I come before you today to say what you know and do not say about the VC Defiant. It is starving for air. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Some of you hint around about the ways you do things. But the truth is that it's starving for air and everyone knows that. If you all were to come right out and say that, the company might respond and make adjustments. As long as you all pretend that everything is hunky dory, nothing changes, nothing gets better. You know who you are that are failures in this regard. Shame on you. Jam a mitten warmer under the edge of the top load and hang your head in shame.
VC Defiant.
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Ha, I wouldn’t say they are starved for air just that the down draft design can be really finicky to run and that you need optimal conditions for this type of stove to burn properly.
It can sometimes feel like it's starved for air especially if your wood is not optimal or when you're starting it from cold. But try and tell me that it's starved for air when you're trying to calm down a nuclear runaway catalyst when it's 0 degrees outside....
Just to clarify, "starved for air" means the flue, which is the engine of the stove, doesn't have enough draft that sucks in air into the stove.
How tall is your flue, stove top to chimney cap?
And, as noted, wet wood generally needs a lot more air to stay lit than dry wood does. You being in MA, I surmise you don't burn pine but instead oak or maple or so. Has it been split and stacked off the ground for two years?
How tall is your flue, stove top to chimney cap?
And, as noted, wet wood generally needs a lot more air to stay lit than dry wood does. You being in MA, I surmise you don't burn pine but instead oak or maple or so. Has it been split and stacked off the ground for two years?
Is this a new installation? Rather than starving for air, it's possible the stove is starving for draft. Knowing a lot more about the setup would help starting with the model # of the Defiant and the flue setup.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
Whats the MC of the wood your burning.. just out of curiosity
Just a heads-up . also its shoulder season.. its not that cold out a all and it certainly hasn't been cold up in mass.. Your definitely not getting much in the way of draft this time of year.. come December/January stove performance is at its best
Give it some time... youll learn.. its only the beginning of October.. Im not even close to lightning the stove and you leaves have barely changed color..
Not many stoves right now in our region drafting well.. its not a VC thing and waaayyyy to early to be pushing the panic button..
Just a heads-up . also its shoulder season.. its not that cold out a all and it certainly hasn't been cold up in mass.. Your definitely not getting much in the way of draft this time of year.. come December/January stove performance is at its best
Give it some time... youll learn.. its only the beginning of October.. Im not even close to lightning the stove and you leaves have barely changed color..
Not many stoves right now in our region drafting well.. its not a VC thing and waaayyyy to early to be pushing the panic button..
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
Based on my experience, my VC Defiant is definitely not starved for air. I am trying to reduce (better control) the air, not trying to give it more air, it gets plenty.
The air a stove is getting to work with is dependent on the circumstances. So one install might be starved for air when the chimney is short, has too many elbows or horizontal length, and/or the home is tight or exhausting air elsewhere. Another install of the very same stove might have a tendency to go out of control because of a tall chimney that drafts like a tornado and no competing air exhausts elsewhere in the home.
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
Which is my point. If the OP is thinking his stove is starved for air, mine isn't.
My setup is 18' of 6" duravent flue with a 90 going through a masonry wall to a T then up through the roof. Stove is installed in the basement.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
Or the guy started burning on October 8th with it not really being cold enough to really draft the stove properly and is probably using sub-par wood to compound the weak draft issue
I stand by my post. I have owned many woodstoves. The VC Defiant gives you no control. Open the front a crack? BS. Cracked the top? BS. Give me a lever. Give me control. Like my jotul Oslo that has a real catalyst. You can hardly see smoke just the shimmer. VC never gets catalyst or very rarely, smothers the flame. Straight stovepipe install 8 inch to 6 inches and a spark arrestor box 6ft to the ceiling 4ft above the roof.
I should be in charge of the air. I should give it air if I want to. I should turn down the air if I want to.
Ok so if you have different circumstances you should be able to adjust the air right? RIGHT?
Yes I have totally forgotten paying almost 5k for a wood stove and the additional expenses for installation. And when I woke up it was gone! Then I forgot! Seriously do you hear your self?
Good dry wood, I just have no control over the airflow and it's making me crazy I would have chosen another. I'm old bending over sucks top load attracted me. And the name.
You're not able to increase or decrease the airflow. That's the problem. Or I wouldn't have said what I said.
I own a few houses. In one large home I installed the VC Defiant as a living room center piece. The climate there means that it's only used about 3 months a year, I wanted it to look good the rest of the time. And it does really looks great. But it is set up the way it is set up. You're not allowed to control the airflow. No no no. And that's a big FU to buyers in my opinion. Would have chosen another.
As I write these responses I am sitting in front of the stove in question and burning good dry wood. If you want to get it going stuff it and let it go this is fine for you. It's going to cycle a little bit and burn at a good conservative rate. Saves wood and doesn't go out. But it doesn't let you have any control whatsoever. You are not a factor. You get it going and it goes. At the predetermined level. And that means as I said that it's barely getting enough air. You can increase the airflow only by opening it up. Front. Top. Not by adjusting the airflow using a control. It doesn't have that. But it should. And that's pretty much my point.
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