Our Vermont Castings Defiant.

[kybishop]

Just joined the forum.

We are renovating the old home I grew up in. We have a Vermont Castings Defiant that dad put in back in the 1970's that has been a big part of our lives. I recently cleaned it out, replaced some gaskets and cleaned up and inspected the pipe and got her working again. She has been doing a great job this season.

I did however just notice a crack in the lower fireback wall. Looks like I will be doing a bit of a rebuild after this heating season comes to a close. We had this happen a good many years back having had the stove going on close to 40 years or so. We have the two piece fireback in the stove now.

Our furnace went out several weeks ago and this old stove kept the house warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing. It and a couple of Kerosene heaters. It is about 5,000 sf or so and the old part is just stone, no insulation. I have been keeping it about 55-60 degrees, comfortable to work in. It and the furnace will keep it warmer but just have not set it up higher to save on propane.

Looks like a great forum and a lot of great information.

Here is our blog on the home renovations. There are several entries associated with the old wood stove.

https://pennmarshallstonehouse.wordpress.com/

 

[fbelec]

welcome to the forum. nice work on your house. it's coming out beautiful love wood work. the defiant is a great stove but sounds like you need a second to heat the whole house.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Love the pics of the home and your boxer. I miss mine every day.

 

[kybishop]

welcome to the forum. nice work on your house. it's coming out beautiful love wood work. the defiant is a great stove but sounds like you need a second to heat the whole house.

Thanks, appreciate that. Lots of work and a lot more to do.

The defiant definitely puts out the heat. It keeps the family room warm and the third floor. It starts pushing down through the second floor but doesn't reach the first floor much in the old stone part. We have a propane forced air furnace and we can keep it at comfortable temps in the new part and upper floor.

There are 3 other fireplaces, 2 on the first floor and 1 on the second with another stove pipe opening on the second. We have thought about a second stove but probably a smaller one. Maybe a Jotul. Also plan to put in radiant floor heat on the entire first floor. We will see how far we get...

 

[kybishop]

Love the pics of the home and your boxer. I miss mine every day.

Thanks. Lots of work but lots of fun.

We love our boxers. Have had quite a few. We take them in when we can when folks no longer can keep them or want them. They are wonderful dogs.

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like your defiant is well matched to the place. Too many of them were bought and installed in homes with low heating loads and ended up idling all the time. I haven't used mine in several years but keep it ready to go for a power outage. I have heated my entire home with it in the past and compared to running my wood boiler off a generator I would much rather run the defiant.

 

[kybishop]

Looks like your defiant is well matched to the place. Too many of them were bought and installed in homes with low heating loads and ended up idling all the time. I haven't used mine in several years but keep it ready to go for a power outage. I have heated my entire home with it in the past and compared to running my wood boiler off a generator I would much rather run the defiant.

She definitely is a reliable old gal.

We live about 8 miles out of town at the end of a one lane road that floods from time to time. If we get flooded in and lose power it is nice having different heating options. A few of our "neighbors" have wood boilers including my brother. I have thought about it but not sure yet. Too many other things with the renovations at the moment. They are a very nice way to go though.