Defiant II Rebuild Manual

[nearnuf]

New guy here with my first post in this forum... just looking around there is lots of good info here!

When we bought our house a couple of years ago, I inherited a couple of VC stoves. One was an Encore set up in the living room. We have used it the past few winters as our primary heat source (with heat pumps as the backup). It has been nice not having to pay large electric bills running the heat pumps!

There was also another VC stove sitting in the pasture next to the log cabin that also came with the property. I moved it into the barn to get it out of the weather. Based upon the info that I have gleaned from this site, it is a Defiant II. I am interested in tearing it down to make sure that there was no permanent damage from having sat outside for a number of years. If all looks good, then reseal, paint, and then fire it a few times outside before moving it into the den in the house... other end of the house from the Encore.

Anyways, in a number of threads I have seen a link to a Defiant Rebuild Manual being referenced with the link listed as:

(broken link removed to http://vermontcastings.com/catalog/elements/files/2008/2003225_Rebuild_Defiant.pdf)

I have tried this link and it looks like it no longer exists there. Does anyone know of another location for this file?



Thanks!
nearnuf

 

[4TTUBE]

Have you tried this place?

(broken link removed)

I have rebuilt my Encore cat. After 12 years it finally needed a new refractory fire box. I had great results dealing with this place for what I needed.

I'm not sure what you will need for parts but it may be worth a call. Hope this helps.

 

[nearnuf]

Thanks for the link! At this point I have the stove torn apart, cleaned the old sealant out, wire brushed using a cup brush in an angle grinder, dry fitted back together (took a few tries to come up with a workable process), hit the stove parts with brake cleaner to make sure all of the PB Blaster was gone, reassembled with sealant, replaced the gaskets in the doors, painted. I still need to bolt on the legs after I grind off the tie rod stubs, reinstall the themostat, install a new griddle gasket, and put some sand in the bottom of the stove before I try some test burns.

As I said in my original post, this stove sat in a pasture, in the weather for years, until I purchased the place. The stove was in amazingly good shape given the conditions. All of the iron just had dark red/brown surface rust. The steel parts of the stove were in pretty bad shape though. The connecting rods snapped when trying to loosen them and I replaced them with 1/4" rod that I cut to length and threaded. I almost forgot to include this, but the damper handle set screw had pieces falling out when I applied a allen wrench to it. I have tried drilling out the remains so that I could rethread and replace but the remaining steel is really tough in it and I am having trouble getting through it.

Looks like I will need to get a replacement leg... could only find three (in a barn about an 1/8 of a mile from the stove location in the pasture!)... and a secondary air cover.

Looking at other posts and based upon you recommendation, Woodsmans looks like a good place to get these parts.

 

[4TTUBE]

It seems like you are pretty well set except for the leg and damper handle. That's good news!
Don't worry about breaking the corner tie rods, they are a one shot deal. Once you cut them off in order to bolt the legs on they won't be long enough for another rebuild.
Good Luck with the rest of the rebuild. You're going to have a nice stove! Don't forget to post some pics when you're done!

 

[nearnuf]

Thanks 4T! I will definitely post pictures. I only wish that I had taken some "before" to contrast with the after rebuild.

 

[defiant3]

I have legs and damper handles, should that be helpful...

 

[nearnuf]

Yes, it would definitly help. Thanks for the offer! PM sent.

 

[begreen]

The Defiant rebuild manual is now posted here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/defiant/?noRedirect=1