Mo's VC WWL

[Mo Heat]

Mo's Vermont Castings Winter Warm Large (catalytic wood burning insert)...
...and what's left of Babe, a wild Florida boar.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Mo,

I don't know about a bright white light, but what's that weird blue light emmanating in from the outside? Strange.

Also, how about straightening up that pile of wood in the left and sweeping off that hearth!

 

[Mo Heat]

The blue light is created each time the alien space ship takes off or lands. They are always coming and going here.

Eric, Is that you doing a plunge cut on that monster tree (oak)? Good God that's a big one!

 

[Eric Johnson]

No Mo, that's not me but I did take the picture. That's a logger down in Pennsylvania cutting a $7,000 veneer-grade black cherry on state land. The picture is deceiving--that's the biggest saw Husqvarna makes and the huge tree dwarfs both the logger and his saw. If you want to get technical, the log was 38 inches in diameter at the small end and 24 feet long and measured out at about 1,300 board feet. This photo was on the cover of the magazine I edit, The Northern Logger, October issue.

 

[Corie]

Mo, i'm tired of the same photo!


Let us see some pictures with that sucker burning and that cat blazing!

 

[Mo Heat]

Mo how do you like the winter warm large? Did you have any problems installing it and who's liner are you using?
Also did you use the hook method of connecting the stove to the liner described in the manual? If you had to do over again would you go the same route?
I know questions, question and more questions but I'm giong to put in an insert and I'm asking every one I know about their setup.

Thanks,
Steve

I'm burning the WWL hotter now, and am a bit happier with it. It's taken me a full burning season and nearly 4 (real) cords of wood to learn to burn. I've still got door sealing issues, but I'm hoping my first door gasket change using over-sized gasket will improve things.

I think the liner is Elmer's SS (~ 15' straight) with a flex piece from the bottom of that, through the damper, and onto an adapter that connects it to the flue collar.

What's the 'hook method'. I searched my online manual for 'hook' and drew a blank.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably get a different stove, although this thing is growing on me. I was seduced by the physical appearance of the cast iron lattice surrounds. I knew not of catalysts when I bought it. Nor of the flashier fireworks of non-cat stoves. If you don't enjoy fiddling with mechanical stuff, I'd skip this stove. It's 'old school' design and suffering from aging assembly techniques (or something). Remember, this stove was designed back in the early nineties IIRC. That's pretty old in stove years.

Still, if it doesn't start breaking down on me, I'll be happy enough. I have my fingers crossed. My next stove will likely be a non-cat model (Edit 3/06: "Maybe not. The cat is really growing on me."), but I think it is nice that I experienced the cat stove before they go extinct. Like riding the last Tyrannasaurus. Same as when I bought a land barge way back in 19 ot 78. Interesting life experience. Even worth the pain, with all the trade-offs, but I wouldn't do it again (Edit 3/06: I just might buy another cat after all. .

When fired up for a couple hours, it can easily heat the embarrassingly large room it's in. I only throw in a couple splits at a time to keep the digital probe cat thermometer between 750*F and 1750*F while leaving the primary air wide open. I have to regulate the burn with the wood load until I get the door sealing better. I suspect I spend a bit more time tending, and at more frequent intervals, than someone who owns a different stove. I've got the time and don't burn 24/7 so it's ok for me. The cat is just too complex for me to trust Mrs. Mo Heat with the firing, but she is self described as mechanically challenged.

 

[Mo Heat]

Mo, i'm tired of the same photo!


Let us see some pictures with that sucker burning and that cat blazing!

Me too. No digital camera, though. Maybe soon. I'm not an early adopting consumer. Unfortunately, our flat bed scanner bit the big one at the same time my film camera lost its mind. So for now, no new photos from Mo.

 

[Corie]

Ugh, Mo, you're killing my inner pyro chi. Do you live on the Main line? I'll take pictures in exchange for a glass of scotch and a good conversation

 

[Mo Heat]

Ugh, Mo, you're killing my inner pyro chi. Do you live on the Main line? I'll take pictures in exchange for a glass of scotch and a good conversation

Huh? Main line? What's that?

