I think down to 300 but I put wood in and climbed to 600 in minutes and from there steadily climbed, I was pretty happy with how cat operated. Climbed to 1500 briefly at peaked then settled btwn 11-12 for while then settled again at 900 for long time then slowly dropped. Stove top took bout an hr to get to 400 then slowly climbed to 750, stayed for good half hour then settled round 600. This is with air and damper closed entire time. That’s what bothers me if it would have kept climbing which I think it would of with more wood I had no way to slow it.
Encore 2040 cat c overheat
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Once cat peaks at 12-1500 then starts slowly falling is it your understanding that it is stalled or you consider it to still be workin till it gets below the 600 or so mark
The VC manuals mention overfiring may be due to just having too much wood in the stove. Too me that says don't load it up too the gills and expect it to run as designed for. But that just my interpretation of it. I think half full is what's intended at least by VC for it to run well other factors not withstanding.
Both stt and cat are rising to peak temps, open bypass stove rises more, that’s the issue.
If the cat gets up to 1500 it's lit as I understand it. A stall would happen in the 600s. Above I think 800 you have it engaged. To the best of my understanding. At some point the cat temp has to be irrelevant as it falls back down. There can't be much left to burn
I load mine all the way. In theory couldn't you overfire two ways, too much fuel or too much air? So even at a half load of wood too much air could cause an overfire. The one time I had a bad overfire the air got opened all the way on a full load of wood. But at lower air levels a full load shouldn't overfire. But I think every stove and set up will differ slightly changing these variables.
If you open the bypass the cat temp would drop and then if you close the air the STT has to drop.
IM also having a hard time controlling my new Encore 2040 Cat stove. I’ve followed instructions to a T. I have noticed my griddle is not sealing, with a flashlight from the inside of the stove i can see light coming out from several spots. My griddle has also started to blacken slightly. I’m back in forth with Manual and Dealer. Manual says keep thermometer on griddle but the dealer insist that it be kept on left corner of stovetop not griddle. I cant load very much wood due to stove getting really hot,
I have a sneaking suspicion we have the same dealer, I'm in Stratham. I moved my thermometer to the griddle.
How hot does the stove get?
The goal should be to get a bed of coals as quickly as possible then load the stove, close the damper, gradually cut the air back as the cat gets up to temp. Damper closed will keep stove temp down. On reload tonight my cat went up to 1000 and stove temp is 250 right now on the griddle. And my stove is loaded all the way up
I cant load my stove up much or it goes nuclear, griddle temps easily reach and stay at 700 and cat pegs outside of the
operate cat grey zone. I did notice that the griddle gasket is applied poorly. With a flashlight in side the stove i can see light coming
out from several spot. The front doors are also adjusted to the max but appears its pulling air through door gasket with a smoke test. I can also hold a lighter at the flue collar and it will suck the flame up. All these leaks add up, ill need to make another call in then morning. Hopefully I didn’t get a lemon.
operate cat grey zone. I did notice that the griddle gasket is applied poorly. With a flashlight in side the stove i can see light coming
out from several spot. The front doors are also adjusted to the max but appears its pulling air through door gasket with a smoke test. I can also hold a lighter at the flue collar and it will suck the flame up. All these leaks add up, ill need to make another call in then morning. Hopefully I didn’t get a lemon.
Yeah thats not supposed to happen. That would explain why the stove keeps overfiring. That is lots of extra air.
You should definitely consider adding a digital cat thermometer. Makes it so much easier than the one the stove comes with.
I’ve been looking at the Auber AT100 but couldn’t find any info about installing it. I have the probe that came with the stove currently.
Super easy to install. 10 min job. I posted some pics somewhere of the install. If you decide to pull the trigger just message me I can walk you through it
Before anything else is addressed all those leaks should be resolved. That will make a night and day difference in and of itself. The AT should be installed by all means, super easy but may need to open the hole some where the factory probe is/was and fab a new bracket.
OK great, Ill Start with getting all the leaks taken care of. Would love to connect and compare stoves. Can’t seem to get it close to being dialed in. Hoping fixing the leaks will help. not sure if posting my # is allowed, But I’m Curtis Tree Care In Exeter. Would love to compare notes over the phone.
