Its's getting old!

Reading posts about "how bad the old stove were and had to clean the chimney every 2 weeks and worried about it all the time", just goes to show you how naive some of those posts are.
How you burn your stove has a lot to do with how dirty your chimeny gets and if I had one that would not burn correctly I would find another.
Then they all slap each other on the back and talk about how great the new stoves are and how bad the old stove were.
Any body who makes blanket statements like that are not paying attention.
Rant time of the month I guess.

 

I get a little lost in those too.
I've got what some would consider a "smoke dragon", yet once I dial in the burn, I see very little smoke.
Just a "heat signature".
The cap plugs more than I'd like, but seems better this year after adding about 3' to the Class A.
I've only run the brush down the pipe once so far this winter and got about 2 cups......a lot by the standard of some, but better than some with newer stoves.
It's the wood and how you burn it.
It should only get better with a new stove, if you have all the other little duckies in a row.

 

Watching the threads on other forums I have come to the conclusion that-
I am one of the very few who had an older stove that burnt clean(cleaned chimney once a year) and held a fire over night with no problem even in a very cold climate, and had single wall stove pipe last for 30+ years.
I guess many who burnt older stoves never thought of buying a flue thermometer.
And another thing, its amazing the number of "experts" who admit burning wet wood with their old stoves but still think they were a POS.

 

"What so often happens with old schooled wood burners when they get a modern EPA stove is they try and burn the same old wet wood in them that they are use to burning in there old stoves, and the newer stoves don't work any better than (or even worse than) their older smoke dragon stoves, so they often end up missing out on the full potential of the newer stoves. Then they tell all their old school wood burning buddies that these newer stoves are crap, and so the rumor goes around"
I find the opposite of that to be more true, a lot of the EPA stove owners think all the old stoves were "smoke dragons" clogging up the chimney.
I have always burnt dry wood after trying green wood well over 30 years ago, thats a lesson that should be self taught.
Seems like you can bash the old stoves all day long with many supportors but bash a EPA stove for the same reason (green wood) and you catch hell.

 

I had to clean the chimney maybe one time a winter with the old stove, I have not cleaned the chimney one time this winter with the new stove, now I have beat the creosote off the screen wire on the chimney cap a couple times. The wood I'm burning is 2 to 3 years old this year. I liked the old king wood circulator we had. it would hold a lot of wood and burn a long time. New one is ok, but it don't burn as long. the problem is my fault though. stove calls for an 8 inch pipe and I have 6. It was brand new pipe and I didn't want to just toss it. stuff is way to expensive.

I bought the large Vermont stove and should have got the medium one. if you get it hot enough to fire off the catalyst it gets way to hot in the house. So we don't even drop the catylist down. we use it like the old stove. It will still burn all night and the glass is nice to tell if it needs wood. This is our fifth year with the new stove. It's a Vermont Dutchwest.

 

I have the medium sized version of the dutch west you have there, it's in my basement in pieces.
When I got my house on 08' the DW was in the addition. I had a CAT that was eaten all around
the center, broken glass and 2 cracked cast parts. I have thoughts of replacing the broken parts
but my cost after the repairs will be nearly $300 when I'm done. Not sure it's worth the money.

 

I hear ya on the rants. It's easy to type on the PC and say a few words that make no sense to the experienced folks.
Sometimes I get a chuckle out of it, then I move on.
In the "other" forum(s) you may get your hand slapped or be dismissed for saying something that may be "out of turn"
to their liking. One reason I like it here.

 

simple fact of the matter is , good burning habits even in old tech stoves will produce a relatively clean burn, but , the same good burning habits in a modern stove will produce an even cleaner burn and better efficiency per stick of wood.

OTOH bad burning habits with either an older tech stove or a new modern design will not produce a clean burn.

i'd even be willing to say that i suspect that one could have the cleanest burning uit on the market and if improperly operated it could very well pollute more than an old tech stove run in a responsible manner

 

I've been keeping my mouth shut, but I have a old tech stove and get good burns. Little to no smoke when everything is humming just right. I figured that I was missing something. I was even struggling with less than optimal wood.
I do have a flue thermometer and keep the burns in check.
I climbed up on the roof to check the chimney and decided that it was probably good until spring (that was a few months ago and now its spring, so I guess I will be doing that soon).

 

Depends on the age & the upgrade

I went from a 1982 model to a 2010 cat,
Big change & improvement for me
Better seasoned & drier wood now too.

IMO, the newer cleaner burning stoves, is not all hype.
Some science & technology behind a lot of it.
Many are cleaner burning & much more efficient.

 

Some very good points made, thought this thread had passed away.
I burnt dry wood with my old stove which was key in it working well.
My experience with the Summit was a bummer but the Drolet has made up for that, I guess I'm even.
The facts are just like there is no "clean" coal there is no "clean" wood burner only ones that burn cleaner then others anad how we burn them can make a difference.
We think because there is no smoke it is a clean burn but compared to other fuels they are not all that clean.
Some snooty burners like to look down on the old stoves when in all reality there nice new stoves are still dirty (compared to gas).
Having smoke roll through your back yard would be the worst case scenario.

 

Wood = renewable
Gas = non-renewable

We can only heat with gas and oil once. New trees will grow. I have saved thousands of gallons of fuel oil by burning wood. I have planted thousands of trees on my farm in the same time period. My wood burning may be dirtier than burning fossil but that is not the whole of the equation.

 

No matter what we heat with conservation is key.
Burnt wood for 35 years and for some of us its a good choice but for the masses it wont work.

 

I'm a fan of "burn what you can afford." There are several of us that would love to have a $3-5k stove or a pellet or wood boiler. But, that isn't in everyone's budget. And I can relate.

I loved the Vigilant. It was a monster. But, it had to go for a few reasons; Short burn times and it ate wood. BUT, it threw heat like no other stove I have owned. The only thing close is the 30 when it hits 700+, but even then, it still feels different.

If the Vigilant would have been able to move heat better and had longer burn times, I probably would have bought another after the hinges cracked. I could peg the thermostat with that stove.

 

Well I should have never took out my old Nashua but I thought I was going to be using less wood and with me getting older it sounded like a good idea, the fact of the matter is if you have an older stove and it works well for you stick with it, newer stoves will not save the earth. I have a home for the Nashua (shop) so I don't feel too bad about it and I like the Drolet so "time heals all wounds", the final healing will be finding out what is wrong with the Summit and selling it to some one who can use it.

 

I might be able to use that if the price is right.

 

Use what, the Nashua (not for sale) or the Summit, will not sell it till I figure out what is wrong with it.

 

You were talking about possibly selling the Summit. I thought I would throw my hat in the ring in case you ever do.
Just showing some interest, nothing more than that.

 

For sure, I want to find the problem with it (it does not seem to burn like others report) but would be more then willing to work with you as you are only a short distance from me.