Thinking of replacing a VC Defiant Encore (circa 1990) with Jotul Oslo

[GUS57]

First time on this forum. I have been burning a VC defiant encore for 20 years. Done the yearly maintenance (gaskets, clean-up), have replaced complete fire back kits twice (with refractory) and a half dozen catalitic converters. Last year when the stove was running with the damper on and the stove in the 400-500 degree range I would get the occasional smell of wood smoke, though I saw no smoke. I am assuming after 20 years the cement at the stoves joint is probably breaking down. I am not sure that after 20 years its worth going through the exercise of doing a complete rebuild or if its time to look to a new Stove. I have been looking at the Jotul Oslo F500 and the Hearthstone Heritage. They both seem like decent stoves, (different in heating quality from what I have been told). My gut is telling me that the Jotul looks a bit more "bullet proof" then the Heritage. I would welcome forum members opinions on a rebuild or not (not even sure if its a one person at home job) and their opinions on the two possibilities for a new stove. I appreciate your time and advice. Gus

 

[Redburn]

From what I have read here when its time the oslo would be my choice.

 

[btuser]

We can't give you advice on a subject like this. That's like telling someone its time to put the dog down.

 

[Green Energy]

I just went through this 18 months ago. And I just sold my FA455 DW Sequioa today. Last saw it on a trailer driving down the driveway.

It was hard, there are pros and cons. I love the Oslo. We used it all last winter. But I cannot get the 10 hour burns that I got with my 3 CF Cat stove. I do overnight burns with the Oslo, but the coal bed is not nearly as solid after 7-8 hours as my old stove. You need very dry wood with the Oslo.

On the pro side - the light show is fantastic, the Olso is a beautiful looking stove, even when there is no fire in it. I recommend getting the enamel finish. I have the blue-black. We get plenty of heat out of it. With a better stock of 2-3 year seasoned oak this year, I am sure that it will be easier to use as well.

It was hard letting the old Sequoia go. I had to let it sit in the garage for a year before I was ready to part with it. :-S

 

[grommal]

First time on this forum. I have been burning a VC defiant encore for 20 years. Done the yearly maintenance (gaskets, clean-up), have replaced complete fire back kits twice (with refractory) and a half dozen catalitic converters. Last year when the stove was running with the damper on and the stove in the 400-500 degree range I would get the occasional smell of wood smoke, though I saw no smoke. I am assuming after 20 years the cement at the stoves joint is probably breaking down. I am not sure that after 20 years its worth going through the exercise of doing a complete rebuild or if its time to look to a new Stove. I have been looking at the Jotul Oslo F500 and the Hearthstone Heritage. They both seem like decent stoves, (different in heating quality from what I have been told). My gut is telling me that the Jotul looks a bit more "bullet proof" then the Heritage. I would welcome forum members opinions on a rebuild or not (not even sure if its a one person at home job) and their opinions on the two possibilities for a new stove. I appreciate your time and advice. Gus

I made this exact swap a little over a year ago. In my case, I had a 1986 Defiant Encore that gave us lots of heat, but also lots of backpuffing trouble. Replaced it with the Oslo, and am very happy. Here's what I've found relative to the VC:

Oslo pros: A bit more max heat output than the VC. Also a bit longer burn times. I have a 300F stovetop after 8 hrs with a full load of dry hardwood. Coal bed is still very good at 12 hours, so that you can restart with no kindling. Had coals after 24 hours that let me restart with fine splits. The fire view is fantastic, and the secondary combustion light show is better than what's on 198+ of my 200 cable channels. I find the temperature easier to control than with the VC, which usually struggled to avoid either a cold smolder or a raging inferno. And, my backpuffing problem disappeared entirely, though I'm sure that has a lot to do with my particular chimney setup. Ash pan is a little larger than the VC. Single air control lever is a little simpler to run. While others have reported needing to crack open a door during startup, that has not been the case with ours. I build a top-down fire, and as soon as I light the paper or SuperCedar, I can close it up with the air control fully open, and it takes right off.

Oslo cons: There is only one downside that I have experienced, but it can be avoided in most cases. There is a design flaw in the shape of the bottom of the front opening that creates a fairly large pocket for ash to collect in, between the stove body and the front door. When you open the front door, this ash dumps on the ash lip. It's not a real big deal, but if you like to run a clean hearth, it's a bit of a pain. The easy solution is not to use the front door routinely. After several ash dumpings, I switched to 100% side load operation, including for building the fire.


