Hesitation about a Vermont Casting Encore Cat Stove

[Dirtysturty]

Hi,

First off, sorry If I posted this to the wrong section. I just joined and can move this if needed.

My wife and I are having a stove installed into our existing fireplace either this winter or next winter. We got talked into a VC Encore 2040 Cat stove, but after doing some research I'm very hesitant of the company and reliability for longer burns.

If anyone has any experience with this stove I'd love to get some feedback. We need a rear vented stove, for a 1800 sqft colonial home. I originally was looking at a hearthstone Shelburne, but due to back orders and what the stove installer had in we decided on the Encore.

We would prefer a stove that could be used daily for a secondary heat source this winter and possibly primary heating in the future.

Thanks for any input!

 

[jalmondale]

Check out the 'Ratings' tab - I found that very useful when I was researching my stove. It looks like there's a few dozen reviews for the VC Encore, which should give you a good sense of how people feel about it.

One quick thought, if you're planning to burn this winter as in the next couple months: do you have a supply of seasoned hardwood? That can be hard to come by, as even stuff that's marketed as "seasoned" may have a very high moisture content.

 

[Diabel]

With rear vented set up your stove options are very few. VC stoves are very complicated with many moving parts that once/if fail are very expensive to replace. There is a dedicated VC thread here that will provide tons on information for you.
Welcome to the forum. And yes fuel (firewood) is the number one ingredient when it comes to proper/happy burning.

 

[John B]

I have run the old model Encores for a very long time. They are great heaters if you know how to run them effectively. I haven't used the newer versions with the flexburn but I would love to try one at some point. Certainly, they arent as simple or easy to work on as other brands (Woodstock for example being one of the most user friendly), but the old models have proven to be very durable burners for me.

In general, check out the Woodstock Soapstone line of stoves. They definitely have rear vent options that might work.