Intrepid ii thermal probe question

[Climbingjimm]

I have gleaned excellent advice from this site in the past and have never, until now, failed to find an answer to my question. I hope someone out there can elucidate me. I have a Vermont Castings Intrepid ii that I use to maintain the temperature in my small house after heating it up in the morning with a larger stove. I recently cleaned out behind the fireback and am concerned that I damaged the thermal probe that apparently works automatically, something I didn't know about, about which the owner's manual is somewhat cryptic, about which I can find very little information online, and with which I am entirely uncomfortable. What is this thing supposed to look like in the stove? (I know what mine looks like.) And how might it be damaged and then replaced? My stove was running great until I cleaned it out (flu and interior) and now even when it's dampened down all the way it slowly climbs in temperature to beyond the reading of the thermometer I have on the griddle. Upon closing the bypass damper instead of mellowing out as it has in the past it starts to throb like a jet. I'm certain that it's not a gasketing issue bacause it changed immediately after cleaning. I'm wondering what I might have damaged and how to address it.

Thanks.
Jim

 

[Kevin Weis]

I don't have a 2 but the new flexburn version but are you referring to the cat probe or something with the secondary air adjustment? The cat prob would just a steel rod through the back of the stove so not sure how you would damage that. Maybe the linkage with the secondary air is sticking open or even the primary air linkage sticking open somehow.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the secondary probe. Here is a link to a discussion about it. There may be others. Search on Intrepid Probe in this forum.

VC Intrepid II Combustor & Probe

I've been using this stove and it's time to clean the combustion system. In reading the cleaning instruction I find reference to two items that I have now Idea what they look like or where they are. 1) Probe thermostat 2) Combustor and Probe. These may be one in the same. The instruction say...

www.hearth.com

 

[Climbingjimm]

Thanks Kevin.
I think the cat probe sounds right. The steel rod that sticks into the chamber below the cat combustor. Mine is pretty corroded and doesn't move by hand. Is it possible it's stuck open? If so, how do I deal with that? I'm certain it's not the primary air intake, particularly because the change in behavior is only when the bypass damper is closed, in other words, when the cat is engaged. Also, it is visibly functioning properly.

 

[Kevin Weis]

I believe it should move freely. It is open and closed by a bi-metal thermostat. The best advise I can give is to look at the exploded view for that part and it may give you an idea on how access. The new flexburn is a totally different animal where the secondary is a fixed flap opening.

 

[Kevin Weis]

I think there are at least a few if not several threads previously on the intrepid's secondary air opening issues.