I have the same stove as you and the glass stays somewhat clean but never really clean.. The new stoves have the air wash over the glass so that helps alot.. Dry wood makes a big difference keeping the glass cleaner.. Like you my stove has needed hardly any parts just 2 cats plus the baffle under the cat.. My shaker grates are shot but I never use them so why bother? Every time I think about a newer stove someone here will say what for yours works well and never needs anything.. Hard to argue with that sort of thinking…
Ray,
Since you have the same stove I do, I'm curious as to how you deal with the air dampers once your fire is established and the cat is up to temperature. I close everything down tight except for the cat air supply. Ever since I overhauled the stove and re-cemented all the joints it's very air tight. Obviously some air must still be getting in there otherwise the fire would go out! To me the shaker grates are very important. If I let the ash drawer fill with ashes I have a hard time maintaining a decent fire. Depending on the type of wood I burn I may clean out the ash drawer every 4-5 days or so. When I restock the stove I will sometimes leave the ash door open, shake down the ashes and let the fire build with the bypass damper closed. This to me is the best way to get the cat up to temperature before I close the ash door again. I found that if the fire is allowed to burn with too much draft for too long it will destroy the shaker grates as well as the cat too. Since I have been controlling my fire using the technique I explained, the grates have been doing just fine for over 10 years now.
Just for a little trivia. I was somewhat taken aback when I brought the stove home and noticed "made in China" stamped on the crate. I called the dealer about this little factoid and they explained to me that the reason is because there are hardly any cast iron foundries in the US anymore so VC moved their operations to China. I'm usually NOT a fan of anything made in China, (except dishes), but I'll have to admit that this stove has been relatively trouble free.
I hear ya on that when you have it cranked full throttle it is to much for the cat to handle and you’ll see some smoke. soon as i crank down below three there's nothing.
Some of you are saying that you control the draft by numbers. Are some stoves manufactured using incremental draft settings?
Thanks for all the information! This is great!!
Jim