Everburning!

[schortie]

For the second night in a row the everburn is burning. NO EMISSIONS, no stress, no trips to the yard with a flashlight - only peace and warmth.

I'm fairly confident that the cooler temps and packing the box full helped quite a bit. Not to mention all you folks out there.

After reading all of the posts and gripes about everburn, and Vermont Castings - both quality and service - I was pretty scared that we bought an expensive, pretty-looking, iron paperweight. I have to say that the folks that sold us our stove, Chelsea Lumber, as well as the VC (or CFM) rep. were very helpful and eager to help. The rep. actually wanted to come out and take a look at the stove after one call! He was also very informed about the functioning of the stove. That sounds like good folks to me.

 

[CTBurner]

Good to hear its going good for you, I too am burning a new vc everburn and it works great

 

[Diabel]

Glad to hear!

 

[Brian VT]

Everburning here too. I'm gonna need to trade my pants for shorts in a few minutes.
Hmmm....maybe a marguerita too. Sit in front of the fire with my sunglasses on. lol

 

[Valhalla]

More happy Vermont Castings owners! I'm proud to say I am a repeat and very pleased VC customer.

Now that the VC brand ownership is now by MHSC, their leadership and business improvement should follow to Vermont Castings.

See the link on a video of MHSC in Kentucky at: http://www.mhsc.com/monessen_tour.html

Any of the past grousing about VC during the years while in CFM, should be over.

Enjoy your Vermont Castings stoves! Everburn!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Happy to hear all is well schortie.

 

[titan]

Congrats!I've always felt that the Defiant was one of the best looking stoves out there.

 

[Northern NH Mike]

The Everburn on our Encore has been purring along now that the temps have fallen again her in NH. Those ghostly pale orange and blue flames are pretty addicting to watch.

 

[trailblaze]

i too get some nice everburn rumbles....

stove has been working great so far.... it'll be a shorts and t-shirt winter this year

 

[zeph21]

I have been reading every post I can find about the Vermont Casting Encore NC stoves and Everburn. I am knew to woodburning and am very frustrated with my stove. I have yet to heat the room that it is in higher than 65 degrees. Well once it got up to 70, but then I found out that the ash pan hadn't been completely latched tight. I have heard the Everburn rumble a few times, so I know what I am listening for, but have not gotten the everburn in over a week. At night, I load the stove and at 2:30 in the morning I check on it and all there is are hot coals. I called VC and he told me to get the temp on the griddle to over 500 before closing the damper and to leave the air open. It has been at 500 degrees for hours today and we are at a balmy 62 degrees! I feel like I am using a lot of fire wood and getting NO HEAT. I don't even mind having to babysit a stove and work for it (I now know that VC non-cats are not the easiest to use) but I would at least like to be warm.

I have a horizontal vent and all my chimeny pipes are insullated. When i begin i put a lot of kindling on the stove and let it burn, slowly adding bigger and bigger pieces of wood, (it takes over an hour to reach 500) once the temp on the griddle is over 500, I close the damper and leave the air open. - no rumble. With in 2 hours my logs are down to coals and I feel like I have to start the process over again.

Any help. Is it my wood? It seems very hard and seasoned to me. I called a local fire shop and asked them where they got there wood from and used the same guy. Any advice?

 

[ICY99]

Set up a fan on a stool or somewhere close by and have it blow over the stove. It will greatly increase the heat transfer into your house. Remember, you must have a nice bet of coals before you close the damper. I was getting consistent everburning when closing the damper at 450 stovetop. Your problem could be the type of wood and size (keep experimenting with that)

 

[schortie]

I have been reading every post I can find about the Vermont Casting Encore NC stoves and Everburn. I am knew to woodburning and am very frustrated with my stove. I have yet to heat the room that it is in higher than 65 degrees. Well once it got up to 70, but then I found out that the ash pan hadn't been completely latched tight. I have heard the Everburn rumble a few times, so I know what I am listening for, but have not gotten the everburn in over a week. At night, I load the stove and at 2:30 in the morning I check on it and all there is are hot coals. I called VC and he told me to get the temp on the griddle to over 500 before closing the damper and to leave the air open. It has been at 500 degrees for hours today and we are at a balmy 62 degrees! I feel like I am using a lot of fire wood and getting NO HEAT. I don't even mind having to babysit a stove and work for it (I now know that VC non-cats are not the easiest to use) but I would at least like to be warm.

I have a horizontal vent and all my chimeny pipes are insullated. When i begin i put a lot of kindling on the stove and let it burn, slowly adding bigger and bigger pieces of wood, (it takes over an hour to reach 500) once the temp on the griddle is over 500, I close the damper and leave the air open. - no rumble. With in 2 hours my logs are down to coals and I feel like I have to start the process over again.

Any help. Is it my wood? It seems very hard and seasoned to me. I called a local fire shop and asked them where they got there wood from and used the same guy. Any advice?

If it's taking you an hour to get to 500, it sounds like your wood is marginal. If you have a coal bed and the stove is already warm and it still takes an hour to get to 500, there is no question. If you're starting with a cold stove and attempting to build a coal bed, try using 6-7 smaller splits of 1-2" over your paper and kindling. Once it gets raging, add 2-3 larger (3-4") splits and burn down to coals. All of this is with the damper open and air open 75-100%.


I'm not certain that I can offer anything beyond what you have already read about everburn, but I urge you to view tradergordo's videos. I know I learned a lot from them. I have personally found success by making a trough in the coals in the center of the stove front to back. Then I lay smaller splits east / west across the trough. It's important to put the first split as close as it can get to the throat of the refractory without touching it. Be certain there is space through the coals below the split for the air to move through the trough to the refractory throat. Then I make another layer of larger splits on top of the smaller ones. I look to see that I can see the bottom back of the stove through the trough under the wood. I leave the damper open until the fire is going strong and the wood is charred ~10mins. Then I close the damper and hope to hear the rumble. If not, open the damper and heat up the stove a little more and try again. If you don't have enough coals to make the trough, your coal bed is probably not deep enough to engage everburn successfully. Certainly other folks may have different experiences or gimmicks, but this has worked for me - usually.

Good luck.

 

[BJ64]

Good news is always welcome!

As for zeph21's problems - if his wood is fine then what could be wrong with his draft?

The matter with the ash pan makes me wonder about that.

 

[Valhalla]

Maximum output and a long burn is dependent on the fuel type and it's quality. I typically have a few hours on maple but almost 6-7+ on well seasoned red oak. How the wood is loaded, it's quality and the hot coal bed below determines the transition to everburn.

See also the three Environment Canada videos about stoves and such. They are many excellent general tips for every wood burner. The link is below and the videos are at the bottom of the web page:

http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/default.asp?lang=En&n=50E7D551-1

Back to your VC stove, keep it sealed, coals hot and understand how well seasoned fuel can greatly affect the burn and heat output. Also some patience is needed on the cold start of any cast iron stove for the time needed to first bring it up to temperature and then build a coal bed. If I burn 24/7, I am careful not to loose the good coal bed, as it is critical.

Good luck, burn safely and wisely.