2022/23 VC Owner thread

[Woodsplitter67]

So Im not sure if I have achieved success or not.. I think that I did a good job and probably stove is running optimally.. I did do a small fire this morning.. It was 70 out yesterday so the house wasn't cold.. but cool enough for me to start it and sdo a small trial. I didnt put enough wood in it to get it to 600 degrees and I didnt get the stovepipe to running temp.. bu I got it hot enough to see with a small amount of wood that I had full control of the stove.. The cat lights off easier and that i turned the air back all the way and the cat didn't crash.. It looks like Friday night will be a good time to load it up and see if it completely fixed... Its kinda exciting to work on it

I respond to your questions later after work..

 

[Woodsplitter67]

So....? Success?

I am struggling to think of what could go wrong with the mechanism to make the flapper more closed...... everything I think of would make it more open.

You have any pics?

There is this area here.... but to get to that you need to do a near complete teardown....
View attachment 309816

There is also a post for the right side air passage cover bolt. I can't recall if the cable goes in front of or behind that post..... I think it goes behind the post as shown here.
View attachment 309817

If the shutter is out of adjustment when its cold it will be worse when the stove heats up.. so as your stove heats up.. your bimetal thermostat will start to close the shutter.. with the cold stove and the air fully open lets say the gap in the shutter is 1 inch.. heat the stove up to temp and with the air still all the way open that same gap may be only .75 inches.. so as the stove heats less air is entering the primary.... it almost sounds like your having the same issue as me.. with primary.. I wasn't getting enough air neither.. its a 2 person job to make it easier..I had my son close the air and I pulled out more cable back by the shutter.. had him check to make sure the shutter would fully close when primary air was all the way back closed and where it was at half and also fully open.. when fully open it was definitely more open then when I started.. I think I answered your question.. did I help.. or did I miss the bost with this one..

 

[arnermd]

If the shutter is out of adjustment when its cold it will be worse when the stove heats up.. so as your stove heats up.. your bimetal thermostat will start to close the shutter.. with the cold stove and the air fully open lets say the gap in the shutter is 1 inch.. heat the stove up to temp and with the air still all the way open that same gap may be only .75 inches.. so as the stove heats less air is entering the primary.... it almost sounds like your having the same issue as me.. with primary.. I wasn't getting enough air neither.. its a 2 person job to make it easier..I had my son close the air and I pulled out more cable back by the shutter.. had him check to make sure the shutter would fully close when primary air was all the way back closed and where it was at half and also fully open.. when fully open it was definitely more open then when I started.. I think I answered your question.. did I help.. or did I miss the bost with this one..

I agree with all you said here but my question is:

• What was wrong with your stove? Was the cable routing not correct for some reason?

Adjusting the flapper can be a little finicky, Usually takes me a couple tries to get it right. Usually what I do is set the air full closed (stove cold) then I hold the flapper full closed and pull the cable through till I feel the bimetal starting to pull back. Then I let the cable slide back in to relieve the bimetal pressure and then tighten down the screw.

FYI.... do not overtighten the screw that clamps down on the cable. It mashes the cable and eventually it will fail in that spot. I learned from experience. Now I just tighten it with my fingers.... enough to hold but not enough to deform the cable.

 

[U235]

So here it is.. I actually had a problem with my stove..

Last week I noticed that my temperaturs on my stove were no longer normal.. STT and cat temps were extremely low. It even got to the point when I engaged the cat it struggled to get to 1000 degrees with the air wide open and when I dialed it back for my overnight burn my cat crashed.. and for the most part my stove stalled..
I also noticed that the primary air control seamed to kind of hang up on me. I had my son .. While the stove was hot move the primary air lever half way back and when he did the shutter was completely closed.
When I got home today I pulled the right side of the stove off on the inside to get to the primary air control.. all seamed to be working normal and everything was attached.. I think the the cable moved on the inside of the guide and was off track.. when I reassembled it was no longer hanging up.. I did adjust the shutter in the back to make sure it was wide open and closed all the way when the primary air was all the way back..

