Winterwarm Large 1280 Question

[mrd0wns]

Hello all. Brand new here and only have been using a wood stove for a couple years now... so take it easy on me LOL. I bought my first house a couple of years ago and it came with the Vermont Castings Large Winterwarm 1280. It worked good until the damper door wouldn't move correctly. So I pulled the unit out with the hopes of rebuilding it. I found the damper door arm linkage bolt had backed off so the arm was just loose. My plan is to clean it all up, put new gaskets and cement on, and maybe even paint the inside? I guess my question is about the flue liner that was coming off of it. I had always noticed I could see flames in between where the controls are. What I found was that the flue liner just sat in the collar with 4 tabs that bent over to hold it in. Certainly was not air tight. Is that a problem or just normal for the age of this thing? Also the flue liner is huge at about 13"X5" and was only about 4' tall and just sat right below the clay chimney flue so there was a good amount of creosote and ash in the chimney smoke chamber. From what I gather is wood stoves should have an air tight liner all the way up the chimney? Is that even possible with this stove? Any help would be great. Thanks!

 

[begreen]

Sorry to say that this problem goes all the way back to the earliest days of Hearth.com. Why they ever made that large oval flue collar is beyond me.

Q&A - Flex connector for Vermont Castings Winterwarm

Question: Well summer is over and I'm getting ready for the cold weather and wood burning! I bought a VC Winterwarm (large) earlier this year and I am installing a SS chimney liner in my fireplace chimney which requires me to install a VC flex connector so I can plumb right into the stove...

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