I just bought a VC Vigilant that is set up to burn coal. The stove is a 1980s model. I have the wood conversion kit from VC. It consist of a cast iron tube that is to be bolted to the inside of the stove. I think I am supposed to remove the coal rack. Do I need to get some kind of wood rack for the bottom of the stove? what about an ash pan? Thanks for your help.
Need Help converting VC Vigilant from coal to wood
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Your best course would to email or call Vermont Castings and request an owner's manual for your model stove (make sure you have the model number). A nearby VC dealer might also have a manual you could photocopy. Going by my increasingly fallible memory which is not to be relied on: You do need to remove the coal grates. The tube which is bolted to the interior supplies air from an opening on the lower left hand side when facing the stove. You do not need anything except a minimum of 1" of ashes in the bottom to burn wood. I would add that this particular stove was not, in my view, one of Vermont Casting's better designs. In trying to combine coal and wood options it wound up optimal for neither. As backup heat it will work fine but it is not a good choice for round the clock wood burning.
There is no wood rack - wood burns tight on the bottom of this stove.
This is assuming it is the older coal kit, which had rocker grates (new one has reciprocating bars).
No Ash Pan.
A manual which may cover some of this is in our wiki - search for older vermont castings at the wiki page (see links at top of this page, etc.)
This is assuming it is the older coal kit, which had rocker grates (new one has reciprocating bars).
No Ash Pan.
A manual which may cover some of this is in our wiki - search for older vermont castings at the wiki page (see links at top of this page, etc.)
You have to take the cast iron tube (the magazine) out of the stove. Then take the grates out from around the grates that rotate by moving the handle on the left side of the stove. Remove the 3 rotating grates and then take out the right and left sides that have holes for the 3 grates. After you have taken out the conversion kit, you have to reinstall the air tube on the bottom left of the stove. Make sure that you have 1" of ashes on the bottom of the stove so that you don't warp or crack the bottom plate.
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