Overall I found this the be a fun little project.. Its the first-time I took apart the stove and worked on it. Took me roughly 75 minutes to do and clean up.

I did a full cleaning of the stove and while I had it apart I vacuumed out the air passages.. All those years running there was bound to be a bunch of dust bunnies in there..

Hopefully when I fire up the stove, I did a good job and it works properly..

@arnermd does the rebuild manual show the ‘correct’ routing for the cable? I don’t remember seeing that boss you circled on the right side of the duct. Wonder if it maybe is a bolt hole for the floor?

When I pulled the manifold off to fix my stuck wide open flapper, it still had what looked like a small piece of (somewhat charred) tape on the wall. I found it easiest to reassemble the manifold (without re-pinching the cable) by taping it to the side of the wall.

Is this adjustment/correction of flap position something that has to be done regularly? Not sure what design intend is but my stove flap is closed at about 50% travel on the lever - on stone cold stove. I’m considering loosening the screw and setting it to close just prior to lever fill closed. Might help me light off catalyst a little quicker and get higher temps when that’s desired.

 

[arnermd]

@arnermd does the rebuild manual show the ‘correct’ routing for the cable?

I do not recall with certainty if that picture shown above is the correct routing or not. As best I can recall there was a routing that allowed the cable to move without touching any of the cast internals... There are no other specific cable routing pictures or instructions....

I don’t remember seeing that boss you circled on the right side of the duct. Wonder if it maybe is a bolt hole for the floor?

Not 100% sure which pic you are referring to.... In the first one I circled loops in the flapper lever (not a bolt hole) in the second one the arrow points to a boss that accepts the lower bolt for the side air cover.

Is this adjustment/correction of flap position something that has to be done regularly?

No I do not think so. I have not adjusted mine since early last season. Only reason it would changed is if the bimetal relaxes.... or the cable shrinks / grows (not likely)....

Not sure what design intend is but my stove flap is closed at about 50% travel on the lever - on stone cold stove. I’m considering loosening the screw and setting it to close just prior to lever fill closed.

For my stove in the rebuild instructions it says: "adjust the cable so the door is fully closed when stone cold". I adjust mine as @Woodsplitter67 did, door is just closed when air lever is all the way back.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I agree with all you said here but my question is:

• What was wrong with your stove? Was the cable routing not correct for some reason?

Adjusting the flapper can be a little finicky, Usually takes me a couple tries to get it right. Usually what I do is set the air full closed (stove cold) then I hold the flapper full closed and pull the cable through till I feel the bimetal starting to pull back. Then I let the cable slide back in to relieve the bimetal pressure and then tighten down the screw.

FYI.... do not overtighten the screw that clamps down on the cable. It mashes the cable and eventually it will fail in that spot. I learned from experience. Now I just tighten it with my fingers.... enough to hold but not enough to deform the cable.

So the issue was, the stove running under normal temperature and stalling when cats engaged with air turned low.
As far as the cable routing I dont know .. I pulled the right side air manifold off, and well the cable was where ever it was.... before I took it apart, when the stove was warm I turned the air half way back and the shutter was completely closed..
I did the adjustment Wednesday night..yesterday morning when the stove was warm and I turned the air half way the shutter was still roughly half to a little less then half open.. with a small load of wood the air was turned back all the way and it seemed that the cat stayed engaged..
So maybe I have succeeded.. I will know more when I light it later tonight..

 

[Woodsplitter67]

@arnermd does the rebuild manual show the ‘correct’ routing for the cable? I don’t remember seeing that boss you circled on the right side of the duct. Wonder if it maybe is a bolt hole for the floor?

When I pulled the manifold off to fix my stuck wide open flapper, it still had what looked like a small piece of (somewhat charred) tape on the wall. I found it easiest to reassemble the manifold (without re-pinching the cable) by taping it to the side of the wall.

Is this adjustment/correction of flap position something that has to be done regularly? Not sure what design intend is but my stove flap is closed at about 50% travel on the lever - on stone cold stove. I’m considering loosening the screw and setting it to close just prior to lever fill closed. Might help me light off catalyst a little quicker and get higher temps when that’s desired.

