2024/25 VC performance discussion thread

[Megunticook]

That's a good sign when your wife is comfortable starting and running the stove. Means you have a solid setup!

I get warm just looking at that photo. And now it's time to get my own stove fired up while I prep. dinner. Coldest night of the year last night.

 

[JohnDaileyNH]

The last time I made pea soup I crop dusted every room I went in for a week

Let the stove go cold to clean and decided to try the metal cat. Will report back later on the difference from the ceramic

2nd night with the metal cat in. It definitely lights off faster. Otherwise not much difference noticed. It cruises around 1150 where my ceramic one was sitting. Burn time was the same last night. It's going to get a nice 5 night run here it's looking like. Maybe even some snow.

 

[arnermd]

2nd night with the metal cat in. It definitely lights off faster. Otherwise not much difference noticed. It cruises around 1150 where my ceramic one was sitting. Burn time was the same last night. It's going to get a nice 5 night run here it's looking like. Maybe even some snow.

I had been running both a ceramic and a metal cat for the last 2 years, (I think this is year 3 for the metal and year 4 for the ceramic) I did not keep track but I think the metal cat has a lot more hours on it. The ceramic cat seems to be dead, even after a vinegar bath and is showing signs of crumbling. The metal cat is working great after a vinegar bath, it is showing some signs of distress to but the metal grid is all still there, some warping and distortion in places.

I think all my future cats will be metal, they just seem to hold up better. Of course mine have seen some extreme temps, so this may not be a good assessment for a "normal" running stove....

 

[dmccoole]

Pic doesn't do it justice, but had a 3/4 load of oak last night with cat at 1550. The dancing flames at the top was amazing.

 

[Megunticook]

View attachment 333044
Pic doesn't do it justice, but had a 3/4 load of oak last night with cat at 1550. The dancing flames at the top was amazing.

Nice. Just curious, what was your STT? And where was your primary air intake control set?

Shoot a little video next time so we can see the "dance"!

 

[dmccoole]

STT was 600ish and air intake was at 3/4. When the cat hit 1000 I turned it down to 3/4 but I left it a little too long. Yes, I should have done a video!

 

[Megunticook]

3/4 closed?

 

[dmccoole]

Open. Typically, I start at 100% open to get the cat up to temp. When the cat hits 1000 I turn the primary down to 3/4 open and then gradually close it more as the cat temp rises.

 

[Megunticook]

Got it. I'm pretty watchful when I've got the primary wide open when the damper's closed. During my rookie season with the encore here I cooked my cat with I believe was flame impingement on the ceramic honeycomb from flames getting sucked under the hood and into the secondary combustion area. Of course I have quite a tall chimney and a strong draft.

Where does your primary control end up after you finish gradually closing it?

 

[dmccoole]

Roughly 1/4 open and let it cruise for the night. I did not have the temp probe the first year. But after reading all the threads on here, I finally got one and I find it very helpful.

I haven't burned up a cat yet but I try to be cautious as well due to all the experience here!

 

[skb31]

Year two with my Encore 2040 Cat-C (manufactured sept 23) is off to a better start than year one. I’ve got a key damper that I’ve yet to have to use and when I got my chimney cleaned and stove serviced I didn’t have any major creosote build up.

This stove is finicky so everyone’s process may be a little different. For me that means two of the epa holes from the unregulated secondary air are plugged to give more control with the primary air. I’ve tried various combos and this is the sweet spot for my setup.

I learned that there are different versions of the owners manual/operating instructions for the same model stove so I stick to the paper ones given by the installer. This strikes me as odd but it’s easy to see the differences in the various versions I’ve found online.

I closely follow the operating directions regarding pushing the coals up against the back wall, leveling a bit, and loading up against the back wall according to the instructions I was given. You have to be careful not to bang the ceramic but once I got the hang of it, the process became easier. It’s not the way I had used my previous stove so it was a new habit to learn. This keeps the cat temp up and the stt temp down.

Lastly, what constitutes a full load for me is not what I had been used to. 2/3 of what I’d put in my previous stove is the max I’ll load. I started even smaller and experimented. Wood that is too small or too dry is a major problem. Using too much is also a problem.

 

[arnermd]

My burn from last night, this one got hot. But closing the air down a bit brought cat temps back down, thats good news.

My cat alarms at 1450 so I stumbled out of bed and tended to it for 30 min. I like to see cat temps at 1100 - 1300 but maybe I am just paranoid.

Conditions:

• Hot bed of coals, you can see cat was still at 600 when I reloaded
• Pretty full load of red oak
• Immeadiately engaged the damper with 100% air, cat took off to 1200 where I throttled the air down to 50% open and went to bed. Probably should have started closing air down earlier, but I fell asleep on the couch.

Observations:

• Notice the griddle temps dropped to 300 after the reload, maybe I should have left the damper open a bit to heat that load up before engaging the cat?
• I did empty a very full ash pan yesterday.... so it was empty last night. Correlation or just concidence? Time will tell.

 

[begreen]

There may be a correlation with the full ash pan. It provides better insulation under the firebed and it can help seal minor air leaks at the ash pan door if the gasket is not sealing tightly.

 

[dmccoole]

I've been burning for 2 weeks 24x7. Twice in the last week, my cat would not ignite. An example was Tuesday morning after an 11 hour burn Monday night with a warm reload, burned off the glass, loaded 2/3 with dry oak, cat started at 375 but the cat never re-ignited and maybe got to 500 with the oak burning nicely all day. Same dry oak that's been sitting in my garage since spring. Tuesday nights fire I got the cat to ignite. I thought maybe it was a fluke?

So today I let the stove burn down and I cleaned out all the ash and cleaned out the 8 holes in the refractory. I checked the cat, original from 2021. It looks fine but it is going on its 4th season with 2-3 cords per season. I had done a full cleanout in October before the season but wanted to check the cat again anyway.

I started a fire, half load of oak and the STT is up to 650. I closed the bypass. After 15 minutes, cat is sitting at 372, STT settled down to 500. 30 minutes later, cat is at 386 and STT is 480. Stove is throwing off some heat with primary at 3/4 open trying to get the cat to ignite. Another 30 minutes and cat is at 430, STT 450.

Cats not igniting seems to be common theme this year! Just ordered a steel and ceramic to have an extra on hand.

 

[skb31]

I’d consider the probe as well? Check your damper tension too but that seems less likely. If you have a stovepipe meter I’d be curious what your temp is there. 425 in the cat chamber must be cool 18 inches up the pipe? I have a bimetal meter and ir gun with both reading 350ish on the stove pipe.

*Edit. I agree about the ash pan above. I never empty mine or even open the ash door save for a once a year maintenance so far. My stove runs better when it’s full so I just empty the few ashes I need to empty by hand