2023/24 VC owners thread general discussion

[Rusty18]

got the encore 2550 loaded up to the top of the glass, first time I’ve been brave enough to try it since 2018 when I first started burning. dry wood, a working secondary flapper, a few years burning under my belt…wish me luck.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

got the encore 2550 loaded up to the top of the glass, first time I’ve been brave enough to try it since 2018 when I first started burning. dry wood, a working secondary flapper, a few years burning under my belt…wish me luck.

you dont need luck.. its all skill.. you got this

 

[Rusty18]

Well I’m calling it a success. Loaded at 9, engaged cat when flue temps came up (stt at 450), cat temp rose as expected, about an hour in the cat had walked its way up to 1550 so I manually add some cooling air for 15 min to back it down to 1400, at 11pm stt hadn’t moved off of 450 and cat was at 1300 and walking down. I went to bed. At 530 this morning stt and cat were at 150 and very little ash left in the bottom.

 

[AsylumResident]

...so I manually add some cooling air for 15 min to back it down to 1400...

What is this wizardly, magical action of adding cooling air???

 

[Eman85]

Well I’m calling it a success. Loaded at 9, engaged cat when flue temps came up (stt at 450), cat temp rose as expected, about an hour in the cat had walked its way up to 1550 so I manually add some cooling air for 15 min to back it down to 1400, at 11pm stt hadn’t moved off of 450 and cat was at 1300 and walking down. I went to bed. At 530 this morning stt and cat were at 150 and very little ash left in the bottom.

I'm guessing you yanked your chain to open the secondary shutter to let cool air in. Don't you trust the thermostat to open it automatically? Your experiment reinforces my theory of operation of the secondary shutter. Everyone including me thought something was wrong when it rotated past 6 o'clock and started opening the shutter as the cat got hotter. Old posts showed everyone holding that shutter closed.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I'm guessing you yanked your chain to open the secondary shutter to let cool air in. Don't you trust the thermostat to open it automatically? Your experiment reinforces my theory of operation of the secondary shutter. Everyone including me thought something was wrong when it rotated past 6 o'clock and started opening the shutter as the cat got hotter. Old posts showed everyone holding that shutter closed.

Yo.. you didn't just say he yanks his chain.. this is a PG website.. It just went rated R really fast..

 

[Rusty18]

yes, I pulled the secondary air damper open with the chain.

And yes I went one winter with all the secondary air blocked off. This fall i experimented with opening the secondary damper full open to quench the cat. So far I have been able to supply enough air to get on the cooling side of the curve and air quench my secondary when it gets too hot. I started down the road by simply adding a small chain to damper and looping over my stove pipe. I would just open door when I needed some cooling.

The next step is modify the door so it doesn’t have a stop (pin that keeps it from going full closed) and doesn’t bottom out on other parts of the stove. This will let it open after it gets to a certain temp (my theory) and quench itself automatically. The trick is setting the zero and span so that it still ends up full closed at 1200 and opens enough to keep itself under 1600.

 

[Eman85]

I was careful not to say he yanked your or my chain, just his own.

 

[Rusty18]

Fortunately I know a guy…got a nice ss damper plate to practice on.

 

[Rusty18]

Bonus points…haven’t saw any visible emissions during the run this evening. Stove just doing its thing. 400-500 stt, cat has went from 800 to about 1260 (secondary damper overclocked on its own), held at 1260 for 10-15 mins and is trending downward. I should note the little pin on the oem door and the corner hitting part of the casting on the stove prevented it from even going full closed let alone opening on the down stroke. Both sticking points were addressed with the ss damper. No pin and I bent the corner to fit with the stove cold so I knew it could physically open if the thermostat allowed it too.

 

[Eman85]

How old is your coil? When I removed mine the sensor part was burned off quite a bit and I installed a new one.

 

[arnermd]

My project for the week.....

This is my 2 week holding area for wood before it comes into the house. Tired of dealing with tarps so I made this out of stuff I had laying around. Free standing and it all breaks down for spring storage. Roof is an old tarp I cut up and screwed down to a 2x4 frame. Should work better....

 

[Eman85]

Too many steps. My porch is covered and no rail so I can load right from my trailer onto the porch from the back of the rack, no steps. If I was you I'd find a way to remove the rail for the winter.

