Upgrading from a VC Vigilant

Heaterhunter · Oct 1, 2013

To start I'll say my vigilant has been very good to me and throws lots of heat. I learned to love the stove after I figured out how to run it(HOT). My problem is hearing all the info about 8 to 14 hour burns and burning 1/3 less wood over the course of a winter ;hm

. So now I'm in the market(probably used to save some $) for a new stove that burns less wood and throws just as much heat as the vigilant...
I am getting 3.5-4.5 hr useful burns. I load up around 9pm and have to search for the hot coals to start the fire back up between 5-6am. I've read about cat, noncat, and gassers(trying to catch on

). From what I take from that, I'd be more satisfied with a gasser(not completely sure) due to my situation with the stove. It heats one side of the house only and I use fans to move the heat into the upstairs so lots of heat works well(which my vigilant provides), I just want that heat for a longer period of time per burn and I want to consume less wood per winter(4 cord sounds much better than 6 cord). Am I in a pipe dream thinking I can do better???? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Oldhippie · Oct 1, 2013

Can you say more about the house size and layout? Any WAF (wife acceptance factor) issues? Budget?

Heaterhunter · Oct 1, 2013

The layout is a 1600 sq ft cape with 1000 sg ft additions built off of each gabel 2 stories all the way across. The wood stove is located in the room to the right of the original cape(looking from the street). On the backside of the wood stove room is another room which is under my children's bedrooms. I've installed floor registers into my children's bedrooms. I place a fan at the doorway from the original cape to the wood stove room on the floor(cold air in) and another fan from the wood room to the room behind it in the top of the doorway(hot air out) to try and direct as much heat up the registers to the kids rooms. The flow works pretty good and as long as I get a fire going early enough in the afternoon even on really cold nights I can heat the upstairs. The only problem is by 2am my stove is pooched and the temp drops considerably before I can get it restoked...

rideau · Oct 1, 2013

Are the only stairs to the second floor in the main part of the cape? Looks like you have two other wood burners: basement and LR. LR is in main part of cape? Trying to heat main part and right side wing with new stove ? 2600 feet? Several stoves stoves will do this nicely. And give you burns with significant heat through the night. Is the home well insulated? Excessive glass, or normal amount of glass? What are your preferences for materials, and what is your budget?

For the longest burns and most efficient use of wood you should be looking at Cat stoves. Many secondary burn stoves will also give you long burn times and all are pretty efficient. All night burns (at least 8 hours of meaningful heat) are easily accomplished. FOur cords sounds like a perfectly do-able goal.

If you are trying to heat only the 1000 square foot wing, then among many other stoves, the Woodstock Keystone or Fireview will give plenty of heat (easily heat about 1600 sq feet in your climate). Very miserly with wood and easy 8 hour burns times. Cat stoves. If you are trying to heat larger area, the Woodstock Progress Hybrid will easily heat 2600 square feet, easy 12 hour burn times (cat Stove). These are soapstone stoves and provide a very even, soft comfortable heat...feels like the sun shining on you. Beautifully made stoves, with excellent support from the company. Other excellent stoves to consider: Lopi, Jotul, Regency, PE, BK. .

If you are trying to heat most of your home with this stove, then you may want to read at the Woodstock site about their new stove, which will be coming out fairly soon. May be worth waiting for, if you can stand using your present stove for a few more months. The new stove is even bigger than the Progress Hybrid, has some interesting new technology in it, and should throw a lot of heat. They are trying to get the stove to market for a price in the $2000 range. Although it will have some soapstone, it will not be a soapstone stove.

What is your budget, what chimney do you have, can you give details on your hearth and how much of the area of your home are you trying to heat. If a lot of it, how amenable is it to air flow? How large are the openings on the first floor from one section of the home to the next, and how large and where are the stairs?

begreen · Oct 2, 2013

If you want to stick with a cat stove for more even mild weather heating then I would go for at least the Woodstock Fireview or a mid-sized Buck cat stove. In non cat, get a stove with some mass to buffer the heat swings. Look at models like the Jotul F50 or F55, Enviro Boston 1700 or PE Alderlea T6.

