CFM Vermont Castings Dutchwest Everburn Non-Cat Owners Discussion and Review Thread!

[begreen]

Wow, over 21000 views on this thread! That must be some kind of record.

 

[efoyt]

Could you run the Dutchwest Everburn stove without engaging the Everburn function? Could you just turn it down and let it burn? I don't ask this with the idea that I'm not going to use the Everburn function but it might be easier for my wife to just use it like a traditional stove if I am not at home.

 

[Hanko]

sure you can, but alot of your heat is up the chimney, and you'll go thru twice as much wood. Its not that big of deal to operate it. if you show her once im sure she'll be able to figure it out. As ive said before many times there are three of them in our family, and they are super stoves. The people that have issues with them would probably have issues with any stove. If you have a good draft and good dry hard wood, they will preform with any jotul, or any other stove on the market.

Im Henry and i approve this Bull sheet

 

[Pine Knot]

I made my door handles out of Black Walnut, so far no issues with over heating. A suggestion, when drilling the hole through the handle, drill half way on one end of the handle, and half on the other. That helps keep the hole in the center of the handle, if you are using a hand drill. A drill press would work better. Handles on the doors gives the stove that "fully dressed" look.

 

[efoyt]

When the fire is just coals and you are letting it die, do you disengage the everburn or just leave it on???

Also I had my first real fire last night ( had three small fires early-er ) and i set off my smoke detector ( many times). I don't believe that any smoke came out of the woodstove, my draft was great. Was this maybe just the oil and other stuff burning off of the outside of the stove?? House had a bad smell and there was something in the air but i don't think it was smoke from the inside of the fire. Like i said i had a great draft and i couldn't see any smoke coming out of the woodstove. Even when the door was open. i had all the windows and doors in my house open. Maybe my smoke detectors are a little to sensitive? Any ideas?

 

[Diabel]

When the fire is just coals and you are letting it die, do you disengage the everburn or just leave it on???
Also I had my first real fire last night ( had three small fires early-er ) and i set off my smoke detector ( many times). I don't believe that any smoke came out of the woodstove, my draft was great. Was this maybe just the oil and other stuff burning off of the outside of the stove?? House had a bad smell and there was something in the air but i don't think it was smoke from the inside of the fire. Like i said i had a great draft and i couldn't see any smoke coming out of the woodstove. Even when the door was open. i had all the windows and doors in my house open. Maybe my smoke detectors are a little to sensitive? Any ideas?

I leave it on until reload.

The smell will go away after a good hot burn or two.

 

[tradergordo]

When the fire is just coals and you are letting it die, do you disengage the everburn or just leave it on???

Also I had my first real fire last night ( had three small fires early-er ) and i set off my smoke detector ( many times). I don't believe that any smoke came out of the woodstove, my draft was great. Was this maybe just the oil and other stuff burning off of the outside of the stove?? House had a bad smell and there was something in the air but i don't think it was smoke from the inside of the fire. Like i said i had a great draft and i couldn't see any smoke coming out of the woodstove. Even when the door was open. i had all the windows and doors in my house open. Maybe my smoke detectors are a little to sensitive? Any ideas?

The paint is curing on your stove, it takes a few burns for that to complete, I'd open all the windows and put fans in them if you can to air the house out, as you fire it up to normal operating temps or higher and complete the cure, otherwise every time you go to a higher stovetemp its going to smell.

There is no need to disengage everburn as the fire dies -- there is really no smoke to burn at that point, but keeping it dampered can hold the heat in a little better.

Seems like quite a few new everburner owners have joined the forum over the last couple months, it will be good to get a wider set of feedback.

To the older everburn owners - have you done your annual cleaning yet? I just did mine this weekend. As per instruction manual, you should GENTLY vacuum out the rear chambers by sticking the vac hose down though the flue collar. When I did this I noticed quite a few "chips" of the refractory material down there. They were not created from the cleaning or any blunt force, that stuff is just slowly deteriorating. Mine isn't real bad, it doesn't seem to have any holes - but my guess is that at this rate of deterioration (2 years of operation) I'll have to replace that stuff after 1 or 2 more seasons or risk exposure and damage to the cast iron. I did take some pictures (reached down flue collar with camera and took pic straight down both back corners - I did this last year too so I could compare things and look for damage). Will post the pics later.

I also removed the shoe - this is very easy, just pull up the grate above the ash pan, and then the shoe pulls straight forward. But there is a fabric like gasket on the bottom of this piece that is a pain to get back on if it comes off. The reason I took the shoe out is because there was quite a bit of debris including chips of the refractory material laying on top of the shoe inside the rear chamber and the only easy way to clean it out was by removing the shoe.

I wonder if the refractory stuff could be repaired and/or fortified by just plastering it with furnace cement or something? Not sure. I don't plan to do anything with it this year, but maybe I should.

