EPA

[Resolute Hudson]

Hello every one,
I have a VC RESOLUTE stove. Inside the date is 1979 and on the back it states that it was tested in September 1980. Does anyone know if this stove is EPA certified?

 

[Old puffer]

Nope, it's an old puffer just like mine. The EPA didn't stick it nose in our business here till about 1988. Now they are doing it again 2015. If it is installed and working, there isn't much they can do about it.

 

[Resolute Hudson]

Hello every one,
I have a VC RESOLUTE stove. Inside the date is 1979 and on the back it states that it was tested in September 1980. Does anyone know if this stove is EPA certified?

Nope, it's an old puffer just like mine. The EPA didn't stick it nose in our business here till about 1988. Now they are doing it again 2015. If it is installed and working, there isn't much they can do about it.

Thanks for your response. I'm concerned because while I have had my stove professionally installed to local code and passed inspection, as well as cleaned yearly,I now have a neighbor complaining. I have had the stove for 6 years and the neighbor accross the street contacted the authorities to complain that smoke from my stove sneaks into her house and fills it,making her unable to breath. While I havent been told to stop burning wokd,I was concerned because I didn't think.it was EPA certified. Your response makes feel more comfortable. Thank you.

 

[Woody Stover]

My BIL has the same stove, we moved it to his basement and put the Fireview I sold him upstairs. You can burn the old smoke-bomber stoves somewhat clean, but you have to have flame in the box and you're going to chew through your wood like there's no tomorrow (I use about 1/2 the wood I did before.) I have to run about 600 degrees on the Resolute stove top before it starts getting somewhat clean. Or you can smolder it overnight, smoke out your neighbors, and deposit a bunch of creosote in your chimney, causing you to have to clean often or risk a chimney fire. With the newer stoves, I brush once a year at the end of the season and get less than a quart of crap, mostly from the top where the masonry chimney is exposed above the roof line. They will burn clean for 10-12 hrs (cat stoves.) It's up to us to clean up our act or the government will step in, like it has in several localities with burn bans, etc. A lot of the reason we get bad press is from old outside wood burners, those things are a mess. The newer OWBs aren't as bad. Then there are those who burn wet wood so can't burn a stove clean, be it new or old.

 

[Woody Stover]

You can find a clean burner (a cat stove or a tube stove) on craigslist, in good condition and for cheap, if you spend some time. I picked up the Buck 91, a $3000 stove new, for $1000, four years old. Go for something mid-90s or later, when they started getting the hang of making the new stoves. You can find a 'value' tube stove for a few hundred. Can buy one new for less than $1000. You'll save that much in wood costs (or work if you get your own like I do) in a few years.

 

[Old puffer]

Another reason why I moved out of the Poconos. You now have to be worried about offending your neighbors even though you lived there first and it is perfectly legal to do what you are doing. The Poconos that used to be is long dead and gone. Really, how long have they lived there and where did they move in from. I already know the answer, I just need a good laugh.

Keep on burning!

 

[Resolute Hudson]

Another reason why I moved out of the Poconos. You now have to be worried about offending your neighbors even though you lived there first and it is perfectly legal to do what you are doing. The Poconos that used to be is long dead and gone. Really, how long have they lived there and where did they move in from. I already know the answer, I just need a good laugh.

Keep on burning!

 

[Resolute Hudson]

Actually my neighbors were there since I bought my house in 1989 and never ever complained. I am a responsible citizen and only burn seasoned wood. I have used the same dealer for the past 6 years. In addition,the same person who installed it cleans it every year and there is minimal dirt because of the way I burn.

 

[Resolute Hudson]

You can find a clean burner (a cat stove or a tube stove) on craigslist, in good condition and for cheap, if you spend some time. I picked up the Buck 91, a $3000 stove new, for $1000, four years old. Go for something mid-90s or later, when they started getting the hang of making the new stoves. You can find a 'value' tube stove for a few hundred. Can buy one new for less than $1000. You'll save that much in wood costs (or work if you get your own like I do) in a few years.

