advice on older vc defiant

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i've resurrected an older defiant (pipe exits top, fireback is curved) and want to use it as our primary heat source this winter. looking for general advice (re thermostat, air supply next to the load door, etc) on using it as efficiently as possible.

also, a couple of questions:

1) is a chimney damper critical? 2) if yes, should it be as far from the stove in the single wall pipe as possible? 3) when do i use the air supply next to the load door?

thanks for any help,

dave

-- dave nielsen (nesleinevad@yahoo.com), December 15, 2000

Answers

Here I thought this was going to be a post on that saying about how age and treachery overcomes youth and vitality anyday! I thought the post said " old versus defiant". Expected a 'heated" discussion,not a discussion about heat. Well,I'm laughing at myself, now.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 15, 2000.

Hi Dave, You will probably get many views on this, so heres mine. #1 is definitely yes. #2 some where you can reach, about 18 to 24 inches from the outlet on the stove. #3 I use my air inlet to control the rate of burn, the more open, the faster and the tighter, the slower. This past year I re-roped the doors on my stove and now the wood burns about twice as long and I have better control of the heat in the room. Now I don't have to open the door (door out of the house) to be comfortable. A little somthing I also learned this year, is about sealing the places that smoke WILL come out. Go the local hardware (Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) and buy a roll of Aluminum Tape, about 5$, it is the best thing I have found, you can even put it on while the smoke is coming out of what ever crack you have. Make sure that you have something under the stove, I think it is called a Stoveboard, and have a good clearance around the beast. I had an eight foot piece of stainless roofing and put it behind mine with six porcelain fence insulators raising it away from the rear wall, with the air space between the metal and the trailer wall, the wall never gets warm. Try not to go thru a roof if you are in a trailer, learned this one by accident, had a windowpane missing when I installed the stove, so thats where I went outside. My neighbor went out thru the roof and could never get a good seal. Well these are my opinions, get ready for many more. Hope you enjoy wood heat, remember while you are burning wood, you are beating the Public Utilities out of $$$$.

Good Luck,

Wayne Roach

-- Wayne & Lyn Roach (R-WAY@msn.com), December 16, 2000.


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