2022/23 VC Owner thread

[GrumpyDad]

At over 750º another smell will be noticeable. I call it the too hot stove (or stovepipe) smell. Try not to go there.

My stove still smells up the place eight burns later. This is my first longer than evening into overnight burn. So hopefully after today and tonight burning that entire time, I will rid myself of this smell. At first I thought it was a smell coming from surround wood and insulation behind it. Neighbor came over and said no it smells metallic if that makes sense and I agree.

Good news is I started this stove around ten. Took awhile to get it going then I added small and medium splits about six or seven. Almost let the stove run away on me but I tempered it down to mid optimal burn temps ..let that burn down and stack it almost completely full with medium splits and went to bed. Woke up, ate breakfast and just say around for a couple hours because ten days in after COVID I still feel like crap. I then checked the stove at 11am and I still had big chunky pieces of coals left. Stove top temp slightly about 400. That impressed me.

The glass is still mostly almost compl

Hey y’all, I just installed the catalytic “performance pack” in the Dauntless today. The temperature probe was a lot easier to install than I thought it would be. I’ll probably test it out tomorrow since it will be cooler and rainy again. I made a little video of the finished product just to kind of show how it looks and how easy it was…maybe it will be a help to some of you other Dauntless owners. I’m still surprised at how little info is available online for this stove.

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Hey thanks for the vid. Let us know how it goes.
I'm a bit north of you in the pa "mountains". About eight degrees colder than Pittsburgh. It has been sub 50 here lately and almost freezing last night.
Had my first backpuff today. Showing the wife how to use the stove. Switch back and forth from low to high on the adjuster and poof real quick. Smoke came from every where. Sides, back, front. Alarming at first.
Good news is I loaded up the stove fairly tight Friday night, around 11. At 11 Saturday I still had chonky pieces of coal left and the stove was at 400. Room 72.
I loaded up the stove again tonight, about 1030p and then went back an hour or so later and put one more piece in stacking it as full as it will get. I have it on the second to last setting so we shall see what it looks like tomorrow. Last check I was only running at 350 but I expect that to climb a bit as more coals are created.
I want to get a few months using this before getting the cat so I know the results well

 

[Woodsplitter67]

My stove still smells up the place eight burns later. This is my first longer than evening into overnight burn. So hopefully after today and tonight burning that entire time, I will rid myself of this smell. At first I thought it was a smell coming from surround wood and insulation behind it. Neighbor came over and said no it smells metallic if that makes sense and I agree.

Good news is I started this stove around ten. Took awhile to get it going then I added small and medium splits about six or seven. Almost let the stove run away on me but I tempered it down to mid optimal burn temps ..let that burn down and stack it almost completely full with medium splits and went to bed. Woke up, ate breakfast and just say around for a couple hours because ten days in after COVID I still feel like crap. I then checked the stove at 11am and I still had big chunky pieces of coals left. Stove top temp slightly about 400. That impressed me.

The glass is still mostly almost compl

Hey thanks for the vid. Let us know how it goes.
I'm a bit north of you in the pa "mountains". About eight degrees colder than Pittsburgh. It has been sub 50 here lately and almost freezing last night.
Had my first backpuff today. Showing the wife how to use the stove. Switch back and forth from low to high on the adjuster and poof real quick. Smoke came from every where. Sides, back, front. Alarming at first.
Good news is I loaded up the stove fairly tight Friday night, around 11. At 11 Saturday I still had chonky pieces of coal left and the stove was at 400. Room 72.
I loaded up the stove again tonight, about 1030p and then went back an hour or so later and put one more piece in stacking it as full as it will get. I have it on the second to last setting so we shall see what it looks like tomorrow. Last check I was only running at 350 but I expect that to climb a bit as more coals are created.
I want to get a few months using this before getting the cat so I know the results well

If your running your stove on low and closing the bypass your better off putting in your cat. If your burning low with out it you producing mad amounts of creosote in the stove pipe. Your smoldering your fire for a longer burn and that smoke is cooling creating creosote. Also your efficiency is down. There is no difference really in running the stove between having the cat in or out. The only difference the operator needs to do is see if the cat kicks off, otherwise its the same process. Get the stove up to operating temperatureand close the bypass. If your doing overnight fires get a catalyst and the digital probe.. the digital probe will make things easier as there will be no guesswork on if it lighs off, you will be able to see the exact temperature in real time.. Auber at 100 with k type thermo coupler and Cerami Tech on line will sell the cat..they sell the firecat which is what my stove originally came with. You can start with the cat kit also as that will have the cat and bracket to hold the thermo coupler

