Defiant Encore Burn Time - 13 hours - Personal Best

[LFEngineering]

I know the topic of burn times can be a sore subject to some, but I was just so damn impressed with yesterdays burn I just had to say something.

Let me first start off by defining what I consider to be "burn time": The time between 2 consecutive firebox loads and the fire must start both times from the coal bed (no paper, matches, or tinder).

Yesterday was a typical hunting morning; I got up at 4:00am, top loaded my VC Defiant Encore with 8 or 9 16-18" logs. There was a good 3" coal bed on the bottom to boot. I left the air control on full blast with the damper open while I took a shower & got ready. At 4:20 the griddle temp was 500 degrees so I closed the damper / engage the cats. While the cats heated up I filled the truck with my gear and refilled the indoor wood rack. At 4:30a I turned the air control down to Low* and left the house. Between hunting & work I was gone from 4:30a until 5:30p = 13 hours. I walked in the door expecting the house to be cold & the fire to be completely out. To my surprise the griddle temp was 280 & I could still see coals glowing though the dirty glass. I chuckled and said "you SOB your still lit" (I'm not the only one that talks to my stove am I?). I tossed in a few small logs & left the door open while I emptied the truck. Within 30 min the stove was up to temp with the cats closed ready for the evening burn.

* Unfortunately VC didn't feel it was necessary to put marks on the air control lever leaving users to "guess" at their settings. As a designer & engineering tech I love numbers & repeatability. I spent weeks trying to find the "sweet spot" in the air control. Consequently I put 3 colored dots on the casting and a mark on the lever now I know where Low 10-13 hours @ 300 degrees, Med 8-9 hours @ 400 degrees, and High 5-6 hrs @ 500 degrees are.

 

[shelbythedog]

Such a great feeling to walk in after being gone 10+ hours and see a hot coal bed. I usually have a fire roaring before the dogs are done in the yard. The only problem with going 13 hours is now you will want to see 13.5!

 

[LFEngineering]

Yea I'll have to grab all the scraps / odd sizes and really Tetris them in there, I'd say there was about 20-25% air space in the 13 hour load. I know what this weekend's mission is.

 

[LFEngineering]

Just though I'd add; the logs were 1 year seasoned with less then 20% moisture. No skewing burn time with wet wood.

 

[Ductape]

I can't say I'm surprised. I have a non-cat defiant and nine + hours is a given. I've never attempted to go for the record, so I couldn't tell you how long mine will go.

 

[zogger]

*snort*

Yea I'll have to grab all the scraps / odd sizes and really Tetris them in there, I'd say there was about 20-25% air space in the 13 hour load. I know what this weekend's mission is.

The "Tetris load", I hope that turns into a meme.

 

[logbutcher]

"No, mine is longer...."

A short tale about bragging, such as with burn times { refer to the famous "40 hour burn" Pinocchio } :

A few of us wise a$$ jocks in an eastern urban high school a long time ago, enjoyed getting a rise out of the lunch room monitors who were usually the goody two shoe teachers. One of us would stand up on a table, shouting that "mine is longer". Then another cute wise a$$ would shout from another table across the room, " no, mine is longer." This would be repeated a few more times before we'd all pull off our belts to compare lengths. Monitors did not find it amusing. We of course broke up,wetting our pants with laughter.

Moral ? None.

BTW: we're on our 3rd VC cat Encore. Those "engineered" marks on your primary air control are not as accurate as it seems. Top Temperature is dependent on wood species in the load, the size of the splits ( small or whole logs ), the draft on a particular day ( barometric pressure ), the air tightness of the Encore structure ( joints, gaskets ) ,and wind. I tried one year. Also those stove or pipe thermometers vary +/- 10-30 degrees.

 

[superwd6]

"burn time" should only be considered up to a 2 degree temp drop in the room otherwise the 13 hour burn doesn't mean crap

 

[Diesel nut]

I would think that as long as you can throw more wood in the thing and it starts burning again without out having to relight it then the burn time is legit. Just sayin.

 

[FlyLow]

"burn time" should only be considered up to a 2 degree temp drop in the room otherwise the 13 hour burn doesn't mean crap

Don't open the front door honey we are trying to get a record burn time. Lol

Room temp has nothing to do with burn time.