Lucky New owner of VC Vigilant

[emory]

Just purchased a home a couple months ago that has a VC vigilant in it.

Like most things in the house, the previous owners didn't really seem to notice when something wasn't working 100%. I've noticed that there is a small crack in the fireback and the gaskets aren't looking to great, so was planning on rebuilding. I've been reading through various threads on this board for the last couple months and feel pretty confident about rebuilding this stove. However, some of the opinions in the threads are that it's a tricky stove to get tuned out so that it is not a creosote machine.

I plan on using this stove as the primary heat source, we have an oil furnace for backup. House is a ranch style home, built in the mid 1990's, stove is located in the basement.

I checked out the chimney and it doesn't appear to have very much build up at all, the chimney has not been swept in about 2 years. It doesn't appear that the previous homeowners used the side/down draft feature much as the damper/lever doesn't close properly at the top of the stove.

So now the $100k question:

Is it worth rebuilding it or simply seeking out a new stove?

 

[Corie]

I hate to squash your hopes, but personally I would say junk it. Old technology, not worth the headache of rebuilding for the mediocre performance you'll get back out of it. Unless money is tight and replacement is not an option, but suggestion would be recycle it and search for something newer and in better condition.

 

[begreen]

Hi Emory, welcome. Congrats for wanting to breathe new life into the stove. If the stove has been neglected over the years, you may find even more wrong once you tear it apart. Sounds like you are already discovering that. Given that you want to heat 24/7 I have to agree with Corie. You'll burn less wood and will be a better, cleaner burning neighbor with a new (or slightly used) stove. By the way, do you already have a major stash of dry wood for the winter? You'll need several cords to get you through.

The flue may be pretty clean due to lack of use. Some other things to check on that chimney. Is the flue lined? Is it dedicated to the woodstove? Often this type of installation is less than successful for whole house heating. How does the heat get from the basement to the upstairs?

 

[emory]

By the way, do you already have a major stash of dry wood for the winter? You'll need several cords to get you through.

Is the flue lined? Is it dedicated to the woodstove? Often this type of installation is less than successful for whole house heating. How does the heat get from the basement to the upstairs?

Right now I've got about 4 cords stashed (2 seasoned, 2 green).

The flue does not appear to be lined, but I'm not 100% sure, but the chimney is made out of cinder blocks and some sort of clay/ceramic?..?..?

It is dedicated to just this stove, and it appears to have been built somewhat recently, if not with the house.

The foundation is rectangular, again think ranch, and the stove is located in a corner. There is a large staircase probably about 10 feet from the stove. The top of the stairs has no door and is open to the living room area with a half wall.

There currently is no return on the other side of the house, but I was thinking of just putting a couple in the rooms on that side.

Below is a crude diagram.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, very helpful board.

|-|Chimney
--------------------------------------Wall
| Stove | S|T|A|I|R|S| | | |
|
|
| Basement
|--------------------------------------

 

[webbie]

Sounds like you know what you have - and in a cold climate with a proper chimney that stove can work.....BUT, if you really want to be a happy camper, maybe you can sell it (they get a good resale, cracks or not) and buy a newer stove with clean burning and clean glass. Sounds like your chimney is a tile lined masonry, which may be sufficient, but if it is 100% outside you can have "cold chimney" problems. Do a wiki search on Gulland and read his article about chimney locations.

In some ways, there is not way of really knowing about the chimney performance until you use it. But you will want to inspect it and make certain all stove pipe joints are tight, etc.

Note - a small crack in an internal fireback in the Vigi should not really affect operation.