So I thought I'd start a little ramble about the Enerzone Solution 1.7. I just put it in this season after the 30+ year old Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim developed a fatal crack in the firebox.
They've both got essentially the same size firebox volume, and the BTU's seemed comparable. Didn't want a cat stove, so didn't go back to VC.
So, I've been running it for a bit now. It took a little while to get used to it, but I'm comfortable enough with it that I would offer an opinion, and see what others that have the same size SBI think.
The basics...
It puts out heat nicely for sure.
Painted finish is kinda easy to scratch.
The damper works just fine, but it feels cheap, and sounds awful.
Looks nice in the steel box in your living room kinda way.
So running it, I've been burning mostly Black Walnut that has been cut, split, and drying for several years, along with a little ash that's a couple years old, but was standing dead for a couple years before the cut and split. It lives under a roof, and gets plenty of air/wind to get, and stay dry. It's the same stock I was running in the VC, and also a small fireplace.
What it seems like I'm getting is a whole lot of ash, and chunky charcoal in comparison to the VC. Granted the top load of the VC made that less evident if it was happening while burning, but it should be the same end result after it burns out/cold. I'd say it's probably double the volume I used to see, and I need to clean it out every couple days, rather than once a week. (I'm only here 3.5 days usually, so I'd clean it when I got back, I could have gone a little longer I think with the VC if I just kept burning)
So why... I imagine it's that the VC had the cast iron grate, and air could circulates up from below to burn the embers more thoroughly. The Enerzone just sits on the firebrick, and the embers kinda get buried in ash to smother. I expect I could sift out the charcoal from the ash when I clean it out, but that's a mess I don't really want in the house. Perhaps I'll dump the ash through a screen when I empty the pail, and see what I get, but I doubt that would be a regular process due to the mess.
Does it really matter?
Ehhh. Yes, and no. Obviously unburned fuel is a waste. I cut, split, stack everything we burn, so I hate to waste the effort, but it really isn't going to affect me too much. The house has oil fired heat that keeps me in the low 60's with little effort. The wood get's me in to the 70's, and comfortable, but I have done the 70's with oil, and it isn't a burden, so the wood is more an enjoyable deal. The only thing that's kinda irritating is a reload due to the buildup.
Temp on the stove top range up to 650, but they're typically in the 450-500, and then down to 200-250 at reload. Before you ask what the moisture content is, I honestly don't know. I did find the moisture meter, and found it works, but I haven't checked anything since this wood has been getting burned for years happily without issue. Next time I start splitting for the pile I'll be using years down the line I'll check some of what's on the current stack.
The longest burn I can really manage to get, and still get a relight from the embers, is a little over 6 hours. Stove top temp will be down to 100-150. That's with a tight pack, E/W load of 12" splits in a double stack. I know I could get a longer split in there, but 12" is what I have, and I don't really plan changing that. I'm fine with that burn time honestly. The buildup makes getting that tight, double layer difficult through day 2. When I looked at stoves, the box size seemed fine, but I hadn't figured in the heavy ash bed, so with a stove running like this, I think I'd be better off with a little bigger/taller firebox so I could easily get the double stack in without bumping up against the secondary tubes.
Also, it's kinda messy. I've worked front load stoves before, so I know they can drop ash when you open up to reload. That's expected, and well, honestly, this is probably nitpicky... The ash that drops on the ash ledge, is fine. The ash that catches in the door over the seal is kinda annoying as that will reliably stay in place until the door swings past the ash shelf, and then sift down on the floor making for a bit of a mess. Obviously I didn't have that with the top load VC, and that's probably the biggest thing I miss. It was a lot cleaner to run the VC overall than this unit.
I just ordered an ash vac. That will take care of the general ash cleaning. I'll still either be shoveling the bulk out, or dropping it in to the ash pan. Typically I was always able to just keep a 15 gallon steel garbage pail inside to do the cleanout on a dead cold stove. Now having hot ash, I expect I'll have to move the pail outside. That's annoying, but better than having an issue as a result of hot coals. It's just more business. I plan to avoid hot ash with the vacuum, though I know it's capable. I'd rather that saw a hot ember as a surprise than a choice.
So, am I down on the stove? No not really. I think I'll continue to refine my process, and be fine with it. I don't think I can cure the messy aspect, but may figure out burning down the charcoal better. Refining the size of my splits to pack in the stove is something else I need to do. I'll end up keeping the smaller splits for the stove, and sending the larger to the fireplace probably until I burn through the existing piles since the big ones are tough to fit over the log retainers, and harder to pack in a double layer. If I went to a 10" split I could load N/S and pack in more. That's something I am considering since it would also let me remove the log retainers. Might have to cut down some of the existing to run some tests...
If it comes down to never being able to reduce buildup, I might replace the stove with a bigger unit. I don't need more heat, but I would like a little less headache to hold that 6 hour burn.
