What exactly is not to be burned in a Defiant Encore?

[SonOfEru]

I've had my Encore for many years now, and I know the manual says to burn nothing but clean wood (no paint, no stain, no pressure treated), and only newspaper with no color ink.

And I understand the reason - avoid any possible chemicals that might affect the catalytic ceramic. I've stuck to that with care all along.

But my wife keeps asking me if this or that is OK to toss in the stove, almost always it's something from the garden. Like thick stems from tomatoes, or small stuff pruned off of a shrub out front. Her point is that it's just organic matter, no awful chemicals, why does she have to go to the trouble of disposing of it any other way, when the stove would burn it all up? And I answer with chapter and verse -- "Only clean wood, Dear, and newspaper with NO COLOR."

My only argument is -- who knows what chemicals live inside the tomato stems, or branches of a holly bush? And the catalytic unit is not cheap. Neither is the cost of cleaning the chimney if the catalytic isn't doing its job (and how long might it be letting creosote and condensates accumulate in the chimney before I was aware there was any problem?)

I do tend to be careful and cautious about things, and she is genetically incapable of worrying about anything. So this will go on and on . . .

Anyway, does anyone have 2 cents to chip in on our question?

 

[EbS-P]

I've had my Encore for many years now, and I know the manual says to burn nothing but clean wood (no paint, no stain, no pressure treated), and only newspaper with no color ink.

And I understand the reason - avoid any possible chemicals that might affect the catalytic ceramic. I've stuck to that with care all along.

But my wife keeps asking me if this or that is OK to toss in the stove, almost always it's something from the garden. Like thick stems from tomatoes, or small stuff pruned off of a shrub out front. Her point is that it's just organic matter, no awful chemicals, why does she have to go to the trouble of disposing of it any other way, when the stove would burn it all up? And I answer with chapter and verse -- "Only clean wood, Dear, and newspaper with NO COLOR."

My only argument is -- who knows what chemicals live inside the tomato stems, or branches of a holly bush? And the catalytic unit is not cheap. Neither is the cost of cleaning the chimney if the catalytic isn't doing its job (and how long might it be letting creosote and condensates accumulate in the chimney before I was aware there was any problem?)

I do tend to be careful and cautious about things, and she is genetically incapable of worrying about anything. So this will go on and on . . .

Anyway, does anyone have 2 cents to chip in on our question?

Build her a composter chemicals and salts are are the enemy. So is cold shocking the cat by not opening the bypass before the door. Seems like real hassle to burn garden waist for no measurable heat output. We we could eat it and it’s not salty it could probably be burned with no ill effects. But if there is something that poisons the cat then it was an expensive experiment. I might worry about anything that has lots of fertilizer residue.

 

[Megunticook]

Organic matter like garden tomato greens might not be harmful but have you considered composting that stuff? Then you can return those nutrients to the garden soil for next year's tomatoes.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

There might be higher water content in yard waste also. Steam cleaning the cat isn’t the best for it.

Recycling it back into the soil and building it up sounds like a great idea!

 

[stoveliker]

As above; Not much BTU content so not worth the risk.
And it's often wetter than you want (potentially bad for cat and chimney).

So risk and no gain.
Compost pile is the way to go: dump it and let it sit. Just not dumping into the stove.

 

[mellow]

Open up the bypass and let it rip! Once it has burned down close the bypass.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

Had the wife start walking towards the stove with an armful of glossy cardboard a few weeks ago. A discussion was had............

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I've had my Encore for many years now, and I know the manual says to burn nothing but clean wood (no paint, no stain, no pressure treated), and only newspaper with no color ink.

And I understand the reason - avoid any possible chemicals that might affect the catalytic ceramic. I've stuck to that with care all along.

But my wife keeps asking me if this or that is OK to toss in the stove, almost always it's something from the garden. Like thick stems from tomatoes, or small stuff pruned off of a shrub out front. Her point is that it's just organic matter, no awful chemicals, why does she have to go to the trouble of disposing of it any other way, when the stove would burn it all up? And I answer with chapter and verse -- "Only clean wood, Dear, and newspaper with NO COLOR."