I dont know of any regular maintenance needed for the flapper.. My stove in now 7 years old and since day one nothings really been done to it.. So far I did the griddle and glass gaskets.. and now a flapper/thermostat adjustment. I think after all of these years thers probably some stretch in the cable or bimetal movement to the Tstat.. Probably should have did something like this in year 5. Now I know and if I have succeeded in the adjustment I will check it prior to the season start..

For my stove the cable looks to ride on the air manifold.. there is a semi circular grove for the cable to ride.. I thing mine got to loose and was riding in the wrong spot which is why it felt like it was hanging up on me..

 

[U235]

I do not recall with certainty if that picture shown above is the correct routing or not. As best I can recall there was a routing that allowed the cable to move without touching any of the cast internals... There are no other specific cable routing pictures or instructions....


Not 100% sure which pic you are referring to.... In the first one I circled loops in the flapper lever (not a bolt hole) in the second one the arrow points to a boss that accepts the lower bolt for the side air cover.


No I do not think so. I have not adjusted mine since early last season. Only reason it would changed is if the bimetal relaxes.... or the cable shrinks / grows (not likely)....


For my stove in the rebuild instructions it says: "adjust the cable so the door is fully closed when stone cold". I adjust mine as @Woodsplitter67 did, door is just closed when air lever is all the way back.

On the encore, I do not believe that lower boss is in the casting - I didn’t take any pictures but I do not see a bolt in that front right corner to hold down the manifold. I agree with @Woodsplitter, the cable seems to ride along the inside of the manifold casting (not loop in front of that boss).

 

[arnermd]

On the encore, I do not believe that lower boss is in the casting - I didn’t take any pictures but I do not see a bolt in that front right corner to hold down the manifold. I agree with @Woodsplitter, the cable seems to ride along the inside of the manifold casting (not loop in front of that boss).

Just looking at the 2040 cat C manual.... it looks like your air manifold design is a bit different.... interesting. This is the first significant difference I have found between my stove (1975) and your stove (2040).....

My stove looks like this..... The arrow is where that lower bolt goes.

 

[arnermd]

All,

I just purchased a magnetic type k probe for my griddle temps. Was not too sure about the website but all turned out well so far. I have received the item and it is as described and works as expected. Shipping took about 4 weeks but the price is much better than I could find domestically.

Seller was the Funny Bunny Instrument store.... what could go wrong. Everybody loves bunnies.... No complaints so far though.


https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803725502503.html

 

[Jmorg]

Thankful for some cooler weather this weekend so we could put the Dauntless to work…Calvin’s thankful for it too!

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Thankful for some cooler weather this weekend so we could put the Dauntless to work…Calvin’s thankful for it too!View attachment 309936

I know what your saying.. Its been tough to get constant burns.. Iv been burning low.. like ALOT.. Its been a warm winter here. I haven't been able to do my normal small fire during the day so like today.. the house is warm and the stoves been out for hours. So its relighting the stove for tonight..

 

[JohnDaileyNH]

I know what your saying.. Its been tough to get constant burns.. Iv been burning low.. like ALOT.. Its been a warm winter here. I haven't been able to do my normal small fire during the day so like today.. the house is warm and the stoves been out for hours. So its relighting the stove for tonight..

Warm here too. Stove was out for 3 days. But colder weather is upon us. Maybe even a snow storm. Wasn't quite sure snow existed anymore in New England

 

[sargeott]

So it's been a few months for me with my Dauntless flexburn. Ran through about 2 cords of oak and fir mix up to now.

Fir to get it going and oak for sustained heat burns.
Here's my setup...
A mag mount stt
A mag mounted temp gauge on the fleu
6 in sw pipe with rear exit swept into a 45 elbow to a 8in adapter. My chimney pipe is a double walled steel sleeve and is 10ft long.

