My Defiant is missing something

It's missing the chain that goes between the primary air control lever (up top, which should be pointing up, not down, and should have a bimetallic thermostat coil inside that cast iron box it's going into) and the primary air flap, down below.

Try woodmanspartsplus.com ?

You should be able to find usable chain at a local hardware store. The ball type chain used for electric pull switches is very suitable. Any flexible wire can be shaped into clips for the top and bottom attachment.

You are actually missing three parts, the chain that connects the damper door to the lever, the bimetallic coil that controls the damper and a small heat shield that is mounted outside of the coil damper assembly. If you download the defiant parts drawings from any one of several of the VC parts vendor sites, it pretty obvious what you are missing. The coil is brazed(?) to the level arm so when you buy a new coil, you will get a new level arm and most likely a chain. The chain and the heat shield are easy to source elsewhere but the coil is going have to be bought from a VC dealer and they arent cheap (I think I paid over $50). I ran my stove for a couple of burns without the small heat shield and it still seems to have worked. Basically all it does is to ensure that the coil is exposed to the actual backside temp of the stove, the only time I think it would make a lot of difference would be if there was a cold draft/fan that was blowing coil air over the coil. A small piece of tin would solve it. By the way, a lot of the Defiants came with a full size heat shield on the back of the stove that was set up to reduce the rear clearance, if this option was used, the small heat shield wasnt.

The part you need is part # 5005467, this is the complete assemably from vermont castings. The assembly control air supply to the fire and is a neccessary part for proper operation of your stove.

You can buy this part for $ 30.00 to $ 40.00 dollars, call your local dealer. If you don't know where a dealer is go to vermontcastings.com dealer locator. Good luck and stay warm

one last note, the part number above is a vermont castings number. The part your looking for is a thermostat assembly for a Defiant II

Ken Salmon said:

Thank you for all the helpful replies. The nearest dealer is about a 3 hour drive away so I'm not going to be there for at least a couple weeks. Is there any harm in burning anyway? If I keep my eye on it I can adjust the draft manually, can't I?

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If you can rig up something that holds the flap open where you want it to stay, you should be OK for the short term. Certainly nothing dangerous will happen with the damper shut, but I wouldn't leave it open very much in updraft mode with a full box going.

I broke mine when I moved it from the guy I bought it from. The local VC dealer said I could adjust it manually but it would burn much better at the end of the burn if the thermostat opened up the flap to give it more air as the stove temp dropped. $40 for a new one. I found cheaper prices on the net, but the photo showed a different part than I had. I drilled out the broken stub and fastened a piece of threaded rod to the remainder of the shaft and it is working fine.

BTW... aren't you also missing the arms of the damper control and side door handles (maybe the front door latch as well)? They bolt into the nickel stubs that are attached to the stove parts themselves. On mine they are white porcelain, but I've seen them with metal handles as well.

Do you have pics of the front and inside as well? Might as well take an inventory of all the parts. Looks like someone may have scavenged a few parts off this one.