Vermont Castings Encore 2-in-1

[analoglife]

Hello all,

I am a new member, but not a new reader, on this forum. I have been frequenting these pages heavily for the past few months to gather information and tips as I got ready to embark on wood stove ownership. My wife and I bought a new(to us) home about 8 months ago, situated on roughly 7 beautifully wooded old-growth acres. The house is slightly off the beaten path, and as such the primary heat source is fuel oil, with electric-plenum as a supplementary option. Upon purchasing the house I knew that it would be a perfect candidate for a wood stove, and so my research began. There was an existing fireplace in the house, and I knew I would favor the look and feel of a hearth-mounted wood stove, so I started looking into all the stove manufacturers that made a stove that would fit in my specific opening. Actually, I was hoping to place the stove just outside of the opening and utilize a rear-exit flue design to make use of the existing masonry chimney. Ultimately I decided on the Vermont Castings Encore 2-in-1 in classic black. I was slightly hesitant on this stove do to some not-so-great reviews I read on here and other places on-line, but what ultimately sold me was the beauty of the stove combined with the top-load feature and the FlexBurn capability.

I have only been burning the stove for a little over a week so my judgments may be premature, but I can say so far that I really love this stove. I am heating roughly 1200 sqft of uninsulated, semi-open floor plan with A LOT of windows. I have a 6" insulated flex liner running ~18' to the chimney crown and my draft is very good. Just yesterday I finished a proper block off plate install and I am even happier with the results. I have been burning without the catalyst and plan to continue doing so until I am sure of my wood quality, but even in non-cat mode I am getting overnight burns with hot enough coals to easily start a fresh fire the next morning. The stove is in a room that basically has a wall of old single pane windows overlooking our woods. The windows are fairly tight, but obviously not very efficient, even so the stove keeps the house at a comfy 68-72 degrees. The wood I am burning is from a local supplier, but I am processing a lot of wood from the property that is fallen over or dead standing, and I look forward to burning my own supply by next season.

Anyway, I suppose the purpose of this lengthy post was to say hello, and also to express my enthusiasm for the Vermont Castings 2-in-1. I was curious to know if there were any others out there who would care to share their experience with this stove? It seems like most posts on the VCE2n1 are at least a couple of years old. Oh, and of course, here is a pic of the stove!

 

[Diabel]

Welcome to the forum. You will find a wealth of information here on anything related to wood stoves and wood burning. I have the much older version of your stove, it is indeed a beautiful looking stove. If you intend on burning 24/7 then be prepared to spend several hundred dollars every few years on maintenance.
Looking at the picture.....what is your hearth made of? And is the rug ember safe?
Cheers

 

[begreen]

VC makes good looking stoves. The hearth however, needs to be improved. A wool rug is not good ember protection and combustible. And a rug on a rug is asking for problems. There needs to be at least a type 1 hearth pad extending 16" in front of the stove door. These are available through Amazon.

 

[analoglife]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. The stove is sitting on concrete. It's in the lower level of our house which has a slab foundation(built on bedrock). I had to cut the carpet back to expose enough concrete in front of the stove, and in the spring I plan to tile the area completely. The rug does sit in front of the stove, but it's just concrete underneath. I will be sure to pull it further back from the stove front.

Diabel, I know the gaskets need to be replaced every few years, and I know the catalyst has a limited life span. What other items will I need to maintain?

 

[begreen]

That's good to hear. For the pets maybe get a non-combustible fiberglass hearth rug?

 

[Diabel]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. The stove is sitting on concrete. It's in the lower level of our house which has a slab foundation(built on bedrock). I had to cut the carpet back to expose enough concrete in front of the stove, and in the spring I plan to tile the area completely. The rug does sit in front of the stove, but it's just concrete underneath. I will be sure to pull it further back from the stove front.

Diabel, I know the gaskets need to be replaced every few years, and I know the catalyst has a limited life span. What other items will I need to maintain?

