1977 VC Vigilant maintenance and considering new stove

[cmatuse31]

Hi, we have had a VC Vigilant for 10 years now. I was reading in regards to stoves that the catilitic combustor should be replaced about every 3 years. We have done little to this stove other than clean pipes, replace the gasket, and remove ashes regularly. Does something like that need to be replaced on this stove? I've tried to remove ash through the small vent holes on the bottom but i read in other posts to remove the skirt where the pipe goes in, so i will have to try that. I have often wondered if there is anything wrong with our stove. Seems to run fine, burns a lot of wood.

which runs into my next question....

I've been thinking of a new stove because i want a more efficient stove and one that is considered less of a polluter. My husband insists the new stoves are no better and you can only squeeze out so much energy from wood. So would it be prudent to keep this stove because the new stoves are equally efficient? I look at BTU's and such and the newer stoves seem to put out less than the Vigilant. Our stove doesn't seem to put out a lot of smoke i assume because we keep it burning warmer because it is in our basement and so the house is never unbearably hot.

thanks for any input!

christine

 

[begreen]

Greetings Christine. The old Vigilant is a good workhorse stove and a respectably clean heater for it's day. If you are burning dry wood and don't let the fire smolder, it isn't the worst polluter out there. Also, if the internal parts of the stove are in good condition and passages free of ash, then it will burn reasonably well. However, there has been good progress in stove design. The newest generation of woodstoves do burn significantly cleaner. The Vigilant may be about 55% efficient in top working order. This number will go down as passages get clogged with ash. Tell hubby that if he measured the unburnt gases going up the flue pipe he would see where the old stove is losing efficiency. By keeping the firebox hotter and reburning those gases, many modern stoves will burn significantly more efficiently than the old Vigilant.

For example, if you compare the emissions from the Vigilant (let's say 25 gms/hr) to a basic Englander 30-NC (an under $1000 stove) you will see that the Englander, at 1.63 gm/hr, burns maybe as much as 15x more cleanly. It will consume less wood, yet puts out a respectable amount of heat at maximum burn - 25,000 btus more than the old Vigilant. I'm not sure what it's exact efficiency is, but I would guess it to be about 70%.