 

[GrumpyDad]

If your running your stove on low and closing the bypass your better off putting in your cat. If your burning low with out it you producing mad amounts of creosote in the stove pipe. Your smoldering your fire for a longer burn and that smoke is cooling creating creosote. Also your efficiency is down. There is no difference really in running the stove between having the cat in or out. The only difference the operator needs to do is see if the cat kicks off, otherwise its the same process. Get the stove up to operating temperatureand close the bypass. If your doing overnight fires get a catalyst and the digital probe.. the digital probe will make things easier as there will be no guesswork on if it lighs off, you will be able to see the exact temperature in real time.. Auber at 100 with k type thermo coupler and Cerami Tech on line will sell the cat..they sell the firecat which is what my stove originally came with. You can start with the cat kit also as that will have the cat and bracket to hold the thermo coupler

I wonder if I can just get the bracket and switch to digital. I really want digital accuracy from the start.
I am concerned about creosote. The inside of my stove is already a little gummy on the sides around bolts etc.
I loaded up the stove last night around 1030...stacked more than I did the night prior. I set the control to third from lowest and was surprised to see half my wood in there at 830a. Stovetop at 300. I was hoping that by setting it at third from lowest I would get 400 degree stove top burns. When it's not as packed I get 500 degree burns with the control almost to lowest or at its lowest during the day. I assume this is due to airflow.
This is a weekend camp stove so I'm wondering how often to clean it.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I wonder if I can just get the bracket and switch to digital. I really want digital accuracy from the start.
I am concerned about creosote. The inside of my stove is already a little gummy on the sides around bolts etc.
I loaded up the stove last night around 1030...stacked more than I did the night prior. I set the control to third from lowest and was surprised to see half my wood in there at 830a. Stovetop at 300. I was hoping that by setting it at third from lowest I would get 400 degree stove top burns. When it's not as packed I get 500 degree burns with the control almost to lowest or at its lowest during the day. I assume this is due to airflow.
This is a weekend camp stove so I'm wondering how often to clean it.

If half of your woods still in there then your stove is stalling.. Its a down draft stove and without the cat in it the draft gets extremely weak. Put a cat in it and the cat will run 1000 degrees + and that will keep the draft up and you will reduce the creosote in the stove pipe substantially.. Iv had a cat go bad on me and the cat would stall.. the stove pipe would cool and id have a substantial amount of wood left in the box.. not good..

 

[Jmorg]

My stove still smells up the place eight burns later. This is my first longer than evening into overnight burn. So hopefully after today and tonight burning that entire time, I will rid myself of this smell. At first I thought it was a smell coming from surround wood and insulation behind it. Neighbor came over and said no it smells metallic if that makes sense and I agree.

Good news is I started this stove around ten. Took awhile to get it going then I added small and medium splits about six or seven. Almost let the stove run away on me but I tempered it down to mid optimal burn temps ..let that burn down and stack it almost completely full with medium splits and went to bed. Woke up, ate breakfast and just say around for a couple hours because ten days in after COVID I still feel like crap. I then checked the stove at 11am and I still had big chunky pieces of coals left. Stove top temp slightly about 400. That impressed me.

The glass is still mostly almost compl

Hey thanks for the vid. Let us know how it goes.
I'm a bit north of you in the pa "mountains". About eight degrees colder than Pittsburgh. It has been sub 50 here lately and almost freezing last night.
Had my first backpuff today. Showing the wife how to use the stove. Switch back and forth from low to high on the adjuster and poof real quick. Smoke came from every where. Sides, back, front. Alarming at first.
Good news is I loaded up the stove fairly tight Friday night, around 11. At 11 Saturday I still had chonky pieces of coal left and the stove was at 400. Room 72.
I loaded up the stove again tonight, about 1030p and then went back an hour or so later and put one more piece in stacking it as full as it will get. I have it on the second to last setting so we shall see what it looks like tomorrow. Last check I was only running at 350 but I expect that to climb a bit as more coals are created.
I want to get a few months using this before getting the cat so I know the results well

Ok so this is my first day running with the cat so I’m going to need more time before I can give great feedback, but I’m already noticing positives! No visible smoke out of the chimney, which I was only able to achieve with a really hot fire most of the time or just a good coal bed. Stovetop is at about 550-600 and catalyst probe reading right in the middle. Also the temperature seems easier to regulate…no big spikes, but I don’t know if that’s because of the cat or not. So far so good, but I’ll know more as the season goes on.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Ok so this is my first day running with the cat so I’m going to need more time before I can give great feedback, but I’m already noticing positives! No visible smoke out of the chimney, which I was only able to achieve with a really hot fire most of the time or just a good coal bed. Stovetop is at about 550-600 and catalyst probe reading right in the middle. Also the temperature seems easier to regulate…no big spikes, but I don’t know if that’s because of the cat or not. So far so good, but I’ll know more as the season goes on.

