Thanks for the comments. With any product you purchase it has to have great looks in order to move forward and investigate the details. The devil is always in the detail and with Vermont Casting all the details are "heavenly" :)
Nice stove, I remember when those stoves were first made. My Vermont Castings stove is 40 years old. It is solid black cast iron and it's called the Consolidated Dutchwest Airtight. They sold a small, medium and large at the time and I decided on the medium. It still looks brand new and does a Great job heating my 1750 sq ft 2 story, open lofted home. The only problem I've had was my damper rod broke years ago, so when I light a fire I just place a kitchen match under the damper to hold it up. After the fire burns for several minutes the match will burn and the damper falls into place diverting the smoke through the catalytic combuster 😂. I know, crazy huh? Best stove that I could have purchased! Last year I noticed the small version of this stove sitting out in front of an antique shop near my home and they were asking $125 for it and I offered $100. Looked like it was used maybe once. The ash bin still had original paint in the bottom, combuster was clean and 4 perfect brass handles. Thank you Lord was all that I could say. Enjoyed your video and y'all enjoy your Great stove! 🙋♂️
Thanks for your great comment and story you shared. Wood stoves catch a bad rap for the smoke the emit but once they get up to temp you can throw them in bypass engaging the catalytic combuster they burn clean as long as you burn seasoned hard wood. Once again thanks for watching my video!
Thanks an glad you found it useful. I always find I learn the real truth about any product that I contemplating buying by watching a UA-cam video from the actual owner than listening to some salesman...and that's coming from a former salesman!!! Thanks again for watching.
Nice video David. I've been burning with woodstoves for 50 years or so and have had several different stoves in the various homes we lived in, so I experienced catalytic/non-catalytic stoves at one time or another. (The worse stove was the top-loading Harmon we had. It was uncontrollable. It would run-away on you constantly, to the point where I feared our house would burn down. And that was with the air intake completely shut off. I took videos of these issues, spoke to the company techs, but never got satisfaction. My dealer took it back as a trade, since it was only a few months old, and I bought a Jotul F500). Now, the Jotul F500 worked out best for me. It's not catalytic, but they have a way of burning off the smoke without using the expensive catalytic method. Once the stove reaches temperature, no smoke can be seen coming out of the flue. It's a side loader which is the side where I have my wood stacked, so I just open the door and toss it in. I never open the front door, other than to clean the glass, and the ash pan is easily removed and dumped into a small metal trash can outside on my porch. I never clean out the firebox. I like to stir the ash up to let the fine particulate sift into the ash pan, then keep a bed of the remaining charcoal, which makes it easier to continue the fire. I never let the fire go completely out. I burn all winter and empty the ash pan about every three days, like you. Oh yeah, it has a griddle on top like yours, so in a long power outage, we can cook on it. I wouldn't cook directly on it but use cast iron cookware. I might have gone for a soapstone stove, but they are so expensive. Enjoy your burning!
Vermont castings makes the most beautiful stoves. I’ve heard people have had issues with the Aspen model airflow. Seems during the manufacturing process the overuse of glue significantly restricted airflow. Good luck with the Encore! It’s gorgeous!
Ironically I had that stove too in a green color at my previous home. If I remember right it had one door that would swing open. It was a good stove too. Thanks for watching!
Nice, I bought a used Intrepid II last year for my 1000sqf home and its working real well. Still have to get a few parts to recondition the catalyst box. I'll drop about 400 more into it come spring I have estimated as I already have a new cat. Been burning exclusively sawdust bricks as so far (8 cord of hardwood drying in the yard for next few seasons) and they ash down to very little I did add a chimney damper too for additional control. Anyhow, so far 2 pallets of bricks here in Maine and these stoves are beautiful. I put my tea kettle on in the mornings. Might strip the 'stove black' off and go stove enamel red as well, we will see. Wish I had the racks like you do! 😂
Wow the intrepid would be too much for my house but glad it's working out for you. And ya the side shelves / arm dress up the wood stove and I'm glad I bought them at the time. Thanks for watching my video too!
