NEW TO FORUM, HAVE VC RESOLUTE QUESTIONS

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jgmanchester

New Member
Oct 29, 2011
5
RI
i am new to the forum, and saw this as a better venue to provide me with a host of answers and/or opinions as opposed to a vc dealer. i recently purchased a reolute III and have some questions and concerns.
first, i've been unable to find a downloadable owners manual. every link i have seem to happen across seems to have expired, any suggestions?
2-not at all times, but from time to time when i shut down the damper, i get what i think to be "back puffing". where smoke will billow from left side, and left rear where the top of the stove meets left side and rear wall fpr a brief period. i also assume this will affect burn quality as the fire will be getting more air than what was intended resulting in quicker burns times
3-how is this repaired, and is it an "easy" fix
lastly, inside the fire box, on the right side, there is a hole in the brick like material about the size of a softball. not sure what was there prior or what had broken off. is this repairable, and does it have any affect on the performance of the stove

any help offered would be greatly appretiated
thanks
j-
 
well to be honest i never really looked at said material all that closely. at a quick glance looked to be a material other than steel/iron. i'm burning now and will have to look closer when fire is out. when i purchased the stove the original owner had pointed out what was broken and said it shouldnt be a big deal. however, with my internet findings i determined the stove to be a resolute III....i could be wrong. the stove has two hinged doors with glass and has 1977 or 1979 stamped inside on the rear wall. I know this does not indicate date of manufacturer, but maybe indicates the cast used for that particular line. there is no ash pan.
 
Yes, it is a Resolute III, which has no other materials other than cast iron inside it.
Chances are that the ash and discoloring made you confuse it with another materials.

It sounds like you might have a crack in one of the firebacks or end plates......probably the parts show as #8 or #9 in this diagram?
http://www.discountstove.com/0043.html
 
thanks...looks to be part #8. do you know if parts are readily available, because i also need the hinges for the griddle top as well. also, i would like to reference one of my prior concerns of what i think to be back puffing. is when i shut the damper down, from time to time the stove will puff smoke out thru its joints around where the top meets the sides. How is this repairable, and is it an easy fix? i appretiate all the prior info and links provided, thanks for the help
 
Some parts are readily available, others are not...or will have to be dug up!

The griddle hinges should be relatively easy to find. The firebox liner could be harder!

In terms of the parts, try Woodsmans - give them a call if not listed on the site.....i see the griddle quadrants:
http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/Search.aspx?key=griddle
I see a complete fireback, but not the side part(s)........call and ask.

As to why it is back puffing, there is a good chance this is not related to either of those parts - in many cases, it is not related to stove problems at all...or very little. Do some searches around our site - check out this thread and the searches from it:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/10143/
 
Could also be that the smoke chamber behind the fireback (the thing that says 1979 on it) is clogged up with debris. The ionternal parts need to be removed to do this.

If the stove has never been taken apart and resealed, that may account for the leakage. That's not a sure thing, but a stove that age it's not unlikely.

All internal parts for that stove are available, and if you need help identifying anything, PM me. I live inside these things this time of year.

Nice stove, by the way.
 
I have a circa 1985 Resolute III and once or twice a year I have smoke out from the top left corner of the door and the woven gasket was just replaced so not that and the chimney sweep tested it in dark room and a flashlight inside and it did not "leak" light so... My question is after the chimney sweep left and I had a fire the fire would almost go out if I put the damper down when it gets to about 650 degrees and leave the flap in rear open and the hole in the side totally open for secondary, I do not understand it much but have had a few more fires and it seems that if I let it go to about 600 and shut down the damper it will lose temp so then add more wood again(did it before closing damper) and let it go to 650 or so and shut the damper again and it seems to hold for a while. The only thing is that he sucked out ALL the ashes from the floor of the stove and when I mentioned do I need to put sand in there he said NO you will have plenty of ashes real soon.
 
Don't allow him to do that again! It's extremely important to have a layer on the bottom at least an inch deep, 2 is better. Res III is a great heater, but many parts are no longer made, like the BOTTOM! So if it cracks, you have a top loading "anchor" on your hands, because sadly that's about all it will be good for.

Sounds like you may have extreme ash build up behind your fireback. Try to find a repair manual or someone who knows how to remove the "guts" and deal with that for you.

Arguably the best thing VC ever did was the Resolute III. Take care of that one, and you'l have years of happy heating.
 
And just FYI, I fix these things for a living, have since 1983. I can't make housecalls to Boston or R.I., but if the stove can find its way to NH, I can fix/rebuild here in my shop.

PM me if you like?
 
defiant3 said:
Could also be that the smoke chamber behind the fireback (the thing that says 1979 on it) is clogged up with debris. The ionternal parts need to be removed to do this.

If the stove has never been taken apart and resealed, that may account for the leakage. That's not a sure thing, but a stove that age it's not unlikely.

All internal parts for that stove are available, and if you need help identifying anything, PM me. I live inside these things this time of year.

Nice stove, by the way.

+1 from me. Sounds to me like you may need a rebuild.
 
jgmanchester said:
lastly, inside the fire box, on the right side, there is a hole in the brick like material about the size of a softball.
When you close the bypass and the stove is in the "horizontal burn" mode, the smoke exits the fire box through an opening in the right-side wall; Is that what you're seeing?
 
Woody Stover said:
jgmanchester said:
lastly, inside the fire box, on the right side, there is a hole in the brick like material about the size of a softball.
When you close the bypass and the stove is in the "horizontal burn" mode, the smoke exits the fire box through an opening in the right-side wall; Is that what you're seeing?

exactly. the seller mentioned something concerning that opening had broke, and shouldnt be a big deal. looking at the opening, rough, broken edges are visible. i am not particularly concerned about it especially if it does not affect performance.....it seems to burn fine, i was just looking for some opinions other than the guy whom was taking my money
 
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