Heaterhunter · Oct 2, 2013

rideau said:
Are the only stairs to the second floor in the main part of the cape? Looks like you have two other wood burners: basement and LR. LR is in main part of cape? Trying to heat main part and right side wing with new stove ? 2600 feet? Several stoves stoves will do this nicely. And give you burns with significant heat through the night. Is the home well insulated? Excessive glass, or normal amount of glass? What are your preferences for materials, and what is your budget?

Yes, the main cape has your typical set of steps going upstairs when opening the front entry door. There is also a set of stairs on the left side of the cape addition from the first floor to the second(to room over the garage with 3 ft kneewalls). This room connects to the master bedroom on the second floor which is part of the original cape. So each stove has a stairway to use for airflow to/from the second floor. On the left side of the original cape in the first floor I have a pellet insert which does the heating of the left addition and some of the open concept kitchen while the wood stove I ask a little more of to heat the right addition and it does heat some of the first floor in the original cape(1800-2200 feet). The basement pellet stove I only burn in real cold temps to supplement the other stoves or just run by itself in warm shoulder months. There is a good amount of windows in the first floor , the second floor is normal amounts of glass. I would give insulation a 4 on a 1-10 scale. I plan on blowing in 18" in the attic of the original cape before winter. Preference of material is steel, cast, stone. I guess it would be nice to have a viewing window but not required. My budget is $500-$1000. I plan on selling the Vigilant for $4-500(is that a fair price?) Hopefully with another $500 out of pocket I'll have close to a thousand to spend. I think this puts me into the used market but I'm ok with that.

rideau said:
For the longest burns and most efficient use of wood you should be looking at Cat stoves. Many secondary burn stoves will also give you long burn times and all are pretty efficient. All night burns (at least 8 hours of meaningful heat) are easily accomplished. FOur cords sounds like a perfectly do-able goal.

Music to my ears ::-)

Heaterhunter · Oct 2, 2013

begreen said:
If you want to stick with a cat stove for more even mild weather heating then I would go for at least the Woodstock Fireview or a mid-sized Buck cat stove. In non cat, get a stove with some mass to buffer the heat swings. Look at models like the Jotul F50 or F55, Enviro Boston 1700 or PE Alderlea T6.

Still trying to figure out which type would work better for my scenario. I feel like the cat would be great for nov, dec but then in jan feb I would want non-cat, the mar, apr I would want the cat again :oops:

.

rideau said:
What is your budget, what chimney do you have, can you give details on your hearth and how much of the area of your home are you trying to heat. If a lot of it, how amenable is it to air flow? How large are the openings on the first floor from one section of the home to the next, and how large and where are the stairs?

Budget is limited but I'm willing to go used. My chimney is located on the right outside wall of the original cape so it is insulated bottom to about 3 feet from the top. It's approx 30 feet starting from the basement with cleanout, then comes up to the oil furnace(shut off, not used), wood stove on the first floor(6" flue), then all the way up through the attic and out the peak of the roof. Hearth is brick and could be expanded if required for a larger stove. The air flow works much better with the floor registers but I should say that I need to really run the stove hard for a while before it gets warm enough for our taste up in those bedrooms(67-68).

begreen · Oct 2, 2013

We are in a much milder climate and do fine in the shoulder seasons with the T6. We just burn smaller fires and let if go out if the house is comfy. The mass of cast iron continues to release heat for hours afterward. That said, we have several happy cat stove owners here too.

Heaterhunter · Oct 2, 2013

begreen said:
We are in a much milder climate and do fine in the shoulder seasons with the T6. We just burn smaller fires and let if go out if the house is comfy. The mass of cast iron continues to release heat for hours afterward. That said, we have several happy cat stove owners here too.

So I think I'd like to try and find a non-cat to keep it simple for myself and the wife to run. I'll do the smaller burns during the shoulder seasons like you say Begreen. I've been looking around at the options and trying to get as much info off of previous threads. I really like the sound of the PE Super 27. I feel like it would be a proper sized stove for my needs and it sounds simple to operate and bulletproof. Thanks for all the info.

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Upgrading from a VC Vigilant

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rideau

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