After about two months of running the T6, I really like this stove. I live in NH so its been very warm this fall/winter but its been a great learning experience with this stove. I replaced a very old defiant encore that was a PITA to run and not big enough for the house with the addition I built.
Goods/Bads -
Goods -
big stove with good fire view and pretty secondary.
I like the swing out trivets although I have not used them for gloves or anything yet since we've had no snow and not much real cold
I have not cooked on the top but will when we lose power.
easy to start and refuel
many hours later its easy to start a fire on the coals
Bads -
creaky/squeeky door when I open and close
no good ash system (not a big deal)
possible issues with secondary baffle when removed (I have not done this yet but have read bout it on this site)
Typically I run stovetop temps in the 550-700 range (checked with IR gun thingy (fun toy I use all the time now)) with the air turned almost all the way down. My wood is really split too small for this stove so I cant really "load" the stove fully or it will overfire; it tends to sort of self regulate quite well and not get too hot although I do think it would if I filled it with the smaller splits I have. Most of my splits for the old VC stove are in the 3-5" range which is what worked for that stove; my wood for next year is all split around 4-8" so I can load large and cut smaller when needed. I do have some Beach this year that I split big and I can put a few of those in the T6 this year and get long burns but the moisture on those is in the 25% range and I only have enough of those splits to put one or two in per day. Even without loading the stove to the top, 12 hours later I have enough coals to easily start another fire with just a couple pieces of kindling and small splits. That might change when cold sets in the draft increases but for now its impressive to me.
I checked the stove pipe and 6x10 clay chimney liner after 7 weeks of burning and found almost nothing in there which is fantastic compared to the old VC stove I had. There was some flake in the thimble and chimney but the stove pipe to thimble only had a layer of dust. Chimney was good as well. I was concerned about draft in my 6x10 clay flue but its been working great. I run about 3 feet from stove top to thimble with a strange offset configuration that requires two adjustable elbows to make work. from the thimble to top of chimney is about 20 feet, 10 feet or so of that is interior and the rest is above the roof.
This stove is great and I just wanted to put a few words down for anybody that was thinking about getting one. very highly recommend this stove. I'll post again after I take the baffle out and see if I have any problems with getting a seal again. There are several solutions to that problem on this site so I'm sure I'll be just fine making it work.
Goods/Bads -
Goods -
big stove with good fire view and pretty secondary.
I like the swing out trivets although I have not used them for gloves or anything yet since we've had no snow and not much real cold
I have not cooked on the top but will when we lose power.
easy to start and refuel
many hours later its easy to start a fire on the coals
Bads -
creaky/squeeky door when I open and close
no good ash system (not a big deal)
possible issues with secondary baffle when removed (I have not done this yet but have read bout it on this site)
Typically I run stovetop temps in the 550-700 range (checked with IR gun thingy (fun toy I use all the time now)) with the air turned almost all the way down. My wood is really split too small for this stove so I cant really "load" the stove fully or it will overfire; it tends to sort of self regulate quite well and not get too hot although I do think it would if I filled it with the smaller splits I have. Most of my splits for the old VC stove are in the 3-5" range which is what worked for that stove; my wood for next year is all split around 4-8" so I can load large and cut smaller when needed. I do have some Beach this year that I split big and I can put a few of those in the T6 this year and get long burns but the moisture on those is in the 25% range and I only have enough of those splits to put one or two in per day. Even without loading the stove to the top, 12 hours later I have enough coals to easily start another fire with just a couple pieces of kindling and small splits. That might change when cold sets in the draft increases but for now its impressive to me.
I checked the stove pipe and 6x10 clay chimney liner after 7 weeks of burning and found almost nothing in there which is fantastic compared to the old VC stove I had. There was some flake in the thimble and chimney but the stove pipe to thimble only had a layer of dust. Chimney was good as well. I was concerned about draft in my 6x10 clay flue but its been working great. I run about 3 feet from stove top to thimble with a strange offset configuration that requires two adjustable elbows to make work. from the thimble to top of chimney is about 20 feet, 10 feet or so of that is interior and the rest is above the roof.
This stove is great and I just wanted to put a few words down for anybody that was thinking about getting one. very highly recommend this stove. I'll post again after I take the baffle out and see if I have any problems with getting a seal again. There are several solutions to that problem on this site so I'm sure I'll be just fine making it work.