Starting from cold:
Build a small start up fire with bypass open and front glass cracked. Primary air at 100%.
Add more small splits of fir when i get some small glowing embers. After about 30 minutes close my glass and lock it.
I monitor stt and fleu temps.
Once fleu gets above 300 and if my stt is below 500 I'll fill the box to the brim with fir and close the bypass engaging the cat. That will burn for about 2hours and stt will drop to 300 and fleu will dip to 200.
After two hrs I'll open the bypass and fill the fire box with my oak. I'll have about 6inches of burnt logs and some good coals before the top off with the oak.
Let it sit for about 30 min and then close the bypass re-engaging the cat.
This will get me anywhere from 300-400 degrees stt and fleu never exceeds 250.
I can get about 3-3.5hrs of good warmth all never touching the primary air at 100%. Very reliable and predictable, it only took 2 months to learn.

Change up time,
Yesterday we decided to play with different wood types.
I have a pile of maple alder mix. My previous method doesn't work and Here's what I'm seeing now with this stuff:
Start up with fir like before, when I get to add the maple and some alder... wtf?
The mapple will barely burn until the alder lights then hello problems.
Stt will drop and I'll have to open the bypass at 100% primary and whoosh the fire box will almost explode with flame and stt and fleu temps will rocket. Then I'll close the bypass and the flames die out, the coals will dim and temps drop.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

So it's been a few months for me with my Dauntless flexburn. Ran through about 2 cords of oak and fir mix up to now.

Fir to get it going and oak for sustained heat burns.
Here's my setup...
A mag mount stt
A mag mounted temp gauge on the fleu
6 in sw pipe with rear exit swept into a 45 elbow to a 8in adapter. My chimney pipe is a double walled steel sleeve and is 10ft long.

Starting from cold:
Build a small start up fire with bypass open and front glass cracked. Primary air at 100%.
Add more small splits of fir when i get some small glowing embers. After about 30 minutes close my glass and lock it.
I monitor stt and fleu temps.
Once fleu gets above 300 and if my stt is below 500 I'll fill the box to the brim with fir and close the bypass engaging the cat. That will burn for about 2hours and stt will drop to 300 and fleu will dip to 200.
After two hrs I'll open the bypass and fill the fire box with my oak. I'll have about 6inches of burnt logs and some good coals before the top off with the oak.
Let it sit for about 30 min and then close the bypass re-engaging the cat.
This will get me anywhere from 300-400 degrees stt and fleu never exceeds 250.
I can get about 3-3.5hrs of good warmth all never touching the primary air at 100%. Very reliable and predictable, it only took 2 months to learn.

Change up time,
Yesterday we decided to play with different wood types.
I have a pile of maple alder mix. My previous method doesn't work and Here's what I'm seeing now with this stuff:
Start up with fir like before, when I get to add the maple and some alder... wtf?
The mapple will barely burn until the alder lights then hello problems.
Stt will drop and I'll have to open the bypass at 100% primary and whoosh the fire box will almost explode with flame and stt and fleu temps will rocket. Then I'll close the bypass and the flames die out, the coals will dim and temps drop.

View attachment 310109 View attachment 310110 View attachment 310111 View attachment 310112

sounds like your 2nd mix is on the wet side..

 

[arnermd]

sounds like your 2nd mix is on the wet side..

So it's been a few months for me with my Dauntless flexburn. Ran through about 2 cords of oak and fir mix up to now.

Fir to get it going and oak for sustained heat burns.
Here's my setup...
A mag mount stt
A mag mounted temp gauge on the fleu
6 in sw pipe with rear exit swept into a 45 elbow to a 8in adapter. My chimney pipe is a double walled steel sleeve and is 10ft long.

Starting from cold:
Build a small start up fire with bypass open and front glass cracked. Primary air at 100%.
Add more small splits of fir when i get some small glowing embers. After about 30 minutes close my glass and lock it.
I monitor stt and fleu temps.
Once fleu gets above 300 and if my stt is below 500 I'll fill the box to the brim with fir and close the bypass engaging the cat. That will burn for about 2hours and stt will drop to 300 and fleu will dip to 200.
After two hrs I'll open the bypass and fill the fire box with my oak. I'll have about 6inches of burnt logs and some good coals before the top off with the oak.
Let it sit for about 30 min and then close the bypass re-engaging the cat.
This will get me anywhere from 300-400 degrees stt and fleu never exceeds 250.
I can get about 3-3.5hrs of good warmth all never touching the primary air at 100%. Very reliable and predictable, it only took 2 months to learn.

