Old stove, big creosote problems

[garreau]

I've got one of the original Vermont Castings Vigilants, from the '70s, and I've been using it all these years, so I thought I knew something about avoiding creosote build-up. But recently I've been getting flue-clogging build-up in, like, six weeks. Dry oak, hot burning in the morning, good chimney cap, regular chimney sweeping -- I'm doing all those things -- yet still I have big problems. By process of elimination, I'm beginning to wonder whether the stove needs some maintenance I'm not giving it. (I haven't done a thing to it in all these decades.)

I guess my first question is -- I live in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge about an hour west of Washington. Does anybody know anybody knowledgeable who would give it a look and a tune up? (I'm having no luck asking area dealers for this kind of service, and I've also been blown off by the new owners of Vermont Castings.)

Absent having some expert look it over, is there something I should be doing? The two areas that occur to me are:

* The actual damper (not just the handle) is loose, and I have to jiggle it around to seat it right. Could that be contributing to my problem? Is there a way to fix that?

* What about gaskets?

FWIW, while I have friends who are adventurous handymen if somebody tells them what to do, I'm more likely to buy a new stove than totally field strip this one myself.
(But I am sentimentally attached to this old beast that's served me all these years.)

Thank you for your help.

 

[begreen]

First thought is that the wood is not as dry as you think it is. If the stove was leaky, it should burn hotter with less control over it. Is this the case? Normally that wouldn't increase creosote.

Second thought, is it a lot colder than normal during this 6 wk period? Is the chimney exterior? That can add to the problem of creosote accumulation.

Regardless, the stove needs attention. The bypass needs to close smoothly. And the stove probably needs a desperate internal cleaning. It could be plugged with ash.

Here's a thread that might be helpful:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/9726/

 

[Todd]

Sound like the stove has served you well, but after 30 years it may be time for a new stove. A new epa stove will give you more heat with less wood and a cleaner burn.

 

[BrotherBart]

Call Allen Jackson at ALJ Services in Warrenton at 540-349-3306. He doesn't clean chimneys as far as I know, only does pellet stove work, but he recommends a chimney guy on his website that may be able to check out the stove for ya.

http://www.freewebs.com/pelletstove/

 

[savageactor7]

With my old stove creosote was mostly a problem when I was slow burning ...like at night time. To keep down the creosote many years ago I started burning the stove hot twice a day...esp in the morning while I was taking a shower.

If you burn hot like this all the time the creosote burn off safely and never gets a chance to build up to a dangerous burn level. Good luck.

...btw just so you know I'm talking about 10min a day...I let the fire peg out in the red zone for 5-10 min.