.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

Is

In the reliable big cast iron stove range the Jotul F600 and Quadrafire Isle Royale are the front place champs. Hearthstone introduced the Manchester which is pleasing folks so far and Lopi has introduced the Cape Cod which is a hybrid.

The Ashford is cast, no? F600 in front of it as well?

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

Dang, that quad is slick looking too.