 

[Diabel]

I did the same thing, used a reduced vacuum hose to get to the bottom & gently wiggle the hose to get all of the ash. I also found few cement like pieces...paper thin or maybe a bit thicker (size of a quarter).
I did not remove the "shoe" didn't think there was a need.

Indeed, it will be interesting to hear some of the newcomers experiences with these stoves. Three short burns so far this season & no problem....bring the griddle temp to 500 engage the everburn & off she goes.

 

[trailblaze]

i'm finally getting DW set up on the hearth this thursday... i'll take some pics of the final deal and post up my first burn

 

[CTBurner]

Our VC Encore everburn arrived today, I spent 2 hours checking it over part by part, everything is shipshape. I was very impressed with the quality of stove and workmanship throughout, also it will be very easy to work on if needed. Installation on Friday, I had seller install because of all the problems some have had.

I will post pictures next week.

 

[Diabel]

Here is my unit.

 

[CTBurner]

Very nice setup, You have the warming shelves, those are nice, They add more heat too, well worth the cost and they look great

 

[Diabel]

Thanks.

Not sure if the shelves add heat, looks for sure....but I do use the hangers to dry wet clothes i.e. hats mittens etc (two kids).

 

[BurningIsLove]

The paint is curing on your stove, it takes a few burns for that to complete, I'd open all the windows and put fans in them if you can to air the house out, as you fire it up to normal operating temps or higher and complete the cure, otherwise every time you go to a higher stovetemp its going to smell.

I also apply a touch up compound to my stove enamel to prevent rust when water spills on it, the kettles scrape the top, etc. Like the original paint, it does take a little while to cure and has the same smell albeit not as long or as intense.

Seems like quite a few new everburner owners have joined the forum over the last couple months, it will be good to get a wider set of feedback.

Indeed. Keep the feedback & reviews coming. Try not to get frustrated (like I did!), if it's your first downdraft (everburn) style stove, you WILL get the hang of it.

To the older everburn owners - have you done your annual cleaning yet? I just did mine this weekend. As per instruction manual, you should GENTLY vacuum out the rear chambers by sticking the vac hose down though the flue collar. When I did this I noticed quite a few "chips" of the refractory material down there.

I have not yet, but its on the agenda for this weekend. I have never removed the shoe on mine, but I dont think I can avoid it this time. I have fixed, horizontal flue connector so I have to physically move the stove off my hearth to get inside the flue collar (ugh), which requires a few extra sets of hands, those large DW's are darn heavy! So I'll have to remove the shoe to clean out behind it, there will probably be a lot of debris in mine as I did not do it last year. Want to get it done now though so if I do break it, I can order a replacement in time for prime time burning season.

 

[tradergordo]

I have not yet, but its on the agenda for this weekend. I have never removed the shoe on mine, but I don't think I can avoid it this time. I have fixed, horizontal flue connector so I have to physically move the stove off my hearth to get inside the flue collar (ugh), which requires a few extra sets of hands, those large DW's are darn heavy! So I'll have to remove the shoe to clean out behind it, there will probably be a lot of debris in mine as I did not do it last year. Want to get it done now though so if I do break it, I can order a replacement in time for prime time burning season.

Let us know what you find when you do the cleaning. I found exactly what diabel described: "...cement like pieces...paper thin or maybe a bit thicker (size of a quarter)" laying in the bottom of those rear chambers AND on top of the shoe. That gasket on the bottom of the shoe is also a bit of a pain, it has to be glued back on to stay in place when you slide the shoe back in. Anyone know what that material is or where you can buy it?

Replacing the everburn refractory chamber stuff is going to be a big project - you basically have to disassemble the whole stove. Also probably not a good idea to put it off for too long, because eventually I'm sure the cast iron will warp once enough of the chamber liner is gone. This repair WOULD have been covered by the lifetime warranty if we still had warranties (to my knowledge on one has yet reported that they were refused warranty work on a dealer bought stove yet by the way).

 

[efoyt]

So what is the deal with Vermont Castings/Dutchwest products. I know they were bought out by Heratige. But are the Warranties still good?

 

[tradergordo]

According to the message from a phone number posted somewhere in this forum, products purchased from retailers like Home Depot, that were purchased before 2008, have no warranties now. But the same message says that if you purchased a product from a dealer (which is how all VC woodstoves are sold) that you should contact your dealer for warranty claims. This was always the policy by the way, if you had contacted CFM last year for example, they would have told you to go though your dealer for any warranty work. So at least from the perspective of this phone message - officially nothing has changed with our warranties. I'm still waiting to hear from anyone with firsthand experience in the matter. One person in the forums has said that he talked to a dealer that told him they were still doing warranty work. A different person (I believe a dealer) said that everything was being done on a "case by case" basis - no idea what that means. Perhaps it means that if the industry picks back up and they are making lots of money again, they will be more willing to honor warranties on products purchased from a dealer before 2008.