It will depend how hard you run this stove. The inner parts will warp if overfired. This stove has a lot of moving parts that will eventually break and are very expensive to replace. Make sure to purchase a stove top magnetic thermometer. It looks like a flue probe. thermo. will be a problem to install, as will be a cat probe. These two really tell the story on what goes on in that fire box, especially in the secondary burn chamber.

 

[Prichan]

Hello all,

I am a new member, but not a new reader, on this forum. I have been frequenting these pages heavily for the past few months to gather information and tips as I got ready to embark on wood stove ownership. My wife and I bought a new(to us) home about 8 months ago, situated on roughly 7 beautifully wooded old-growth acres. The house is slightly off the beaten path, and as such the primary heat source is fuel oil, with electric-plenum as a supplementary option. Upon purchasing the house I knew that it would be a perfect candidate for a wood stove, and so my research began. There was an existing fireplace in the house, and I knew I would favor the look and feel of a hearth-mounted wood stove, so I started looking into all the stove manufacturers that made a stove that would fit in my specific opening. Actually, I was hoping to place the stove just outside of the opening and utilize a rear-exit flue design to make use of the existing masonry chimney. Ultimately I decided on the Vermont Castings Encore 2-in-1 in classic black. I was slightly hesitant on this stove do to some not-so-great reviews I read on here and other places on-line, but what ultimately sold me was the beauty of the stove combined with the top-load feature and the FlexBurn capability.

I have only been burning the stove for a little over a week so my judgments may be premature, but I can say so far that I really love this stove. I am heating roughly 1200 sqft of uninsulated, semi-open floor plan with A LOT of windows. I have a 6" insulated flex liner running ~18' to the chimney crown and my draft is very good. Just yesterday I finished a proper block off plate install and I am even happier with the results. I have been burning without the catalyst and plan to continue doing so until I am sure of my wood quality, but even in non-cat mode I am getting overnight burns with hot enough coals to easily start a fresh fire the next morning. The stove is in a room that basically has a wall of old single pane windows overlooking our woods. The windows are fairly tight, but obviously not very efficient, even so the stove keeps the house at a comfy 68-72 degrees. The wood I am burning is from a local supplier, but I am processing a lot of wood from the property that is fallen over or dead standing, and I look forward to burning my own supply by next season.

Anyway, I suppose the purpose of this lengthy post was to say hello, and also to express my enthusiasm for the Vermont Castings 2-in-1. I was curious to know if there were any others out there who would care to share their experience with this stove? It seems like most posts on the VCE2n1 are at least a couple of years old. Oh, and of course, here is a pic of the stove!

Installed a new VC Encore Flex Burn Model 2040 this fall. Unit was manufactured July 2014. I am so very extremely happy with the stove. I have another older Encore non-cat stove model 1450 that I got 10 years ago and still going strong. I based my new stove purchase on my previous experience with VC stoves. I know there have been problems in the not so distant past with warranty issues and quality issues, numerous ownerships, but I may have missed the "bad" -- for lack of a better word -- production periods? Who knows. The size of the stove was also an important issue since it is installed in front of my fireplace. I had a Lopi insert for 2 years prior to this and there is no comparison as far as heat output, ease of use, etc. are concerned. The top loading and rear venting option also critical for me. All in all very happy with the new Encore. Taking me a little time to get used to burning a cat stove as opposed to non-cat, but getting the hang of it and all working well. It helps to have perfectly seasoned wood, which I have spent a great part of my life past 2 years achieving, at no cost other than my time and labor (free mental health therapy pretty much , a wood splitter, assorted this and that. Today I just installed 3 registers ceiling of room where stove is and floor of upstair hallway and bedroom -- absolutely magnificent! Heat is moving up there BIG TIME. I think I am all set. So, again, I am a fan of the Vermont Castings Encore Flex Burn. They just changed ownership yet again after I purchased this stove so we'll see if the new owner will honor the warranty. If not I may have to return here with some trash talk. Good luck!

 

[Charles1981]

Been running the 2040 for past 2 winters and this one.

