Vermont Castings Encore Disassembly Problem

[yves41ys.marchand]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and I am French.
I need your help because in my country I do not find the solution.
I am changing the refractory block of my Vermont Castings stove ENCORE. I am stuck at the disassembly level of the higher against heart, I do not see how it is disassembled. Are there any screws or a system that allows disassembly?
Thank you for your help. And I send you a hello from France.

 

[begreen]

Salut. I am moving this post to the main forum. It sounds like you have a newer model.
There are several Encore models. Which model number VC Encore is this for?

 

[yves41ys.marchand]

Hello,
Thank you for your answer.
It is a Vermont Castings ENCORE 2550 model with a peak of 14.5 kw.
cordially

 

[begreen]

Paging @Diabel , @jharkin Encore rebuild help requested.

Encore 2550 rebuild... start to finish

Ok, so the amount of buildup I got in my chimney last year prompted me to take the stove apart and contemplate a minor rebuild. To set the background: - Wood supply is good. Last year I was burning 2-3 year CSS wood, mostly oak maple and some crabapple that I cut myself. - Stove seemed tight...

www.hearth.com

 

[Diabel]

Welcome to the forum.

At which part of the process are you stuck?

 

[webby3650]

I’m not exactly sure what’s got you stuck. It sounds as if you are to the point that you can see the combustion box, but can’t remove it.? You will need to remove the entire damper frame. First remove the rear heat shield, then you will see the bolts on both sides that hold it on.

 

[yves41ys.marchand]

Hello,
Thank you for your help.
My problem was to disassemble the upper relecoeur to access the refractory block. Begreen (thanks to him) gave me a link in which there is a very detailed description to change this refractory block and that answers my question, there are two bolts that hold this against heart superior and which are located behind the stove. By cons I think the reluctant is also glued by glue cement, and the difficulty would be to take off without breaking.
I put you 2 pictures of the bolts on each side of the stove, can you confirm me that it is those which hold the countercores superior?

 

[webby3650]

Those are the bolts that hold the bypass damper assembly. You will also need to remove the bypass damper handle before removing the damper assembly.

 

[Diabel]

Is the stove sitting on its hearth at the moment or is it removed from its permanent (burning) place? Reason why I ask is that if it is removed for repair purposes then it would be a good idea to flip the stove on its back side in order to install the new refractory box. It would be easier to move the damper assembly back in place without damaging the refractory box. Someone here suggested that method and it worked very well for my rebuild.

 

[yves41ys.marchand]

Hello,
Indeed the stove is fixed and I can not move because it is in a niche, so I have no access to the back of the stove ....
By cons I can disassemble the 2 bolts at the back of the stove.

Like a good French handyman, I had thought of another solution if I could not dismantle the upper reluctance:
Simply cut the refractory block into 2 pieces and re-glue them when positioned in the fireplace.

Thank you, I will try to dismantle the reluctant next week, I wish you a good weekend to all.

I'll let you know about the work.

 

[Diabel]

Hello,
Indeed the stove is fixed and I can not move because it is in a niche, so I have no access to the back of the stove ....
By cons I can disassemble the 2 bolts at the back of the stove.

Like a good French handyman, I had thought of another solution if I could not dismantle the upper reluctance:
Simply cut the refractory block into 2 pieces and re-glue them when positioned in the fireplace.

Thank you, I will try to dismantle the reluctant next week, I wish you a good weekend to all.

I'll let you know about the work.

Do not cut the refractory! It would be a waste of money and your time.

Have a great weekend as well!

 

[jharkin]

Getting that damper assembly out without taking the top off the stove is the hardest step in a partial rebuild.

Before you even start you need to first remove the andirons and 2 inner side panels. Then you take those 2 bolts out of the back and remove the set screw to pull the damper handle off the damper shaft. Then you get a heavy hammer or mallet and tap on it until you feel the furnace cement break free. Then you have to start wiggling it until you can swing the right side forward and drop if down and out.

Every step in the process is made harder if there is a lot of baked on hard creosote buildup in the way so do whatever you can to clean out the interior as good as you can including all the tight corners and crevices (using wire brushes, chisels, etc) before starting.

See my rebuild thread for details, starting around post #8

Encore 2550 rebuild... start to finish

Ok, so the amount of buildup I got in my chimney last year prompted me to take the stove apart and contemplate a minor rebuild. To set the background: - Wood supply is good. Last year I was burning 2-3 year CSS wood, mostly oak maple and some crabapple that I cut myself. - Stove seemed tight...

www.hearth.com

 

[yves41ys.marchand]

Good morning all,
With the good advice given to me by you I managed to change the refractory block and the catalyst of my stove without problem. I thank you for your help which has been of great use to me.
Now that I have a stove in good working order, I'm wondering.
How is the flue pipe cleaned?
From the inside of the stove through the cast iron shutter? by dismantling the connection of the stove and chimney? or climbing to the roof and cleaning from the outside?
In France, it is mandatory to have the flue cleaned by a company once a year. After the first year of use we asked the company that installed our stove to do the maintenance of our installation, and we saw that the workers of this company had no knowledge of this work. Their first intervention was to dismantle the connection of the stove and chimney, which required 2 people to do this work but did not deteriorate the refractory block. The second year it's the same company that intervened with another worker who cleaned the flue through the cast iron shutter (I do not remember if the flap was removed), it is this intervention which began to deteriorate the refractory block.
I would like to know how you maintain the chimney, because I'm afraid it will start again.
I wish you a good day.

 

[begreen]

Most likely it was heat and time are what deteriorated the refractory block unless they took apart the stove's refractory to clean out the stove. It is common to remove the stovepipe in some installations in order to get into the chimney.

 

[Diabel]

Disconnecting the stove pipe would be the safest way to go. Especially, if you are using people with little knowledge of the stove to do the cleaning work.

 

[webby3650]

The entire secondary combustion system is extremely fragile, pulling the stove pipe and carefully vacuuming out the debris is the only safe way to clean it. These stoves are vulnerable, parts heavy stoves. The fireback only needs removed to clean the cat, that in itself is a gamble...