Dutchwest not able to slow burn?

[ekgeek]

I purchased a VC Dutchwest last winter and burned it for half of last season. It is a Plate Steel CDW 300007. When I go to bed I would throw about three splits in, and wait for them to catch, then turn the air control all the way down. In about a half hour to an hour later the fire is still roaring and the stove is incredibly hot. If I add more than a couple logs, the fire becomes almost out of control without any way to damper the fire. Yes, I am turning the air down and not up. I do NOT have an in line damper in the stove pipe. Should I? Seems like the stove when loaded is getting too much air and is firing away. Any idea what's wrong?

 

[greythorn3]

hey thats the same problem i had when i used on in a cabin i rented.. couldnt get the place below 90 deg F

 

[Todd]

Sounds like a damper would help. Do you have a tall chimney?

 

[BrotherBart]

A common problem with virtually all of the EPA non-cat stoves. In order to pass the freakin certification test the thing has to burn clean no matter what the operator does with the primary air control. Based on a 15 foot chimney in not very cold weather and 20+ percent moisture content in a relatively small wood load.

Not the manufacturer's fault. They have to pass the tests in order to stay in business. If I had access to one of each I would write a book on how to tame them and just live with the lawsuit from the Feds.

 

[Sisu]

Another thing you might want to do is check your door gasket via the dollar bill test, to rule out any faults with the seal that could allow extra air into the burn. Just do on search for the dollar bill test and you will get some good instructions on how to do it. I am fairly new to this site too; and I can tell you that this forum and the people here are a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Hanko]

OK Bart, Im sure you can answer this. As of when is A VC stove plate steel? I thought they were all cast. maybe there is something I dont know.

 

[Northern NH Mike]

I installed an in line pipe damper for my VC Encore NC for extra control, but it does not damper the fire down all the way. Likely because the damper does not truly seal the pipe and there are two holes in the damper itself for the pin. last year there were some posts regarding a damper type fix to the air intake at the rear/bottom (primary or secondary intake, can't remember the right name) of the encores. Search for those posts as well.

 

[Brian VT]

Some people have devised ways of regulating the secondary air on their wood burners.
These could also help starve a chimney fire or reduce an accidental overfire more quickly.
I'm sure the EPA would disapprove of such measures, though.

The problem with "slow burn" is when people, often burning wet wood, choke it down to the point where it's not a clean burn.
That's why the EPA took away the ability to do so.

 

[drewboy]

Wait for the first load of wood to burn down more before throwing more logs on the fire. One of the best things I have learned on this site is that if you throw more wood on a fire that is roaring it will spike almost uncontrollably...wait for the burn to be on the downswing before re-loading.

 

[katwillny]

I hear you ekgeek, I have the same stove and i have the same problem. The stove is in our bedroom and at times it gets so hot hat i have to open a window. The problem with doing that is, that like you said, the fire burns rather quickly in a matter of hours the fire is comsumed and that open window is bringing in cold air. There have been times that I wake up in the middle of the night freezing. Im hoping that this will be my last season with the Dutchwest.

 

[Burd]

I had the same problem with my napoleon insert. What I've learned from this site is if you reload your stove when its hot your dry wood will basically Explode . Your dry wood still has moisture in it. The hotter your stove is the faster that moister will escape. Moister is a gas the quicker it comes out of the log the hotter it gets and its out of control. Try and reload at lower temps. I now it sucks but it works. For and over night burn I let the temps drop to about 275 then reload.I have better control and longer over night burns that way. All stoves are differnt and so will your temps find your happy temp and go with it.
If you don't have a thermometer on your stove your burning blind. EPA stoves work great if you learn how to use them the right way

 

[BrotherBart]

OK Bart, Im sure you can answer this. As of when is A VC stove plate steel? I thought they were all cast. maybe there is something I dont know.

VC sold/sells the CFM/Century plate steel stoves under the Dutchwest name. In fact before they got bought they were slowly switching over to the Dutchwest name from the Century name.

Available for your viewing pleasure here:

(broken link removed to http://vermontcastings.com/content/products/productline.cfm?category=16&sc=33)

BTW: Supposedly Monessen has moved steel stove manufacturing up to Vermont in the last year but I haven't seen it confirmed yet.

 

[trailblaze]

i have the DW Med. non-cat cast stove.

i had to put a in pipe damper.... and made a "foil" blocker on the secondary air intake. it still gets HOT... but it is somewhat controllable.

 

[superduke]

I have a "CENTURY" plate steel stove in my basement, I have also installed a chimney dampener. This has definitely slowed the burn down. I am not saying I now have 6 hours of burn but at least I can now control the fire a bit better. Usually I load it up as much as possible, get it burning quite hot than damper it down with the chimney control than turn primary control to about 1/8 inch open and it seems to like it. Burn time is about 3-4 hours before reloading.