Vermont Castings Vigilant

You should be able to maintain 400 degree stovetop for 3-4 hours. You'll just have to find the right temp to shut it down to get the length you desire.

getting a long burn out of it also depends on the wood you are using. i run the bigger brother to your stove. the manual is the same for these old stoves. the griddle temp shouldn't be run below 450. now because of the smoke being drawn down in horizontal mode your griddle will be a lower temp by 50 to 100 degrees because the hot smoke and all the new wood you put in is closer to the top and cooler temp. it is going to come back up in temp but it will take longer than if it were running in updraft vertical mode. as said once you get the stove where you want it as far as running temp you don't need to mess with the primary air flap on the chain. when you start the stove it will run up to 700 but don't get nervous it take a few minutes for the primary air flap to take over it will drop right down where you set it from the last fire. in my stove if i'm running pine or a softer hardwood like the boxelder i've got now the wood burns fast so 6 hours is a normal time for that wood depending on me running 15 inch splits or more time out of it when running 22 inch splits if you were to run full size wood in the stove top to bottom you'll get 8 hours. if i run full size for my stove 24 inch oak or locust it will run hot for longer and i can get 8 to 9 hours at 550. in my stove if i go up to 650 for a really cold night the burn time will drop back to 7 to 8 hours on full size wood to 6 hours on 18 to 20 inch wood. also the primary air flap will open more on a cold night on it's own to keep that stove hot and you'll notice even with not touching the primary air wood usage go's up .just like a oil or gas boiler uses more fuel on a cold night. but as said earlier once you get the hang of these stoves they are a easy stove to run. and by the way reading the manual the secondary air port is to be run closed on updraft and wide open on horizontal mode. if you want to see if you got secondary fire running when you close the damper just look thru the secondary air port with the room lights dimmed and if you see light you got secondary fire going for a lot more heat output. if you don't run the secondary air wide open and close the damper and your stove is maintained there will be no secondary and the hot gasses that usually get reburned will cool off more and you will get creosote build up in the chimney. i've had multiple chimney fire before i figured it out.

frank

I am just reading this post today and am wondering how you are making out. I run a Vig in my house and love it, at times it can be too much stove.

The main questions that come to my mind are, how much area are you trying to heat, and if the stove is in the basement, how many floors do you have, it should heat a finished basement with no problem and probably the first floor if there was sufficient air flow, but it would be doubtful that the stove could heat a second floor from the basement. What kind of wood are your burning, hard wood will give you longer burn times than soft wood.

Assuming the thermo damper is doing what it should you should come down to it in the morning with the damper wide open. as far as the amount of coals depends on heat demand too. as the room cools the stove should throw more heat by opening the damper which will make the fire burn hotter, and shorten your burn times.

For example if it is above 30 outside I can come down stairs at 6-7 in the morning and have a decent coal bed, but if it is really cold out below 25 I can come down to very few coals and will need to add kindling to mine to get it cranking again.

Aside from how the thermo damper is working, it sounds like you are doing everything right, as far as running the stove.

I am just reading this post today and am wondering how you are making out. I run a Vig in my house and love it, at times it can be too much stove.

The main questions that come to my mind are, how much area are you trying to heat, and if the stove is in the basement, how many floors do you have, it should heat a finished basement with no problem and probably the first floor if there was sufficient air flow, but it would be doubtful that the stove could heat a second floor from the basement. What kind of wood are your burning, hard wood will give you longer burn times than soft wood.

Assuming the thermo damper is doing what it should you should come down to it in the morning with the damper wide open. as far as the amount of coals depends on heat demand too. as the room cools the stove should throw more heat by opening the damper which will make the fire burn hotter, and shorten your burn times.

For example if it is above 30 outside I can come down stairs at 6-7 in the morning and have a decent coal bed, but if it is really cold out below 25 I can come down to very few coals and will need to add kindling to mine to get it cranking again.

Aside from how the thermo damper is working, it sounds like you are doing everything right, as far as running the stove.

I have raised ranch, so two floors total. The majority of the basement is finished, with the stove in the unfinished portion.
There is a vent in the floor leading to the upstairs hallway directly above the stove, but I don't think it's doing much for the upstairs heating.
I was considering installing additional vents in the floor of each bedroom, do you think this would help or will I stl have trouble circulating the heat upstairs?

Right now it is 21 outside the room my stove is in is 81.... the upstairs is very comfortable, all I did was remove the wall between the room the stove was in and the hallway to the stairs and the heat goes right up.

Before you cut any more holes in the floor, what is the lay out like in the basement is there a sufficient way for the heat and air to travel upstairs?

Also how warm does the basement get with the stove going? In order for it to send heat upstairs the down stairs has to get pretty warm

The door to the unfinished portion of the basement is essentially right at the bottom of the stairs, I have warmed the entire basement up but even with that door open, the upstairs doesn't seem to be affected. I'll have to put a thermometer down stairs to monitor it I suppose, the unfinished side with the stove will be uncomfortably hot while the finished living area is toasty.

Awill; cutting more holes in the floor is not the answer (I own a raised ranch with a stove in the basement) The holes act like cold air returns since cold air is more dense. To get the heat you want try placing a fan at the doorway pointed at the stove, the fan will blow cold air at the stove room and hopefully set up a convection loop causing cold air to come down the stairs (in volume) when the cold air leaves the upstairs warm air will replace it, its not the final answer but you may be able to squeeze a couple more degree's upstairs.

Oh, I thought it was to assist the hot air in rising upstairs. There is also a small window hole at the top of a wall between the finished and unfinished basement, I was going to install a fan of some sort to blow heat from the stove into the living area, would it be better to have it sucking the cool air out then?

Thanks

cold air is denser, you can move cold air faster and more by volume, hot air has to replace the cold air that was displaced by the fan.

I have heard the handle must click when closing.