2014/2015 VC Owners thread.

[Excavator]

JHARKIN I am taking stove top temps just in back of the griddle but on stove itself not griddle.
I must have a very strong draft because if I let stove top reach 450 or higher before closing bypass then my digital probe will get out of hand and I can't slow the burn down. If i close bypass at stove top at 350-400 I have mush better control and can leave air lever open longer and slow burn down when I need too

 

[Mr.K]

That's awesome

 

[Excavator]

I still believe the fuel we pick to burn has the most affect on this because sometimes I load with some smaller splits from another pile and I will be burning too hot first hour

 

[OK_Bill]

First post on the forum - howdy from OKC, OK!

Having good success with my brand new VC Encore "flexburn" 2044. This afternoon, I fired it up in CAT mode and it was amazing. Loaded 4 medium splits of good solid oak well seasoned, let the griddle get up to about 350 then engaged the cat. I only have a surface thermometer, so I kept an eye on the chimney and within about 5 minutes the cat lit off. Zero smoke, zero steam and no visible heat coming out of the chimney (18' x 6"). With the primary air fully open, the stove sounded really serious, emitting a low rumble and making TONS of heat. At about 500F griddle temp I slowly began shutting the primary air down and within about 15 min it was all the way down to the lowest setting.

This yielded about 4 hours of solid run time with griddle temps around 650, after which the heat very gradually cooled off. After 6 hours I had a working coal bed. Not bad for only 4 splits to start with... tonight I'll load her up more fully and see if I can get a longer run.

I do have a question:

Cat probe. This stove (VC Encore model 2044) isn't set up to accept a probe at all. I could get one in there, but it would entail drilling through the cast iron back as well as through the refractory fireback just above the CAT to get the probe in. Is it ok to do this? Would you do it?

VC Encore sittin pretty

edit: model number changed from 2040 to 2044 (bordeaux color)

 

[31 bertram]

Bill, that's a beautiful stove set up. Welcome to the forum. I don't have any info on the probe as I've just ordered mine and waiting on it to show up.
Bo

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Well now that hearth and home technologies bought VC, life should be good !

 

[OK_Bill]

Update: 3 burns done in CAT mode, all with medium (4"-6") oak splits. The stove still hasn't been loaded fully to the top, but I'm hesitant to do that until I get some more feedback from y'all about temperature regulation:

Question: Running solidly in CAT mode, I have a mag thermometer placed as shown:

With the primary air control turned completely down, the thermometer will get up to about 570-580F and seems to regulate there. Is that OK? Or is that too hot? This thermometer is marked "too hot" with a red zone starting at 475F, but I think this may not be correct for this stove - again I'm not sure about what's an acceptable running temp and what's too hot.

I do see that if I crank the primary air control to, say, the mid position the stove will heat up more but its plenty hot as is!! The burn last night had 6 medium splits of good dry oak loaded, which filled the burn chamber up about 3/4 full. That yielded about 7 hours of good heat. Seems like it should be able to regulate down a bit more... ?? (perhaps my splits are too small and/or too dry)

Any help here will be MUCH appreciated... thanks

 

[OK_Bill]

Bill, that's a beautiful stove set up. Welcome to the forum. I don't have any info on the probe as I've just ordered mine and waiting on it to show up.
Bo

Let us know when you get the probe installed. I'm going to order one today:

(broken link removed to http://www.condar.com/Digital_Thermometers.html)

 

[Reckless]

Update: 3 burns done in CAT mode, all with medium (4"-6") oak splits. The stove still hasn't been loaded fully to the top, but I'm hesitant to do that until I get some more feedback from y'all about temperature regulation:

Question: Running solidly in CAT mode, I have a mag thermometer placed as shown:

With the primary air control turned completely down, the thermometer will get up to about 570-580F and seems to regulate there. Is that OK? Or is that too hot? This thermometer is marked "too hot" with a red zone starting at 475F, but I think this may not be correct for this stove - again I'm not sure about what's an acceptable running temp and what's too hot.

I do see that if I crank the primary air control to, say, the mid position the stove will heat up more but its plenty hot as is!! The burn last night had 6 medium splits of good dry oak loaded, which filled the burn chamber up about 3/4 full. That yielded about 7 hours of good heat. Seems like it should be able to regulate down a bit more... ?? (perhaps my splits are too small and/or too dry)

Any help here will be MUCH appreciated... thanks

First get a condor probe. second, I put the therm on the griddle personally and like to run to stove in the 650 range (1300+/- cat).

 

[hydes2004]

Guys, I ordered the condar digital probe for my wwl. It should arrive Tuesday. I'm going to crack this thing open, and see if it has a countdown timer in the pcb board. If so In going to bypass it. If it works the display should should be on the entire time

 

[Reckless]

Adjusting the airwash. With the stove cold and front doors closed remove the griddle and reach in through the top and feel how the airwash lines up. Adjust this screw as needed, keep in mind that the airwash and door is threaded so you may need to unscrew it from the door to adjust it properly.


My glass is a little dirty since I'm doing small break in fires from my complete rebuild.

 

[Reckless]

Guys, I ordered the condar digital probe for my wwl. It should arrive Tuesday. I'm going to crack this thing open, and see if it has a countdown timer in the pcb board. If so In going to bypass it. If it works the display should should be on the entire time

Sounds good! Hope you bought a wall plug also (or make one) cause that thing eats batteries already. Take some pics for us.