 

[arnermd]

Too many steps. My porch is covered and no rail so I can load right from my trailer onto the porch from the back of the rack, no steps. If I was you I'd find a way to remove the rail for the winter.

That's what the Kubota is for. Lifts wood right onto the deck.....

Gotta love hydraulics.

 

[Rusty18]

How old is your coil? When I removed mine the sensor part was burned off quite a bit and I installed a new one.

Original as far as I know, previous owner didn’t burn much wood. Doubt he ever had the cat up to temp. Year before last I had the cat out and the probe looked almost new.

 

[JohnDaileyNH]

Anyone ever use this stuff? Never seen it before

 

[sargeott]

Do not do not use that stuff if you have a cat. It will kill it super fast.

 

[arnermd]

Anyone ever use this stuff? Never seen it before

View attachment 321035

My Dad used to use that and had god luck with it, but.... It was a non cat stove!

What worked best for him was a saucer of ammonia at the bottom of the chimney inside the clean out door. The ammonia vapor would rise up the chimney and help to keep it clean. He woudl fill it once a week or so and he saw a big improvement.
Again.... he was running an old, non cat stove, VC defiant.

Website says "Will not damage catalytic converters." Not sure I believe it..... curoius to hear if anybody actually tried it.

 

[sargeott]

My chimney and fireplace dealer told me that stuff will destroy the cat by coating the precious metals. He said they have seen it happen after a single use.

 

[JohnDaileyNH]

Do not do not use that stuff if you have a cat. It will kill it super fast.

My Dad used to use that and had god luck with it, but.... It was a non cat stove!

What worked best for him was a saucer of ammonia at the bottom of the chimney inside the clean out door. The ammonia vapor would rise up the chimney and help to keep it clean. He woudl fill it once a week or so and he saw a big improvement.
Again.... he was running an old, non cat stove, VC defiant.

Website says "Will not damage catalytic converters." Not sure I believe it..... curoius to hear if anybody actually tried it.

I might try it and just toss it on some calls with smaller splits and leave the bypass open see what it does

 

[arnermd]

I might try it and just toss it on some calls with smaller splits and leave the bypass open see what it does

That's what I was thinking, you could even pull the cat out for a burn or two..... Not sure how long the contaminants might linger.

You try it first and let me know.... hahaha

 

[Kevin Weis]

I might try it and just toss it on some calls with smaller splits and leave the bypass open see what it does

Beware even with the bypass open you will get some draft through the combuster. Maybe take the cat out completely may avoid issues?

 

[Jmorg]

The Dauntless has been running for 7 days straight…possibly the longest I’ve ever ran it consecutively. It’s been very predictable and the cat is doing great. Fill it in the morning, let it catch, close the bypass, re-light the cat and dial the air back half way from fully open. Leave for work at 7:30, get home at 4:45 with stt at 300-350 deg, open primary air and let it burn down a bit and then restart the process from the morning. Run it in the evening with stt 550-650 deg, fill it at 10 pm, close the air half way and wake up to stt of 300-350 every single day. 2.5-3 loads of wood every day…more on weekends when running hot for longer. She’s been doing fantastic! Merry Christmas, y’all!!

 

[sargeott]

Glad to see another dauntless owner doing well and enjoying the stove.
Outside high temps of 35 here and the stove has been running for about 2 weeks of not shutting it down. No cold starts for 2 weeks.
So here's a new one to me.
Stove top temp is currently 500f, flew is 350f I can hear the cat eating away and I run outside to feed the horses. As I head back to the cabin zero smoke but I can see water vapor leaving the top of the stack.
Out of curiosity I climb up on the roof to look a little closer and I can see moisture vapor leaving the chimney. Zero smoke smell, but a slight chemical scent.
Bizarre and cool!

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Glad to see another dauntless owner doing well and enjoying the stove.
Outside high temps of 35 here and the stove has been running for about 2 weeks of not shutting it down. No cold starts for 2 weeks.
So here's a new one to me.
Stove top temp is currently 500f, flew is 350f I can hear the cat eating away and I run outside to feed the horses. As I head back to the cabin zero smoke but I can see water vapor leaving the top of the stack.
Out of curiosity I climb up on the roof to look a little closer and I can see moisture vapor leaving the chimney. Zero smoke smell, but a slight chemical scent.
Bizarre and cool!

Iv been waiting to be able to do a steady burn.. looks like this will be a test of my patience