Hello! I found this site at the end of last winter when I was beginning to have problems with my VC Defiant 1610. Spring came and I forgot about my issues, but they have resurfaced again. I spent a night reading post after post and I am amazed with the knowledge and experience on the forum. I was hoping someone might be able to point me in a direction with the following problem....
I have a 3 year old VC Defiant Non-Catalytic Woodstove that my wife and I had been burning close to 24/7 from Nov-March. The chimney is a center chimney, with an 8x8 flue with an 8" thimble and 8" pipe from the oval connector. We are burning mainly 2 year old oak with some maple mixed in.
Our first two winters were great, never had an issue and we got 8-9 hr burn time without problem. Last year when closing the damper we sometimes had a small amount of smoke visible at the griddle area and other times just a smell of smoke, not visible.
This year the griddle smoke was more noticeble, so I replaced the gasket and it seems to have helped. The other night I came home, stove was burning 2+ days straight, and I would see a flash of flame and smoke would push out around the glass doors. This occurred every two minutes or so.
I was nervous and had the chimney cleaned, no major issues, and vaccummed out the stove and lit it up this morning. It is warm here, (about 45-50 today) but I let the fire get going real good (over 500 on a surface mount thermometer on top of stove) and closed the damper. Again I had an odor, no visible smoke. This evening the "explosion" of flame is back and the smoke is pushed out the glass doors.....
I am concerned because my chimney seems to be all set, I never had issues with stove prior to last year. Could something be wrong with the reburn smoke chamber? I also see little difference whether the primary air control is open or closed. (I leave it wide open all the time) Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I plan on contacting my dealer tomorrow to pick his brain, but I thought I'd check with the forum first.
Thanks for your time and an excellent website!
Pat
I have a 3 year old VC Defiant Non-Catalytic Woodstove that my wife and I had been burning close to 24/7 from Nov-March. The chimney is a center chimney, with an 8x8 flue with an 8" thimble and 8" pipe from the oval connector. We are burning mainly 2 year old oak with some maple mixed in.
Our first two winters were great, never had an issue and we got 8-9 hr burn time without problem. Last year when closing the damper we sometimes had a small amount of smoke visible at the griddle area and other times just a smell of smoke, not visible.
This year the griddle smoke was more noticeble, so I replaced the gasket and it seems to have helped. The other night I came home, stove was burning 2+ days straight, and I would see a flash of flame and smoke would push out around the glass doors. This occurred every two minutes or so.
I was nervous and had the chimney cleaned, no major issues, and vaccummed out the stove and lit it up this morning. It is warm here, (about 45-50 today) but I let the fire get going real good (over 500 on a surface mount thermometer on top of stove) and closed the damper. Again I had an odor, no visible smoke. This evening the "explosion" of flame is back and the smoke is pushed out the glass doors.....
I am concerned because my chimney seems to be all set, I never had issues with stove prior to last year. Could something be wrong with the reburn smoke chamber? I also see little difference whether the primary air control is open or closed. (I leave it wide open all the time) Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I plan on contacting my dealer tomorrow to pick his brain, but I thought I'd check with the forum first.
Thanks for your time and an excellent website!
Pat