2018/19 VC Owners Thread

[frased]

When checking for moisture content:
Bring piece of wood to room temperature
Split again to open a fresh face
Jam probes with grain into freshly exposed face.

Done... 16% - 18% average

It does feel dry to the touch and sound when I do the "clank" pieces together. But moisture meter shows 16% - 18%.

 

[frased]

Ok so I think I see now the 2 x air controls. Primary and secondary.

So I removed the black cover and can watch the secondary air shutter and if its functional during my next burn? I see what you mean about disconnecting it... looks like a little thermostat connected to it. And its overall value comes into question.

I also check the primary air shutter. It seems to mostly shut 99%. There may be a centimeter between close and clank from the shutter fully closing. Could that centimeter make that much of a difference? Should I mess with adjustment? Assuming that little screw on the shutter is exactly that an adjustment screw? It's definitely fully operational. I just question that little centimeter. And should the shutter "rest" naturally against the base without any cable tension whatsover.

Thank you guys for all your help on this. Sorry to be so chatty but these things are no toy. Want to get it right.

Here are 2 x pictures 1 with primary closed. 1 showing secondary shutter when stove is cooled off. No fire.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Here is a picture of them... when I do the “knock” test together it has the dry clunk sound.

Maybe this stuff is out of control dry.

Moisture meter is showing about 18% average.

That's gasser wood or at least it would be fro my stove. A lot of that in there may be a big part of the problem.

 

[Woody Stover]

Here is a picture of them..Maybe this stuff is out of control dry. Moisture meter is showing about 18% average.

The splits don't look too small and 18% isn't too dry. First, check the things on the stove that these gurus mention, then you can play with the coal bed when reloading as I mentioned above, to limit gassing when you are ramping up a new load. Or you could just burn a couple smaller splits to get the stove up to temp, then put in your main load and cut the air earlier to limit gassing. Also, dense woods Oak, hard Maple, Locust etc. catch fire and gas slower at the beginning, but I don't know if you have any on hand that is somewhat dry? You could maybe mix in just one split of it with your drier stuff...I'm just spit-balling here. These guys know the ins and outs, my VC is a cat, a whole 'nother story.

 

[frased]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to do what you all said. Watch the secondary auto shutter operation tonight. Also not sure if I should even touch the adjustment on the primary. It's a centimeter if that. It seems to just barely touch/clank on full close.

Last night I had a ton of the "gasser" splits with 1 massive oak split (7 months old) in the middle of it all. It was fine for an hour but then the griddle took off!

So maybe tonight just a couple "gassers" to get it started and throw in the oak. But I'm hesitant about doing a full load again. Tonight anyway.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Done... 16% - 18% average

It does feel dry to the touch and sound when I do the "clank" pieces together. But moisture meter shows 16% - 18%
I would say that’s right on point. That’s not too dry to where you can’t control your fire.

 

[Woody Stover]

Last night I had a ton of the "gasser" splits with 1 massive oak split (7 months old) in the middle of it all. It was fine for an hour but then the griddle took off!
So maybe tonight just a couple "gassers" to get it started and throw in the oak. But I'm hesitant about doing a full load again. Tonight anyway.

Yeah, the damp Oak probably held it in check, until it finally got dry in there.
Agreed, take it slow and easy at first and work up to bigger loads as you get a handle on it. All stoves have a learning curve, these more than others. Worry not, these guys will get you up to speed..they have seen it all.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

ok still not eniugh control on my monty....air all the way down and cruising at 730. sigh

Are you able to block the secondary air inlet?

 

[frased]

Are you able to block the secondary air inlet?

Update looks like the secondary is working (automatically anyway) here is cold and now hot pics closing on its own.

Half oak and half gasser going. Figures I can’t break 400 griddle tonight lol

So should I mess with primary and secondary now that I’ve confirmed working?

Maybe it was fuel last night :-/

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Update looks like the secondary is working (automatically anyway) here is cold and now hot pics closing on its own.

Half oak and half gasser going. Figures I can’t break 400 griddle tonight lol

So should I mess with primary and secondary now that I’ve confirmed working?

Maybe it was fuel last night :-/

My last post was for sculpture of sound. If your oak is only 7 months css I’m going to say it’s not dry enough so half a box of it might be why you can’t get GT over 400. How is your glass looking? Cat temps?

