2017/2018 VC owners thread

[Charles1981]

I haven't decided if I like this stove or not. Right now I'm having issues getting the secondary to light. It's pretty hit or miss. It will light and run for a while, and then it seems to go out later and I have back puffing problems. I've never used a stove with a cat before. I'm wondering if the cat needs replacing.

I highly suspect you may have moist wood. If the car isn't cracked or has holes in it it's still good imo. It is warmer right now and the stove with a short stack and moist wood is going to backpuff and stall the cat in not time...from 5 years experience. I have a 25 foot internal stack and the stove runs well right now....but still I don't run the stove except at night when the temps dip below 35. Stove runs very poorly above 40 degrees even with my tall chimney.

 

[azeeb]

The horizontal section of my stove pipe is about 3 feet, then it goes up 25. The chimney is clean, and I thought the gaskets were in OK shape. However, last night I had a bit of a run away fire. The stove temp got up to 700, and the horizontal section of my stovepipe had a surface temp of 550-600. The cat was blazing away. The temps were still trying to climb, so I opened the bypass and managed to get it stabilized while I baby sat it for an hour or so. Fortunately I only had 4 splits of ash loaded, and not a full load. Afterwards, I saw one of the door glass gaskets was broke and hanging down inside. I'm guessing that air leak is what caused it to get away from me. No more fires until I get some new gasket material and get a temp probe for the cat.

What's the best way to slow down a runaway fire when you get an air leak? The pucker factor started to kick in for me as the temps kept climbing. I've never used a stove that didn't have a damper in the stove pipe that could help cut the draft. With the bypass closed on this one the cat just kept getting hotter. I left the bypass open and let it burn down. I had a pail of ashes ready to dump on it. I stuffed tin foil to cover the secondary air opening in the back of the stove, but that didn't seem to do much. The only EPA hole I could find was in the bottom rear of the stove, just in front of the primary air vent. No holes in the ash pan that I could find.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Your model may have the EPA holes in a different location. Look behind the front legs leading in to the ash pan area. My finger is pointing to one just behind the latch on the inside of the ash pan housing. I don't R.E.M. er if you said what size pipe you are running, 6" or 8"? If 8" you could open the doors all the way in a runaway situation. It would be wise to use the screen insert if you happen to have one. I have read of others soaking a log in water and putting it in the stove to slow things down. If things get real scary you could throw some sand in through the griddle top. If you can get behind the stove and check to make sure the primary air control can shut all the way. The window gasket isn't to bad to do. Just don't use to much cement. You don't want it oozing out on the outside of the glass. A mirror on s telescoping handle is a very handy tool when working on the stove.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

There are some of us who have done some tinkering with the secondary air shutter. I changed the timing and knocked out the little pin so the shutter will close all the way.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Where does everyone like to shop for their stove parts? I don't trust my local vendor and I need to start planning for a rebuild. I took advantage of a warm day and cleaned the stove today. My refractory box has seen better days. Hood and lower fire back are starting to show signs of warping as well.

 

[azeeb]

I have a 8" pipe. The only thing I can find that must be the EPA hole on my model is in the bottom rear center, right in front of the primary air intake. It seems to let air into the primary even when the shutter is closed. I can't find anything in the ash pan.

There doesn't seem to be any secondary air shutter on mine, just an open rectangle above the primary air intake.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I have a 8" pipe. The only thing I can find that must be the EPA hole on my model is in the bottom rear center, right in front of the primary air intake. It seems to let air into the primary even when the shutter is closed. I can't find anything in the ash pan.

There doesn't seem to be any secondary air shutter on mine, just an open rectangle above the primary air intake.

I've been looking online to see what is used for secondary air on your stove but not getting good diagrams. Can you take a picture of the back of your stove and post it?

 

[azeeb]

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Hopefully someone with your style stove chimes in soon

 

[Diabel]

Hi All
What Encore are we talking about here?