My only argument is -- who knows what chemicals live inside the tomato stems, or branches of a holly bush? And the catalytic unit is not cheap. Neither is the cost of cleaning the chimney if the catalytic isn't doing its job (and how long might it be letting creosote and condensates accumulate in the chimney before I was aware there was any problem?)

I do tend to be careful and cautious about things, and she is genetically incapable of worrying about anything. So this will go on and on . . .

Anyway, does anyone have 2 cents to chip in on our question?

Its your stove.. there is no argument.. burn what you want in it. Its your choice if you dont want to follow the manual... Me personally.. Ill stick with my 3 years seasoned wood and compost pile.. let us know how you make out with your ideas and report back with any issues..

 

[SonOfEru]

Two things.

One, she's not looking for the heat value of burning those things, it's just the ease and convenience - toss it in the stove, done. And it's only stuff from the garden that has already come into the house. It's a short walk to the stove, that's all.

And two, composting the tough woody materials has been troublesome. We used to compost anything in the plant kingdom. We have a big garden, and she has flower gardens all over the place. So we have 3 sizeable compost piles, enough material to fill my pickup truck and more. And the piles are built in a rotation that allows them to sit and rot for a year. But when it comes time to break a pile open, we sift it through a homemade sifting screen of 1/2 x 1 inch hardware cloth. So the sifted material goes straight down into the wheelbarrow and I scrape whatever won't go through down into a big bucket that I dump in the woods nearby. So for years I struggled with the remains of the broccoli, tomato, zinnia, kale, etc, the "hard" parts that just don't break down. They make shoveling into the sifter a hard job - the shovel doesn't easily break through the stems - and raking it back and forth over the hardware cloth is seriously slowed down. The sifting is already a lot of work without that extra struggle.

So I finally decided a few years ago to just throw the tough stuff in my truck and dump it all in the woods, where it can be compost for the trees.

So the issue with my dear is kind of petty. It's just that she doesn't get the idea of protecting the cat from any risk at all. "But it's all organic, what can hurt the stove???" and so it goes on and on.

😊

 

[stoveliker]

If no chemicals are on the debris I think it won't hurt it, EXCEPT for the fact that most stuff will be far, far too wet. You'd be shocking your cat with water vapor and cooling down your fire.

I wouldn't do it for that reason.

 

[JamesGuido]

We have a silicone compost container we keep in the freezer on the door rack. When full, we empty into a produce plastic bag then carry down to our compost tumbler in our garden.
Opening the freezer door is better than opening the woodstove door.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Two things.

One, she's not looking for the heat value of burning those things, it's just the ease and convenience - toss it in the stove, done. And it's only stuff from the garden that has already come into the house. It's a short walk to the stove, that's all.

And two, composting the tough woody materials has been troublesome. We used to compost anything in the plant kingdom. We have a big garden, and she has flower gardens all over the place. So we have 3 sizeable compost piles, enough material to fill my pickup truck and more. And the piles are built in a rotation that allows them to sit and rot for a year. But when it comes time to break a pile open, we sift it through a homemade sifting screen of 1/2 x 1 inch hardware cloth. So the sifted material goes straight down into the wheelbarrow and I scrape whatever won't go through down into a big bucket that I dump in the woods nearby. So for years I struggled with the remains of the broccoli, tomato, zinnia, kale, etc, the "hard" parts that just don't break down. They make shoveling into the sifter a hard job - the shovel doesn't easily break through the stems - and raking it back and forth over the hardware cloth is seriously slowed down. The sifting is already a lot of work without that extra struggle.

So I finally decided a few years ago to just throw the tough stuff in my truck and dump it all in the woods, where it can be compost for the trees.

So the issue with my dear is kind of petty. It's just that she doesn't get the idea of protecting the cat from any risk at all. "But it's all organic, what can hurt the stove???" and so it goes on and on.

😊

Go ahead and burn it.. if you keep going through cats then youll know why and the choice will be to keep doing it or not.. Really I think this is more of a person preference.. if you want to burn it, track that kinda garbage into your home.. go right ahead.. If you want to run wet clippings in the stove do it.. run the risk of increased creosote just sweep more and get used to the ides of chimney fires.. The majority of us try to avoid things like this.. but if you want to be a trend setter.. who are we to disagree..