Vigilant 6" round flue collar

[MarineBob]

I have a conundrum but I may have found a solution. I am hoping someone here has some experience. My Vigilant sits on relativley narrow hearth and so the back of the stove goes into the fireplace opening a bit. The issue I have is going from the 8" oval to get to my sheetmetal opening blocking the damper is a squeeze. For 30+ years I have used an 8" T with the short, offset 8" oval to round 8" adapter. But now, for what ever reason, all the 8" T's , 24 gauge, that I attach onto the adapter and squeezed into an oval to go up the chimney are no longer made with an attached snout. Since I have had to cut the entry pipe on the T to get it short enough to fit my opening, with the new design T's it can't be done. Anyway, I have found two possible solutions. One is I found an 8" oval to 8" round elbow which I think will fit for me, just have to fix/tweak my blockoff plate in the damper. A better solution, that I think is available is VC (0r somebody) makes a replacement collar that replaces the 8"oval outlet with a 6" round outlet. That seems like it would make my life easy, a simple solution by making everything 6" round. I have found several posts where the only down side to that approach is (supposedly) if you run the stove with wood, doors open, the exhaust might not be sufficient. Since my only burn time is coal, not an issue. Moreover, I didn't calculate the cross section area, but I don't imagine an 8" oval is dramatically larger than a round 6" exhaust.....maybe 20-25% perhaps? Anyway, here's my question: anyone ever swap the 8"oval to the 6" round? Is there really a part available for a Vigilant? I found what I beleive is the part number..... something like 1580 or p/n 0001580. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[coal and wood man]

I suspect you have a Vigilant and not a Vigilant II like I have but I have attached the parts list and diagram anyway for the Vigilant II. Also a link for 6 inch to 8 inch adapter at Tractor Supply.

(broken link removed)

 

[MarineBob]

I suspect you have a Vigilant and not a Vigilant II like I have but I have attached the parts list and diagram anyway for the Vigilant II. Also a link for 6 inch to 8 inch adapter at Tractor Supply.

(broken link removed)

I found a p/n 1580 which says it fits a whole bunch of VC stoves including the Vigilant II, I am not sure what the difference is from the Vigilant Multi fuel I have and looking at side by side diagrams, everything other than the collar (6" round vs 8" oval) is the same. My multi fuel has the shaker grates and is really a coal stove because the few times I have burned wood, it gobbles up the wood quicker than quick with the grates and air feeding up from the bottom. I got the part and every dimension looks and measures exactly the same as the installed 8" oval collar so I am confident it will fit my stove. Hopefully I will get at it tomorrow and confirm. I found a used one (6" round) on EBay and emailed with the seller who installed an 8" oval to replace the 6" round which kind of does the opposite of what I am hoping to accomplish so that also gives me more conficence in what I hope is a successful approach. I will post my outcome once I get to the swap process. Your suggestion is OK but my problem is this: for years, I have bought an 8" long *' oval to round, offset adapter. The offset was towards the bottom so the adapter did not protrude above the top of the top if that makes sense, it was all downwards. VC used to have them as well as many other suppliers. This was a pretty short transition which is all the length my installation will tolerate. Anyway, my stove sits on the fireplace hearth which is only about 12-14 inches so the back of the stove slightly goes into the fireplace opening. Therein lies my problem. With the adapter for the oval outlet then either a T or 90 deg 8" elbow I have to squish the vertical section to get it up into the damper area. Now, the T 's are not made with rivets but have a round transition so they won't work for me. I have a block off plate under the damper so the hole in the metal forms the somewhat oval shape up into the chimney. To finish this long tale, the problem is I do not have not enough inches from the back of the stove with an 8 oval to 8 round transition to start the exhaust. With a 6" collar all I need is a few inches of 6" pipe and a 90 deg elbow up into the chimney. I don't know if this makes sense, but if I get it to what I hope will work I will post a picture that is worth more than 1000 words.

 

[bholler]

I found a p/n 1580 which says it fits a whole bunch of VC stoves including the Vigilant II, I am not sure what the difference is from the Vigilant Multi fuel I have and looking at side by side diagrams, everything other than the collar (6" round vs 8" oval) is the same. My multi fuel has the shaker grates and is really a coal stove because the few times I have burned wood, it gobbles up the wood quicker than quick with the grates and air feeding up from the bottom. I got the part and every dimension looks and measures exactly the same as the installed 8" oval collar so I am confident it will fit my stove. Hopefully I will get at it tomorrow and confirm. I found a used one (6" round) on EBay and emailed with the seller who installed an 8" oval to replace the 6" round which kind of does the opposite of what I am hoping to accomplish so that also gives me more conficence in what I hope is a successful approach. I will post my outcome once I get to the swap process. Your suggestion is OK but my problem is this: for years, I have bought an 8" long *' oval to round, offset adapter. The offset was towards the bottom so the adapter did not protrude above the top of the top if that makes sense, it was all downwards. VC used to have them as well as many other suppliers. This was a pretty short transition which is all the length my installation will tolerate. Anyway, my stove sits on the fireplace hearth which is only about 12-14 inches so the back of the stove slightly goes into the fireplace opening. Therein lies my problem. With the adapter for the oval outlet then either a T or 90 deg 8" elbow I have to squish the vertical section to get it up into the damper area. Now, the T 's are not made with rivets but have a round transition so they won't work for me. I have a block off plate under the damper so the hole in the metal forms the somewhat oval shape up into the chimney. To finish this long tale, the problem is I do not have not enough inches from the back of the stove with an 8 oval to 8 round transition to start the exhaust. With a 6" collar all I need is a few inches of 6" pipe and a 90 deg elbow up into the chimney. I don't know if this makes sense, but if I get it to what I hope will work I will post a picture that is worth more than 1000 words.