We were dedicated top-loaders with the VC, and we were very concerned, especially my wife, about losing that feature. Now I can tell you that we don't miss it at all. The key to happy Oslo operation is MINIMAL ash raking. If you rake too much, you end up filling the ash pan too quickly, and with a mixture of coals and ashes. The coals get buried in the ash and stop burning, so this mixture robs you of heat and coal bed, and fills the ash pan faster than desired since the coals take up more room in the pan that the ash they would have become. On most refills I do not rake at all. The ashes will drop into the pan on their own when they get done burning all the way. Sometimes I might just surface rake the high spots on the coal bed into the low spots. Only in very unusual cases will I rake any more than that, and only if the coal bed is getting too high. The ash pan lasts 5-7 days of 24/7, and the coal bed lasts much longer with this practice.

Happy burning.

 

[Hanko]

The only time I open my front door is when I clean the glass, other than that, there is no reason to open it. It does make a big when you do.

 

[begreen]

Someone posted a while back that they solved the front door ash spill by putting a length of rope gasket in the groove just behind the door. Has anyone else tried that?

 

[logger]

I cannot get the 10 hour burns that I got with my 3 CF Cat stove. I do overnight burns with the Oslo, but the coal bed is not nearly as solid after 7-8 hours as my old stove. You need very dry wood with the Oslo.

Definately the wood or draft issue. We burned 24/7 last winter and 12 hr burns with seasoned oak and locust wasnt difficult. Better luck this year with the new batch of wood.

 

[Green Energy]

The key to happy Oslo operation is MINIMAL ash raking. If you rake too much, you end up filling the ash pan too quickly, and with a mixture of coals and ashes. The coals get buried in the ash and stop burning, so this mixture robs you of heat and coal bed, and fills the ash pan faster than desired since the coals take up more room in the pan that the ash they would have become. On most refills I do not rake at all. The ashes will drop into the pan on their own when they get done burning all the way. Sometimes I might just surface rake the high spots on the coal bed into the low spots. Only in very unusual cases will I rake any more than that, and only if the coal bed is getting too high. The ash pan lasts 5-7 days of 24/7, and the coal bed lasts much longer with this practice.
Happy burning.

I know that keeping a health bed of ash helps with the insulation of the bottom. I'll try less raking to see if I can get a good bed of coals after 10 hours.

GE

 

[Green Energy]

I cannot get the 10 hour burns that I got with my 3 CF Cat stove. I do overnight burns with the Oslo, but the coal bed is not nearly as solid after 7-8 hours as my old stove. You need very dry wood with the Oslo.

Definately the wood or draft issue. We burned 24/7 last winter and 12 hr burns with seasoned oak and locust wasnt difficult. Better luck this year with the new batch of wood.

Well it could be the draft. I have a 25' chimney with a 6" flex liner that is insulated. When the stove is cruising and its cold out, the draft is pulling like a train. Last year, my wood, 12-18 month seasoned red oak, was less than ideal. Sometimes, the first hour in the stove was putting the "finishing seasoning" touch on the wood. But once I got past the initial start up, the wood would usually burn fairly well. From all my years with the DW Cat stove, I figured that adding one year seasoned oak to a well established, deep bed of coals would usually give me the longer burn time. I was thinking that less dry wood doesn't burn as fast and could actually help with the coal bed then next morning.

Anyhow, with my DW Cat stove, I could fit about 30 percent more wood in the firebox and I could turn down the air way down, once the Cat probe was 800+ and just open up a little secondary air. If I put large enough splits in, 6" or so, I could still have semblances of logs 10 hours later, with 300 - 400 F on the cat probe meter.

I love my Oslo. I just don't think I can every get long overnight burn with 3-5" of coals after 10 hours (or the coals still in the shape of a few logs). I was happy when I was getting 2-3" of coals after 8 hours. If I had a deep bed of ash, I could find some coals in there after 10-14 hours. But it usually was not enough to skip the kindling/small split stage. (I am used to throwing in 4-6" splits on a good bed of coals and just open the air.) I'll see how the 2-3 yr seasoned wood does. I am thinking that it will help greatly on the front end, start-up/reload; but not as much on the back end.

GE

 

[Dexter]

Ref: the ash spilling out the front door(s), we burn a firelight CB, and had some of the ash spillage problem after big fires. It doesn't have that problem when we build "north/south" fires, though. I don't know how short splits would have to be in an Oslo to burn North/South. In the Firelight, it'll take 16", but is happier with 14" when burning north/south.

Dexter