2017/2018 VC owners thread

[RandyBoBandy]

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

Bum deal man. You blockd off your secondary completely? I just changed my timing and knocked out the little pin in the flapper so it will close all the way. Is your draft insane? Have you tried plugging the EPA holes? With my secondary mods I can close my primary all the way and basically shut down the stove. Cat temps won't go above 1200 if I close primary all the way.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Anyone here running a 6" flue on your encore? And if so are you running a round flue collar or oval?

 

[Diabel]

6" and oval here

 

[RandyBoBandy]

6" and oval here

How does your 2550 run on the 6"? Is it the same flue collar as the 8", just different adaptor? I need to update my chimney setup and was thinking of converting to a 6" system. Seeing as how every newer stove runs on 6" now I do not want to do this again when I purchase a new stove down the road.

 

[Diabel]

How does your 2550 run on the 6"? Is it the same flue collar as the 8", just different adaptor? I need to update my chimney setup and was thinking of converting to a 6" system. Seeing as how every newer stove runs on 6" now I do not want to do this again when I purchase a new stove down the road.

Same collar.
I have a friend who runs a 2140 on a 8" pipe that goes into a stone chimney and if the stove is wide open the flames (to me) appears very sluggish. Pretty much the same length overall chimney length.

With mine, while wide open the flame is very lively I believe due to very strong draft caused by the 6" pipe.

 

[Reckless]

I run 6" round and it runs fine for me.


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[RandyBoBandy]

I run 6" round and it runs fine for me.


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Did you buy your stove with the round flue collar on or did you swap it yourself?

 

[Reckless]

Did you buy your stove with the round flue collar on or did you swap it yourself?

Oval and bought the round from the aforementioned Wearhouse site. It's non enameled black but so is the new rear I purchased too. The whole thing sits hidden anyway.


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[Reckless]

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

Sounds oh too familiar. Try reloading a little hotter (cat temp 6-700), get the cat up to temp quick and start shutting it down sooner (1050 1/4-1/3 shut). Also 1/2-3/4 full pulled to the front away from the throat. Even with all this I still worry about this thing trying to commit suicide lol. YMMV but this is what works for me with this unpredictable heat generator. How closed can you get your primary with out back puffing or your cat getting overwhelmed? I can only close mine 2/3-3/4 and even then the fames sometimes disappear. My 2ndary is still blocked and ash pan full which is the same as blocking both EPA (only one is truly blocked at this point) next stop is cementing the griddle, I really think no matter how well you gasket that thing it still let's air in....

It's strange that I can run this thing all day without thinking about it and control the output for the most part but whenever I go to load for the overnight I end up messing with it a bunch and way over think it and it ends up not doing what I want anyway..... Sounds like life lol


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[Reckless]

**After thought** I haven't seen my cat go over 1550 in a long time so 16-17 could be panic mode depending on flue temps but bypass open and primary closed is a safe bet at that point.


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[RandyBoBandy]

I had a load last night take almost an hour to get up to 1000* (cat) then as I started to shut primary down it stalled out and dropped to 650. Opened damper and let the load flame up again. Closed damper and the thing shot up to 1480. I was then able to cruise at 1350. Weird stuff. I did have a good sized round in there. Maybe MC was a little high on that load.

 

[defiant3]

Usual problem ares on 2550's are: ash pan doors, and tops. Wonder if you've had th top off and recemented? Hav eyou plugged the bleeder holes? Sorry, not trying to beat the dead horse here but they are frustrating stoves sometimes.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I recently replaced the griddle gasket. Unfortunately I didn't knead the cement enough and it was liquidy. So the rope ended up soaking it up and turning to rock. So needless to say I'm sure I'm leaking through the top. I found another shop near by and picked up a bunch of gasket. I'm thinking of putting in regular gasket this time instead of the wire mesh. Any thoughts? Also do you think high temp silicone will work on the griddle gasket? I hate the Rutland cement.

 

[Diabel]

Back in Nov. I was driving by one of the stove shops, decided that it was time to replace my griddle gasket. I usually use the 5/8 gray regular gasket and it lasts about 1 1/2 seasons. This time I thought to switch it up a bit and ended up buying the wire mesh gasket.
I believe I did a very good job cleaning the old cement. The whole process lasted 15min. I decided to give the stove a good cleaning and brushed the cat with a soft paint brush.
Fired the stove up the next day, all was good until I shut the unit down completely (as I always do) for the long burn. With the stove turned down completely I still had lots of lively flame in the box. The stove burnt very hot, cat spiked to 1700 and the flue probe reached unprecedented 600.

I let the load burn out. The next day I went to the shop, picked up some regular graphite 5/8 gasket, ripped out the wire gasket, waited few hrs for the cement to cure. Fired the stove.

It is now running as it should. The wire gasket was letting too much air in.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Good morning to all my VC brothers. I am looking for a replacement cat. The one i just put in warped out in a weeks time... cheap cat on Amazon its a condar cc800.. stay away.. the metal frame warped.
I am looking for a better grade cat, but am having trouble getting info for a cat for the 2040 2in1 encore
Looking at both steal and ceramic
Some help would be awesome

John

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I'm currently using a ceramic honeycomb a local dealer fold me. Works good. A little sluggish to start this year after I ran a qtip through each cell. I'm thinking of doing a cat boil if we get another warm spell. I just stumbled upon a different manufacturer last night and was interested in checking it out. Go to clearskiesunlimited.com or stovecombustors.com.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I'm currently using a ceramic honeycomb a local dealer fold me. Works good. A little sluggish to start this year after I ran a qtip through each cell. I'm thinking of doing a cat boil if we get another warm spell. I just stumbled upon a different manufacturer last night and was interested in checking it out. Go to clearskiesunlimited.com or stovecombustors.com.

Thanks randy

No luck there.. nothing for the 2040

What are peopls thpughts on a steel cat.. dose anyone run one and if so.. is it worth a purchase

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Thanks randy

No luck there.. nothing for the 2040

What are peopls thpughts on a steel cat.. dose anyone run one and if so.. is it worth a purchase

What are your cat demensions?

 

[Woodsplitter67]

12.75x 2.5x 1
L. W. H

 

[ajayabb]

There's a couple on eBay
(broken link removed to https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F253294044128)


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[RandyBoBandy]

I want to say @jharkin had a steel cat. He has been quiet this year so hopefully he can chime in and share his thoughts. If you read through his rebuild thread I think he talks about his steel cat some.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Good morning to all my VC brothers. I am looking for a replacement cat. The one i just put in warped out in a weeks time... cheap cat on Amazon its a condar cc800.. stay away.. the metal frame warped.
I am looking for a better grade cat, but am having trouble getting info for a cat for the 2040 2in1 encore
Looking at both steal and ceramic
Some help would be awesome

John

Condar should replace it under warranty if you just bought it.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Condar should replace it under warranty if you just bought it.

Yes. But i dont want another one. Looking for a different brand and or model.
I will send it for replacement, but looking for different options. Looking at firecat trying to get a steel one.
I looked up the ones in the link above on ebay but they dont state a brand name on them, so i am leary on purchasing them.

 

[Woody Stover]

do you think high temp silicone will work on the griddle gasket? I hate the Rutland cement.

I felt safe using silicone on the Buck door gasket since the cast door frame and gasket is protected from direct radiation due to its being on the outside of the door opening in the front plate of the stove...if that makes any sense.
I wouldn't use silicone on my other stoves (Dw 2460 and Keystone) since they have cast doors that take direct radiation, and the gasket is seated into a groove around the edge of the door. Seems like that might be the case with the grill top as well..

 

[Woody Stover]

Now, the 1100-degree silicone might work..