1983 Vermont Castings Intrepid non cat

[rottlady]

We live in a tiny remote cabin off grid. We just replaced our fireplace with this 1983 Vermont Castings non cat Intrepid.

While it is much better than the fireplace it just does not burn well. This is our only heat source and we just cannot get the 600 sq ft cabin above 40F and when below zero we struggle to hit 32F

Obviously this is an issue LOL

We started with a clean stove. all parts work and the stove is in outstanding condition having been barned since the early 90's
The stove acts like it just is not getting enough air and the wood burns slowly and poorly (never down to ash) unless the door or griddle is cracked open except kindling burns just fine for the most part

We have had wood stoves our whole life and are very wood stove experienced. We just cannot figure this stove out

Called VC tech support and the guy walked through everything with us and all seems fine, he gave me a link to the owners manual and that also confirms we are fine.

The wood we are burning is dry 3 year old hardwood

ANY ideas????

 

[rottlady]

No one has any comments? The stove acts like it is suffocating the air channel from the flap vent to front is clear
We can't buy another stove (no money and the atv road is now impassible by 4x4 til spring) this one has to work we need ideas or we will freeze this winter
Everything I have read online says people found this stove too hot for small areas I am typing right now from a 38 f cabin obviously this stove is not too hot lol

 

[vasten]

I know that you mentioned that you are long time wood burners, yet from what you are describing sounds exactly like wet wood. Wet wood will give you hard to start fires, will need a lot more air than seasoned, wont burn to ash but will tend to coal up.

you said that

The stove acts like it just is not getting enough air and the wood burns slowly and poorly (never down to ash) unless the door or griddle is cracked open except kindling burns just fine for the most part

yet burns well with just kindling. smaller pieces are able to expel their moisture quicker and get a hotter fire going than larger.

When you say that the wood is seasoned three years, is that cut split stacked and preferably covered for three years? Did you do it yourself or buy it from someone that claimed this is what was done. Makes a big difference because most firewood places I have found all describe what they consider to be seasoned differently.

When the wood burns does it sizzle or drip?

Also to get a better idea, how tall is your chimney, flue size of chimney, interior or exterior, metal insulated or masonry, what temps are you seeing on flue pipe and stove.

In the mean time I would suggest splitting your wood into 1/3s of what it is now, and try that. Start with real small kindling and get a roaring fire and gradually build up to the 1/3 sized pieces. Fill the stove frequently as an experiment. If the stove comes up to temp this way it may rule out the stove set up.

 

[rottlady]

We have some wood that is several years cut split but was stored in a pile outside that does sizzle we are not currently using it
We have some wood cut split 3 years outside under a tarp some sizzles some does not
We have some wood cut split 1 year stored under a roof does not sizzle

Stove pipe goes into fireplace and up into chimney fireplace flue is blocked off around stove pipe
Chimney itself is stone and about 16-18' tall

We have had woodstoves our whole lives and never had one this miserable

 

[Old puffer]

Let the stove go out. Clean it out, and remove the left and right air tube.

Look here. http://www.cozycabinstoveandfireplaceparts.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=1302

Parts 17 and 18. Clean it out. On the right side you should be able to see out the thermostat in the back.

This is the only place on this stove with an air starvation issue will occur. Make sure your thermostat is clear and open. After the stove hits 550 surface temp, back down the thermostat to half way. It should creep up to 600, then throw the damper.

 

[rottlady]

Thanks we will have to wait for a warmer day it's not even 20 here now
40 indoors is cold enough lol

I can say the little back airflap always stays open which is what I want right now

 

[rottlady]

So I babysat this stove all day burned the smallest driest wood kept the door ajar a bit all day and this tiny cabin is 40 degrees and if you stand two feet from stove you cannot feel the heat yet it is boiling water in the tea kettle

Seems weird

 

[rottlady]

This snow is 8" from the stove fifteen min have passed it has not melted I just took boiling water off stove 20 min ago
We pulled ash tray dumped what little was in it necked air tubes we could see and all seems well
When the stove came husband says they reassembled whole insides as nothing was in it so tubes are not blocked this was just last week
The back air flap hitched to thermostat stays open which is what we want

I read all sorts of reviews where people said this stove blasts them out
I want to throw this piece I crap in the lake
It is zero outside and 38 inside after stove went all day

 

[rottlady]

Burned some very thin pine and cedar kindling which burned ok with door closed not blasting but ok

Split up the super dry wood we just bought to 2" thick strips it burns fair (NO sizzling at all this is super dry we bought it to mix with the other stuff) with door shut damper open tea pot is ticking but I can stand almost touching stove and feel no heat pos stove

 

[defiant3]

Not the stove. Draft or wood. Who installed this stove?

 

[rottlady]

We did it is a remote cabin no installers
It is a massive stone chimney and fireplace stove pipe comes out of stove turns and goes up chimney
Rest of fireplace opening is blocked off so only air going up chimney is from stove chimney is easily 4+ feet taller than roof
We have multi batches if wood none newer than a year old cut split newest batch is youngest but was kept under a roof
Had woodstoves our whole lives never paid an installer never had a problem

 

[defiant3]

Pipe goes all the way up the chimney? Cabin is insulated?

 

[rottlady]

No pipe goes 2' up chimney enough to get past the baffle then the chimney takes over. Chimney itself drafts excellent as in very strong as if a fan was sucking smoke out
Cabin is not insulated but is wrapped in plastic with snow banked up
Cabin being insulated or not has no bearing on stove function I have lived in far worse places and usually with a good functioning stove you have about 6' around the stove that is 70f and the restof the cabin much cooler down to freezing if large enough
This is a 600 sq ft cabin and we have shut off the two bedrooms so only trying to heat a room smaller than most peoples bedrooms
Last night it was 5 below zero and running stove with door ajar we got it up to 45 as soon as we shut door and went to bed it went sleep it went down to 32
You can stand a foot from stove and not feel heat unless door is open a bit
Trying to find a better stove cheap before we get anymore snow our friends told us to stay away fromVC as they were just rich people living room stoves not reliable for heat but this is the stove we could afford at the time

 

[defiant3]

I don't know, but for what it's worth, my buddy has a camp way up north. Log cabin, uninsulated, about 20'X30'. He's got a Vigilant in there, like the size of 3 Intrepids. Does fine.

 

[fbelec]

did i miss it???? what is the temp of the stove? (stove top thermometer) from what you are describing you have boiling water but the stove should be running 500 -650. if your stove is running 600 and it's not heating the room time for a bigger stove. don't forget if you have alot of stone around it, the stone will act like a heat sponge.

 

[safinnart]

I am in the same boat with mine and am looking for answers. Did you figure this out?

 

[72Rover]

Well, a little late to the party, too....

If the OP has not rectified this issue, the stove flue needs to extend *all the way* up the chimney, not just 2' up. When I installed my Resolute 38 years ago, I removed the damper and replaced it with a piece of steel plate with a 6" hole cut in the middle. The stove pipe only went about 3' up into a clay tile-lined chimney. Where the smoke exited/slowed down into a cold chimney, there was all kinds of creosote.

The next season, I went with 3' sections of stovepipe all the way out the top. Cut a piece of aluminum to fit over the top of the clay liner. Much better draft. Unless the throat of the fireplace damper has been closed off, the chimney is working as a very efficient ventilation device for the whole cabin.