Vigilant Wood Stove 80's? Need Info

[swatcommander]

First of all hello and I am new to this site.

I have been burning wood in our open fire place for the last three years. We will be moving into our new house soon and it doesn't have a fireplace. My wife and I love wood heat, nothing like it. I know open fireplaces aren't efficient but our gas bill fell off to hardly anything. My attention has turn to wood burning stoves and yesterday I picked up a Vermont Castings Vigilant. The stove has 1977 inscribed on it and glass doors. I traded a fellow on Craig-list some old power tools that I no longer used for the stove. The stove is in good shape aside of the surface rust. My plan was to get a stove now so that I will have all summer to restore it.

I have looked on the net but unable to find info such as, how high my chimney should be, what is a safe operating temp,what size flu, and the correct pipe size. I plan to use triple wall pipe. any and all helpful info anyone can provide on this stove would be helpful. I plan to post pics of the stove before my restoration work.

 

[swatcommander]

Yesterday afternoon I confirmed it is a Vigilant because it is inscribed on the stove. It was dark when I got it home the day before, and late so I didn't look it over that well. I disassembled it and noticed from the tag in the back of the stove it was made in 1985. Most of the screws snapped as I was taking it apart and once I got it apart coal dust spilled all over the driveway. It appears the stove was sealed on the sides and bottom with some kind of sealant. The door seals, top, and bottoms seals will all get replaced. Anybody know what type of sealant was used to seal the stove?

 

[dlj]

Looks like that stove is set-up for burning coal. If you can open the doors and take a photo of the inside, it would be easier to be sure, but you have the coal shaker handle and the attachment for the coal grates on the bottom left side of the stove. While you can burn wood in that stove with the coal set-up in place, you will get reduced burn times. You can't burn coal in the wood set-up. Look on this site for manuals for this stove. There are easily found.

The inside parts of this stove are sealed with furnace cement originally. What screws are you taking off that are snapping? If you want to set the stove up with the wood burning interior, you can buy the parts from Woodsman Supply. They aren't cheap though...

This stove uses 6 inch flue pipe. Your chimney usually goes above your roof ridge, there are formulas for chimneys. This stove typically will run up to 600 degrees or so, you can go above and below that for temperature control, not sure how much higher than the 600 most people go... It's been a long time since I ran one of these...

Good luck.

dj

 

[swatcommander]

DJ, thanks for the info.

When I put it back together I plan on making it a wood burning stove, keeping the bottom grates but I am curious, do I need to line the inside with firebrick? (or partially with firebrick) The bolts that snapped were the leg bolts, the tie rods that hold the stove together and the four screws that hold the six inch pipe in place (on the top-back of the stove) I contacted a dealer here in Indianapolis and he told me to seal the stove with Mill-Pac Black, it is rated to a 1050°F max continuous operating temperature.

I have another question regarding hearth construction. I have read several articles on the subject but I want to make sure I install the stove to code. I have read that using steel in front of an unprotected wall then placing brick (brick wall) in front of the steel making sure to leave a one inch gap between the wall and the steel (and a one inch gap at the bottom as well) I thought about using cement board on the floor then brick on top of that.

(see pic) that is what my wife and I have chosen maybe not exactly like the photo but similar. We have small children so we both like the sides of the stove protected and using a screen in the front.

Would cement board be OK instead of steel? I forgot to mention that the stove has a heat shield in the rear of the stove. State Farm advised me they would be sending an inspector to check the work once it's complete.

 

[dlj]

I wouldn't keep the bottom grates unless planning on sometimes using coal. You need to know the exact model you have. A lot of the old Vermonts had a different set of internal cast iron walls that were put in for wood burning. I don't know what model you have exactly. From the front pics you have above, it's not a real old one so I don't know what that specific model did to go from coal to wood.

The stove I have I put on a wonderboard base with tile over top of it. It sits in front of a brick fireplace. I vent through the fireplace. You can do all the sides and front as you wish. Totally up to you. I personally don't like the restrictions. I grew up with wood stoves from a young age along with all my brothers and sisters. I'm the youngest of 11.... We never had that kind of protection around the stove and none of us ever had a problem.. But that you have to decide for yourself.... As far as working to code, here's a nice document that shows things pretty well:

http://www.codeinspectionsinc.com/guides/WoodStoveRequirementsFromNFPA211.pdf

I'm sure there are many others.

dj

 

[therdlesstravld]

Coming from someone who's been running one of these old stoves for the last few years I would seriously consider putting it back on craigslist and putting that money (plus what you'd spend to refurbish it) into a cheap new stove. The vigilant is an attractive stove but if your processing your own wood you will hate it. The burn times are comparatively low and it uses a lot of wood quickly.

 

[swatcommander]

Yesterday afternoon I confirmed it is a Vigilant because it is inscribed on the stove. It was dark when I got it home the day before, and late so I didn't look it over that well. I disassembled it and noticed from the tag in the back of the stove it was made in 1985. Most of the screws snapped as I was taking it apart and once I got it apart coal dust spilled all over the driveway. It appears the stove was sealed on the sides and bottom with some kind of sealant. The door seals, top, and bottoms seals will all get replaced. Anybody know what type of sealant was used to seal the stove?

I forgot to post pics of the finished product.

 

[begreen]

That's quite an improvement! How did it go together? Any issues? What paint was used?

 

[swatcommander]

That's quite an improvement! How did it go together? Any issues? What paint was used?

Thank you. It went back together pretty smoothly. I got help from a diagram that I printed off line. I used Rust-Olem high heat paint. I had planned on using that stove but it was too big for the opening in our fireplace so I sold it.

 

[begreen]

Did you pick up the smaller stove yet or are you still looking?

 

[swatcommander]

Not long after I bought that Vigilant I came across a Intrepid II. The inside was in great shape, that old post is on here with before and after pics. It fit our fireplace perfect. It kept us nice and warm all winter. My wife loves that stove but it's time for a medium size stove. I found one today and posted on here seeking info on the stove.

 

[begreen]

Ah, that would be the Resolute, yes? That is a great stove.