2017/2018 VC owners thread
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i rake the coals a little forward, just to clear out the holes for the cat intake. If you can kill the flames, you most likely do not need to replace the gasket on the bypass damper. you may be able to adjust it with the tensioner screw in the front.
Can you snap a picture of your moisture meter on a freshly split piece? i keep thinking that with your draft, and with the setup, it is with the wood. Are you doing a full load, or 1/2 loads? I found that if I don't fill the stove the whole way, i can't get my cat temps to get up super high. I am generally around 1100 when the cat is going off.
Can you snap a picture of your moisture meter on a freshly split piece? i keep thinking that with your draft, and with the setup, it is with the wood. Are you doing a full load, or 1/2 loads? I found that if I don't fill the stove the whole way, i can't get my cat temps to get up super high. I am generally around 1100 when the cat is going off.
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That's the freshly split side. The other face is about 6%.
My defiant has a big firebox. I've only been putting 5-6 splits in it. I really need to get some cut 20-22" long. What I have is in the normal 16" range which makes it hard to pack the firebox full. There is a lot of open space on the sides. I will try loading it up a little more and see what happens.
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Reckless
Feeling the Heat
Just ordered 200' of 5/16th gasket if anyone needs I'll let it go fairly cheap .50/ft shipped or something as long as it fits in small envelope. PM me
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RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
You can either buy the 4" probe from condar. It will work with the auber. Or auber has a 6" probe. Make sure it is a K type thermo coupled with a heat rating up to 2000*. It also need to be 1/4" diameter.
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
Also you will have to drill a hole in your heat shield if you run the 6" probe
No heat shield here and I am using the 6" from Auber and it works perfectly.
As for specs....precisely what Randy said
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
Reckless
Feeling the Heat
Almost cemented closed my gt today but found some mesh gasket from a couple years ago so I decided to give it at least another year or two. I don't ever use the gt to load and I'm tired of replacing a gasket.
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RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
Really?!? I only top load when I'm burning 24/7. I hate bending over to load through the doors. Plus, the only way to completely fill the firebox is to top load. The gasket does get its a$$ kicked top loading all the time. I think I'm going to regasket with regular rope next time though. I used the mesh stuff last time and I'm not really a fan.
Reckless
Feeling the Heat
I've tried normal stuff too and they both suck. Being all my splits are 18"+ I have a hard time top loading to fill it all the way so I just fill the box then lift up the top split and squeeze more in-between. Not to mention this stove is getting pushed back another 4" into the fire place and then the griddle will be completely useless.
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Soooooo..... I'd like to add something interesting to the discussion. But I have not even lit the stove yet this year.
In fact I only cleaned it out Thanksgiving week.
Our falls and winters are getting warmer and warmer each year. Its not as bad as 2 years ago when we where outside in shortsleeves on Christmas, but in general its been borderline at best for using it before January the last few years. This year we have had the odd night down into the 30s but midweek 50+ warmups have been the norm the last few weeks.
Carry on....
In fact I only cleaned it out Thanksgiving week.
Our falls and winters are getting warmer and warmer each year. Its not as bad as 2 years ago when we where outside in shortsleeves on Christmas, but in general its been borderline at best for using it before January the last few years. This year we have had the odd night down into the 30s but midweek 50+ warmups have been the norm the last few weeks.
Carry on....
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
Next week here in Michigan it will will be a high in the 20's and lows in the teens even down to 10, so they say. Finally good burning weather. My wife is getting fed up with the house being over 75 degrees during the day. It's hard to burn 24/7 when the days get up to the 50's.
Reckless
Feeling the Heat
I can't even burn when it's over freezing. House gets up to low to mid 80s
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RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
I have the same issue... I used to light it in the 40s, but after we had hte house re-insulated that would overheat it too easily. Now I only use it if its its going to be in the 30s and cloudy, or its giong to be below freezing and sunny.
It was 57F when I left for work this morning.
This is December.
we have been on and off again, so we have done a bunch of cold starts. I loaded up a full load of pine and russian olive last night around 11am, but it was only ashes in the stove this morning, griddle temp was down to 140º, entire house was sitting between 58-62. I didn't think it had gotten that cold outside last night, but it was down to 16º. Also, it turns out one of the upstairs windows was cracked...
I think I will do the annual chimney cleaning tomorrow. I'm about done with the hemlock and ready to get into some real wood, hence need the pipe clean. The temps are to go to way sub zero (-*C) so I want to be ready. The hemlock kept the house warm since mid Oct.
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
I'm excited to get into my oak next week highs in mid to upper 20's and lows could get down to the low teens
RandyBoBandy
Minister of Fire
Extension cord for the meantime. I feel lost when we loose power and I have to cruise blind. I need to order another one for my difiant upnorth.
there is no way that i can run an exension cord. The nearest outlet is across a door, around 2 corners and across the hallway, or outside! Hence, I will be adding an outlet right next to the stove. I have my thermometer in there right now, and i've got a pretty good handle on my temps, so i'm not worried about it!
I did have some issues with the calibration, but I think i got it figure out. If anyone knows how to reset the max temp, that would be great. I may or may not have put the wires in backwards and the max temp is 5712.
UGH.
Finally cold enough this weekend to burn. Fired it up Fri morning, burned ok thought the day and at 9pm loaded up for an overnight. Did not pack it stuffed, just full with a mix of hard oak and some lighter stuff.
Outside temps where mild - maybe 28-30 overnight.
Of course it went nuclear. Got up to 1650 by 10pm so I opened the bypass to cool it off all the way down to 1000. Then reset and went to bed and in 45 minutes it ran back up to 1750 around 11:15pm. At this point the load was over half burned down so I figured it has to peak soon, knocked it down, left it on bypass for 10 min to cool off again and then shut it down and turned off the alarm to sleep.
It may have gone nuclear again overnight but no signs of damage this morning. Lord only knows how many times it went nuclear before I had an alarm.
I'm done. I'm just not going to pack it full for overnights anymore, period. I simply cant trust it and Ive tried EVERYTHING. rebuilds, gaskets all pass the dollar test, did reckless mod to close the secondary. nothing works.
From now on I'm going to use it more for backup heat and only put a few splits in overnight to carry some coals for hte morning. let hte gas heat do hte heavy lifting. Its just not worth the headache
Finally cold enough this weekend to burn. Fired it up Fri morning, burned ok thought the day and at 9pm loaded up for an overnight. Did not pack it stuffed, just full with a mix of hard oak and some lighter stuff.
Outside temps where mild - maybe 28-30 overnight.
Of course it went nuclear. Got up to 1650 by 10pm so I opened the bypass to cool it off all the way down to 1000. Then reset and went to bed and in 45 minutes it ran back up to 1750 around 11:15pm. At this point the load was over half burned down so I figured it has to peak soon, knocked it down, left it on bypass for 10 min to cool off again and then shut it down and turned off the alarm to sleep.
It may have gone nuclear again overnight but no signs of damage this morning. Lord only knows how many times it went nuclear before I had an alarm.
I'm done. I'm just not going to pack it full for overnights anymore, period. I simply cant trust it and Ive tried EVERYTHING. rebuilds, gaskets all pass the dollar test, did reckless mod to close the secondary. nothing works.
From now on I'm going to use it more for backup heat and only put a few splits in overnight to carry some coals for hte morning. let hte gas heat do hte heavy lifting. Its just not worth the headache
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