Please help identify this part on my Defiant

[kmschanck]

Hello. My husband and I bought a house a decade or so ago and it had a Defiant (the plate on the back says inspected in 1980), and have been using it for years with no problems.

Today when I was cleaning out cooled ash, I found two pieces of what looks like some sort of clay or iron collar. Can anyone help me identify what this piece is? I looked through the old manual that was linked on this site, but they don't actually have an illustration of the interior.

 

[defiant3]

Well you have a Defiant 2 (possibly a 3 if it has the top loading lid) and the piece there is the lower baffle, which has warped badly and fsllen out of place. The problem is that the lower baffle holds up the upper baffle, which supports the fireback. It all may fall in , so it's rather a good idea to get it fixed asap., and be aware that the stove may become unsafe to operate. Sorry, not trying to be alarmist, but this is serious. You'll need to replace the fireback kit, part # 5837 from a VC dealer or woodmanspartsplus.com or somebody. Hopefully you can tackle it or find someone who can.

Best of luck!!

 

[kmschanck]

Well you have a Defiant 2 (possibly a 3 if it has the top loading lid) and the piece there is the lower baffle, which has warped badly and fsllen out of place. The problem is that the lower baffle holds up the upper baffle, which supports the fireback. It all may fall in , so it's rather a good idea to get it fixed asap., and be aware that the stove may become unsafe to operate. Sorry, not trying to be alarmist, but this is serious. You'll need to replace the fireback kit, part # 5837 from a VC dealer or woodmanspartsplus.com or somebody. Hopefully you can tackle it or find someone who can.

Best of luck!!

Thanks for the quick reply. Here are a few more photos for reference, just to make sure we're on the same page.