In the basement (insulated) except for the concrete floor. Been meaning to put down laminate floors but haven't gotten around to it. There is 1100sq feet in the walkout basement and 1100sq feet upstairs. The chimney is central to the house and there is a spiral staircase in the middle of the house with a ceiling fan directly above it. The 2040 heats both floors very well imo. 1971 built ranch house. 75% of the house is windows (huge 8x6 feet windows on 3 corners and the walkout basement side, 3 sliding glass doors).

Pretty easy to keep the upstairs at 72-73 this winter so far (past winter was a different story). If the temperature are above 20F the upstairs stays around 71-72. If the outside temperatures fall to 0F then we are maintaining the upstairs at 68. If it is -15F like last winter for 2 months. The stove does struggle to keep the upstairs at 65-66 but still that is pretty obscenely cold. Last winter we went through 4.5 cords of wood. This winter we are looking at only going through 3 if it remains a mild winter.

We heat exclusively with wood, and have electric baseboard as backup when leaving on trips...but it is darn expensive.

 

[firewoodjunky]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. The stove is sitting on concrete. It's in the lower level of our house which has a slab foundation(built on bedrock). I had to cut the carpet back to expose enough concrete in front of the stove, and in the spring I plan to tile the area completely. The rug does sit in front of the stove, but it's just concrete underneath. I will be sure to pull it further back from the stove front.

Diabel, I know the gaskets need to be replaced every few years, and I know the catalyst has a limited life span. What other items will I need to maintain?

I have been running a Defiant 2n1 24/7 going into my second winter now and I haven't had to spend a nickel. The stove is heating a 2900 sq ft drafty farmhouse in New England so I would say it is getting a pretty darn good work out. Having inherited and run for two winters a 2550, I can say that there is a world of difference between the two types of stoves. Most posters on this board seem stuck on rating the prior model versus this one. The only issues that I have heard about regarding the 2n1 were some defective cat covers (prone to cracking - now recast) and some early failure cats, which I believe were all covered under warranty. I would think that the cat is not manufactured by VC so they can't even be really dinged for that particular issue.

I will agree that the downdraft design is prone to more draft/burnability issues than other designs.

 

[Diabel]

Having inherited and run for two winters a 2550, I can say that there is a world of difference between the two types of stoves.

Interesting, can you elaborate based on your experiance.

 

[claydogg84]

I have been running a Defiant 2n1 24/7 going into my second winter now and I haven't had to spend a nickel. The stove is heating a 2900 sq ft drafty farmhouse in New England so I would say it is getting a pretty darn good work out. Having inherited and run for two winters a 2550, I can say that there is a world of difference between the two types of stoves. Most posters on this board seem stuck on rating the prior model versus this one. The only issues that I have heard about regarding the 2n1 were some defective cat covers (prone to cracking - now recast) and some early failure cats, which I believe were all covered under warranty. I would think that the cat is not manufactured by VC so they can't even be really dinged for that particular issue.

I will agree that the downdraft design is prone to more draft/burnability issues than other designs.

Most people seem to give poor references to VC because of the company, and how they back their product. They are pretty stoves, that's for sure

 

[Charles1981]

There have been two stove owners this season posting about runaway 2n1 encores that did not sound like user error. One posted VC was replacing stove free of charge. I dont think there was folk follow up with the second owner.

 

[firewoodjunky]

Interesting, can you elaborate based on your experiance.

Not really sure I will add anything than has been said before, but here goes - the 2550 came with my house when I bought it. PO had either a number of runaways or overfires in it. Fire back was warped, throat was beat, and after the first winter I realized that the refractory needed to be replaced. These parts were way more expensive than what they should have been (IMO). The refractory was really almost a wear item and if I remember right went for around 6 bills. That's crazy!

Now when I researched the new stove I had the dealer give me a price for every component that I could think of . He kept saying that would be covered by the lifetime warranty - he finally figured it out and just brought out the parts list breakdown for me. All of the newer components were very reasonably priced. I had put some of the prices up in a prior post. Could VC jack them up? Yup. So could any other stove company.

Finally, again in my opinion, the new refractory components are night and day different than the 2550. These are more like concrete whereas the old refractory was like styrofoam.