Yes I've understood that they have become more expensive than when I bought mine back in 2011. Having said that they're worth it with quality that stands the test of time.
I had the same wood burner in my garage. Only color was just the mill iron look. Take a cast iron pan little butter ur favorite seasoning and a huge ribeye or T-Bone on and nice hot bed of coals. I would cook all the time right on top of the top load door. Best steaks I ever had at home or any steak house I been to..
The Defiant Woodstove seems to be more troublesome, so I wonder if that’s why your dealer recommended against you getting it, or if they based it solely off of your home’s square footage. My parents got the Defiant in 2021 and it had issues with running away/ over firing (something other people seem to be dealing with as well). Lots of issues with door and ash door alignments and the doors and ash door gaskets. Got it under much better control now, but it seems to be more trouble than what it’s worth for most people. I think if they went with a door and fire box design that’s closer to the Encore, the issues might be much easier to solve, assuming it’s a common issue for the defiant Now that the kinks are mostly worked out on our own personal stove, it has turned out to be a great stove. One final thing we’ll be doing is putting a fresh air makeup kit on it, which will hopefully resolve the final few kinks.
You might be right about my dealer not wishing to handle the Defiant headaches that you've described. I don't know if you noticed but I have a magnetic temp gauge on my stove pipe. I watch that like a hawk ensuring it stays in the middle or white zone. I manage the temp with the air in take (I called it oxygen in the video :) ). After my meningioma brain surgery I can't speak as fluently as I use to so when I can't think of the word I'll use a close substitute. Doing these UA-cam videos is a kinda my therapy learning to speak again. BTW I have a UA-cam video on that operation if you're interested. Back to the stove ;) when it's overheating it makes a unique smell so I don't have to be next to it to know it's over heating. When I catch a whiff of that oder I'll quickly head over to the wood stove and adjust the air in take. Thanks for watching my video. I know it was long but I hope you made it all the way through it to the end because I tend to get long winded... :). Take care. David
Absolutely. There's a screen grill that you can snap in pictured in one of the video segment in the back on the floor behind the wood stove, then you can appreciate the crackle of the fire. It does run cooler and you can't put in bypass to engage the catalyst combusted since the damper must be open to pass the smoke up the flue. Thanks for watching too!
The "new and improved" Flexburns are for intermittent fun, NOT for serious heating. They are NOT the original quality of product. Do you use the stove for 100% heating or just "Up from" a central furnace or mini split thermostat set at say 65F. Warning: the new VC company will not warranty their products.
Hi Ann, Not sure what Flexburns are. We just use it when the temps are arounds zero and below and actually it heats the whole house with the help of occasionally using the furnace fan to distribute the heat. Well run it for several days until the ash build up warrants cleaning. Then we'll let it burn out. So are you saying that VC is not the same quality as it use to be. Mine is from 2011 and has served our family well.
@@MacsForever1 No Mac. The original non flexburn stoves made and engineered by the original builders and designers were excellent heaters. So good that the VC syoves became a near positive cult. The series of new owners in the past 2 decades have been corporate entities looking for only a return on investment without attention to reliability of product. No service from HQ that is shuttled to dealers who usually can't fix a manufactured lack of quality control..
![Дон ДОН, Алаудинов и СБЕЖАВШИЕ из под Курска ахматовцы 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dEfCf5IK26Q/mqdefault.jpg)
Vermont Castings stoves are probably the prettiest ones. We had a cream colored one in a house once.
Thanks for the comments. With any product you purchase it has to have great looks in order to move forward and investigate the details. The devil is always in the detail and with Vermont Casting all the details are "heavenly" :)
Beautiful stove! I’ve had mine for 20 yrs, still like new!😊 great choice!
Thanks for your great comment!