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Are you able to block the secondary air inlet?

not really. it pulls in along the side panel but there are entry points on the outside and all along the bottom (and deep inside the bottom air path where the fan air also flows, hard to explain but ive had this this quite taken apart and got to see how it all fits together)

the only way i can think to limit it is to block the tubes internally, which i have tried (3 out of 4 about 25% blocked each) and which is helping. it might just be my wood though - it's 98% pine and a lot of it is at about 12%. on top of that i got impatient for more heat on my reload and let too much of it ignite/char before turning the air down. after that it was too late and turning it all the way down just barely managed to contain it, and this time only because it was only about a half load.

is there any way to burn a full load of pine safely? im a bit scared to try a full load, even if i keep the air all the way shut when reloading.

really I'd just like to be able to have some coals left in the morning. I'll be getting some hardwoods next year but too late for this season.

 

[FPX Dude]

Wow, I just zapped my CAT (who's ever said that before, hahaha!) with IR gun and it was same temp as my firebox, 550-600 degrees, you musta be scared when it was 1000+, that's crazy...sounds like a leaky box or sump'n.

 

[Woody Stover]

Wow, I just zapped my CAT (who's ever said that before, hahaha!) with IR gun and it was same temp as my firebox, 550-600 degrees, you musta be scared when it was 1000+, that's crazy...sounds like a leaky box or sump'n.

Cat doesn't even start burning until 500, glows around 1000. I don't have a cat probe on this stove, but when I ran the Buck 91 I considered a cat temp of 1000-1500 to be right in the "Goldilocks zone." They say that much hotter than that consistently, you can damage the cat.

 

[frased]

Fuel seems to be my problem... last night I had a beautiful long duration burn.

Half maple gasser and half greener (7-8 month) oak. Griddle cruised at 525 and CAT maintained 900-1100. Had primary all the way down. Didn’t need more. Nice little flame with a perfect slow cook. Hot coal bed underneath.

Unable to burn through the night though I didn’t have enough wood in the box? Taking it slow for now. I’m guessing with a full load that long CAT burn can make it overnight.

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Same here frased. The fuel makes such a difference, as does how it is loaded.

Tonight for me was almost a perfect burn. My cold start up was virtually smoke free within 20 minutes and the blower kicked on in about 30 (usually it takes 45 to 70 minutes with my lesser starts).

I then reloaded and packed it tight although not full...probably only half the wood I could theoretically fit in there if packed in perfectly, so maybe only 1 or 1.2 cubic feet or so. A couple small pieces of hardwood and one long but smallish split of pine and then a half log (what are these called - when you just split it in half, not quarters or beyond?) Of pine.

I kept my patience. Reloaded with stove top around 300, turned air down about 90% within a minute or two and let it slowly ramp up. That was one of my problems in the past, trying to charge so much of the reload wood right away, the way you do on a cold start. Letting it char really slow worked well, the fire burned from one side to the other, climbed up to 450 within about 20 mins and then continued to climb to about a 525 cruise. Had flames for about 3 hours and now almost 7 hours later still have a moderate amount of coals. I've no doubt if I loaded it more and used all hardwoods I could get 8 hours easy.

The only thing I'm not sure of is if I loaded it more fully if more of it would have started burning at once and the temp would have climbed too high causing a quicker burn/more off gassing and maybe going too hot again? Air all the way down kept this under control tonight but I believe that was ONLY because I was careful to turn it down so quickly. I think if I had over charred the reload there would have been no way to dial it back enough, so I'd still like more control so that the whole process doesn't have to be surgically precise not for things to spiral out of control.

 

[frased]

@SculptureOfSound yup same. I’m thinking I need to back down on trying to charge my reloads now.

Last night I charged the reload to get the griddle back up. Then aired it down. But maybe I’m cooking some of the new oak reload wood and reducing burn times.

With a couple pieces of maple and couple large oak splits the fire was out by 230 am. 3 hr burn. And that was with a perfect burn.

So not enough wood in the overnight load to go long duration. My guess.

My biggest question is this... CAT engaged stove purring away... reload... griddle temp goes down. It’s bedtime... do I need to not engage the CAT again until griddle hits 500? It seems so frustrating at some point I need to sleep. Lol not babysit this stove all night!

 

[Dobish]

@SculptureOfSound yup same. I’m thinking I need to back down on trying to charge my reloads now.

Last night I charged the reload to get the griddle back up. Then aired it down. But maybe I’m cooking some of the new oak reload wood and reducing burn times.

With a couple pieces of maple and couple large oak splits the fire was out by 230 am. 3 hr burn. And that was with a perfect burn.

So not enough wood in the overnight load to go long duration. My guess.

My biggest question is this... CAT engaged stove purring away... reload... griddle temp goes down. It’s bedtime... do I need to not engage the CAT again until griddle hits 500? It seems so frustrating at some point I need to sleep. Lol not babysit this stove all night!

