VC Defiant 1945 performance and questions with pics

[zambien]

Hi all,

We recently purchased a cabin around the Boone, NC area. These past couple of days it has been cold and windy in the Northeast as I'm sure many of you already know so I have been getting to know the stove which came with the cabin... a Vermont Castings Defiant, model number 1945.

The stove was in fairly good shape when we bought it. We had someone come out to clean and inspect it and other than the stove pipe being clogged up there were no major maintenance issues. The previous owner had recently replaced all the gaskets and had done some other basic maintenance a few months back.

I had a chance to speak with the previous owner about the cabin and he never figured out how to operate the stove in cat mode (what's a cat? when I asked so I had to explain) so the cat is unused if a bit old. From what I understand most of the wood burned in the stove was fairly green so hopefully it wasn't overfired too often when always running in bypass mode.

I've installed a Condar Fluegard thermometer and the stove already had a stove top therm. I also bought and installed the bottom and ash door heat shields per the manual since the stove is sitting on stone over wood flooring and is not on slab.

The wood I'm burning is 25-30% MC so not great but since we just bought the cabin this was the best I could find in the area.

Our home is 1900SF finished with an unfinished and unheated (by the stove) basement. It is a log cabin with 1 foot thick logs with insulation between the logs and was hand built.. not a kit home. For a log cabin it is fairly tight but I realize the R value on the logs won't be what a modern house offers. We have a vaulted ceiling so taking that into account the total stove-heated SF is somewhere around 2500. There is a fan running in winter mode up in the vaulted area so the upstairs loft is only slightly warmer than the main room with the stove in it.

Initial impressions... even with higher MC wood I have found that the stove will overheat in bypass mode pretty quickly. I can get flue temps up above 1000F very quickly. Cat mode works well and is easily controllable. To keep the stove top between 500 and 600 I will have the air set on medium for most of the burn. The stove takes up to 24" length splits so I have been taking my 16" splits and putting them in centered then putting a couple up splits pointing upward to fill in the space on the sides. Doing this I can get 10-12 hours of burn time with most of that burn having stove top temps above 500.

Yesterday up on the mountain it never got above 28 degrees during the day and there was a lot of wind. The stove was barely able to keep up with the above settings. I could give it more air and get more heat but this stove seems to really go through wood. Not too much of an issue right now since we are only here on occasion but when we move here permanently in a few years it will be a bigger issue. So on to the questions...

Does anyone on here have similar experience with this stove and if so did they switch out to a newer stove with better results? I've been looking at the BC Ashford and the Woodstock Progress Hybrid as two potential replacement stoves. Really looking for more warmth and less wood consumption with a nice look for the wife. We like the look of the stove right now.

Pics are attached... one of the stove burning, a pic of the cabin, the wood we bought stacked between the deck posts, wood from our property that I've C/S/S under the deck, and the area I'm clearing to open a view and that will provide our wood for the next few years.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Diabel]

The Defiant is a strong heater if and when it is working correctly. It should have no problem heating that space in your climate. Your wood is not seasoned enough hence you are not getting the max btu out of it. Also, with such wood your cat is not likely lighting off. Is there visible smoke from the chimney while in a cat mode?

 

[zambien]

The Defiant is a strong heater if and when it is working correctly. It should have no problem heating that space in your climate. Your wood is not seasoned enough hence you are not getting the max btu out of it. Also, with such wood your cat is not likely lighting off. Is there visible smoke from the chimney while in a cat mode?

Thanks, I'm glad to know that the stove should be able to heat the space.

The cat is lighting off. I can see it glowing through the refractory assembly in the top back of the stove and there is not any smoke coming out of the chimney once the cat fires off. The cat stays visibly lit for a good portion of the burn and my flue temps stay around 400-600 until the end of the burn cycle. To keep things going well I have the air open around halfway. If I choke it down more the stove top dips down too low to keep the house warm and the cat doesn't do as well.

What stove top temps do you run your Defiant Encore at? I'm not familiar with that stove as I think that is the next gen version, correct?

 

[Diabel]

The encore is the smaller brother of the defiant.
Sounds like you are doing everything right. Don't forget woodstoves are only space heaters. They are not designed to heat entire homes.

Try to stock up on firewood supply. Three yrs ahead is the ultimate wood burner goal.

You will get better heat output from the stove once your wood moisture gets below 20%.

The two stoves you mentioned are the Cadillacs in the stove world but I am not sure if they will heat your house that much better. Just an opinion.

 

[zambien]

The encore is the smaller brother of the defiant.
Sounds like you are doing everything right. Don't forget woodstoves are only space heaters. They are not designed to heat entire homes.

Try to stock up on firewood supply. Three yrs ahead is the ultimate wood burner goal.

You will get better heat output from the stove once your wood moisture gets below 20%.

The two stoves you mentioned are the Cadillacs in the stove world but I am not sure if they will heat your house that much better. Just an opinion.

Ok, thanks. I'll give the Defiant a few more years and see how it does with better wood. I'm already starting to stock up and am working towards the 3 year ahead goal. Right now we are 3 years ahead based upon our vacation usage (around a cord a year) but with unseasoned wood. I'd like to get to around 12 cord under my deck. Boone is a damp climate through summer so I think that stacking it under the covered deck may be the best long term storage option. That area gets a lot of wind but little sun. At home in MD I have more sun and have done the kiln drying method (see my avatar) which has worked really well to get ahead.