Nice stove, I remember when those stoves were first made. My Vermont Castings stove is 40 years old. It is solid black cast iron and it's called the Consolidated Dutchwest Airtight. They sold a small, medium and large at the time and I decided on the medium. It still looks brand new and does a Great job heating my 1750 sq ft 2 story, open lofted home. The only problem I've had was my damper rod broke years ago, so when I light a fire I just place a kitchen match under the damper to hold it up. After the fire burns for several minutes the match will burn and the damper falls into place diverting the smoke through the catalytic combuster 😂. I know, crazy huh? Best stove that I could have purchased! Last year I noticed the small version of this stove sitting out in front of an antique shop near my home and they were asking $125 for it and I offered $100. Looked like it was used maybe once. The ash bin still had original paint in the bottom, combuster was clean and 4 perfect brass handles. Thank you Lord was all that I could say. Enjoyed your video and y'all enjoy your Great stove! 🙋♂️
Thanks for your great comment and story you shared. Wood stoves catch a bad rap for the smoke the emit but once they get up to temp you can throw them in bypass engaging the catalytic combuster they burn clean as long as you burn seasoned hard wood. Once again thanks for watching my video!
Excellent walk-thru. Much appreciated.
Thanks an glad you found it useful. I always find I learn the real truth about any product that I contemplating buying by watching a UA-cam video from the actual owner than listening to some salesman...and that's coming from a former salesman!!! Thanks again for watching.
Nice video David. I've been burning with woodstoves for 50 years or so and have had several different stoves in the various homes we lived in, so I experienced catalytic/non-catalytic stoves at one time or another. (The worse stove was the top-loading Harmon we had. It was uncontrollable. It would run-away on you constantly, to the point where I feared our house would burn down. And that was with the air intake completely shut off. I took videos of these issues, spoke to the company techs, but never got satisfaction. My dealer took it back as a trade, since it was only a few months old, and I bought a Jotul F500).
Now, the Jotul F500 worked out best for me. It's not catalytic, but they have a way of burning off the smoke without using the expensive catalytic method. Once the stove reaches temperature, no smoke can be seen coming out of the flue. It's a side loader which is the side where I have my wood stacked, so I just open the door and toss it in. I never open the front door, other than to clean the glass, and the ash pan is easily removed and dumped into a small metal trash can outside on my porch. I never clean out the firebox. I like to stir the ash up to let the fine particulate sift into the ash pan, then keep a bed of the remaining charcoal, which makes it easier to continue the fire. I never let the fire go completely out. I burn all winter and empty the ash pan about every three days, like you. Oh yeah, it has a griddle on top like yours, so in a long power outage, we can cook on it. I wouldn't cook directly on it but use cast iron cookware. I might have gone for a soapstone stove, but they are so expensive.
Enjoy your burning!
Fortunately I've never experienced a run away stove but that would be scary. Glad you found a stove that's safe and thanks for watching!
Vermont castings makes the most beautiful stoves. I’ve heard people have had issues with the Aspen model airflow. Seems during the manufacturing process the overuse of glue significantly restricted airflow. Good luck with the Encore! It’s gorgeous!
Ironically I had that stove too in a green color at my previous home. If I remember right it had one door that would swing open. It was a good stove too. Thanks for watching!
I love the color !
Thanks Erich. It's eerily familiar to a mood ring of yesteryear changing color with an increase in temperature...
Nice, I bought a used Intrepid II last year for my 1000sqf home and its working real well. Still have to get a few parts to recondition the catalyst box. I'll drop about 400 more into it come spring I have estimated as I already have a new cat. Been burning exclusively sawdust bricks as so far (8 cord of hardwood drying in the yard for next few seasons) and they ash down to very little I did add a chimney damper too for additional control. Anyhow, so far 2 pallets of bricks here in Maine and these stoves are beautiful. I put my tea kettle on in the mornings.
Might strip the 'stove black' off and go stove enamel red as well, we will see.
Wish I had the racks like you do! 😂
Wow the intrepid would be too much for my house but glad it's working out for you. And ya the side shelves / arm dress up the wood stove and I'm glad I bought them at the time. Thanks for watching my video too!
Cool video! The stone work looks great.
Thanks!
A beautifull and very safe installation. The stove is great and I am considering buying one. it's quite expensive though comparing with other brands.
Yes I've understood that they have become more expensive than when I bought mine back in 2011. Having said that they're worth it with quality that stands the test of time.