So your stove top is 550/600 if you wat less heat turn the air back mid way.. your cat temp should stay the sMe or go up slightly and you should still not see any smoke.. as a side note when I start burning regularly, my stove is in cat mode 90% of the time.. glad you got the catto light off.. your glass will be much cleaner also

 

[t0asty]

Yeah, I definitely want to get a digital one. Maybe that will be next year’s upgrade…don’t wanna get in trouble with the wife for spending too much on this thing lol. The cat is definitely smaller than the one in your stove so I hope it works well. I’ll know soon I guess!

For what its worth, definitely worth the digital. At the advise of many here I went with the Auber AT100. After a little programming it works great. Below are the two item #'s I bought directly from Auber Instruments website:
Digital Thermometer - Item# AT100
K type high temperature thermocouple Probe Length Option: 6 (150 mm) Connector Option: spade connect
Item#: WRNK-191

First time closing the damper on the new stove yesterday, cat thermometer held steady around 1000-1200 degrees I actually have a nice video clip of the re-burn in action attached

 

[Lorde]

For what its worth, definitely worth the digital. At the advise of many here I went with the Auber AT100. After a little programming it works great. Below are the two item #'s I bought directly from Auber Instruments website:
Digital Thermometer - Item# AT100
K type high temperature thermocouple Probe Length Option: 6 (150 mm) Connector Option: spade connect
Item#: WRNK-191

First time closing the damper on the new stove yesterday, cat thermometer held steady around 1000-1200 degrees I actually have a nice video clip of the re-burn in action attached

Is the programming for setpoints/alarms or actual setup for the thermocouple?
I was thinking about buying a single AT100 but buying the probe for the cat as well as probe for stovepipe & also the magnetic surface thermocouple for griddle so I could monitor all three points. Was hoping I could just plug each in as needed. Seems like you really need to monitor all three on these stoves and digital would be the way to go.

 

[Diabel]

Hey y’all, I just installed the catalytic “performance pack” in the Dauntless today. The temperature probe was a lot easier to install than I thought it would be. I’ll probably test it out tomorrow since it will be cooler and rainy again. I made a little video of the finished product just to kind of show how it looks and how easy it was…maybe it will be a help to some of you other Dauntless owners. I’m still surprised at how little info is available online for this stove.

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I am surprised how loosely the cat sits in its chamber. The older cat VCs had the soft refractory box and the cat sat very snug in there. My present stove BK Princess has a gasket that needs to be put on (new) every time you remove the cat. It is all for a purpose of a tight seal.

 

[GrumpyDad]

If half of your woods still in there then your stove is stalling.. Its a down draft stove and without the cat in it the draft gets extremely weak. Put a cat in it and the cat will run 1000 degrees + and that will keep the draft up and you will reduce the creosote in the stove pipe substantially.. Iv had a cat go bad on me and the cat would stall.. the stove pipe would cool and id have a substantial amount of wood left in the box.. not good..

Well I was looking at it as a semi positive. I was still warming the room to a satisfactory level and had wood left. As soon as I cranked it up in the morning it took off. The remaining wood burned until 2p and the stove was still warm until 5p when we left for the weekend.
Guess I have some work to do to ensure it is staying at 400 as I'm sure I would have had far less wood in there.
One odd thing I've noticed about my stove. When I see flames which isn't often, they are only on the right side. The right side heats up much warmer than the left. .
Another lesson learned and this is a BIG one. The T/G paneling I have to the side right of the stove is cupping a bit and there are sizable gaps. Moisture meter had a hard to getting readings from this wood. I built the hearth pad exactly to ensure proper clearances plus one inch. For me to add cement board plus a stone veneer instead of this wood would require me to move the stove left more. At that point I would only have 6" side hearth pad door frame to edge. To add more I would need to cut away a aluminum tile edge that I meticulously bent around a corner so now I'll have a rough edge, then add to the side. It's a pebble stone hearth floor made from chunks of grantor polished. Sigh. I was also trying to keep this stove from going too far left as that goes towards a dining area. In hindsight I should have made the pad larger to allow for fine tuning. I left myself an extra inch.
I don't know how vc rates my stove as a minimum of 12". I really feel like it should be more like 16".
In fact, all the wood in the general vicinity of the stove is very very dry. Not as dry as directly behind and to the side but drier than the rest of the room for sure by a good bit. In hindsight here I would have used wood paneling within 10' of the stove.