 

[Resolute Hudson]

Actally,I don't smoke out any neighbors because I only else seasoned wood and follow proper burning guidelines. Noone has ever,ever complained,not even next door neighbors. The neighbors complaints have to do with something else. I just needed to know if my stove was certified by the EPA and if it was a stove. I would love to get a newer more efficient model. But jot able to do so right now. Thanks for your response.

 

[Old puffer]

You have an old stove. If there are no local zoning or ordinances saying you can not use it, then you can heat your home by any means you feel you can afford.

And right now, I can only afford my Intrepid. Maybe your neighbor can start a go fund me page so you can get a stove with a catalytic?

 

[Resolute Hudson]

You have an old stove. If there are no local zoning or ordinances saying you can not use it, then you can heat your home by any means you feel you can afford.

And right now, I can only afford my Intrepid. Maybe your neighbor can start a go fund me page so you can get a stove with a catalytic?

 

[Resolute Hudson]

That's funny..... I wish I could afford a newer one,but a Go fund me would be a great idea. Lol. By the way,thank you for your support.

 

[begreen]

Although not EPA certified the original Resolute was a decent small heater with a basic secondary burn system. We loved ours. The Resolute Acclaim that replaced it was not a stellar product. It became the poster child for high maintenance VC stoves.

 

[Woody Stover]

Although not EPA certified the original Resolute was a decent small heater with a basic secondary burn system. We loved ours.

It is a gorgeous little stove and built like a tank. I played with that 'horizontal burn' thing a bit at my BIL's but never ran the stove and watched the stack enough to figure out if it actually did anything. From the manual, I understand it was an early attempt to make the stove a bit cleaner. Could you tell a difference? How did you run it?

I wish I could afford a newer one....By the way,thank you for your support.

My writing style can be a bit over-dramatic when I'm trying to get a point across. I was just trying to lay out the advantages of the new re-burn stoves in case you weren't aware of them. Hopefully it wasn't taken the wrong way. I burned an old Englander 24 for years. It was a cigar-burn, step-top, radiant plate-steel stove. It also had an early attempt at a cleaner burn, with a steel plate in the top/rear of the box that was supposed to circulate the smoke back to the fire for more complete burning. Since that was before I got "dry-wood religion," I was smokin' out the 'hood trying to burn dead Read Oak that had only been stacked 3-6 months. Uhhhh, no, not dry yet. I got the Dutchwest used for 300 bucks but didn't know much about cat stoves, didn't even know about tube stoves, just thought there had to be something better. Pretty much the same results (cold house in the morning) until I started getting my wood drier. We have no backup heat so I've stuck with the cat stoves for the long burns that can still have this leaky old house warm half a day later. There are a lot of people burning the old stoves with wet wood, and don't know there's a better way (I was one.) It sounds like you and the old puffin' man know what you are doing. I don't begrudge anyone running whatever stove they want; Like puffer said, it's legal after all. We just need some way to get the word out so everyone is burning as clean as possible, no matter what stove they run.
Hey, another advantage to the new stoves is they have a window! It's a lot harder without one to tell what the stove is doing, and I like seeing the fire, too. I couldn't go back to no window now, it would be like trying to drive with a blindfold on. I figured it was pointless to replace the windows on the Resolute, since they probably get blacked over quick, so just left the steel covers in place.
As I said, you can upgrade your stove for pretty cheap, maybe for nothing if you buy used, since you can get some money for the old VC stoves. My SIL got her Fireview for 350, and BIL got that old Resolute III for 300. Granted, the Fireview had been over-fired (she didn't consult me before buying, but she's an artist and liked the look of it.) The owners had just moved in, and wanted the stove gone. Luckily, I was able to get the stove running decently without a lot of cash outlay (Woodstock parts are cheap!)

 

[begreen]

I ran our stove by the manual instructions. Open the thermostat, get a nice coal bed established, load in the wood, wait for it to get up to temp, close the bypass, Set the thermostat to close when room is comfortable. With fully seasoned dry wood the stove burned pretty cleanly.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I ran our stove by the manual instructions. Open the thermostat, get a nice coal bed established, load in the wood, wait for it to get up to temp, close the bypass, Set the thermostat to close when room is comfortable. With fully seasoned dry wood the stove burned pretty cleanly.