I had the same wood burner in my garage. Only color was just the mill iron look. Take a cast iron pan little butter ur favorite seasoning and a huge ribeye or T-Bone on and nice hot bed of coals. I would cook all the time right on top of the top load door. Best steaks I ever had at home or any steak house I been to..
You're making me hungry!!!! Thanks for watching.
Nice set up. You aren't lying when you said you used a lot of screws on that DurRock. Lol.
...Well I didn't want it to go anywhere. I tend to "over build" :). I think the screws cost more than the wood stove!
The Defiant Woodstove seems to be more troublesome, so I wonder if that’s why your dealer recommended against you getting it, or if they based it solely off of your home’s square footage.
My parents got the Defiant in 2021 and it had issues with running away/ over firing (something other people seem to be dealing with as well). Lots of issues with door and ash door alignments and the doors and ash door gaskets. Got it under much better control now, but it seems to be more trouble than what it’s worth for most people.
I think if they went with a door and fire box design that’s closer to the Encore, the issues might be much easier to solve, assuming it’s a common issue for the defiant
Now that the kinks are mostly worked out on our own personal stove, it has turned out to be a great stove.
One final thing we’ll be doing is putting a fresh air makeup kit on it, which will hopefully resolve the final few kinks.
You might be right about my dealer not wishing to handle the Defiant headaches that you've described. I don't know if you noticed but I have a magnetic temp gauge on my stove pipe. I watch that like a hawk ensuring it stays in the middle or white zone. I manage the temp with the air in take (I called it oxygen in the video :) ). After my meningioma brain surgery I can't speak as fluently as I use to so when I can't think of the word I'll use a close substitute. Doing these UA-cam videos is a kinda my therapy learning to speak again. BTW I have a UA-cam video on that operation if you're interested. Back to the stove ;) when it's overheating it makes a unique smell so I don't have to be next to it to know it's over heating. When I catch a whiff of that oder I'll quickly head over to the wood stove and adjust the air in take. Thanks for watching my video. I know it was long but I hope you made it all the way through it to the end because I tend to get long winded... :). Take care. David
Dangerous product. No quality control, no customer response. This is unsafe except for entertainment burns. Be warned.
Very nice stove! Is it possible to operate with trhe doors open as a fireplace?
Absolutely. There's a screen grill that you can snap in pictured in one of the video segment in the back on the floor behind the wood stove, then you can appreciate the crackle of the fire. It does run cooler and you can't put in bypass to engage the catalyst combusted since the damper must be open to pass the smoke up the flue. Thanks for watching too!
@@MacsForever1 hi Dave where did you purchase your snap-in screen?
@@ronwolk6401 It was an accessory that I bought at the time I bought the wood stove. My dealer was Grass Roots Energy out of Wauconda, IL.
How much it cost to have a woodstove?
The "new and improved" Flexburns are for intermittent fun, NOT for serious heating. They are NOT the original quality of product. Do you use the stove for 100% heating or just "Up from" a central furnace or mini split thermostat set at say 65F. Warning: the new VC company will not warranty their products.
Hi Ann,
Not sure what Flexburns are. We just use it when the temps are arounds zero and below and actually it heats the whole house with the help of occasionally using the furnace fan to distribute the heat. Well run it for several days until the ash build up warrants cleaning. Then we'll let it burn out. So are you saying that VC is not the same quality as it use to be. Mine is from 2011 and has served our family well.
@@MacsForever1 Your stove IS a "flexburn".
@@annaaron3510 So are the non flex burns just built beefier to be used 100% of the time. Are they cat or just traditional burning? Thanks!
@@MacsForever1 No Mac. The original non flexburn stoves made and engineered by the original builders and designers were excellent heaters. So good that the VC syoves became a near positive cult. The series of new owners in the past 2 decades have been corporate entities looking for only a return on investment without attention to reliability of product. No service from HQ that is shuttled to dealers who usually can't fix a manufactured lack of quality control..
Sorry Mac. The original VC stoves were non cat. Later ones were cat.
Very bad review
What were you expecting? I covered just about everything regarding my wood stove.
@@MacsForever1 I thought it was a great review!