I bought a house that's like a Vermont Castings showroom, with an Intrepid, a Vigilant and a Defiant (original non-cats), all installed by morons. I like cutting & burning wood, so I'd like to get this setup working.
The house is 2400 sq ft, so 3 stoves is overkill, but the layout is odd so it's hard to see how to eliminate one. The sleeping areas are downstairs, and the Intrepid is in the farthest corner of the farthest room. The Defiant and Vigilant are upstairs.
The Defiant works great. (The moron contribution here was that it's set in a stone hearth that probably weighs a ton or two, with no foundation beneath! I added a pier, so it's ok now.) However, the back baffle is cracked. I was planning to rebuild it ($750, because it also needs the left door kit). But I've discovered that there's a fine crack in the base plate, from the front left edge to about three or four inches in.
The Vigilant and Intrepid both had pipes straight out the back through a thimble into an uninsulated chase, with triple wall air-insulated pipe up from there. This is Montana, so that chase is sometimes very cold. (That's mistake #2; moron contribution #3 is that neither hearth is up to code for the clearances involved. They're just tile on drywall with wood framing. Lucky the stoves don't work at full output, or the house would be gone.)
For the Vigilant upstairs, that setup works - it doesn't have strong draft, but enough. It just seems like the output isn't up to what the stove is capable of.
For the Intrepid, it doesn't work at all. In cold weather, the stack runs in reverse, because it's on the lower floor and its chimney is not as tall as the other two and a skylight peak in the roof. You can get it lit, but as soon as the fire burns down, it backdrafts. I tried to remedy this by rearranging the pipe to raise it 3 feet, adding 3 feet of single wall rise inside the house. That works when the stove is burning alone. But when one of the others is going, it seems that their draft overwhelms the little Intrepid.
So, a bunch of questions:
- Does the base crack disqualify the Defiant from a rebuild? (I'm assuming it does, and was thinking of replacing it with something like a Pacific Neo 2.5.)
- Can wood stoves realistically coexist on two floors, perhaps with an external combustion air hookup for the downstairs one to alleviate the pressure difference? Or should I give up and put a pellet stove in the downstairs location?
- Is there an outside air kit for the original Intrepid, or the Vigilant? (As far as I can tell, there is not.)
- I've seen some concerns about older air-cooled triple wall. (This is White Metal co. stuff, in great shape due to disuse.) Should I worry and replace it, or is it OK if kept clean?
In a perfect world, I'd just replace all 3, but I'm guessing that would be north of $10k, so I'd like to work with what I have or can trade if at all possible. Advice much appreciated!
The house is 2400 sq ft, so 3 stoves is overkill, but the layout is odd so it's hard to see how to eliminate one. The sleeping areas are downstairs, and the Intrepid is in the farthest corner of the farthest room. The Defiant and Vigilant are upstairs.
The Defiant works great. (The moron contribution here was that it's set in a stone hearth that probably weighs a ton or two, with no foundation beneath! I added a pier, so it's ok now.) However, the back baffle is cracked. I was planning to rebuild it ($750, because it also needs the left door kit). But I've discovered that there's a fine crack in the base plate, from the front left edge to about three or four inches in.
The Vigilant and Intrepid both had pipes straight out the back through a thimble into an uninsulated chase, with triple wall air-insulated pipe up from there. This is Montana, so that chase is sometimes very cold. (That's mistake #2; moron contribution #3 is that neither hearth is up to code for the clearances involved. They're just tile on drywall with wood framing. Lucky the stoves don't work at full output, or the house would be gone.)
For the Vigilant upstairs, that setup works - it doesn't have strong draft, but enough. It just seems like the output isn't up to what the stove is capable of.
For the Intrepid, it doesn't work at all. In cold weather, the stack runs in reverse, because it's on the lower floor and its chimney is not as tall as the other two and a skylight peak in the roof. You can get it lit, but as soon as the fire burns down, it backdrafts. I tried to remedy this by rearranging the pipe to raise it 3 feet, adding 3 feet of single wall rise inside the house. That works when the stove is burning alone. But when one of the others is going, it seems that their draft overwhelms the little Intrepid.
So, a bunch of questions:
- Does the base crack disqualify the Defiant from a rebuild? (I'm assuming it does, and was thinking of replacing it with something like a Pacific Neo 2.5.)
- Can wood stoves realistically coexist on two floors, perhaps with an external combustion air hookup for the downstairs one to alleviate the pressure difference? Or should I give up and put a pellet stove in the downstairs location?
- Is there an outside air kit for the original Intrepid, or the Vigilant? (As far as I can tell, there is not.)
- I've seen some concerns about older air-cooled triple wall. (This is White Metal co. stuff, in great shape due to disuse.) Should I worry and replace it, or is it OK if kept clean?
In a perfect world, I'd just replace all 3, but I'm guessing that would be north of $10k, so I'd like to work with what I have or can trade if at all possible. Advice much appreciated!
