Agreed!
Burn a small fire wide open.
We fill it at night and leave it wide open, but our bedroom remains cooler, even with the door open and ceiling fan going.
If we turn it down at night it will sometimes puff, depending on conditions outside.
I tried to get a section of chimney to extend it further above the houses boxed chimney cap, but adapters or original pipe is not available. Our mushroom cap is only 6" above the 3' x 5' framed chimney chase.
Our salesman, a twenty year friend, pointed us towards another stove with 8" flue.
Did not fit our install due to our 90° elbow, being too close to the stove. That stove needed a 4' or 6' straight section before an elbow, and we didn't have it. To make the transition would have been quite expensive to change the chimney, as Hart and Cooley (spelling) no longer makes this style triple wall pipe from '95. It would have been a complete do over.
Mainly, we like the VC year round. It is a beautiful stove.
Our friend north of Chicago: As a business owner, his relationship with orders, shipping and parts, was better with the other manufacturer. (don't have a clue which brand it was or I would post it)(And this was many years ago, not by any means recent news)
We have never had trouble getting parts as in catalytic elements. We ordered two the first time. Then when we need to replace it, it is on the shelf, and we order another. He has always had one in stock, but you never know. Also, we have two of the same stove, one in an out building in black cast iron. Note: An enamel stove can not be left in a high humidity environment. Moisture will get into the cast iron, and when heated, will pop the enamel. Which is what happened when we moved our original, then fifteen year old blue enamel VC, stove into a garage type building. Our dogs are outdoor dogs and we heat this area primarily for them. Once the concrete floor is warmed, it takes little to keep it that way. This stove was replaced after more than twenty years service.
More important than brand of stove is house design and realistic expectations of heating a portion of the house or the complete house. We rely on a ground source heat pump for primary heat through both levels of the house. When heating with wood, the basement or lower level bedrooms with egress windows do not get heat from the wood stove. We run the furnace fan full time, or auto mode to help with that. The temp difference is easily 10-15° between the main level and lower level. Our kids are grown, and our bedroom, with ceiling fan, is on the main level. We have 5/12 scissor trusses on the outside, 2 1/2 - 12 on the inside. The foot print is 40' x 50', with 40 scissors truss, and sunken living room (I would not do that again). Some of the interior walls stop short of the ceiling, and some walls have window cut-outs, allowing for light and air flow. Diagonally there is a ceiling fan in opposite corners of the house, one pushing air, and one pulling air. The stair to the lower level is u-shaped and centrally located. The lower level pool table is gone and Margaret has a large craft room for fiber arts. She spins alpaca, blending it with other fibers, and knits her own hand spun. She enjoys the cooler work area.
We also both maintain the wood stove when burning, so it doesn't seem like much effort or bother. I clean the ash tray every other day. It can go four days, but the added mess is considerable. We also bought an ash vacuum a few years ago. We use it to clean up after emptying the ash pan, and end of year interior stove cleaning. Also clean up after cleaning the chimney's. It is not designed for hot ashes, but works great on the tile floor and hard to get under stove area, and the stove lip below the front doors.
I guess when looking at new stoves, the ash handling would be very important, because you will do it at least weekly, and probably twice a week. Our glass display table does get dusty when cleaning the stove if I fail to turn all ceiling fans off, and furnace fan, and then wait a bit.
Not pushing VC as the go to stove. Just sharing some things we have experienced. If we needed a new stove, or built a new house, I would certainly look at every option. The best stove will not overcome house design, or chimney issues.
