2020 Vermont Castings Aspen C3

I haven't seen any reviews of the new 2020 C3 version of the Vermont Castings Aspen stove so I thought I would share my experiences.



We installed ours in January and have has three months to figure out its quirks. First of all, it has no manual dampers. It is apparently self regulating based on internal temperature. Kind of a neat feature that can prevent over-firing.
The double burn, wood gasification feature works well both at lower front, and upper rear vent areas. The vents are horizontal cast iron flues and not just pipes with holes in them. The stove is very efficient and leaves almost no ash when done burning for five or six days. When burning correctly almost no smoke is visible coming from the chimney.

The main trick to these stoves is that you MUST have very dry wood and keep the bottom front area clear for the induction vent to force feed the air under the logs. If you have to, you can crack the front door open an inch till you get the new logs burning. The draft is strong enough to pull any smoke up the chimney.

Due to the small size of the firebox, it is not really possible to burn all night long and expect to have lots of coals in the morning. However two or three 4" diameter logs will burn for about three hours. We are heating about 1000sq feet of our house, including the loft and can keep the area warm even in some of the below freezing nights.

Overall I am happy with the stove. It is well made, looks very nice and is very efficient.

 

Nice review sir!

 

Thanks for the info. Glad you are satisfied. What is the firebox size in cubic feet?
Zero manual primary air control is a tough nut to crack for me! Does the stove have a bimetallic spring controlled primary air intake that reacts to firebox temp? How else can it be? Fill us in. I have not looked up the manual.

 

Do you have enough coals in the morning to reload and stoke the fire without a match?

 

That size stove may work in North Carolina but not up north.I'd like to know how the larger versions work.Three hour burn times are too short for these days and times.Old smoke dragons would give more burn times than that.Good looking stove though.

 

Sometimes, if I load it fully before going to bed, I can get a new fire going around 5am if I use kindling. The stove is pretty deep and got coals can be raked forward from the back.

 

The firebox is about 10" wide 12" tall and 20" deep. I feel it 16" logs and have about 4" of space for the front vents to do their induction.

From what I gather, there is a coil of heat sensitive metal that expands and closes the air intake under the stove that closes the flue and keeps a medium fire burning. The secondary burn vents appear to be open all the time but seem.to get closed down a bit as well.

I was skeptical too, but I have to admit seems to work and I don't think about it anymore. Just load it with logs and let it do its thing.

 

Bingo. Sounds as if it possibly does meter the primary air as I thought. Definitely pack it full sometime when you are comfortable with it not overfiring. It would be interesting to know the burn time with a full load. You may be surprised.

 

Check out my VC Encore 2040 Flexburn review.
Used many VC stoves and rebuilt them since the late 70's thru the cat stoves until a few years ago.
The Flexburns are not the earlier VC Defiant and Encore cats....no comparison.
Their "new and improved" 2 cat stoves for us were complete failures: poor QC, lack of fire control, finally
a fire drill uncontrollable overburn.
The exceptional dealer took both Encores back AND refunded the cost.

 

I would be putting in a key damper in the flue to try and gain some control. Also looking for the air inlets so that I could customize the opening size.

 

Smaug,
What size chimney are you using? I purchased the new VC C3 last fall and found it very difficult to start and use. I HAVE to keep door cracked for it to burn. As soon as I shut the door it will begin to die out. Until the fire is really hot, if I open the door to add wood, smoke comes out the door. I currently have an 8" chimney but I'm thinking even though though it is acceptable, it's too big. I plan on inserting a 6" liner in my 8" chimney to see if that helps at all. I totally missed the fact that it has no manual air control when I bought it. I don't think I would have purchased it if I did.
Kevin

 

Unfortunately VC has engineered their line for less operator control to maximize EPA approvals.
Take a look at VC Flexburn reviews and your Aspen.
BTW the specs for the Aspen are for a 6" flue as you found. EPA stoves don't need dampers except in unusually high drafts.
The VC thermostatic controls are nothing like the Woodstock and BK ones I've looked at.
Leaving the door cracked could negate the warranty, so be careful. Same for hacking the primary air inlets. Smaller well dried splits of softwoods or scrap lumber may help start the fires
up to operating temps.

 

Jumping in here to ask about the Aspen. We bought one used in very good condition and we have to install from scratch. I'm a bit confused about clearances. NFPA code says 18" to protected walls and 36" from combustibles. The Aspen manual says 8" from combustibles. Seems awful close but my experience is only with non-UL listed stoves.
To the OP, how close did you space your Aspen to the wall and did you use any shielding?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

Nfpa doesn’t apply here, the installation manual trumps. Yes, some modern stoves can be 4” away from wood paneling!

 

The old Ashleys had a system like that in the 70's. I was wondering if it would ever come back.... because of course, stove operators really don't care how much air is going in, they care about how much heat is coming out. It makes sense to me to be able to choose a heat setting rather than an air setting. (At least theoretically.)

 

Thanks for the review- I enjoy reading people’s experiences with different stoves.
Not everyone needs to have a large behemoth of a stove, some folks want it for the ambiance or a bit of a hobby to enjoy a fire now and then.
I also am a fan of some of the smaller stoves.
What kind of wood are you getting your hands on out in NC?

 

Nice review. Nice looking stove, keep us posted on how it performs in the colder weather.

 

Howdy. Sorry for the delay.
I have a 6" pipe and a total draft height of over 24 feet.

Sometimes you do need to leave the door open to get it started, but once you have a draft going and a moderate bed of coals, the stove works well if you have very dry wood.

Last year I thought the wood was dry enough, even when the moisture meter agreed with me, but with this stove, the drier the wood the better. This year I'm splitting roughly chunks of 3" x 3" x 16" and the stove is burning much better.

The gassification effect is hypnotic. Its like watching plasma burn near the Tannhäuser gate.

 

I'm burning mostly red and white oak from the forest around my house.

My house is only about 1000 sq/ft, so this small stove keeps me warm most of the year. Once the evenings get into the 40's, it seems like this stove is on all the time. With that said, the C3 is very efficient. I'd estimate I burn about 3 to 4 cords a year.

 

The hearth area is all cement board and stone underneath, and the walls are cement board with corrugated metal held on 1" spacers for airflow and heat convection. The rear diagonal corners of the stove are 10" from the metal on the walls. Its more than enough clearances and heat shielding.