Secondary Combustion Best Practices in a VC Resolute Acclaim 0041

[DarrenC]

Scored a secondhand unused 1988 Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim (A steal at $350 Cdn). Has a secondary combustion (non-cat) which is new to me. Have been studying up on the forum and reading the manual but Im left with a few unanswered questions.

Basic info for those not familiar with the model. Secondary combustion is behind main the firebox at back of stove, intake is back bottom of firebox. With damper open, the firebox routes directly to flue. With damper closed, firebox routes down low into secondary and then up thru baffles and then up flue. secondary air is non-adjustable and the interior air holes are visible at that bottom hole between firebox and secondary chamber.

1. What happens if I run the secondary combustion at too low a temperature? I know the secondary combustion package is $$$ to replace so Im trying to be cautious. Id like the option of going to bed w secondary burn engaged but with the primary air turned down and i know eventually itll cool too much to be achieving secondary combustion. Is temporary creosote build up a problem? Do the secondary air holes have a tendency to clog?

2. How do I know that secondary combustion is happening? My understanding is that it starts at a certain temp and gets better at higher temps. A post on this forum made it sound like a higher temp on the back of the stove (i assume not in the middle because the secondary combustion baffles are closer to the edge) than on the griddle indicates secondary combustion is happening, but I just wanted to fact check that.

3. Are there any other tips for secondary combustion on this model that I should be aware of?

 

[blades]

I do not know the model per say. Secondary combustion occurs at around 1000? deg F burning the gases coming off the wood. In a perfect world there might not be any flames visible off the wood proper. If things get to cool the secondary burn will cease. The area will carbon up but generally a proper burn will clear that. Very important to have wood that is no more than 18% moisture content internally at room temperature. Vaporized moisture will kill the secondary burns as it cools thing down below the threshold of ignition. Back in the day some of the stoves had controls for combustion air on the secondaries. I have a small ( rated for 900 sq ft) forget the box size but I could get almost 8 Hours of burn from that unit in total. 2000 EPA regs killed secondary air controls. There are times when it really helps prolong the burn , like excessive draft from high winds, or extreme off gassing. So I manually variably block the secondary port . Even with that port completely blocked there is enough aux combustion air, generally from air wash ( unregulated also), to keep them going and extend burn time.