 

[CTBurner]

Thursday Vc dealer is coming to install our encore everburn, I would have done it myself but I wanted to be able to say in the future "your company installed it" if I have a problem. I will try to get a lot of conversation going about new owners, warrantees, ECT. I will let you know what comes up.

 

[Diabel]

While he's there get him do the "dollar test"! If the bill slides through might as well get him to do the needed adjustments!

 

[efoyt]

Ok - did a full burn last night. I didn't get the burn length that I was hopeing for. About 3 hours ( still had a bed of hot coals ). I didn't fill the firebox all the way also so i know that this will have a big effect on the length of the burn.

Ash door had some of the liner stick on the stove, i got most of it off but there is still a little there what should I use to get it off??? I know that if there is not a proper seal that I will not get the burn times I hope for but i don't think their was a problem with the seal. With almost just coals left with the air down all the way there was no flame, if i opened it all the way ( not the door the air control) i would get flame so I am thinking I have a good seal.

As far as the Everburn system went i think it was working. I engaged it at 500 degrees ( pipe thermometer ). The temp doped right down to 350 then climbed back up to 400 and stayed there until I started fiddling with the air control. I'll update my burn times after i get more of a hang of it.

 

[BurningIsLove]

Let us know what you find when you do the cleaning. I found exactly what diabel described: "...cement like pieces...paper thin or maybe a bit thicker (size of a quarter)" laying in the bottom of those rear chambers AND on top of the shoe. That gasket on the bottom of the shoe is also a bit of a pain, it has to be glued back on to stay in place when you slide the shoe back in. Anyone know what that material is or where you can buy it?

So about the same experience....I pulled the shoe forward after removing the ash pan grate and found chips about the same size & consistency. I cannot view from the top yet to see what shape the refractory material is in. The gasket on the bottom did come off and I'm hesitant to try and refix it on. It was torn in several places, most likely from my pulling the shoe forward. It was also worn through nearly completely in others. I'm of the strong mind that replacing the gasket entirely is the best course of action.

So now I'm in the same dilemna, where is the best place to buy the gasket? I searched online and found one link (broken link removed) via google which only had the gasket for the s/m sizes, not the large. Their search engine couldnt find the same part google did (nice, huh?), but after some guesswork manipulating the URL directly (lots of fun), I found the large size. Runs $107 (ouch), hopeful I can find it elsewhere for a more reasonable price, that seems horrifically expensive for one gasket. I found a CFM parts listing that I think had it for $3.30 (tough to tell the descriptor from the PDF), but it listed the entire shoe replacement at $107, which I dont need as the shoe appears in very good shape. Will call my dealer tomorrow and see if he has it available. Will also test the waters on the refractory material itself and find out his stance on the warranty.

Will post pics of my shoe/gasket shortly

 

[Gooserider]

For what it's worth BIL, as a local source the Chelmsford Fireplace Center over near the Stop and Shop in Chelmsford Ctr now carries VC, might be worth seeing what they have for parts / charge for them... I know they have gasket "sets" for many of the VC stoves in stock... In my limited dealings with them, they seemed like reasonably competent folks, with decent pricing.

Gooserider

 

[BurningIsLove]

Excellent tip, thanks!

Took some still shots looking upwards with the shoe removed prior to being vacuumed out. The shoe appears in good shape, no apparent cracks or chips. Its hard to get a good judgement on the refractory material. On the easily visible sides slanting upwards from the top of the shoe, it seems fine. But the pictures further up give me pause. Sorry about the bad focus, the distance was just too close to get a good picture.

 

[Diabel]

BIL, these out of focus pics...which part of the refactory is it?

Now I am worried!

It appears to me that our stoves are around 2 to 3 yrs. old & the refactory is slowly but surly falling apart I give it 2 more burning seasons & as Gordo said the stoves will likely overheat & be dangerous to use! I do not believe that VC or the new owners will be of any help. I read somewhere here that someone reproduced a "cat" box (sorry, the correct term just escaped my head)....can we recreate the refactory?

 

[[email protected]]

Hi, Im a new stove owner. Never had one before. A friend of mine has a company in Mass.
Fire Mart and I asked him if he could set me up with a stove that would heat our house. We
got a V/C Defiant 1619 NC. Im becoming more pleased with it the more I learn about how
it works.I had a problem at the start not getting it to fire right. I found that I was burning
it to cool.A bad burn indicator from the hardware. I got a good one and found out it was
reading 200 degrees less. Now when I get it burning good and to about 500 ,close the
damper and the after burners kick in. I can hear it doing its thing.Plus the glass stays clean.
So for now Im pretty happy with the results.You guys are a great help with info.And so
hopefully its goodbye oilman