I have found a Vermont Castings Dutchwest 2479 non-cat stove for sale. One year old, $850. Is this a fair price? Going to look at the stove tomorrow. Thoughts, comments, suggestions??????
Dutchwest 2479...thoughts??
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Sounds like a fair price. Check it over good for cracks or signs of overfiring. Good luck.
Oh yeah, you might want to do a search here for "everburn" people have had problems with these type of stoves.
Oh yeah, you might want to do a search here for "everburn" people have had problems with these type of stoves.
I, along with several others here, think that stove it total garbage. Mine was less than a year old and I sold it for $700, I think. I was just glad to be rid of it. There are others, though, who like it an appear to be getting pretty good results.
If you decide to buy it, just be prepared for a huge hassle. But, you might be pleasantly surprised, too. It seems that these things need "perfect" conditions to work right. I didn't have "perfect" conditions.
If you decide to buy it, just be prepared for a huge hassle. But, you might be pleasantly surprised, too. It seems that these things need "perfect" conditions to work right. I didn't have "perfect" conditions.
I wouldn't advise buying one based on:
1. People here having problems getting the stoves to burn efficiently.
2. Not only is the company that makes them making a trip through bankruptcy court right now, with an undetermined future, but they also recently doubled their replacement parts prices.
Cast iron stoves can occasionally require replacement parts.
1. People here having problems getting the stoves to burn efficiently.
2. Not only is the company that makes them making a trip through bankruptcy court right now, with an undetermined future, but they also recently doubled their replacement parts prices.
Cast iron stoves can occasionally require replacement parts.
I own one. My detailed review is here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/4188/
Operation videos here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/14536/
Even more info if you follow the link in my signature.
As others said - its gotten a lot of negative feedback. The price you mention is good. If you have a good drafting setup and very well seasoned wood, you'll probably be OK - I know from my own experience and that of others who stuck with the stove instead of dumping it, you definitely do get better results with time but it can take longer than a year to figure it out and it can be quite frusterating. I generally tell people its not worth the hassle, get a stove with better customer experience.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/4188/
Operation videos here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/14536/
Even more info if you follow the link in my signature.
As others said - its gotten a lot of negative feedback. The price you mention is good. If you have a good drafting setup and very well seasoned wood, you'll probably be OK - I know from my own experience and that of others who stuck with the stove instead of dumping it, you definitely do get better results with time but it can take longer than a year to figure it out and it can be quite frusterating. I generally tell people its not worth the hassle, get a stove with better customer experience.
Thanks for the info folks. Whew, deciding on the right stove is harder than I thought it would be. Maybe I should have stuck with my old Timberline...
As someone who burned one of the old stoves for a long, long time let me tell ya that you will enjoy having one of the newer stoves. And there are a bunch of them out there in the used market for decent prices. In fact stoves like the Englander I bought new two seasons ago are at a good price for a stove that will make you want to throw rocks at the Timberline.
Lots of good new stoves out there at nice prices considering how long you will be using it. The DW just uses technology that makes a stove harder to use than it has to or needs to be.
Lots of good new stoves out there at nice prices considering how long you will be using it. The DW just uses technology that makes a stove harder to use than it has to or needs to be.
I would seriously scrutinize the soft refractory package in back of stove below where the single wall pipe enters , the shoe pc inside at back of stove and what is referred to as the inner top it is the cast pc that the damper swings closed on, these components are pron to failure and are expensive to replace. . I have this stove and have had a number of issues with it. If you are in a milder climate and don't get real cold weather I think this stove will be frustrating to operate at best. Not bashing just my two cents.
I live in the mountains of WV (200-250+ inches of snow/yr) so I think the climate would be ideal for this stove. I may have the patience to deal with the stove's quirks but fear my wife will quickly get tired of dealing with the "fine tuning" of it to get the thing to burn properly.
My wife was one of the factors in me dumping it. I probably would have stuck it out, but she was pissed. We had a catalytic DW that she could operate with no problem, and then the non-cat was a nightmare, relatively speaking, of course.
Sooooooo...got a hearthstone, and no problems. If you can't pick up a used stove, you can always buy new. For me, the price shock of spending $2000+ on a stove was rough, but then you start using it and watch the power/gas bill shrink to nothing, and you quickly forget that you shelled out that kind of cash (even tough you might be looking at a a 2+ year payback. Anyhow, that's my experience.
Sooooooo...got a hearthstone, and no problems. If you can't pick up a used stove, you can always buy new. For me, the price shock of spending $2000+ on a stove was rough, but then you start using it and watch the power/gas bill shrink to nothing, and you quickly forget that you shelled out that kind of cash (even tough you might be looking at a a 2+ year payback. Anyhow, that's my experience.
Just talk to the seller of this stove and he is moving...very soon. So, he dropped his price to $550. When I asked him about the everburn system and whether or not he had any problems with it, he replied by saying "what everburn system?".
He never engaged the everburn system. Which may be fairly common among inexperienced users of this stove. This also explains why DW doesn't receive many complaints about it. In his defense, he lives in a milder climate and may have never had the need to use the everburn.
He never engaged the everburn system. Which may be fairly common among inexperienced users of this stove. This also explains why DW doesn't receive many complaints about it. In his defense, he lives in a milder climate and may have never had the need to use the everburn.
sullystull said:
For that price, I would buy it. If you don't like it, I'm sure you can resell it yourself for a profit, so you have little to lose (except for maybe time, the pain of moving that beast around, and possible frusteration in learning to use it). You sound like the type of person who knows what they are getting into and are prepared to deal with it - I have a feeling you will successfully learn to operate it but post your feedback on the forum.
