A beautiful wood stove...

[Sandhill Crane]

This is our stove, a top load Vermont Casting Defiant.
The first photo shows the catalytic bypass lever (the back left side) is in the open position for start up, which takes about thirty minutes. The second picture shows the stove at operating temperature and the red enamel darkened in color.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

 

[chrisbee]

Sandhill, that's a beautiful looking stove and setup you got there. It doesn't look like you get any smoke coming out when you've got the top opened and it's just firing up. When it's going full-tilt and if you open the top, will a lot of smoke come out, or perhaps none at all? I'm thinking along the lines of a 'Hot Reload' scenario and wondering if that's a no-no with a top loader. Thanks for any reply you can give.

 

[mijdirtyjeep]

My Father-in-law had the same stove, but in a green enamel in the house they just sold. He made a grate to go over the top opening to cook steak on in the house, those were some tasty steaks on a cold winter eve!!

 

[Big_Al]

I was wondering the same thing. Seems like you would get a fair amount of smoke coming out? Nice looking setup!

 

[chrisbee]

He made a grate to go over the top opening to cook steak on in the house, those were some tasty steaks

Do you remember if the top was open when the cooking grate was on it or was that grate on top of closed top?

 

[Sandhill Crane]

To reload while burning the air bypass for the catalytic must be opened, the air control should be wide open, and we turn the ceiling fan in this room off for a moment before opening the lid. The ceiling fan is pulling air up. (When pushing air down it tends to wobble on the longer drop rod it hangs from.) There is a an identical fan in the dining area (to the left of the skylights and a touch lower on a much shorter down rod) pushing air down, together they gently pull air through the main level of the house. The lower level with kids bedrooms stay quite cool when the stove is going. I wanted to put zone heating in and was advised against it. It was very poor advise at the time. (I later found out the advice of the hvac person was based on price, and he was afraid I would pass on his bid. We have a ground source heat pump for heating/cooling.) We heat mostly with wood, but not entirely.

In these photos the stove is not in use. The second photo shows the catalytic bypass closed, which is the position it is in when the stove has reached operating temperature (lever on left of stove forward). When starting the stove the bypass is opened for about the first thirty minutes. We use home made fire starters in place of kindling, so the thirty minutes to reach temp may vary. We also cut our wood to 16" length. When loading at night I keep the wood all to one side of the stove, and then place one or two pieces on end on the opposite side. The stove is that deep. When we are home we burn four or five pieces wide open, and load when necessary. The last photo shows the 8" flue and outside air intake at the back/bottom of the stove.
.

 

[chrisbee]

Thanks for the reply Sandhill...

So those ceiling fans push air down and help keep the smoke from coming up through the open top when you've got it open for a hot reload?

I think I see an outside air kit in the picture of the back of the stove? Is that because you have a pretty airtight house, as in newer construction? Or, is it needed for code compliance?

 

[Sandhill Crane]

It has dropped to 45* out, and I fired up the garage stove a couple hours ago. Added three pieces ten minutes ago and these photos kind of show the chimney draw on the flames. The flames are there because I had the lid open several minutes and there is excess oxygen. Close the lid and catalytic bypass, and back to a glowing red coal burn clean burn. The wood must be well seasoned.

 

[chrisbee]

Ah, very nice... Those pictures show the flames, and if there was any smoke, getting out the flue/chimney before it can go up through the top and out into the living space. Very impressive, you have a great draft there.

P.S. Nice seeing somebody really enjoys an up close front seat; very relaxed

 

[Sandhill Crane]

No...on the ceiling fans.
We shut the fan off to reload because the fan can draw smoke from the stove depending on stage of burn and outside temp which both effect the flue draw.

Outside air was not code related.
DuraRock, or cement board, does not meet code underneath a wood stove. I think we used Micor fiber board, or something. It has been a while. It came in 2' x 2' squares and was terribly expensive. The tile wall behind the stove is a false wall, DuraRock on metal studs built in front of a set back wood stud wall. I have thought of pulling air down to the basement through that area behind the antlers on the mantle. Just never tried it.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

One thing you sometimes see in homes where wood is burnt in a wood stove, fireplace, or insert is carpet burns. Not one carpet burn in twenty plus years, since 1992 with our first blue enamel VC.

Our very first stove was a Vogalzang box stove we used for ten years, copy of a Yotul. We replaced it with a new top load VC knowing it would be going in a new house at some point. We had bought the land in '85 and waited almost ten years to build.

We replaced this Blue VC with a new Green VC stove and moved this blue one into a garage/shop space. Moisture seeped into the cast destroyed the enamel. It still functioned well, from '92 until three years ago, when the interior finally began to fatigue and one glass door cracked. We gave it away, and replaced it with a black cast Defiant.

We still have the green VC, although it fatigued in three or four years. Unsure if it was operator error or a quality issue. We over heated it on start-up a number of times, and now religiously set a thirty minute timer when ever we light a stove.

This green Encore needs a complete rebuild. We have kept it inside to protect the enamel. It is for sale.

We had such good luck with the blue Defiant Encore that we bought a third and fourth stove in the past few years, the red enamel and the black cast stoves. They look good, and work good.

 

[mijdirtyjeep]

Do you remember if the top was open when the cooking grate was on it or was that grate on top of closed top?

It is done with the top open, and the drippings fall into the bed of coals.

Did as Sandhill does with his reloading.

Waited till there was a large bed of coals, then shut cat off (actually his did not even work), open air bypass. Almost all smoke from the steaks were drawn down and into the stove, then exhausted out the chimney.

 

[benp]

Sandhill, that is awesome!!!!!

The living room shot is SWEEEEEEEEEET!!!

Dem tall ceilings......nice!!!!

 

[chrisbee]

It is done with the top open, and the drippings fall into the bed of coals.... Almost all smoke from the steaks were drawn down and into the stove, then exhausted out the chimney.

That's an ingenious feature your father in law came up with, nothing like expanding the usefulness of what you got. The way it works makes me think the manufacture is missing out on some accessories money.

 

[mijdirtyjeep]

That's an ingenious feature your father in law came up with, nothing like expanding the usefulness of what you got. The way it works makes me think the manufacture is missing out on some accessories money.

i am pretty sure Vermont castings does sell a grill grate for their stoves or at least someone does. It is $$$ just like a VC, but I bet it is a quality piece.

 

[chrisbee]

i am pretty sure Vermont castings does sell a grill grate...

Sure would beat having to tend the barbecue grill outside all winter(he's really shivering there, but you can't tell ... then again, maybe not with the way the weathers been around here lately; 61deg. and climbing in central CT.)

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I cook steaks, bratts and other things in my woodstove quite often.

When it's getting toward time to cook, I let the stove burn down to a good bed of coals, then I put the steaks in one of those stainless wire baskets that are also used for camping. I open the door on my woodstove and put the basket in, and let it cook away.

The basket has a long handle, as it was designed for campfire use, so I sit in front of the stove and keep turning the basket and keeping it the right distance from the coals, to get the temp I want.

We really enjoy our food cooked this way,

SR

 

[chrisbee]

I saw those wire basket things, like what you're talking about @sawyer, in my local outdoor sporting goods store and now you got me thinking what I'd like to try this weekend, might even throw in a tinfoil covered Idaho russet ahead of time. Thanks for idea .

Sorry for the hijack @Sandhill Crane, I should have started a new thread, back to the regularly scheduled programming...

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Dem tall ceilings......nice!!!!

Not really. Scissors trust is 2 1/2:12 pitch, quite shallow, and the living room is sunken two steps. I would not do a sunken living room again.