 

[GrumpyDad]

For what its worth, definitely worth the digital. At the advise of many here I went with the Auber AT100. After a little programming it works great. Below are the two item #'s I bought directly from Auber Instruments website:
Digital Thermometer - Item# AT100
K type high temperature thermocouple Probe Length Option: 6 (150 mm) Connector Option: spade connect
Item#: WRNK-191

First time closing the damper on the new stove yesterday, cat thermometer held steady around 1000-1200 degrees I actually have a nice video clip of the re-burn in action attached

That's very cool. Has a northern lights look to it. Why does it burn like that when the secondary combustion is not visible, and behind the refractory wall?
Also where did you get the bracket for the stove probe if you went after market for temp probe?

 

[Jmorg]

I am surprised how loosely the cat sits in its chamber. The older cat VCs had the soft refractory box and the cat sat very snug in there. My present stove BK Princess has a gasket that needs to be put on (new) every time you remove the cat. It is all for a purpose of a tight seal.

I was a little surprised by that too. There is a soft refractory box behind that spot and lower, but the cat won’t fit in there and if it did I don’t think you could get it back out. Originally I was thinking it went there, but there’s no way after looking at it some more.

 

[Diabel]

It would not hurt to wrap the cat in high temp gasket. Ask on the BK thread, where to buy it. It is 2” wide but you can cut it to size. The name of the supplier escaped me this morning😝

 

[GrumpyDad]

I was a little surprised by that too. There is a soft refractory box behind that spot and lower, but the cat won’t fit in there and if it did I don’t think you could get it back out. Originally I was thinking it went there, but there’s no way after looking at it some more.

It would not hurt to wrap the cat in high temp gasket. Ask on the BK thread, where to buy it. It is 2” wide but you can cut it to size. The name of the supplier escaped me this morning😝

I wonder if VC made this like this by design to allow proper airflow around the cat. I dont know how cats work to know if the gaps around the cat would be detrimental or beneficial.

 

[Diabel]

If there is a gap between cat can and the stove body, then some smoke will bypass the cat. Best way to tell is run the stove on low with cat engaged and see if there is smoke coming out the chimney. If you see smoke then the cat is not fully doing its job.

 

[vernorz]

Hey y’all, I just installed the catalytic “performance pack” in the Dauntless today. The temperature probe was a lot easier to install than I thought it would be. I’ll probably test it out tomorrow since it will be cooler and rainy again. I made a little video of the finished product just to kind of show how it looks and how easy it was…maybe it will be a help to some of you other Dauntless owners. I’m still surprised at how little info is available online for this stove.

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Jmorg, do you happen to remember how much space is between the heat shield and where the dimple where you have to drill is? The reason I ask is because my Dauntless is a hearth install as well, but I only have 4" between the heat shield and the sidewall of the fireplace. I'm not sure if I can install the cat probe without removing the stove, or if I'd be able to sneak it in if there's enough space one the knockout is removed. Any idea how long the entire length of the factory probe is including the gauge? Or does anyone know the total length of an 6'" Auber probe up to where the wires come out at the end?

 

[Jmorg]

Jmorg, do you happen to remember how much space is between the heat shield and where the dimple where you have to drill is? The reason I ask is because my Dauntless is a hearth install as well, but I only have 4" between the heat shield and the sidewall of the fireplace. I'm not sure if I can install the cat probe without removing the stove, or if I'd be able to sneak it in if there's enough space one the knockout is removed. Any idea how long the entire length of the factory probe is including the gauge? Or does anyone know the total length of an 6'" Auber probe up to where the wires come out at the end?

I think I have about 7 inches of clearance. I used a impact driver to put mine in since it’s smaller than a regular cordless drill. So you might be able to get that in there once you remove the knockout. The probe is about 6”. I hope you can get it…it would suck to have to pull the stove out!

