I have had my Defiant for 20 plus years. It was an original Defiant with the one piece fireback used by a couple for primary heat for many years and then a friend bought it and used it for a few years. The fireback was cracked long before i got it so I got the VC conversion kit to rebuild it to the two piece design. I used it for several years in my basement for supplemental heat but at some point someone gave me my Burnham boiler and about 2 years later I got 550 gallons of storage. The Burnham is now my primary heat and i have not bought oil for five years. The VC got retired but was set up so I could quickly switch. We have had a cold snap in NH. I could be using my minisplit but since I am around the house and have the wood I have been using the Defiant for evening burns. It does take bit of relearning on light offs but other than that its nice to have a quiet house as the boiler tends to have various pumps whirring and valves stroking on occasion. Definitely far quieter than my backup oil boiler but the wood stove is quieter. The wood stove also heats the basement and the floors so in general the house tends warm up a bit slower but stays warmer overnight.
Kind of a nice blast from the past. I would never dream of using it for primary heat in cold conditions but great for current conditions.
Kind of a nice blast from the past. I would never dream of using it for primary heat in cold conditions but great for current conditions.
