VT Castings Defiant Warped

[nchiarel4]

Hi All,

I just installed an old 1978 Vermont Castings Defiant in my 2,500 sf home in the basement. I got the 8" flue inspected and followed all install requirements. I had one fire and it worked great. The question I have is about the damper. The back firewall is warped and it has pushed the damper up with it since the firewall supports the damper. When you try to close the damper, it hits the top of the stove and doesn't close completely. It does close enough to stay in that position, but there is a 1/2" gap that will let the air/smoke bypass the secondary burn chamber.

I'm curious how much this will effect the operation of the stove and its ability to heat my house, and how much it will affect efficiency.

I have propane heat for the whole house and a pellet stove in the kitchen, so we won't freeze. I just want to reduce my propane usage or eliminate it if possible.

I just put new gaskets in yesterday and have 3 cord of dry hardwood ready for the winter. Hoping I don't have to go out and search for a new stove and that this one will work fine for the year before I upgrade.

Thank You!

 

[fbelec]

welcome to the forums. i run the same stove. you would need to get a thermometer or two to make sure that it is running hot enough for the stove pipe and the cooktop. as far as running it in updraft mode (without the damper closed) it will run about 1 to 1.5 hours less on a load of wood and a little less heat. also if you are going to push the stove to it's limit for 2500 square feet keep in mind you might not have enough wood to run the season. i have a 1240 square foot house so i'm on the other end of it's limit i have to do small fires and are start it twice a day. i usually run about 2.5 cord of wood for the season. so far this year i haven't started a fire yet. it's been to warm here. local weather guy harvey leonard is calling for a warm winter. but it usually all works out in the end to 2.5 cord a year if it's a cold winter almost 3 but not over.

frank

 

[fbelec]

i forgot to address your damper. if that rod is being pushed up so that it's not letting the damper close the your fire back is either warped with it and will probably crack soon if it already hasn't

 

[peakbagger]

I also have a "retired" Defiant that I ran for many years and know of many that were run with warped/split fire backs. They are no better or worse than many old woodstoves that didnt have secondary baffles. I do suggest a external damper on the flue pipe. That said the prior posters estimate of "a little loss of efficiency" is decidedly optimistic. The Defiant was oversized for many homes and if he is running one in a 1250 foot home, he does not realize how much heat he is losing. If you have reasonable air circulation in a 2500 square foot home a properly running Defiant would be a good fit.

Trivia on the Defiant is it was designed to heat a poorly insulated "barn" in the Mad River Valley of Vermont. They were quite popular in older poorly insulated Vermont homes but they were consistently way oversized for more modern insulated homes and VC quickly came out with smaller versions that were a better fit for most homes.

Three cords of wood is low for a 2500 square foot in Vermont, especially with an inefficient stove. I have a fully insulated 1400 square foot full dormer cape in Gorham NH with wood boiler and storage and my usage is 3 to 3.5 cords of hardwood supplemented with a minisplit for shoulder seasons. I have an oil boiler for backup but havent bought oil for five years. A very rough rule of thumb is 1 cord is equal to 100 gallons of oil and propane is roughly 65% lower but content so its equivalent to 450 gallons of propane. Obviously its real rough as the efficiency of the stove swings things quite a bit. Effectively you are probably throwing 1 cord of the 3 up the chimney compared to a Defiant with a straight baffle and possible 1.5 cords compared to modern EPA stove.

My guess is you are best off using the Defiant as a room heater when you are around the house. Keep the thermostats low on propane and then fire off the stove with small loads in the evenings and on weekends. You will find quickly that small loads of wood are the way to go as large loads will drive you out of the room. Stock up on kindling as you are going to be restarting the fire quite often until it gets quite cold. Do not waste your time trying for overnight burns. and make sure you understand the thermostatic damper operation as you will be fighting it. Its design it to cut off air when the stove heats up and if you have good bed of coals, the wood will continue to gasify leading to a possibility of "puff" which is basically a small explosion inside the stove which will lift the cooking plate. I suggest putting a cast iron kettle on the cooking plate and leaving it there. When the stove is just about out then you can turn down the thermostatic damper to close the flap but generally you need it set so that its always open with a hot fire. There is small cast iron flap on the secondary air supply that although no longer useful for secondary combustion will help to keep enough air going into the stove to avoid a puff as it will effectively be leaking into the main firebox.

 

[Mayapplefarm]

I also have a warped damper frame on my 6 year old defiant 2in1 . the refractory is also damaged. The catalytic unit access cover chronically breaks and or falls out. Does anyone know how to remove the damper frame? I’ve removed five bolts but it is hanging up on the left side and seems to be the damper rod that I can’t see how to remove