Another New to the Forum, New to the Vigilant

[PunKid8888]

So I finally joined.

First some background, My mother bought me a Vermont Castings Aspen for her garage so I could work out there a while back, it was a great little stove that would heat my 500sqft insulated garage nicely. I was able to get the garage up to temp reasonable quick, it would also burn for up to 8 hours at night if it were set correctly. I cleaned the chimney annually and never had to much creosote. I used this stove for 6 winters, needless to say I some experience with wood burning.

I now own a house and put a pellet stove in the living room. It will basically heat my whole 1000sqft home with very little assistance from the furnace.

Now onto the garage. I have a very large 24x36 garage, it has 9ft ceilings that basically adds up to about 7700 cubic feet. It's all concrete blocks and although insulated on the ceiling, lets just say its very very drafty in its current condition. There is also a full stair case to the attic, with no door, and a 10x6ft breezeway that connects to the house. The garage did have an old oil fired furnace that was plumbed to a full concrete block chimney.

But my questions are more towards my new to me Vigilant wood stove (model year 1980). I bought it from an older couple for $100 and it seams to be in pretty good shape. I have only had two fire in it so far, and can already tell it takes a lot more technique to burn correctly then my moms fire bricked aspen.

So my questions.

Griddle temp? it seams to be a very popular temp to have. I am assuming that its just the temp of the top of the stove? I put my old flue temp gage on the top feed door of the stove, but should I also get another temp gage for the flue?

Sand? So I read a few other posts with people running the Vigilant and people recommending sand. So the sand will not melt? someone said 1.5in thich bed of sand, so that should be just below the cast in grates on the bottom of the stove.

The Rear Heat Shield. Mine did not come with one. It looks like two of the screws are snapped off but I think I can drill them out. Is it just a big flat piece of steel? or is there more to it. if that's all it is, can someone take height and length of it and maybe the thickness so I can make one.

Glass in the Doors, again mine does not have them, I have piece of steel instead. does anyone have an extra set? or do I need to go spend another 100 bucks for the glass to be made.

My last question is about my garage, Provided I sealed up all my drafts do you think this stove would be able to heat this garage? it says it will do 8500 cubic feet, but I think the concrete block is not providing a lot of insulation, and it allot more thermal mass to heat.

Sorry for the massively long first post, hopefully the rest will be shorter.

Thanks

 

[struggle]

Check with your homeowners insurance and tell them exactly what you are planing to do as most will cancel your policy right away if they know there is a wood burner in an attached garage. That is a huge no no.

If you go ahead with the install and the worst should happen they will most likely not cover you since it was an improper install/location.


As for the glass in the doors they always turn black so no need to think about installing the glass as you will be most likely disappointed in the results of that effort.

 

[PunKid8888]

Now I don't mean to be rude but I don't remember asking about home owner insurance.

As for the glass how fast do they get dirty? like an hour or day or a week?

 

[struggle]

People in general and myself included tend to try and guide people in a way that is to benefit you in all aspects of safety when it comes to wood burning.

You can take it how you want but you came here explaining what you intended to do and we in general have a great amount of info at our hands to explain you some of the pit falls of you reinstallation so one might step back and rethink it for your own safety.

Dead people burn no wood. This is what the forum is for and safety comes first for most of us.

As for the glass inserts they might as well not even exist. They are worthless beyond seeing a glow every once in a while. They soot over in a very short time like before your next load of wood.

 

[wellbuilt home]

As said before the glass is worthless you cant see the fire at all , mine had the steal plates. As far as wood stove and gas fumes go, its mostly a no no but talk to your building department . If you have a outside air intake and its 2' off the floor with a good floor slope to dump vapor out to the driveway . It is possible to use the stove . My neighbor has a wood boiler in his garage and he passed inspection . Try your fire marshal . A large garage is very hard to heat because the concrete stays cold for days . It helps if the area was made to be heated but once cold you cant really get it warm . I use a large propane jet heater and it works OK . You mite use propane to get started and then let the wood take over . My shop is insulated like a house and i have very tight doors be safe , fuel will explode , saw dust can explode.