It's not a lemon, it's a vermont castings.
The gasket material they used is too small honestly. The griddle one is way too small. The door ones...eh...they need to be beefier. They seem so smashed and lifeless, and this is on my new stove. Also you didnt mention how tall your pipe was to the top of the chimney from the flue collar on the stove. Also if you are getting it to overfire with the air control on the lowest setting and primary closed....I had the same issue - just move the 'thermostatic control handle(LOL)' back and forth a few times. It gets stuck sometimes. Ok, more than sometimes. It's pure hot garbage but you get the point.
That said though, you are going to get smoke being able to get sucked into the stove at various points. The gaskets do not make them completely air tight.
Wait till you get a puff back and see how non air tight they are. Ever heard the phrase F around and find out? Well, you can probably do this at stove startup whereas you have a ton of smoke pouring out into the little 6" flue that is even further reduced using a dbl wall stove adapter but I digress. Move the air control to the lowest setting quickly while your kindling fire is started but still super smoky, WITH the door closed, then switch it back to the highest setting quickly. Smoke will PUFF out from every opening. It's a blast. Or just simply start off with a weak draft and start a smoky newspaper laden kindling fire with the door closed. You'll see what im talking about
I was convinced to buy the cat. Because (list 50 reasons why the stove isnt crap). SO I did, and it still is a PITA to operate....so I removed the cat and plan to use it for 'shoulder' seasons whereas I must burn at lower temps and dont want as much creosote in the pipe.
I now operate solely on STT and feel. STT only tells you so much. When you feel those sides are really putting off the heat, and STT is rocking at around 475-550, that's where she likes to sit. If the sides are putting off mega heat and yet the STT is where it 'should' be, just let it burn longer like this or raise up the air control ONE notch.
Ive found that 4-5 medium splits added to a nice bed of coals, then you leave the primary open and the air control open until that group of splits catches nicely, is the ONLY way to operate this stove. Switch it to secondary at that point and make sure your air control is about 4 clicks from the highest setting. If you want to load it up full and not have to load wood for as long as possible, well....good luck. I finally realized 1. VC lied, this stove is not meant to have long burn times unless you enjoy babysitting a stove endlessly and still having an overfire 1 hour and smoldering black glass a few hours later. 2. The stove can actually somewhat work ok if you run it in a manner that IT wants, not what you want.
Keep that air control about mid way at all times. If you try to lower it, your glass will be black and your pipe will be full of creosote. If you go any higher....plan to babysit it, because when you see the STT rising fairly quickly you need to be there to shut it down. And DO NOT listen to people that say "well just do it one click at a time and wait 10 minutes". ERROR BUZZER: WRONG. You will overheat your stove. Lower it in 1/3 increments and wait 5 minutes MAX. So in other words if you are freezing and the stove has a nice bed of coals and fairly well burnt wood, if you raise it all the way up...you will overheat the stove if you walk away. If you lower it 1 click every 10 minutes, your hair will turn gray...fall out, and your wife will ask what that smell is. By then your stove will be mad at you and will punish you. Lower it 1/3 of the way, wait 5 minutes max and make sure the STT stops rising fast and stabilizes before stepping away from the stove for more than a couple of minutes.
^ all of this is after the stove has gotten going. You will need to figure out what works best for you until you build up that nice bed of coals.
My glass is about 5/6 clear, my bricks are their natural color except the very tops of the bricks/iron, the gaskets dont have chalky goo all over them. This is the way.
Hahahaha you Nailed it….I’ve ate smoke a few times already doing exactly what you said…I’m 17 feet of pipe from flue collar to top . It’s like having a second job babysitting this stove. You are not kidding about the burn times! Nothing as advertised. I’ve got 20 years of wood burning experience, I'm struggling for sure. ill probably replace it next year. Hopefully new gaskets will help a little, they are definitely crap from the factory. I don’t understand why the griddle is turning color so much though, I’ve got the stove hot but not crazy for long periods. my griddle temps do get up to 700 sometimes but it settles back down. thanks for all the great info, I don’t feel so bad now, sounds like im not alone.It's not a lemon, it's a vermont castings.
