Vermont Castings Defiant Encore 2140 issues.

[Batman83]

Hey guys, New to the wood stove world. About a year ago I picked up a cheap VC Defiant Encore 2140 and over the summer I did a through rebuild (complete fire back, refractory, all gaskets, thermostat etc.) I installed it with a 6" ss chimney liner about 23-25 ft long, surrounded by vermiculite top to bottom. For the first face cord and a half it worked amazingly. Secondary burn kicked in after stove reached 500-550 degrees, and I was getting about an 8 hour burn waking up to hot coals in the morning so relighting was easy. About a month ago it started getting finicky to the point that closing the bypass damper completely smothered the fire. When Leaving the bypass open controlling the temp was nearly impossible. To keep from over firing I have to close the bypass to smother it. Very annoying and frustrating especially since I just put a lot of time and money into it.

My first thought was it is drawing air from somewhere other than the inlet. So I did some extra sealing of joints, chimney pipe (which the cement keeps cracking off from). At first it worked ok and got a good weekend out of it then it got worse again.

Second though was the Cat got dirty or some ash got where it isn't supposed to be. So I just pulled the stove out and pulled the cat out to find it was fairly clean. I adjusted the thermostat door, cleaned out the back a bit, did some more joint sealing on the back and am going to blow out the cat before reinstalling. I noticed the air intake door doesn't fully close (about 1/8" gap) when fully closed.

Does anyone have any further suggestions? Am I missing something. Is this a common issue with this stove? Any input or experience with this stove would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Did you get into some not so dry firewood?

 

[RandyBoBandy]

And are you leaving the primary air fully open when engaging the damper?

 

[begreen]

Check the cat (both sides) to see if it is plugging with ash. If that is ok, then check the chimney for plugging. If the cap has a screen, that is a prime suspect.

 

[Simonkenton]

I wonder why someone would sell you such a good stove for such a low price.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Sounds like you got into some wet wood (over 20% moisture). Or since your connected to a 6" not an 8", may be some drafting issues. The flexburns are very draft sensitive. Too little and you will struggle with it. I know I had one for a few years hooked up to a 6" . Sold it to a co-worker who converted the collar for 8" for his flue and it works great for him. The reason for the draft neediness is their double downdraft design in the secondary combustion. If your 6" has any creosote coating on it, this may be at least part of the problem. Good luck figuring it out. As you can see I still have a VC stove. An Intrepid but it has only one downdraft flow at the entrance to the combustion chamber so not as draft needy at least for me.

 

[Diabel]

I wonder why someone would sell you such a good stove for such a low price.

Very on topic!

 

[Diabel]

Do you have thermometers? Flue, cat, stovetop. If so what temps are you reading? Tell us about your wood supply..