It does not surprise me at all to hear that the owner never engaged the bypass. I'm sure there are a lot of clueless people who say "well it seems to be burning just great with bypass open, can barely see any flame at all (normal by the way) with the bypass closed so I guess I should just keep the bypass open all the time. These are not serious burners, and they really don't care about efficiency or long overnight burns. Or they live in a mild climate and don't need big heat.
Check the top of the firebox for warping or cracks first, but check the whole stove for problems. Also look down into the flue collar with a flashlight, verify that the ceramic fiber board material is OK (not collapsing, no holes) but DO NOT poke your finger into it. After you install it I would also test and/or just replace the door gaskets and use silicone sealant instead of the rutland junk they use at the factory (clean out the grove first as best you can). Adjust the door latches as well. Owners manual and service manual are both linked in my review thread.
He told me he was only getting burn times in the neighborhood of 5-6 hrs. I am hoping to do better than that. he also said some of the fire bricks are broken (2). having not seen the stove yet, Gordo, do you think he is referring to the refractory parts (by the way...nice set of instructions for casting your own!)? I suspect I'll be following your lead and casting those myself too.
If you don't get those logs up on a buck and start wearing better foot protection, you are gonna pay BIG for that stove one way or another
:roll:
:roll:
sullystull said:
Yea, there are no "fire bricks", its all custom unfortunately. If its just minor cracking, you might not have to do anything, if its actually split right in two, you can try repairing it, or cast a new one yourself as I demonstrate on the page you already visited. If its the door piece, there is another good way to hold it all together and prevent damage - I keep meaning to take a pic of this and add it to the custom refractory build instructional page - but home depot sells this heavy duty metal rectangle with 4 holes in it - I don't even know what its intended purpose is, but you can unscrew the door refractory piece and replace that bolt with a slightly longer one and add this metal bracket (should be vertical) and it will hold even a cracked in half refractory piece together (but you should still seal the crack up with some rutland firebrick repair paste). The metal bracket is a good idea even if that door piece has no damage, it will prevent future damage by preventing logs from striking the refractory directly (when a log in the firebox doesn't quite fit but someone decides to try to close the door on it anyway
).
Thanks Gordo. As always, your info is very beneficial.
Webmaster: Thanks for tip on wearing proper footwear. FYI...that picture is of a friend of mine. I showed up at his place and couldn't believe he was cutting firewood in shorts, flip flops and with no eye protection whatsoever. I am amazed he has made it this far in life. I snapped this picture as evidence that he out of his mind. I, on the other hand, choose to wear a helmet/face mask and chaps. My father received 140 stiches from a chainsaw--that was all I needed to learn my lesson.
Webmaster: Thanks for tip on wearing proper footwear. FYI...that picture is of a friend of mine. I showed up at his place and couldn't believe he was cutting firewood in shorts, flip flops and with no eye protection whatsoever. I am amazed he has made it this far in life. I snapped this picture as evidence that he out of his mind. I, on the other hand, choose to wear a helmet/face mask and chaps. My father received 140 stiches from a chainsaw--that was all I needed to learn my lesson.
I've been waiting for someone to say something. It is funny...and if you knew me, you would know I wouldn't be caught dead cutting wood like that (no pun intended).
Well...I bit the bullet and bought the DW 2479. I brought it home this evening and hooked it up. Thankfully, its a cool evening here in the WV mountains which gave me an opportunity to try it out. The first fire is going as I type this post. Everything seems to be okay. I'll keep you posted as I try to figure out the everburn system.
BTW, note my new Avatar when it comes up - that is me in the mts of WV when I was 19 years old, swing the old axe! Our homestead was on the banks of the Gauley River in Webster County, rented for $30 a month. No indoor plumbing, of course! No TV or anything like that either, but the nice landlady did put in a real triple wall chimney to serve the woodstove, and a cool dude who owned the equipment shop gave me a stihl for payments of $10 a month.
The road to the house was cut at such an angle to the riverbank, that one tire of the old chevy nova would on occasion slip over the edge an the car would bottom out. I devised a way to get the car back on the road - by jacking up the rear of the car, and then pushing the car over off the jack...toward the road, of course.
Here is the wife - feeding chickens on the same farmstead.........Almost Heaven, WV, take me home.....
The road to the house was cut at such an angle to the riverbank, that one tire of the old chevy nova would on occasion slip over the edge an the car would bottom out. I devised a way to get the car back on the road - by jacking up the rear of the car, and then pushing the car over off the jack...toward the road, of course.
Here is the wife - feeding chickens on the same farmstead.........Almost Heaven, WV, take me home.....
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BeGreen said:OK, now let's hear web widow's side of the story.
And the story about how NOT to heat the tool shed. ;-P
sullystull said:
Definitely keep up posted, very curious to see how it works out for ya. I dont close the bypass (aka everburn) most times until winter conditions w/ long burn times needs. The thick cast iron makes it so I can burn a quick, hot fire w/ the bypass open (works great & VERY easily in this configuration) which will produce useful heat during the early winter/late spring when you dont need to burn 24x7.
If you are a 24x7 burner like tradergordo and myself and have a setup w/ decent draft, you wont find the the everburn as frustrating or difficult after some training time. If you just burn occasionally or not 24x7, you probably wont ever get the performance out of it that you want. The stove is REALLY geared for 24x7 burners in cold winters.
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