A Smooth Heating Winter

[CaptainMauw]

Last year was a fiasco https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/first-year-heating-with-wood-fiasco.330018/ and this years winter has been pretty much polar opposite.

I have an old Dutchwest 2462 that I was struggling to get more than 3-4 hours of burn at a time out of, even when throttled back. The goal was to replace it in the off season last year, but farm work and a wedding at the farm prevented that from ever coming to fruition. As a stop gap I got my hands on an old Blaze King King Ultra from the early 90's, but discovered some not so great conditions once I got it into the light back home. So we sucked it up and went another year on this old VC.

Upon first startup in November the stove puffed like a Detroit Diesel on a cold morning, which in itself showed a few leaking areas. I sealed up every joint in the black pipe, and then dismantled the top end and sealed every cast iron joint on the stove with cement (whether it leaked or not). Fired it back up and it was an immediate change. Clearly there were air leaks, as it now takes the better part of an hour for the stove to warm up, come to temp, and generate enough coals to get a full load in (took maybe 20 minutes last year). Further, I now have 100% control of the burn with the primary air, which was a constant struggle last year.

I have mounds of hackberry in the barn, so its been our primary wood this year to just burn it up. With the above work, I was suddenly seeing longer smoother burns, never topping 1300F on the cat (would easily push 1500 last year if not closely monitored) and coals would remain even after 10+ hours away for work. Last year the CAT air setting had zero effect on the burn. This year, it does. Also, zero smoke smell indoors. Only side effect I see is a slight increase in creosote.

In the cold snap this week I brought in some of the big cherry splits and set them in front of the stove to "preheat." Thursday night I loaded with cherry before bed at 10, and reloaded at 2 just to keep the stove hot as we dropped to -5F. In the morning I stuffed the stove completely full, throttled back, and left for work. Almost 11 hours later I returned to find the stove still at 550F CAT temp and the house at a balmy 65 even though we never topped 5F with 10+ mph winds. I'm floored given the age and draftiness of this farm house.

Heating with wood is truly an art form and I fully appreciate it now. Its all about the wood you use, how dry it is, and you air settings based on outside temps and weather conditions. I'm not cursing this old VC so much now, to the point of even contemplating the replacement plan. I'm still drawn in by the burn times of the blaze kings which really is critical here. That and this winter has been mild, and I don't want to go another hard winter needing to work from home and feed the stove every 3 hours once it gets reallllllly cold.

Regardless, I heeded everyone advice and just gave it time and practice, and i'm impressed. Thanks all!

 

[Sandhill Crane]

We have enjoyed Vermont Casting stoves since 1990. Our present one is the Defiant top load, cat stove. I like the top load because the entire box can be easily loaded to the gills, unlike fireboxes with front or side doors. Another plus is that it is a beautiful stove, the focus of the living area year round.
It uses an 8" flue and has an outside air intake.
(it does not burn wet wood)

 

[jimdeere]

Do you actually wax that stove? It is a beauty.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Okay, I told you the good stuff.
The flip side is the wood needs to be well seasoned.
The catalytic element needs pulled and cleaned periodically (very easy, maybe a little messy) and replaced every three years or so. It is a ceramic honeycomb.
If it is placed in a seasonal, unheated cottage or such, where moisture will penetrate the cast iron, the enamel will pop off.
We replaced our original blue enamal stove with a new one and put the fifteen year old stove in a garage. Within a month of firing it up it looked like someone shot it with 12 gage.
The photo shows a handle down low. It is in a holder, and used to open the glass doors is need be.
The handle above it is air flow ontrol.
Unseen on the other side, top and to the rear, is a handle for the catalytic bypass. This is used to open the bypass when starting the stove until up to operating temp, at which time it is closed. It is also used to open the bypass when reloading, which keeps smoke from coming out the top when open. We also turn the ceiling fan off a few minutes before reloading.
There is also an ash pan door below, and a floor heat shield below that.
When the ash pan door is opened ash gets on top of the heat shield. We bought an ash vacuum to keep this area clean.
Despite all that, we love it!
My personal favorite was the dark blue one. (photo doesn't show the rich color, but does show the moisture problem after removing it from the house.)

 

[babybart]

Ha, damn sure does look like ya popped her with a shotgun!

 

[Sandhill Crane]

And it got worse each year in the spring and damp falls. It needed some gasket redone, one glass panel took a it and cracked, and looked like crap, so we gave it away to a guy with a man cave. Found some better pictures of when we replaced it. We used this stove for I'm guessing fifteen years probably two or three years longer than that. Had no idea that the enamel would pop like that. It really was a beautiful stove. Another thing is with a cast stove if the gaskets are not kept up it will create hot spots internally and warp the cast panels inside. Parts are available for complete internal rebuilds but it is quite expensive and a huge undertaking.

 

[James Miller]

We burn an old VC top loader as well. Don't know if I could deal with a stove that couldn't be loaded from the top.May be the last year for this one as it's pretty ruff inside.

 

[SS396driver]

Seems strange you couldn't get more than a few hours out of the Dutch west . We had one for many years worked great but the top where the cat was started to crumple. Found the cat and pieces of cast in the firebox one morning. I also have an old VC Vigilant stove works well but not big enough to heat my house and like @Sandhill Crane experience mine looks like it got peppered with a shotgun. Heres my Dutch west in operation . It's been replaced with a Drolet ht2000

 

[Huskybill]

I only use toploader stoves. I use the tempwood brand. These can be found used for $50. The one heating the house will be relined with firebrick in the spring. It’s been heating for 30 years now. I have another one for the garage.

I have a sterling fan on top of it.