 

[RandyBoBandy]

He has the defiant 1975 flexburn. I can't find anything on the secondary air control

 

[azeeb]

From what I can tell, the 2n1 flexburn models don’t have any secondary air control. Just a big hole in the back. Most of it feeds the cat, but some of it is also routed to the firebox through a bunch of small holes.

Post #90 & #93 in this thread mention it
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2014-2015-vc-owners-thread.132919/page-4

 

[RandyBoBandy]

From what I can tell, the 2n1 flexburn models don’t have any secondary air control. Just a big hole in the back. Most of it feeds the cat, but some of it is also routed to the firebox through a bunch of small holes.

Post #90 & #93 in this thread mention it
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2014-2015-vc-owners-thread.132919/page-4

I remember reading that thread now. Does your 1975 have these 8 holes in the fire back?

 

[azeeb]

I remember reading that thread now. Does your 1975 have these 8 holes in the fire back?

Yes it does.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I think you need to fix your door gasket and install your cat probe before you start plugging holes. It would be nice to see what temps your cat is hitting. Did you ever end up getting a moisture meter?

 

[azeeb]

I agree, I don’t plan on modifying anything until I get a better feel for how it runs as intended. I did not get a moisture meter yet. I did get the gaskets and might work on those tomorrow. If I have time I’ll look for a moisture meter at Home Depot too. I need to make a trip there anyways.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[Ladd]

Hello!

Semi-recent poster here again. I'm the person who had his VC 2140 insides taken out and spread across my living room when I discovered that the refractory assembly in the rebuild kit was the wrong one. After numerous email exchanges with the retailer and finally contacting his Hearth & Home representative, the correct refractory assembly was delivered by FedEx a couple of hours ago. It is installed, as has the lower fireback.

I have a question about installing the upper fireback:

The instructions say "apply a bead of stove cement to the back left and right edges of the new upper fireback assembly". As shown in the upside down photo posted below, the back left and right of the upper fireback has rope gasket pre-installed, each gasket curving around to cover a few inches of the bottom.

Where am I supposed to put the bead of cement?

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Interesting. I would assume any mating surface that does not have gasket I would think gets cement. Hopefully someone with experience with this model will chime in. If not try tagging @bholler

 

[Ladd]

Thanks for the reply.

The only part of the back of the upper fireback that is a mating surface that *doesn't* have a gasket already installed is *maybe* the top long edge (the bottom edge in the upside down photo). One, I don't know if this part mates with anything and Two, it's clearly not the "back left and right edge", so unless the instructions are wrong, I don't see how this long edge should get a bead line of cement.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Thanks for the reply.

The only part of the back of the upper fireback that is a mating surface that *doesn't* have a gasket already installed is *maybe* the top long edge (the bottom edge in the upside down photo). One, I don't know if this part mates with anything and Two, it's clearly not the "back left and right edge", so unless the instructions are wrong, I don't see how this long edge should get a bead line of cement.

Any luck? You could also try reaching out to @begreen or @defiant3 for advice.

 

[Ladd]

I haven't sent a message to bholler yet, figuring that if they came to the board and got notified of a waiting message, they would probably come to this discussion thread anyway. Now, if contacting bholler or @begreen or @defiant3 sends an email to them, that would be different. In any case, it's the weekend and I'll give folks until this evening to see if anyone checks in here.

 

[defiant3]

Where the top edge of the upper fireback would meet the top of the stove should be cemented. Be advised that the channel the UFB fits into in the top casting WAS cemented before, and so you must remove any old cement from this groove. Working upside down. Inside the stove. With hammer and chisel. Yeah. You of course may apply the cement into that groove instead of on the upper fireback if that seems easier. Again. Upside down.. Inside the stove. Right. Best of luck.

 

[Ladd]

Your advice makes perfect sense and I will do that.

However, can you offer any explanation as to the directions saying "apply a bead to the left and right sides of the UFB"?

 

[defiant3]

Nope