I agree about the Resolute, begreen. I clean the chimney that the Resolute is hooked up to at my folks house every year, and have for the last 25 years, and there is not much creosote collected at the bottom when I am done. It does smoke a bit more than the new epa stove, but I loved that stove when I lived there.

 

[Woody Stover]

Open the thermostat, get a nice coal bed established, load in the wood, wait for it to get up to temp, close the bypass, Set the thermostat to close when room is comfortable. With fully seasoned dry wood the stove burned pretty cleanly.

Did you mess with the cross-flow "horizontal burn" air control (lower left side of the stove) at all? I'm just wondering if there's a balance between that air port and the primary air that would give a cleaner burn at various burns. I'd have to run the stove quite a bit to try to figure all that out...

I clean the chimney that the Resolute is hooked up to at my folks house every year, and have for the last 25 years, and there is not much creosote collected at the bottom when I am done.

Yep, very little creo when I swept it last year, it woulda fit in the palm of one hand. He doesn't run that stove 24/7 though.

 

[begreen]

I ran the stove with the secondary port open. Never experimented with it much, this was a couple decades before hearth.com.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I ran our stove by the manual instructions. Open the thermostat, get a nice coal bed established, load in the wood, wait for it to get up to temp, close the bypass, Set the thermostat to close when room is comfortable. With fully seasoned dry wood the stove burned pretty cleanly.

Where is the thermostat you refer to, begreen?

I thought you might have been referring to the secondary air port that Woody asked about, until you replied that you didn't experiment with it in #19. I'm talking about the stainless flap that tilts open and closed on the back left, has a thin stainless lever (points mostly vertical) that can be adjusted manually but it also closes some automatically when it gets hot, and has a chain attached to it that I think controls the amount of air. Maybe this old dog has some new tricks. Or maybe I'm not remembering something.

 

[Woody Stover]

Where is the thermostat you refer to, begreen? ... I'm talking about the stainless flap that tilts open and closed on the back left, has a thin stainless lever (points mostly vertical) that can be adjusted manually but it also closes some automatically when it gets hot, and has a chain attached to it that I think controls the amount of air.

Right. There's a box where the lever attaches which contains a bi-metallic thermostatic coil; That's what pulls the flap open, or lets it close.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Right. There's a box where the lever attaches which contains a bi-metallic thermostatic coil; That's what pulls the flap open, or lets it close.

Thanks Woody. Now that I am thinking harder, is there a round port that can be opened and closed by way of a pivoting casting, and that's what you referred to in #18? I don't remember ever messing with that. You have any thoughts on how to employ that?

 

[Woody Stover]

is there a round port that can be opened and closed by way of a pivoting casting, and that's what you referred to in #18? I don't remember ever messing with that. You have any thoughts on how to employ that?

Not really, that's why I asked begreen if he had sussed it out. I know that when the bypass is closed, the smoke exits through a slotted casting inside the lower right side and probably pulls a bit more heat off the exhaust. The idea was to pull the smoke low across the flames to re-burn it. The flapper air (correct me if I'm wrong, anyone) went into a channel that fed it at the level of the coal bed, through a casting with a series of holes. The pivot casting air enters low on the left side at the level of the coal bed. [I might have that reversed on which air fed the casting with the holes.] I was wondering if anyone had figured out how these two air controls worked in tandem, to maybe give a cleaner burn?

 

[TheAardvark]

Its not your fault their house is poorly sealed and insulated.

 

[begreen]

Thanks Woody. Now that I am thinking harder, is there a round port that can be opened and closed by way of a pivoting casting, and that's what you referred to in #18? I don't remember ever messing with that. You have any thoughts on how to employ that?

Do you have the manual for the stove? VC explains when and how to use the secondary port and thermostat. We left the secondary open all the time for our normal burning because we never did long burns in the updraft mode (bypass open).

The manual in three parts is located here. It covers all 4 original VC stoves.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/vermont-castings-older-stove-models/