What size liner runs through the chimney

 

[MarineBob]

What size liner runs through the chimney

No additional liner. My pipe sticks up into the damper area about 6-8 inches to where it would pervent the damper from ever closing should it want to. I have a good shape fireplace chimney that is about 16' up from the fireplace and stove. It has worked fine providing a good draft for coal fires for 35 years. About the only issue is every couple of years some amount of ash settles onto the damper blocking plate but I pull the stove and pipe out and vacuum out through the hole in the plate. The glazed-lined fireplace chimney I recall is 8" x 12" ? or there abouts

 

[coal and wood man]

The Vigilant II flue collar is reversible to either exit horizontally or vertically. Hopefully you have the same option. The Vigilant II is a coal model too but I usually run wood in it.

 

[MarineBob]

The Vigilant II flue collar is reversible to either exit horizontally or vertically. Hopefully you have the same option. The Vigilant II is a coal model too but I usually run wood in it.

The collars I am working with are just that, either vertical or horizontal. There are two mounting cap screws, I believe 1/4-20 pretty much centerd on the angled sides that I suppose allow for the either way installation. My original set up as will be the new one is horizontal to go into the fireplace then up the chimney, hopefully not impeding Santa. I have the original manual I got with the stove and nowhere does it describe it as anything other than a 'Vigilant Multifuel. ' The tag on the back just has a serial number and lots of info about clearances but no model or part numbers

 

[coal and wood man]

found the Vigilant II complete manual

 

[MarineBob]

My manual for the multi fuel version , which I believe was manufactured from about 1982 to '93 or there abouts has a bit less detail on clearances and other items . I think the only items I see as different is the side liner refractory bricks on my stove are installed vertically not horizontal and the ash pan I think is different. The drawings sort of show the grates to be deeper but I am not sure if that is just the drawing. It is interesting the manual references the possibility to change to the 8" oval from the 6" round. The oval is a PITA but I think I mentioned I chatted with someone on ebay who had done that and was selling the 6" round collar. Hopefully I will get to this project over the weekend changing over to the 6" exhaust

 

[MarineBob]

Change over about done. The VC part 1580, which was a change to an older number....something like ending 3030.....is a perfect replacement. Just changes the oval 8" to 6" round which make my hook up a lot easier in my tight hearth/fireplace situation. As I progressed through the change I saw another part that might have been even easier although not quite a standard parts. Somebody makes an 8" oval to round 90 deg elbow which I think I could have used to go right out the back of the ocal flue collar and up into the damper block off sheet metal. Anyway, only one small problem. The mounting bolts, 1/4-20 were tight as tight can be. With lots of penetrating oil and slow back and forth they both came out OK. I chased the threads and they seemed a bit on the loose side but overall in OK condition. When I went to reinstall one side though the bolt pretty much just spun in the hole, I guess the stove threads were just shot and corroded. So I just retapped it to a 5/16 bolt that still has some movement through the collar hole so I guess it will allow for any expansion. One more small item to consider. The original specs call for 1/4 inch gasket rope. I used 5/16 and it was fine except for the top edge. I am not sure but maybe the piece of the stove casting behind the griddle that is where the top of the new collar matches might have drooped a bit and the 5/16 gasket rope was not quite thick enough to make me feel it would be a good seal. So I just doubled it up and that seemd like an easy, effective fix.

 

[MarineBob]

For what its worth..... Pretty much finished my coal season here in New England. With the 6" collar on my stove it burned better than the last 35 years with the 8" oval. I am not sure why. With the 8" oval I had a damper which never seemed to move much so I do not know if that had any impact but the stove would burn up and down, so to speak. Much more variability than with the smaller pipe. With the 6" round collar, steady as you could ever hope for. It simplified my install into the blocked off fireplace damper and I wish I had known about this way back when. Anyway, my house has been between 68-71 degrees with outside between teens and 40 deg. All winter burning a bit less than a ton of coal. Only complaint: coal, like everything has gotten expensive.