They've both got essentially the same size firebox volume, and the BTU's seemed comparable. Didn't want a cat stove, so didn't go back to VC.
So, I've been running it for a bit now. It took a little while to get used to it, but I'm comfortable enough with it that I would offer an opinion, and see what others that have the same size SBI think.
The basics...
It puts out heat nicely for sure.
Painted finish is kinda easy to scratch.
The damper works just fine, but it feels cheap, and sounds awful.
Looks nice in the steel box in your living room kinda way.
So running it, I've been burning mostly Black Walnut that has been cut, split, and drying for several years, along with a little ash that's a couple years old, but was standing dead for a couple years before the cut and split. It lives under a roof, and gets plenty of air/wind to get, and stay dry. It's the same stock I was running in the VC, and also a small fireplace.
What it seems like I'm getting is a whole lot of ash, and chunky charcoal in comparison to the VC. Granted the top load of the VC made that less evident if it was happening while burning, but it should be the same end result after it burns out/cold. I'd say it's probably double the volume I used to see, and I need to clean it out every couple days, rather than once a week. (I'm only here 3.5 days usually, so I'd clean it when I got back, I could have gone a little longer I think with the VC if I just kept burning)
So why... I imagine it's that the VC had the cast iron grate, and air could circulates up from below to burn the embers more thoroughly. The Enerzone just sits on the firebrick, and the embers kinda get buried in ash to smother. I expect I could sift out the charcoal from the ash when I clean it out, but that's a mess I don't really want in the house. Perhaps I'll dump the ash through a screen when I empty the pail, and see what I get, but I doubt that would be a regular process due to the mess.
Does it really matter?
Ehhh. Yes, and no. Obviously unburned fuel is a waste. I cut, split, stack everything we burn, so I hate to waste the effort, but it really isn't going to affect me too much. The house has oil fired heat that keeps me in the low 60's with little effort. The wood get's me in to the 70's, and comfortable, but I have done the 70's with oil, and it isn't a burden, so the wood is more an enjoyable deal. The only thing that's kinda irritating is a reload due to the buildup.
Temp on the stove top range up to 650, but they're typically in the 450-500, and then down to 200-250 at reload. Before you ask what the moisture content is, I honestly don't know. I did find the moisture meter, and found it works, but I haven't checked anything since this wood has been getting burned for years happily without issue. Next time I start splitting for the pile I'll be using years down the line I'll check some of what's on the current stack.
The longest burn I can really manage to get, and still get a relight from the embers, is a little over 6 hours. Stove top temp will be down to 100-150. That's with a tight pack, E/W load of 12" splits in a double stack. I know I could get a longer split in there, but 12" is what I have, and I don't really plan changing that. I'm fine with that burn time honestly. The buildup makes getting that tight, double layer difficult through day 2. When I looked at stoves, the box size seemed fine, but I hadn't figured in the heavy ash bed, so with a stove running like this, I think I'd be better off with a little bigger/taller firebox so I could easily get the double stack in without bumping up against the secondary tubes.
Also, it's kinda messy. I've worked front load stoves before, so I know they can drop ash when you open up to reload. That's expected, and well, honestly, this is probably nitpicky... The ash that drops on the ash ledge, is fine. The ash that catches in the door over the seal is kinda annoying as that will reliably stay in place until the door swings past the ash shelf, and then sift down on the floor making for a bit of a mess. Obviously I didn't have that with the top load VC, and that's probably the biggest thing I miss. It was a lot cleaner to run the VC overall than this unit.
I just ordered an ash vac. That will take care of the general ash cleaning. I'll still either be shoveling the bulk out, or dropping it in to the ash pan. Typically I was always able to just keep a 15 gallon steel garbage pail inside to do the cleanout on a dead cold stove. Now having hot ash, I expect I'll have to move the pail outside. That's annoying, but better than having an issue as a result of hot coals. It's just more business. I plan to avoid hot ash with the vacuum, though I know it's capable. I'd rather that saw a hot ember as a surprise than a choice.
So, am I down on the stove? No not really. I think I'll continue to refine my process, and be fine with it. I don't think I can cure the messy aspect, but may figure out burning down the charcoal better. Refining the size of my splits to pack in the stove is something else I need to do. I'll end up keeping the smaller splits for the stove, and sending the larger to the fireplace probably until I burn through the existing piles since the big ones are tough to fit over the log retainers, and harder to pack in a double layer. If I went to a 10" split I could load N/S and pack in more. That's something I am considering since it would also let me remove the log retainers. Might have to cut down some of the existing to run some tests...
If it comes down to never being able to reduce buildup, I might replace the stove with a bigger unit. I don't need more heat, but I would like a little less headache to hold that 6 hour burn.
