Vermont Castings Intrepid II Repair Questions

[evilgriff]

I did not realize it, but this stove is 8 years old and still has the original catalytic converter in it. I have been cleaning it once a year, burn about 2 cords/yr on average. 6"Stainless chimney in straight vertical position, I have always cleaned the chimney from the bottom. I had taken apart the refractory chamber cover and vacuumed it as I usually do, put some new gaskets on the metal cover plate, and put it back together. Just before spring I noticed it was a little more smoky- I checked with a pair of binoculars and I have noticed that my chimney cap is partially clogged, but there is still over 70% openings on it. Do you clean the chimney cap or replace it? Also, I noticed that I saw flames where you see the red arrow, I don't know if fire should show up in this area if the cat is engaged. I need to replace the gaskets where the blue arrows are-what is easiest way to do this? Figure I should get a new cat due to age- how is Condor Cat? Lastly, how would you fix the area on the griddle where the handle broke off ( I have the other piece). I would like to get a few more years out of this stove, we may be making the house a little bigger and change stoves at that time but I need a couple of years out of this one. <hr>

 

[STOVEGUY11]

Get a gasket kit from VC, it should have all the gasket you need. Buy a new cat, I think the Condor will be around $100-$120. The hood looks a little warped.

 

[kwburn]

what is the source of all that surface rust on the top? a water pan?
i would sand that down and repaint it before it gets worse.

as for the door handle, what the heck managed to break that off? thats really wierd.
i would think you wood need a good welder to fix that but he wouldnt have much to work with.
watching ebay for a new or used top load door may be easier and cost about the same.

 

[kwburn]

probably a long shot but an idea i just thought of on the top load door handle would be to grind the two bumps of whats left smooth to make it look nice and then drill out a small hole in what is left and install a wire (or something nice looking but fireproof) with a knob of some sort on it to grab onto. the door would obviuosly need to sit tight with a good seal though.

by the way, the top load door cleans up really nice if you get a wire wheel on an electric drill and press firmly. be sure to always keep the drill pointed the same direction (so it rubs left to right the long way of the door) with the grain of the metal to make it look best. i just did mine last winter and it looked like new in 5 minutes.

 

[evilgriff]

Just got the new cat from Condor yesterday. I have a friend who says that the lid might be able to be mig-welded, it is not super strong but this is only to open the lid. I do not remember how the thing broke, I think I was loading some wood and the lid fell down at the same time and caught the edge of the handle. I will take the suggestion of wire wheeling the lid- it has been like that for a long time, I did use water pots on it but I never treat the top in any way- it was never black like the rest of the stove, so was I supposed to oil it or something??, it is mainly surface rust. I was wondering if anyone looks at my first picture and compares it to my stove, is that part supposed to be curved or is it really warped? I have always used a stove thermometer and the top of the stove spent most of it's life around 500 degrees, at max 700. I am the only owner of the stove so if it's broke I broke it.

 

[elmoleaf]

The throat hood looks a bit warped. An inexpensive repair would be to wedge some fiberglass gasket into the opening. Or order a replacement hood from Black Swan or elsewhere on the internet. The hood lifts out quite easily once the other back parts are removed. Look at an exploded parts diagram and you'll see what I mean.

The griddle lifts right out of the stove...you could buy a replacement. Or look at the underside of the griddle. You might be able to attach some wire to the two bolts underneath and route it out the underside and up through where the broken part is. After wire wheeling and wiping down the lid, try wiping it with a little canola oil.

To replace the damper door gasket, start at the back of the stove. Unscrew the air lever cover. With the air cover detached, pull out the handle/rod arm that activates the damper door and set that assembly aside (be careful of the chain attached to the air inlet cover).
You'll now see a nut that'd been hidden by the air lever cover. Loosen that nut and the matching one on the back top left side of the stove. That'll loosen the the flat tabs on the inside of the stove that hold the upper fireback/damper door plate. Swing the flat tabs aside (they're visible in your photo on left and right) and lift the upper fireback out and through the front doors. You can now replace the gaskets for the damper door. You can now also simply lift out the warped throat hood if you want to replace it.

If you want to remove the refractory chamber, you need to loosen the second lower set of nuts on the back of the stove, and then twist aside the retaining clips on the inside of the stove. That'll let you remove the lower fireback. If you want to then remove the refractory chamber, be sure to first unscrew and remove the secondary air probe (it penetrates the refractory chamber on the lower back side of the stove).

When putting it all back together simply reverse these steps. You may need to give a gentle tap or two to seat the firebacks back into place. BEWARE: check an exploded parts diagram for your stove first. There are a couple different versions of the Intrepid II. My instructions are based on the earliest, 1303 model that has back access for the catalyst.

PS check Mcmaster Carr online for gasket sold by the foot. Lot less expensive than VC kit. You just need to check your stove parts diagram for the gasket diameters you need.

 

[kwburn]

the top load door is not actually painted like you said from the factory. its bare metal, kind of a like a pewter when all cleaned up. sometimes they get so bad though that owners give up and paint them with stove paint which is too bad.

 

[evilgriff]

To the following and anyone I have missed: elmoleaf, kwburn, stoveguy11. Stove is up and operating!! Used wire brush as suggested by hearth members on the top- came out excellent- handle was broken off- a welding website suggested a mig welder-I happen to own one, so why not try- Handle is fixed!! New cat from condor as suggested by hearth members- works great!! Throat hood- ordered from Black Swan as per members- over 1 month, still not available. Resealed back plate with small round gasket as I could not find small flat gasket- works good. Air control all of the way down, no smoke from chimney- I guess all is ok. Cleaned chimney , only a small handful of creosote in 12 ft of straight vertical chimney. Just need to reblack the stove- but I used olive oil on the top after wire brushing it- I may try to olive oil the whole stove. It is low in trans fat so it should be healthy. Here are 2 pictures (fire picture is with cat engaged with air control stopped all the way down). Current temp in NJ at time of picture is 41 degrees. Thanks to all members here!<hr>