2022/23 VC Owner thread

[Eman85]

I would dearly love to know why VC abandoned the secondary bimetal air flow control..... seems like a great idea to me. Although many folks here have reported issues even with the secondary air flapper. Was it a cost reduction? Or was there some performance reason? or maybe they were driven to it by emissions standards.... IDK.

We'll never know if we are depending on VC to tell us. I know how my secondary air reacts, but can't find anyone to tell me if it's correct or what it actually should do.
I have been able to control my cat as long as I turn the air down quick enough but wait long enough that it doesn't stall. I have been getting my steps in as the stove isn't in the TV room so I make a lot of trips back and forth checking temps. It is annoying to have to keep pausing the TV to go check the stove. If I'm a little early checking it means more trips as draft is low and it takes a little longer. If I'm late then it's the turn the air down to try and get the cat to behave and of course lose the heat as the STT drops when the air is cut.

 

[arnermd]

well ideally we would be rotating it before it got to that point. Say every couple weeks or even weekly if the stove goes cold. But if every edge warped it may just crumble. Who knows, I am liking the idea more of the steel cat. But what will stop that from warping too?

Rotating weekly, that might work, but my stove is never cold that often in the winter.....

Steel cat: I do not know if it will be better or worse..... the whole thing might curl up in a little ball and die..... I am willing try. In an ideal world the cat temps will be lower..... and the cat will last longer. I can dream can't I....

 

[arnermd]

We'll never know if we are depending on VC to tell us. I know how my secondary air reacts, but can't find anyone to tell me if it's correct or what it actually should do.
I have been able to control my cat as long as I turn the air down quick enough but wait long enough that it doesn't stall. I have been getting my steps in as the stove isn't in the TV room so I make a lot of trips back and forth checking temps. It is annoying to have to keep pausing the TV to go check the stove. If I'm a little early checking it means more trips as draft is low and it takes a little longer. If I'm late then it's the turn the air down to try and get the cat to behave and of course lose the heat as the STT drops when the air is cut.

View from my couch..... yes it was a slow work day today.....

 

[Catesy]

Rotating weekly, that might work, but my stove is never cold that often in the winter.....

Steel cat: I do not know if it will be better or worse..... the whole thing might curl up in a little ball and die..... I am willing try. In an ideal world the cat temps will be lower..... and the cat will last longer. I can dream can't I....

I bought a steel cat once for my Dutchwest. It did light off at a lower temperature, but it didn't get near as hot. My stove pumped out more heat with the ceramic so I switched back.

 

[arnermd]

I bought a steel cat once for my Dutchwest. It did light off at a lower temperature, but it didn't get near as hot. My stove pumped out more heat with the ceramic so I switched back.

Good to know, thanks for sharing that. In my case I got plenty of heat and high cat temps.... sounds like a perfect solution.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Not great. I had 2 chords of split "seasoned" wood delivered early September. Has been stacked and covered since. I have not tested since delivery but it is a mix of species and moisture content, worst was some oak at like 25% . Everything but the oak was right around 20% back then.

I also just cut down 10 mature standing dead hemlock. I did not split any yet to test but standing dead for 2+ years.

Split the hemloch sooner than later.. i hear its tough to split when.it dries

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Looking for a more seasoned opinion on the condition of my chimney. This is after about half a cord, no cat. Thoughts?
View attachment 308015

I am thinking.. this is the bottom closest to the stove correct

 

[Eman85]

I bought a steel cat once for my Dutchwest. It did light off at a lower temperature, but it didn't get near as hot. My stove pumped out more heat with the ceramic so I switched back.

That's interesting, the heat output of my stove is better when the cat stays low and I can open the air and get the STT up. All of the heat in the cat doesn't do anything for my home, it just burns up the smoke.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

That's interesting, the heat output of my stove is better when the cat stays low and I can open the air and get the STT up. All of the heat in the cat doesn't do anything for my home, it just burns up the smoke.