The gasket material they used is too small honestly. The griddle one is way too small. The door ones...eh...they need to be beefier. They seem so smashed and lifeless, and this is on my new stove. Also you didnt mention how tall your pipe was to the top of the chimney from the flue collar on the stove. Also if you are getting it to overfire with the air control on the lowest setting and primary closed....I had the same issue - just move the 'thermostatic control handle(LOL)' back and forth a few times. It gets stuck sometimes. Ok, more than sometimes. It's pure hot garbage but you get the point.
That said though, you are going to get smoke being able to get sucked into the stove at various points. The gaskets do not make them completely air tight.
Wait till you get a puff back and see how non air tight they are. Ever heard the phrase F around and find out? Well, you can probably do this at stove startup whereas you have a ton of smoke pouring out into the little 6" flue that is even further reduced using a dbl wall stove adapter but I digress. Move the air control to the lowest setting quickly while your kindling fire is started but still super smoky, WITH the door closed, then switch it back to the highest setting quickly. Smoke will PUFF out from every opening. It's a blast. Or just simply start off with a weak draft and start a smoky newspaper laden kindling fire with the door closed. You'll see what im talking about
I was convinced to buy the cat. Because (list 50 reasons why the stove isnt crap). SO I did, and it still is a PITA to operate....so I removed the cat and plan to use it for 'shoulder' seasons whereas I must burn at lower temps and dont want as much creosote in the pipe.
I now operate solely on STT and feel. STT only tells you so much. When you feel those sides are really putting off the heat, and STT is rocking at around 475-550, that's where she likes to sit. If the sides are putting off mega heat and yet the STT is where it 'should' be, just let it burn longer like this or raise up the air control ONE notch.
Ive found that 4-5 medium splits added to a nice bed of coals, then you leave the primary open and the air control open until that group of splits catches nicely, is the ONLY way to operate this stove. Switch it to secondary at that point and make sure your air control is about 4 clicks from the highest setting. If you want to load it up full and not have to load wood for as long as possible, well....good luck. I finally realized 1. VC lied, this stove is not meant to have long burn times unless you enjoy babysitting a stove endlessly and still having an overfire 1 hour and smoldering black glass a few hours later. 2. The stove can actually somewhat work ok if you run it in a manner that IT wants, not what you want.
Keep that air control about mid way at all times. If you try to lower it, your glass will be black and your pipe will be full of creosote. If you go any higher....plan to babysit it, because when you see the STT rising fairly quickly you need to be there to shut it down. And DO NOT listen to people that say "well just do it one click at a time and wait 10 minutes". ERROR BUZZER: WRONG. You will overheat your stove. Lower it in 1/3 increments and wait 5 minutes MAX. So in other words if you are freezing and the stove has a nice bed of coals and fairly well burnt wood, if you raise it all the way up...you will overheat the stove if you walk away. If you lower it 1 click every 10 minutes, your hair will turn gray...fall out, and your wife will ask what that smell is. By then your stove will be mad at you and will punish you. Lower it 1/3 of the way, wait 5 minutes max and make sure the STT stops rising fast and stabilizes before stepping away from the stove for more than a couple of minutes.
^ all of this is after the stove has gotten going. You will need to figure out what works best for you until you build up that nice bed of coals.
My glass is about 5/6 clear, my bricks are their natural color except the very tops of the bricks/iron, the gaskets dont have chalky goo all over them. This is the way.
Definitely not alone, I think I’m gettin it dialed in but not gettin my hopes up.
I tightened door latch, which didn’t seem very loose but now tight as will go. Been goin good for probably 7-8 decent size fires. Haven’t had a lot of cold weather lately. Suppose to turn cold tomoro so plan to run it pretty hard consistently n hope for same results. It still goes to between 6-650 every time with damper closed and air all the way down but I’m ok with that if it don’t get any higher. Seems to be a little more under control. Do you get a peak around 600 or more every time you burn a decent load of wood. Like can you keep your stt around 450-500 for an entire burn or no?
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