My occasionally thoughtful brother-in-law visited Scotland a few whiles back. He brought me a bottle of 10 yr old Tomintoul Speyside single malt scotch from the little place that makes it. You're welcome to a glass if you can find me. I never cared much for the stuff myself. Like drinking lighter fluid. :ahhh:

 

[webbie]

Ugh, Mo, you're killing my inner pyro chi. Do you live on the Main line? I'll take pictures in exchange for a glass of scotch and a good conversation

I'm a Main Line man myself - Lower Merion High School and all.....

Mo, the Main Line is the Main Line of the Paoli, PA RR tracks (from Phila), which cross through some of the wealthiest and most elegant burbs in the country....villanova, bryn mawr, merion, etc. etc.

 

[Corie]

Ugh, Mo, you're killing my inner pyro chi. Do you live on the Main line? I'll take pictures in exchange for a glass of scotch and a good conversation

I'm a Main Line man myself - Lower Merion High School and all.....

Mo, the Main Line is the Main Line of the Paoli, PA RR tracks (from Phila), which cross through some of the wealthiest and most elegant burbs in the country....villanova, bryn mawr, merion, etc. etc.

Speaking of lower merion craig, do you sell a lot of your chimney toppers to people there? It seemed like I saw a million of your products today while I was driving home from school. I thought maybe you had the favor of your hometown crowd

 

[Mo Heat]

Ugh, Mo, you're killing my inner pyro chi. Do you live on the Main line? I'll take pictures in exchange for a glass of scotch and a good conversation

I'm a Main Line man myself - Lower Merion High School and all.....

Mo, the Main Line is the Main Line of the Paoli, PA RR tracks (from Phila), which cross through some of the wealthiest and most elegant burbs in the country....villanova, bryn mawr, merion, etc. etc.

Guess I'm not on the 'Main Line' as I live in Missouri. Didn't go to high school there either (or Missouri for that matter). BUT! while the Shreveport, Louisiana high school I attended was modest in wealth, we were rich in other things. We had quite the football and basketball team. You may have heard of a few of our better known players: Terry Bradshaw (Pittsburg Steelers), Joe Ferguson (Buffalo Bills), Robert Parish (Dallas Mavericks). We also adopted Pistol Pete Maravich. One of my PE coaches was an ex-Globe Trotter. That guy could 'kick' the net and throw a basketball over his shoulder, at half court, BACKWARDS, and pop the net without looking! One of my other coaches was a semi-pro football guy that could kick a football nearly out of sight.

Hey Corey, you ride one of them HD rolling vibrators?

 

[Corie]

Hey Corey, you ride one of them HD rolling vibrators?

You better believe I do. I just put her to bed for the winter last weekend though. I know you ride Mo, but are you a harley rider as well?

 

[Mo Heat]

Hey Corey, you ride one of them HD rolling vibrators?

You better believe I do. I just put her to bed for the winter last weekend though. I know you ride Mo, but are you a harley rider as well?

Hey Corie. No, I ride a 19 ot 78 BMW. Bought it spankin' new. Will last me a lifetime. Simple, smooth, reliable. Nothing like my VC WWL, which is kind of like the Harley Davidson of the wood stove world.

My first motorcycle was a 1966 2-stroke, Harley M-50 (Italian made). Strange little ride with a 3-speed, hand shifter, but wild fun in a moderately low traffic Louisiana town. It maxed out at 75mph with me and my brother aboard. My second ride was a 1967 Honda 125cc street bike. Not surprisingly, I received my first citation on it, and met my first judge, at the nearly ripe and unlicensed age of 13. I went on to a 1968 Honda 350cc Scrambler, a 1976 Yamaha 500cc twin (with OHC, counter balanced crank and leaky head gasket , and finally to my 1978 BMW R100/7 Special (1000cc) that I (rarely) ride today amongst all the 4-wheel, cell phone distracted, road vermin.

I was biased against Harley's from seeing my 1970's buddies getting wind burned, saddle sore, and knuckle busted with their Harley's while I rode around the country (at least a few places) in relative comfort without having to worry about stopping for gas every 100 miles, or to get the feeling back into my hands and butt. I guess Harley's have probably come a long way since the seventies, but it's too late for Mo.

 

[OldSnipe]

Mo,

Is that Elsie the cow hanging over the fireplace. I always wondered what happened to her.

TT

 

[Mo Heat]

Mo,

Is that Elsie the cow hanging over the fireplace. I always wondered what happened to her.

TT

No. It's her cousin, Babe. Different teet size and configuration.