I agree.. the heat output with either cat is the same.. The difference between the 2 are steel lights off quicker and the steel cat doesn't get the super high temps.. we dont feel the heat ftom the cat. much.. maybe some from the stove pipe.. mostly from the stove box is where one feels BTUs.... the cat just allows you to .. 1 burn clean 2 burn lower 3 when burning low it helps to keep deaft and prevent stove stalling.. steel cat get 2 thumbs up.. or 4 out of 5 stars..

 

[JohnDaileyNH]

I agree.. the heat output with either cat is the same.. The difference between the 2 are steel lights off quicker and the steel cat doesn't get the super high temps.. we dont feel the heat ftom the cat. much.. maybe some from the stove pipe.. mostly from the stove box is where one feels BTUs.... the cat just allows you to .. 1 burn clean 2 burn lower 3 when burning low it helps to keep deaft and prevent stove stalling.. steel cat get 2 thumbs up.. or 4 out of 5 stars..

@arni feel like there is a subliminal message here "buy the steel cat"

going to try this for next season

 

[Catesy]

The Dutchwest is a very different stove. The combustor is just below the stove top. There is a difference in heat output when a replacement is needed.
.

 

[Diabel]

Split the hemloch sooner than later.. i hear its tough to split when.it dries

What ^^^ he said. Hemlock is tough to split by hand. No issues with hydraulics. Css top cover for two yrs and you good to go. I did not like burning it in my VC burnt too fast. In the BK it burns fine. It must be seasoned though!

 

[vernorz]

I am thinking.. this is the bottom closest to the stove correct

That's the top looking down.

 

[Eman85]

The Dutchwest is a very different stove. The combustor is just below the stove top. There is a difference in heat output when a replacement is needed.
.

That's interesting, how hot does the cat get in your stove? With mine it will glow red, I would think having that at the stove top would get it pretty hot. Is it in a refractor that holds the heat?

 

[Catesy]

That's interesting, how hot does the cat get in your stove? With mine it will glow red, I would think having that at the stove top would get it pretty hot. Is it in a refractor that holds the heat?

There is a refractor between it and the stove top. I would normally get cat temps 1300-1500.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

That's the top looking down.

I would have thought it was bottom up because the color is so different.. Iv never seen someone post a shot of a stovepipe and it be gray like that.. normally it dark.. so far it doesn't look like anything is going wrong.. .5 cord isn't much of a guage.. Id check and pose after you burn another cord..

thanks for sharing

 

[arnermd]

Very nice controlled burn today.

Had a heavy bed of coals this morning, so I just threw wood on top and immediately engaged the cat, never opened the air up I just left it at 10% open and it seemed to do just fine.

At 11:30 The cat was rolling off so I opened air up to 50%.

10 - 11 hour burn with one air adjustment..... and it was not a full load.

Could not really check for smoke, it was foggy and rainy all day.

 

[Eman85]

@arnermd looks like your stove likes humidity too. Mine's been off the last couple of days as it's been warm and wet. I ran a brush through the chimney today and got some black stuff, not too bad and some pieces stuck to the chimney cap. Vacumed it all out and it's ready to go as it's going to cool down.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Very nice controlled burn today.

Had a heavy bed of coals this morning, so I just threw wood on top and immediately engaged the cat, never opened the air up I just left it at 10% open and it seemed to do just fine.

At 11:30 The cat was rolling off so I opened air up to 50%.

10 - 11 hour burn with one air adjustment..... and it was not a full load.

Could not really check for smoke, it was foggy and rainy all day.


View attachment 308118

sweet..

 

[Woodsplitter67]

@arnermd looks like your stove likes humidity too. Mine's been off the last couple of days as it's been warm and wet. I ran a brush through the chimney today and got some black stuff, not too bad and some pieces stuck to the chimney cap. Vacumed it all out and it's ready to go as it's going to cool down.

glad you did the mid season.. it doesn't hurt.. proactive is the way to go.. this also confirms how you burn.. 2 thumbs up..

 

[Eman85]

glad you did the mid season.. it doesn't hurt.. proactive is the way to go.. this also confirms how you burn.. 2 thumbs up..