 

[t0asty]

Is the programming for setpoints/alarms or actual setup for the thermocouple?
I was thinking about buying a single AT100 but buying the probe for the cat as well as probe for stovepipe & also the magnetic surface thermocouple for griddle so I could monitor all three points. Was hoping I could just plug each in as needed. Seems like you really need to monitor all three on these stoves and digital would be the way to go.

The programming is a little of both. Stock I believe the alarm goes off @ 500 degrees, something I quickly realized the first time the CAT lit. Thermocouple only for the cat temp, you don't need this for anything else. I have magnetic stovetop and stove pipe temperature gauges, that is all you need.

 

[t0asty]

That's very cool. Has a northern lights look to it. Why does it burn like that when the secondary combustion is not visible, and behind the refractory wall?
Also where did you get the bracket for the stove probe if you went after market for temp probe?

It isn't the secondary burn that is happening with the cat, but it is hot enough and the air flow is just right that the gases are reigniting. It didn't do that the entire time, I adjusted the air flow and happened to notice that, went on for about 10-15min burning like that

 

[Jmorg]

Do you guys hear a faint howling sound when the cat lights up? If so, does it do it the whole time that the cat’s lit?

 

[t0asty]

Do you guys hear a faint howling sound when the cat lights up? If so, does it do it the whole time that the cat’s lit?

I have heard of that happening, even a vibrating of the cat. I have yet to hear that yet though. My CAT is currently lit at 1250 degrees but I don't hear anything that would be coming from the cat.

 

[Jmorg]

I have heard of that happening, even a vibrating of the cat. I have yet to hear that yet though. My CAT is currently lit at 1250 degrees but I don't hear anything that would be coming from the cat.

Yeah, it didn't do it the whole time and it wasn't very loud. Last year when I didn't use a cat it was a lot louder when I would close the damper so I don't know...

 

[NewGuy132]

So now that everyone is talking about it, what STT does everyone run at? I like to keep my little Intrepid 500-650. 650 being the highest that I like to see it. I had it around 650 lest night and I will say that it was kicking off some good heat, but it didn't last for long because I didn't have much wood in. The manual doesn't give a range and the installers just said "Don't let the pipe get red hot" and left.

 

[GrumpyDad]

So now that everyone is talking about it, what STT does everyone run at? I like to keep my little Intrepid 500-650. 650 being the highest that I like to see it. I had it around 650 lest night and I will say that it was kicking off some good heat, but it didn't last for long because I didn't have much wood in. The manual doesn't give a range and the installers just said "Don't let the pipe get red hot" and left.

I think 650 was what I was told not to get beyond very far / long. Ive never had my stove that hot to be honest. Im still new to burning and trying to be able to learn/control it. I usually like to see around 500 honestly, or 450. It takes awhile to burn the wood, and it provides a nice steady heat. Last weekend, fri/sat - the temps outside were sub 50 degrees down to probably 45. My dauntless is in an 650 sq ft expansion with cathedral ceiling and no fan just yet. This room was probably 74 degrees. So I put a small fan near the exit to the old building which houses a living room and kitchenette area - that area was probably 71-72ish after running the fan and shutting down the oil furnace? This area is about 600 sq ft. The furnace never kicked on. The old area is super super inefficient. 2x4 walls with maybe r9 insulation. With areas not insulated at all. It's also on a crawlspace with open vents. Which I need to remedy asap before winter.

I do have a fireplace in the old area, and because the kids were saying it was chilly and had blankets on, and they wanted smores, I built a fire in there. That fireplace puts out some ok heat, and I'll bet that room jumped up to about 74 degrees late Saturday.

The fireplace from start to finish, probably burned through 3 bundles of wood. The wood stove, in the same time had gone through 1 bundle and kept going for another couple of hours beyond the point that I let the fireplace fire go out, then I restocked the stove with another bundle.

 

[GrumpyDad]

Yeah, it didn't do it the whole time and it wasn't very loud. Last year when I didn't use a cat it was a lot louder when I would close the damper so I don't know...

My stove roars with either the damper open or closed. If I just crack the top, I can hear it very well, but I dont hear it otherwise.
If the damper is open, and I crack the top for a bit, then open it enough to put wood in, flames build up quickly and start to RUSH up and out through the stove pipe. It's kinda scary seeing that amount of flame RUSHING towards you then suddenly diverting up and out the stove pipe. So Im usually pretty good about not adding wood when it's fairly well packed and burning because I dont need/want embers flying upwards and out or flames burning all the hair off my hands and arms.