1977 Vermont Casting Vigilant (New to Me)

Hello All!

I have been reading the post on this site for about two weeks and you folks are a fountain of information.

I am installing my woodstove that I got a good price on. I set it up outside to figure out how it works before I brought it inside...(the wife)

Now I am at the point where I have to put in a heat shield and wanted to get your opinions.
I am going to do either brick or tile for the floor. The board that I have the stove on now is 1/2 inch thick.

If I go with a double insulated pipe to the class A pipe. do I need to shield the back wall where the pipe will be about 6.5 inches from the wall?

I am planning to shield the side and back of the stove because the side clearance is only 17" on each side.

With the heat shield that I am planning for the wall, I also have the sheild that attatches to the stove itself. (I did not try the heat shield outside to see how effective it was)

If you can take a look at my pictures and give me some ideas as far as stove pipe and what might look nice surounding the stove, that would be great.

Thanks

The stove itself is 10 inches from the wall right now and I am going to put a shield 1" off the wall as well.

This is the reason why I may need to go with double wall stove pipe form the stove to the roof connector.
I could not figure out how high the back heat shield needed to be. I do know that is must be at least an inch of the finished floor that I put down.

BrowningBAR said:

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Yeah...I am working on that. I am trying to get most if not all the rust off before the stove polish.

Adios Pantalones said:

That stove really takes me back. How many times did I lose all the hair on my arm toploading one of those as a kid? Nice

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Yes...I did notice that you can really roast your face hairs off if you are not carefull.
Another note to self...I need to get good heat resistant GLOVES!

labrador said:

You will love this stove. I am still using mine to heat the downstairs of a ranch house. It throws more than enough heat. Check for any cracks in the cast. Follow the guide for distance from walls. They will get hot. Good luck.

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I am trying to follow the guide distance from walls, I am also trying to get it as close to the wall as possible. Would a double insulated stove pipe do the trick?

southbalto said:

Double wall chimney pipe generally needs to be a min of 6" from combustibles.

Have you checked the manual to determine if you have the necessary "r" value under the stove?

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It calls for two 1/4 " levels of cement board and 24 gauge steel bare. I have one 1/2 inch and I am going to either put down brick or 1/4 inch tile.

I did use the stove black tonight and it look alot better after I wire brushed all the rust off.

I still have to go over it again and buff it.

Kenster said:

Magus, what is that piece on the floor in the corner behind the stove? Is it part of the stove?

I have one of these. We heat a near 4000 square foot home with it. It sits in a huge, full cathedral ceiling "Great Room." I can easily keep a low to mid 70s temp in that room and it might be even higher in the two open lofts upstairs. Back in the master BR it may be in the low 60s and that's fine with us. It's in great shape. I replaced the top door seal last year. That's all it has needed. We haven't turned on our two central heating units in over three years. Granted, this is south central Texas, not Wisconsin but we do get freezing nights here and last year it was down in the mid teens. The VC did a great job for us.

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Let me get this straight....You heat a 4000! Sf home with this one wood stove?...Please tell me you are kidding. I have exactly 1035 sqft...not counting the 3/4 finished basement at another 750sq ft. So I am not going to have any problem heating my home with this thing. My "cathedral ceiling" is only 9ft high. It's what you call a California Ranch.

So it is possible that I can turn on the central fan to move the heat aound the house?

Sorry for all the questions, Im new at this.

BeGreen said:

This is a great stove, but given it's age, it looks like it could use some TLC. While the exterior is cleaning up, pay close attention to the innards as well. I covered the basics in this thread yesterday.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/63276/#721960

Be careful with the oval to round adapter collar. I don't like the rust there. This is thinner metal but at the hottest point in the connector. Test it for integrity. You should be able to poke it firmly with a screwdriver and not penetrate it. If you can poke a hole, replace it. (Actually I would anyway for peace of mind.) Speaking of that connection, that is what clearances are going to be based upon in the rear of the stove. It can get very hot. Without shielding, the back of that connection needs to be 36" from the wall. If a proper NFPA wall shield is installed to above the oval adapter and if there is doublewall pipe from that point on, then this clearance can be reduced to 12", no less. Note that is 12" from the nearest combustible (the wall) and not from the wall shield itself.

NOTE: The link to a manual provided above is not for this stove. That's for the Vigilant II coal stove. There is a copy of the correct manual posted to the Hearth.com Wiki. It is in two parts here: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Vermont_Castings_Older_Stove_Models/

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Thanks for your reply. The Innards work well and are solid. I took the shop vac and cleaned out all of the ash. I did a pre burning outside so I can learn how the stove opperates.
The Oval to round adapter is rusty but solid! I poked it with a screwdriver yesterday and it was all surface rust. I cleaned it up with a wire wheel and put stove black on it.

I was planning on going 10" from the back of the stove to the back wall. This is with some form of shield on the wall as well as the 24 gaguge steel shield on the back of the stove. The shield does NOT cover the oval to round adapter.

This is why I wanted to know about the double wall flue pipe. This will be 6" away from a combustable with no shild on the wall. I didnt want to go all the way up the wall with the heat shield.

Still looking for ideas or input for the heatshied for the wall. ( if anyone has any)

I purchased a flue thermometer to see how hot the flue was getting. Again...this was on a chilly weekend while the stove was outside with only two pieces of standard black pipe on it. I was able to get it in the middle of the safe zone in updraft mode and then settled it down once it got really hot. I think it may react differently with a longer flue and being in the house.

The only other issue I have with the flue thermometer is will the thermometer geve a false reading on a double wall pipe or, should I place the thermometer that I have directly on the top plate of the stove, or is that a different thermometer all toghether?

I also shopvac'ed the inner chamber but i have to take it outside....AGAIN! and take the compressed air to it.