We do have electric space heaters in every room as well as a large propane monitor heater. I haven't been running those but maybe will start running the space heaters furthest from the stove (master bathroom, possibly guest bedroom when guests are in town) as those are the coldest areas of the house.

Thanks much for the advice!

 

[zambien]

Thought I would update this since it has been about a year.

Better wood (~20%) made a big difference this year but I started to get back puffing and the stove was not very controllable when using it this month. Even when cutting over into cat mode at 450 and cutting the air way down the stove would eventually heat up to over 600 and start back puffing. It turns out this was because it was not able to control the air intake properly because of bad gasket seals.

I took the stove apart today and replaced the griddle, front door, and damper gaskets with the correct gaskets. It turns out the wrong gaskets were installed previously and they were starting to fall apart. I also cleaned out the refractory (some ash buildup) and inspected the cat which still looks to be in really good shape.

Made a huge difference...night and day. Sitting here and the stove has been at 450 for a few hours now with a nice steady cat burn. Very little flame and no back puffing. Prior to doing the work I couldn't cut the air down this much nor could I control the temps with dry wood.

Can't wait to get some really cold weather! This old stove seems really well dialed in now.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I'm currently at my cabin sitting in front of my 1945 watching the mesmerizing secondaries dance around the stove. These stoves are not very popular on this site (with good cause) but I love my VC stoves. Do yourself a favor and go on Auber Insterments website and buy yourself the AT100 probe thermometer. It is good practice to monitor your cat temps.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like good progress zambien. Are you living in the house or is this more of a vacation place?

PS: Love Boone, almost ended up living there. It's beautiful country.

 

[zambien]

I'm currently at my cabin sitting in front of my 1945 watching the mesmerizing secondaries dance around the stove. These stoves are not very popular on this site (with good cause) but I love my VC stoves. Do yourself a favor and go on Auber Insterments website and buy yourself the AT100 probe thermometer. It is good practice to monitor your cat temps.

I have been thinking of getting a cat probe. Thanks for the recommendation. A few times I have seen flames in the fireback/cat area so I may be burning too hot at times. I guess the popularity of VC stoves comes down to all the maintenance and that for a number of years quality was way down.

Sounds like good progress zambien. Are you living in the house or is this more of a vacation place?

PS: Love Boone, almost ended up living there. It's beautiful country.

Thanks!

We are a little north of Boone past Valle Crucis in less developed country. It takes about 25 minutes to get into Boone or 20 if we go up to Mountain City in Tennessee (half of that is our gravel driveway). It sure is beautiful country around here. We were very fortunate to find the place we did. Our 10 acres is surrounded on all sides by either state park or preserve areas.

Right now it is more of a vacation place but we are here every month for at least a weekend. We had the outside refinished this month so I have been working remotely from here all of October. I'm working on trying to telecommute from here full time. Seem like it may pan out at my current job and if not... well there are always other options.

We have had the place for a little over a year now. Here are some pics..

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7i8j4n7e5fvunrh/AABYLGz-7P7-jGaS-aDHNBMka?dl=0

 

[begreen]

The reason I ask is that it takes a lot of fuel to bring a log house up to temperture and to get that mass to stabilize. So I could see the wood consumption to be high if warming up the house frequently from a cool temperature.

 

[zambien]

The reason I ask is that it takes a lot of fuel to bring a log house up to temperture and to get that mass to stabilize. So I could see the wood consumption to be high if warming up the house frequently from a cool temperature.

You are right on there. When we arrive in the winter (inside around 40F) we usually run the propane Monitor heater and burn a full load in the stove on high air. Takes around 24 hours to get everything stable. Over the past year I've learned that I burn a lot of wood the first day or day and a half upon arrival. Once the house is up to temp and if we are burning dry wood we have had better experience. Last February even with outside temps around 5 degrees fahrenheit we were here for a week and at times were too warm in the house. I think this was because the stove was typically running around 700 to 750 during peak burn because of the bad gaskets.

Last night I did a test. Cut the air down to get the stovetop to 450. Then opened the air up. Got up to 700. Then cut the air back again. Got back to 450 in 20 minutes. I couldn't do that before as I'd get really bad smoke in the house with back puffing when cutting the air back at higher temps.

 

[moresnow]

Back puffing while cutting back at high temp? Seems rather odd. Either way it sounds as if you have this figured out. IF you should decide to try another unit there are several makes available today that will put a smile on your face with very little maintenance!

More importantly. Lets see some more pics of the place. Looks and sounds like you have your dream spot! Envious.....

 

[begreen]

Back puffing while cutting back at high temp? Seems rather odd. Either way it sounds as if you have this figured out. IF you should decide to try another unit there are several makes available today that will put a smile on your face with very little maintenance!

More importantly. Lets see some more pics of the place. Looks and sounds like you have your dream spot! Envious.....

Leaks can cause erratic and odd behavior. Sounds like fixing them was the solution. More pics in the link posted here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-and-questions-with-pics.158051/#post-2200630