Change up time,
Yesterday we decided to play with different wood types.
I have a pile of maple alder mix. My previous method doesn't work and Here's what I'm seeing now with this stuff:
Start up with fir like before, when I get to add the maple and some alder... wtf?
The mapple will barely burn until the alder lights then hello problems.
Stt will drop and I'll have to open the bypass at 100% primary and whoosh the fire box will almost explode with flame and stt and fleu temps will rocket. Then I'll close the bypass and the flames die out, the coals will dim and temps drop.

Sounds like wet wood to me too.
I found with wetter wood a really hot thick bed of coals helps.... and lots of air.

The wooosh and firebox explosion is a sign that the primary fire is not hot enough (maybe because the wood is wetter or not enough air) and you are generating too much smoke which then ignites suddenly when you flood it with air. My stove does this too when I get into these smoldering burns and then increase the air flow. I also see very high cat temps until I increase the air, get flames in the firebox and then cat temps drop.

Possibly low draft? 10' chimney seems kind of short to me.... Might explain why you can run at 100% air with low temps. 300 - 400 STT is on the low side with 100% air.

250 flue temps seems really low, even for a mag temp indicator on outside of the stove pipe. Are you on the outside of a double wall pipe?

Cat temps? I assume you do not have one? Without it you really do not know what is going on. Sometimes you are better off not knowing.... hahaha

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Sounds like wet wood to me too.
I found with wetter wood a really hot thick bed of coals helps.... and lots of air.

The wooosh and firebox explosion is a sign that the primary fire is not hot enough (maybe because the wood is wetter or not enough air) and you are generating too much smoke which then ignites suddenly when you flood it with air. My stove does this too when I get into these smoldering burns and then increase the air flow. I also see very high cat temps until I increase the air, get flames in the firebox and then cat temps drop.

Possibly low draft? 10' chimney seems kind of short to me.... Might explain why you can run at 100% air with low temps. 300 - 400 STT is on the low side with 100% air.

250 flue temps seems really low, even for a mag temp indicator on outside of the stove pipe. Are you on the outside of a double wall pipe?

Cat temps? I assume you do not have one? Without it you really do not know what is going on. Sometimes you are better off not knowing.... hahaha

To me the oak sounds a little wet also because the stove temps and flue temps are kinda down. . Water has a really big cooling effect trying to get the water to evaporate.

The OP should do a moisture check.. definitely don't burn the maple/alder

The 90 out of the back of the stove isn't helping the draft.. Draft my be on the borderline..

 

[Catesy]

So it's been a few months for me with my Dauntless flexburn. Ran through about 2 cords of oak and fir mix up to now.

Fir to get it going and oak for sustained heat burns.
Here's my setup...
A mag mount stt
A mag mounted temp gauge on the fleu
6 in sw pipe with rear exit swept into a 45 elbow to a 8in adapter. My chimney pipe is a double walled steel sleeve and is 10ft long.

Starting from cold:
Build a small start up fire with bypass open and front glass cracked. Primary air at 100%.
Add more small splits of fir when i get some small glowing embers. After about 30 minutes close my glass and lock it.
I monitor stt and fleu temps.
Once fleu gets above 300 and if my stt is below 500 I'll fill the box to the brim with fir and close the bypass engaging the cat. That will burn for about 2hours and stt will drop to 300 and fleu will dip to 200.
After two hrs I'll open the bypass and fill the fire box with my oak. I'll have about 6inches of burnt logs and some good coals before the top off with the oak.
Let it sit for about 30 min and then close the bypass re-engaging the cat.
This will get me anywhere from 300-400 degrees stt and fleu never exceeds 250.
I can get about 3-3.5hrs of good warmth all never touching the primary air at 100%. Very reliable and predictable, it only took 2 months to learn.