When I was a kid, The Big 3 car companies made some of the WORST products around. I wouldn't buy any of them when I was a young adult due to my previously formed opinion. If I had stuck with that opinion I would have missed out on some great cars and trucks as the Big 2 have put out some great products!

As far as people posting about out of control stoves, yup they have. You can also read about problems with Isle Royals, Jotuls (once in a blue moon), Lopi's, etc.

You buy what you buy. Sometimes you get the car model that your neighbor has - his runs like a champ, yours seems to be in the shop every other day. Are all those car models terrible? Possibly?Could it be you got the one in a hundred thousand problem cars? Could be. The one in a half million? Maybe.

He bought a VC and I bought a VC. Could our stoves melt down into a pile of slag? I guess so. Will they because VC put out a previously inferior product? No. Could this new product also be terrible? Sure could. I will find out, that's for sure.

 

[Prichan]

Hello all,

I am a new member, but not a new reader, on this forum. I have been frequenting these pages heavily for the past few months to gather information and tips as I got ready to embark on wood stove ownership. My wife and I bought a new(to us) home about 8 months ago, situated on roughly 7 beautifully wooded old-growth acres. The house is slightly off the beaten path, and as such the primary heat source is fuel oil, with electric-plenum as a supplementary option. Upon purchasing the house I knew that it would be a perfect candidate for a wood stove, and so my research began. There was an existing fireplace in the house, and I knew I would favor the look and feel of a hearth-mounted wood stove, so I started looking into all the stove manufacturers that made a stove that would fit in my specific opening. Actually, I was hoping to place the stove just outside of the opening and utilize a rear-exit flue design to make use of the existing masonry chimney. Ultimately I decided on the Vermont Castings Encore 2-in-1 in classic black. I was slightly hesitant on this stove do to some not-so-great reviews I read on here and other places on-line, but what ultimately sold me was the beauty of the stove combined with the top-load feature and the FlexBurn capability.

I have only been burning the stove for a little over a week so my judgments may be premature, but I can say so far that I really love this stove. I am heating roughly 1200 sqft of uninsulated, semi-open floor plan with A LOT of windows. I have a 6" insulated flex liner running ~18' to the chimney crown and my draft is very good. Just yesterday I finished a proper block off plate install and I am even happier with the results. I have been burning without the catalyst and plan to continue doing so until I am sure of my wood quality, but even in non-cat mode I am getting overnight burns with hot enough coals to easily start a fresh fire the next morning. The stove is in a room that basically has a wall of old single pane windows overlooking our woods. The windows are fairly tight, but obviously not very efficient, even so the stove keeps the house at a comfy 68-72 degrees. The wood I am burning is from a local supplier, but I am processing a lot of wood from the property that is fallen over or dead standing, and I look forward to burning my own supply by next season.

Anyway, I suppose the purpose of this lengthy post was to say hello, and also to express my enthusiasm for the Vermont Castings 2-in-1. I was curious to know if there were any others out there who would care to share their experience with this stove? It seems like most posts on the VCE2n1 are at least a couple of years old. Oh, and of course, here is a pic of the stove!

Congratulations. I also have an Encore 2 in 1, purchased last year. So far so good. Welcome to the club, we are about as popular here as cigarette smokers at a marathon but what the heck. Good luck.

 

[brad wilton]

I don't have a vermont casting wood stove but i like the look .looks like they maybe getting their act together and if nobody but one we would never know. My stove i think maybe ten people might own one but took chance and very satisfied good luck with yours

 

[analoglife]

Congratulations. I also have an Encore 2 in 1, purchased last year. So far so good. Welcome to the club, we are about as popular here as cigarette smokers at a marathon but what the heck. Good luck.
View attachment 162164

Nice looking stove Prichan! The enamel black is very sharp. Well I am steadily into my second year of burning with Encore. I really like it. Of course the stories of defective stoves have me worried about the general quality of VC, but I have to say that I've had no problems with the stove beside one definite user error overfire. But even after that the stove has been working great, puts out a lot of heat. Now I just need to address the insulation issues in the house along with the wall of single pane windows in the same room as the stove...it's obvious to say that side of the room away from the windows gets and stays significantly warmer