# Got a New to me stove tonight! Vermont Castings Intrepid II Wood stove!!



## afptl (Jan 1, 2011)

Just wanted to "share the Joy"!  We finally got a new to us used Vermont Casting Intrepid II, model 1308.  It looks like it was hardly ever used. It is supposed to heat 1200 sq feet, hope it does! Our home is 1300 sq feet, but insulated well.  It is the "mild weather stove here."  We have an older Crosswinds Wood Energy Corp. wood furnace in the basement, but i think it is over kill for our home.  Unless it's about 20 degrees or colder, we are roasting up and opening windows.  Or letting the fire go out 3 times a day.  The vermont is for when it is cold enough to need some heat, and power outages.  We needed something for when it's about 35 degrees or warmer.  Hope we made a good choice! Now to get it hooked up!  Hooking it up into our fireplace.  Hope it was a good choice as this is some uncharted territory for us!


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## Freischutz (Jan 1, 2011)

Congratulations.  Sounds like a fun way to start the new year


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## remkel (Jan 1, 2011)

Best of luck with it.


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## afptl (Jan 1, 2011)

thanks much!  We are so excited!


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## Woody Stover (Jan 1, 2011)

Ann from KY said:
			
		

> It is the "mild weather stove here."


Appears that you may be in my neck of the woods. We haven't lit the stove in a couple of days, and tonight it's 50* at 1:45 AM. It's been a nice break from the cold.

That heater should take the chill off in moderate weather. Nice looking stove, too.

Getting a new stove is thrilling, isn't it? Can't wait for mine to get here!


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## jetmech (Jan 1, 2011)

Ann, i have burned a Intrepid ii 1303 model for last 4 years. its a great stove that throws a lot of heat for its size. However it is what it is, you will not get overnight burns and will have to reload often especially in really cold ambient temps. It heats my sun room and living room and with small corner fans my kitchen as well.  If you have questions about operating it there is no better place than this forum to get answers. good luck with the stove.... need pictures as well !!


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## Krissybelle (Jan 1, 2011)

We have had one for the past 9 years, just replaced it with a soapstone stove.  I loved the Intrepid II and 8 hours later, it always had enough "life" left in it to get it going again easily.  Lovely little stove....enjoy!


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## afptl (Jan 1, 2011)

Thanks for writing in to the post!  Yes, I am in Northern KY close to Indiana. I thought if I got a bigger stove than the Intrepid, it would just be too much stove and run us out.  I thought about the Encore, but the used ones were a lot more $$.  The Encore was rated to 1900 sq feet and the intrepid to 1200 sq ft. Our home is a well insulated 1300 sq feet so that's why I went smaller. I am home with the children, so I figure I can just walk over and feed it to keep the heat going. The Intrepid will also fit nicely on the hearth and the piping can go up the chimney. (as soon as I get that figured out)  I did talk to a chimney sweep last week about it, so I am going to talk to him again to see if he can help us out with it.  I figure if it ends up being not enough stove, I could always sell a nice Vermont Castings stove if the $$ is right and get one a little bigger.  I was limited by what I could buy also, as I needed one with a rear flue exhaust to make it fit where it needs to go.  I also had to buy one off of Craigslist or the newspaper, so I have actually been looking for quite awhile! I have seen some really nice stuff, but I had to find something that would safely work in our fireplace.  Hubby wanted to see the fire, so that actually knocked out quite a few other contenders!  Hope the cold holds off for awhile so I can get it hooked up!


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## afptl (Jan 1, 2011)

Here are some pics of the new stove.  Even my older son when he saw it last night, commented on how clean and unused it was.  I also have 2 mitten shelves, a small poker and the screen so we can watch the fire. Isn't God good to find all of this for us on a used stove?


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 1, 2011)

Ann, congratulations on the stove and welcome to the forum.

In your milder climate and well insulated home that stove should suit you well. However, with all the talk about the stove I've seen nothing about the fuel! I do hope you understand that you can have the very best stove on the market or the best automobile on the market but if you do not have good fuel, neither will work worth a hoot. You need good fuel that has had lots of time to dry properly. I always recommend having a minimum of 2-3 years of wood cut, split and stacked out in the wind to dry. If everyone did this, I sincerely believe at least 75% of all stove related problems would go away.

Good luck.


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## Woody Stover (Jan 1, 2011)

Ann from KY said:
			
		

> I figure I can just walk over and feed it to keep the heat going.


Hey, it's _fun_ tossing logs into a top-loader!


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## afptl (Jan 1, 2011)

Hi Dennis and Buster,
   Yes, tossing logs in the top looks fun to me as well!   The picture of the wood pile is what my sons, ages 15 and 13 cut for me this year.  It was bigger, but we used some of it.  They are good workers!  They wanted to hurry up and cut it early this fall so the wood cutting wouldn't interfere with deer hunting!  They only cut dead or downed stuff up.  My hubby helped them for about 2 loads.  We can cut here on our place of 26 acres and my family's is about 2 miles away (115 acres) so finding dead isn't a problem. I really appreciate their hard work saving the family money on propane! They are a blessing to us!


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## leeave96 (Jan 1, 2011)

Nice stove - nice woodpile!

Happy heating,
Bill


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## Hillbilly (Jan 1, 2011)

Ann, congratulations on the stove. Looks like the temps tomorrow will require the stove to be fired up. Yesterday and today was like a spring day around here.


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## defiant3 (Jan 1, 2011)

Wow, good lookin' stove, miss Ann!  Having worked on these for so many years, let me offer this:  If you don't already have one, download an owner's manual from the V.C. site.  THe main reason is to familiarize yourself with the cleaning of the catalyst.  In that particular stove, the cat. is quite small, and  many people find that it begins to get kinda' clogged up after burning as little as a cord of wood.  You may do much better than that, still, being able to tidy up in there you'll likely find helpful.  Otherwise, you should find it's a wonderful little "heetah" as we say up north.


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## counts86 (Nov 11, 2014)

Hi everyone, I am looking at a Vermont Castings Intrepid II that I found on CL and I have some questions. I have 600 sq ft cabin close to Vail Colorado and it is fairly well insulated but the Grandpa Bear Stove I currently have for it is not heating it well at all. There are some small drafts that I will be sealing but they are very minor and there is ample insulation in the walls and ceiling. I am looking to get a better stove and like the Intrepid II but I'm worried it's too small. 

The Intrepid II 1308 is rated to 1000 ft^2
The Fisher Grandpa Bear is rated at 2250 ft^2 but it isn't doing much except for heating the area within 10 ft of the stove. (I'm burning 1yr old dry pine and aspen)

Any ideas?


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## begreen (Nov 11, 2014)

Welcome. This is a 5 yr old thread. Start a new one, as your needs are unique and it sounds like there's more going on here than just the stove. The Fisher should be driving you out of the cabin. Copy and paste your posting into a new thread and we'll pick it up there. Closing this old one.


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