Change up time,
Yesterday we decided to play with different wood types.
I have a pile of maple alder mix. My previous method doesn't work and Here's what I'm seeing now with this stuff:
Start up with fir like before, when I get to add the maple and some alder... wtf?
The mapple will barely burn until the alder lights then hello problems.
Stt will drop and I'll have to open the bypass at 100% primary and whoosh the fire box will almost explode with flame and stt and fleu temps will rocket. Then I'll close the bypass and the flames die out, the coals will dim and temps drop.

View attachment 310109 View attachment 310110 View attachment 310111 View attachment 310112

I don't think I'd be comfortable with the wood piled that close to the stove.

 

[GrumpyDad]

I don't think I'd be comfortable with the wood piled that close to the stove.

or the propane tank nearby.

 

[sargeott]

Does anyone know what the air flapper should look like in the air intake hole of a dauntless when the stove is cold? Im curious because at the lowest setting the flapper is not completely shut. If I recall it's only about 3/4 or less shut leaving some air flow. It's working as Id expect, if I go to the lowest setting even with a box full of flames I can quickly lose all flames and start to create creosote so I dont do that, but Im just curious if my air control is actually where it should be.
Im finally ok with this stove to some degree...I just make sure I always have a big bed of hot coals when I reload and let that load catch for 45 minutes either with primary open or closed depending how it quickly the new load catches and how warm I feel the stove is on the sides.

I have had to jiggle the air control a couple of times for it to react to my changes, but I havent had to do that for quite awhile after the stove was new. I see a few people here describing what it seems to me is , an air control problem - and potentially sharing what that flap looks like or should look like will help others?

My dauntless is the same way with the flapper. Never had to jiggle my controls.

 

[GrumpyDad]

My dauntless is the same way with the flapper. Never had to jiggle my controls.

yea I havent had to do that again for a long time. Maybe it just got stuck on some grease or something? 🤷

 

[sargeott]

sounds like your 2nd mix is on the wet side..

Yeah, just tested some stuff I had outside and it shows about 18-23.

 

[sargeott]

Sounds like wet wood to me too.
I found with wetter wood a really hot thick bed of coals helps.... and lots of air.

The wooosh and firebox explosion is a sign that the primary fire is not hot enough (maybe because the wood is wetter or not enough air) and you are generating too much smoke which then ignites suddenly when you flood it with air. My stove does this too when I get into these smoldering burns and then increase the air flow. I also see very high cat temps until I increase the air, get flames in the firebox and then cat temps drop.

Possibly low draft? 10' chimney seems kind of short to me.... Might explain why you can run at 100% air with low temps. 300 - 400 STT is on the low side with 100% air.

250 flue temps seems really low, even for a mag temp indicator on outside of the stove pipe. Are you on the outside of a double wall pipe?

Cat temps? I assume you do not have one? Without it you really do not know what is going on. Sometimes you are better off not knowing.... hahaha

Yeah my fleu temp is on a single wall pipe right before it transitions into the chimney.
The 10ft chimney pipe very well might be too short since it was a fireplace conversion on an old log cabin, but I'd rather have lower draft than a higher one since I've read so many issues of out of control over firing from higher draft folks here.
It seems these dauntless units act very different from the encore and other units.
In my humble opinion it's more manageable with a slightly lower draft.
No I'm not monitoring cat temps, it doesn't seem to give me crap for additional heat. I burned for about 3 weeks straight before my cat showed up and I haven't seen a change in room temps, but have seen a significant drop in chimney smoke with it in line.

At this point if the cat fails ill just buy another one annually, but I do check the condition of it every few weeks.
No signs of it cracking of build up of fly ash ect.

 

[sargeott]

Last post for the night.
I moved the propane tank, since it alarms some of you
I posted the current outside and inside temp monitor along with my current burn photo .
Stt is at 450
Fleu is at 300
100% air
And cat engaged for over an hour after hot reload.
This bear is manageable with wood drying next to it.
BTW, I hate alder wood. It makes for some sandy ash.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Yeah, just tested some stuff I had outside and it shows about 18-23.

Is that reading on the outside of the split or on a freshly split face with the pins going with the grain