 

[hydes2004]

I have a 9v wall wart with 9v battery terminals soldered to the end. I also put a spst switch in line to turn it on and off.

 

[Reckless]

I have a 9v wall wart with 9v battery terminals soldered to the end. I also put a spst switch in line to turn it on and off.

I did something very similar. 9v plug from my collection of power supplies (I tend to hoard old plugs lol) and a 9v terminal from and old smoke detector. The switch is a nice touch for if you figure out how to bypass that damn count down timer. Good luck!!

 

[touchthewindrider]

Hello all. I'm so glad to have found this VC thread. I've got an old VC Dutchwest Sequoia that I rebuilt last year and earlier this year I replaced the CAT. I'm still learning how burn this stove, even after a couple of years. These comments about CAT temps and stove top temps have me wondering. The temp gauge I have sits directly above the CAT. From the comments I have to consider this is the temp of the CAT. Correct? If so, I read that it is not unusual to have CAT temps at 1000 degrees. Again, correct? I've been operating the stove using that temperature measure to regulate the stove at around 600 to 700 degrees. If the gauge is reading the temp of the CAT, have I been running the stove inefficiently. Would it be better to have CAT temps of 1000 or there about degrees? Should I also get a magnetic thermometer to measure the stove top? Maybe placed further toward the rear or the side. away from the CAT?

Thanks!

 

[OK_Bill]

Well now that hearth and home technologies bought VC, life should be good !

Hearth and Home Technologies never bought VC. They're a sub-brand of HNI Corp (NYSE: HNI).

HNI bought VC from Monessen Hearth Systems Oct 1, 2014. So, VC is also a sub-brand of HNI just like Hearth & Home is.

 

[Woody Stover]

Not sure I'm allowed in this thread with all the nice stoves, with my old Dutchwest 2460. At any rate, I put in new OEM gaskets, sealed the vertical seams inside the stove, and she runs out nicely now. BTW, I have one of the "bad" diesel-foil cats in it. Just loaded the stove, burned in for about 15 min, then dropped the bypass with 200 on the cat probe. Cat was glowing within a minute.

 

[OK_Bill]

Ok - so I think I've got this thing figured out.

So many issues: the VC "3-burn" thing; all the air seals and thermostats and moving parts; all the darn refractory complications; down draft mystique; complete confusion about all the burn modes ... CAT, non-cat, damper open or closed ... the list just goes on and on and on and ON.

Well, guys its nothing we've never dealt with before really. -- No, really its not. -- While responding to another post, I realized there's a better explanation of why the VC stoves have such a - can I say it - seductive attraction. Why they entice us with all their idiosyncrasies complications and predilections?

Shhh - whispering now - these stoves are just like women.

YES! Think about it: What are the similarities between my so so sooooo sexy Bordeaux Red Encore and ... wait for it ... my wife? god help me but I just have to get this off my chest

• It has lots of pretty curves
• It can be needy
  
• It has lots of parts that can get tweaked the wrong way
• It can run hard and get all dirty but cleans up well
• Sometimes its hard to figure out what's wrong
• When its in the right mood, its downright amazing
• I love it

Okay so there you have it all summed up!

 

[Reckless]

Ok - so I think I've got this thing figured out.

So many issues: the VC "3-burn" thing; all the air seals and thermostats and moving parts; all the darn refractory complications; down draft mystique; complete confusion about all the burn modes ... CAT, non-cat, damper open or closed ... the list just goes on and on and on and ON.

Well, guys its nothing we've never dealt with before really. No, really its not. While responding to another post, I realized there's a better explanation of why the VC stoves have such a - can I say it - seductive attraction. Why they entice us with all their idiosyncrasies complications and predilections ... these stoves are just like women.

YES! Think about it: What are the similarities between my so so sooooo sexy Bordeaux Red Encore and ... wait for it ... my wife? god help me but I just have to get this off my chest

• It has lots of pretty curves
• It can be needy
  
• It has lots of parts that can get tweaked the wrong way
• It can run hard and get all dirty but cleans up well
• Sometimes its hard to figure out what's wrong
• When its in the right mood, its downright amazing
• I love it

Okay so there you have it all summed up!

HA!! That's great man dead on.

 

[Charles1981]

hrmmm. I want to and plan to trade in my stove in a few years for a newer model..... Good thing my stove isn't pregnant. It won't be getting child support.

 

[hydes2004]

So the probe is installed. I threw some stove cement around the seems. I'm going to let this dry overnight before I go ahead and put the sheet metal outer covers on. My fear is that I'm going to tweak the wire and move the probe before the cement hardens. Here is a pic (broken image removed)

 

[Reckless]

I'm finally cruising at 1250 and everything seems good after my complete rebuild.

 

[hydes2004]

What kind of stove??

 

[Reckless]

What kind of stove??

2550

 

[Diabel]

My parts finally arrived for the 2550. I am debating, the stove at the moment is gutted, all of the inner parts are out. The outer shell is intact as well as the area underneath the refractory (where the throttle line runs).
Should I take apart the outer shell? This would then classify as a total rebuild, or should I bother?

I know some of the fellas here have done both, I need your opinion on how I should proceed. Ripping the outer shell apart would add substantial amount of labor hours.