If your is hot, you can reload, let the wood start to catch aflame and engage the cat. I normally try and reload around 30 minutes before I go to bed, so I can turn down the air and it will burn all night.

Last night around 10:30 I loaded up my stove with some black walnut rounds, a few pieces of pine, and engaged the cat within 4-5 minutes. Stove temp was 400º, cat was at 350º, and within a few minutes, my cat was back up to 1000º. I turned down the air and went to bed. This morning at 7:30, stove temp was 370º, cat was 224º, and there was still a bed of coals to reload off of.

Room temp went from 72º when I went to bed to 63º when i woke up.

 

[Reckless]

Hello boys and girls, what have I missed? Just getting the stove ready. Pulled all doors and fireback and cementing in the top load (done with that gasket). Also picked up some cat gasket to try out from condor.

 

[Diabel]

Hello boys and girls, what have I missed? Just getting the stove ready. Pulled all doors and fireback and cementing in the top load (done with that gasket). Also picked up some cat gasket to try out from condor.

“Cat gasket”? For what?

 

[frased]

If your is hot, you can reload, let the wood start to catch aflame and engage the cat. I normally try and reload around 30 minutes before I go to bed, so I can turn down the air and it will burn all night.

Last night around 10:30 I loaded up my stove with some black walnut rounds, a few pieces of pine, and engaged the cat within 4-5 minutes. Stove temp was 400º, cat was at 350º, and within a few minutes, my cat was back up to 1000º. I turned down the air and went to bed. This morning at 7:30, stove temp was 370º, cat was 224º, and there was still a bed of coals to reload off of.

Room temp went from 72º when I went to bed to 63º when i woke up.

I think I finally “got it”...

All along I kept thinking the griddle needs to be 500 to engage the CAT. I get that on the initial startup fire. 500, engage.

But I believe what I now understand is you don’t have to wait for the griddle to be 500 every time during reloads? In other words long as the CAT stays over 500 it’s igniting the smoke. Doing its job.

Do I have this right guys?

 

[Dobish]

I think I finally “got it”...

All along I kept thinking the griddle needs to be 500 to engage the CAT. I get that on the initial startup fire. 500, engage.

But I believe what I now understand is you don’t have to wait for the griddle to be 500 every time during reloads? In other words long as the CAT stays over 500 it’s igniting the smoke. Doing its job.

Do I have this right guys?

yes. you have it right.

 

[Reckless]

“Cat gasket”? For what?

Looks like there is a gap and it was only $4..... You know me, always experimenting.

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Ok I've been thinking a lot about how to maximize a cold start...does this read as a good start?

Keep in mind exterior chimney, no insulation in the firebox but I do have insulation above blockoff plate.

10am start fire
10:10 450 degree stove top
10:23 600 stove top, peak temp very minimal smoke from chimney
10:30 air is 90% cut and 575 cruise established

I did a lot of air tweaking in the first 15 minutes.

0-2.5 min leave door open to spread fire and establish char on kindling and small splits
2.5 -5 cut air about 50%. There was so much off gassing so rapidly, why waste all the heat up the flue by leaving air fully open
5-8 mins cut air about 80%. Secondaries were already happening. Still trying to capitalize on that initial off gassing. Stove climbed quickly during this time though fire was slowly petering out.
8-12 mins reopen air to about 40 or 50% the thinking here was thatthat earlier phase of cut air helped heat the stove top a lot, was over 400 by about 8 min, so now I reopen the air to let the fire spread a bit and establish more off gassing. Stove top is hot enough already that the rapid off gassing being newly established is mostly burning as secondaries.

12 mins and beyond ...previous phase climbed to about 520 with air at 50% and more fire was established. Now I turn the air back down, cut about 85-90% and let it cruise. Temp climbed to 600 even then fell back to about 575 where I'm cruising at, although temp is dropping somewhat quickly only because this was a smallish load of mostly pine to get things going.

Will reload about 2 to 2.5 hours after I started this load....that process will bb much different with air being cut back down 90% almost immediately

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Need some help
My son wanted to help with the stove and put some water in the steamer pot.. the stove was hot and he dribbled some water on the stove.. any thoughts on how to get rid of the spots

Thanks

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Need some help
My son wanted to help with the stove and put some water in the steamer pot.. the stove was hot and he dribbled some water on the stove.. any thoughts on how to get rid of the spots

Thanks

View attachment 235161

Try a scotch brite pad or steel wool. I’ve been using scotch brite pad for a couple of years. It does basically sand the paint down so after awhile you will most likely have to hit it with some stove paint. I haven’t had to paint mine yet but it’s getting close.