Replacing my SW pipe with DW and burning with the cat made it cleaner. I did get a pile of black but I didn't measure it just vacuumed it up. I have had a bunch at the cap in the past but this time it was nice. I kept an eye on it with binoculars before I got a chance to go on the roof. I always clean mid year or even twice during season as we get some nice days and the stove gets shut down.

 

[arnermd]

@arnermd looks like your stove likes humidity too. Mine's been off the last couple of days as it's been warm and wet. I ran a brush through the chimney today and got some black stuff, not too bad and some pieces stuck to the chimney cap. Vacumed it all out and it's ready to go as it's going to cool down.

hahahaha.... Maybe. I am still struggling to see how humidity alone would affect the burn. 🤔

 

[arnermd]

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm......

This mornings light off, usual heavy bed of coals, loaded a bunch of shorties, loosely packed.

• Dialed air down as it heated up, got down to air full closed, cat climbed through 1200
• Had a feeling it was going to launch so I closed the key damper and temps rocketed to 1550 in 2 min
• Opened up the key damper and temps came back down.
  • Clearly reducing secondary air flow was the wrong adjustment.....
  • Things like this make me wonder what the design intent was for the older bimetal secondary air control stoves. Reducing secondary air with increasing temps seems obvious but in this case increasing secondary dropped temps due to increased dilution air mass flow.
• Was good for an hour and then cat temps started to launch again, even with primary air full closed.
• Increased primary air just a little and temps came right back down.....
  • Seems to indicate secondary air flow is too low for the amount of smoke being generated. I am thinking increasing primary air probably had two beneficial effects:
    • Reduced amount of smoke generated, more complete combustion in the firebox.
    • Increased the amount of secondary air assuming all the air was not consumed in the primary burn zone.
• Cat temps fell off pretty hard after that, so maybe I am being fooled here and it was just running out of fuel / smoke cause the burn was done.....

This load was different as I had smaller / shorter pieces loaded and loosely packed so I think it was just a more volatile burn because of the increased fuel surface area. I probably initially left the air too high, for too long for this kind of load.

Enjoy your weekend.

P.S. Drizzly and overcast here this morning so humidity (65% RH, 25F wet bulb) did not help me much today.

 

[U235]

My fan is temp controlled. But I pretty much always leave it running to move the heat. Rarely does my stove get cold enough it turns off. The only time I turn it off is if I want to watch a movie I can't hear. Otherwise it stays on full speed all the time. I have the stove in a hearth and a less than ideal layout so I need to move air. Tried running it no blower and the far parts of the house stay too cold

I’ll be joining the VC blower team next season (blower backordered) After a couple days running with the Condar flue guard, I think my stove is regularly running 450-500 STT 900-1100 on the catalyst and 650-700 internal flue temps. Unfortunately, not the mystery massive temperature drop I was hoping for. The encore is definitely too large for my room, but I find I can manage the heat to what I can tolerate loading 1-2 splits and trying to always get the catalyst over 1000 each load.
Having 700 degree flue at 1000 catalyst exit really has me a bit more hesitant to try a full load. If I’m not able to get the heat out of my alcove, those flue temps are really going to pull fuel through the catalyst.

 

[JohnDaileyNH]

I’ll be joining the VC blower team next season (blower backordered) After a couple days running with the Condar flue guard, I think my stove is regularly running 450-500 STT 900-1100 on the catalyst and 650-700 internal flue temps. Unfortunately, not the mystery massive temperature drop I was hoping for. The encore is definitely too large for my room, but I find I can manage the heat to what I can tolerate loading 1-2 splits and trying to always get the catalyst over 1000 each load.
Having 700 degree flue at 1000 catalyst exit really has me a bit more hesitant to try a full load. If I’m not able to get the heat out of my alcove, those flue temps are really going to pull fuel through the catalyst.

So I made this mistake. Cat doesn't have to be over 1000. I think over 800 it's running well. If it goes 1000+ I think you'd run the risk of overfire on a full load