1977 Vermont Casting Vigilant (New to Me)

[Kenster]

Magus, what is that piece on the floor in the corner behind the stove? Is it part of the stove?

I have one of these. We heat a near 4000 square foot home with it. It sits in a huge, full cathedral ceiling "Great Room." I can easily keep a low to mid 70s temp in that room and it might be even higher in the two open lofts upstairs. Back in the master BR it may be in the low 60s and that's fine with us. It's in great shape. I replaced the top door seal last year. That's all it has needed. We haven't turned on our two central heating units in over three years. Granted, this is south central Texas, not Wisconsin but we do get freezing nights here and last year it was down in the mid teens. The VC did a great job for us.

Let me get this straight....You heat a 4000! Sf home with this one wood stove?...Please tell me you are kidding. I have exactly 1035 sqft...not counting the 3/4 finished basement at another 750sq ft. So I am not going to have any problem heating my home with this thing. My "cathedral ceiling" is only 9ft high. It's what you call a California Ranch.

So it is possible that I can turn on the central fan to move the heat aound the house?

Sorry for all the questions, Im new at this.

I'm not saying we keep every corner of the house in the toasty 80s. I'm saying that my wife and I are kept very comfortable with just this wood stove. We have a very tight house with high efficiency Anderson windows. That helps a lot. Several ceiling fans keep the pull the warm air down and keep it circulating. Works well for us.
I think the stove should do very well for you at about 1000 sq feet.

 

[Magus]

I took the shop vac and cleaned out all of the ash.

You may know this... or you may not, but you need about one inch of ash in the stove to protect the bottom of the stove from cracking.

Ummm...Too Late. I noticed (I believe it was already there) a small hairline crack toward the bottom of the front of the stove....The piece that looks like crown molding...When I first vacumed it out and put a fire it it...it got really hot and that is when i noticed it. The crack is about an inch long. After the first burn while there was still ash in it and it had cooled down..I set another fire. (that just sounds odd)..The stove got really hot but the crack did not appear anymore.

So...what do you do if you have a crack on the bottom....leave it? Is it not save to install?

After the first three fires is when I cam accross the PDF of the stove that said NEVER START A FIRE IN THE STOVE WITHOUT ASH OR ONE INCH OF SAND AT THE BOTTOM...

Great timing on my part.

 

[begreen]

These are two opposite extremes. Heating only 1000 sq ft with the Vigilant is going to be a challenge also, mainly to stop from overheating the place and not have a constantly smoldering fire. A Resolute is more appropriately sized for that space.

 

[Magus]

These are two opposite extremes. Heating only 1000 sq ft with the Vigilant is going to be a challenge also, mainly to stop from overheating the place and not have a constantly smoldering fire. A Resolute is more appropriately sized for that space.

looks like I will need to crack a window or two.

My house was built in 57 and my windows are not as nice as Andersons...

Maybe it will balance out if I have the central fan on. Most of my air intakes are pretty high up...which have to go down into the basement where it wont be as warm, then travel through the system again.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I took the shop vac and cleaned out all of the ash.

You may know this... or you may not, but you need about one inch of ash in the stove to protect the bottom of the stove from cracking.

Ummm...Too Late. I noticed (I believe it was already there) a small hairline crack toward the bottom of the front of the stove....The piece that looks like crown molding...When I first vacumed it out and put a fire it it...it got really hot and that is when i noticed it. The crack is about an inch long. After the first burn while there was still ash in it and it had cooled down..I set another fire. (that just sounds odd)..The stove got really hot but the crack did not appear anymore.

So...what do you do if you have a crack on the bottom....leave it? Is it not save to install?

After the first three fires is when I cam accross the PDF of the stove that said NEVER START A FIRE IN THE STOVE WITHOUT ASH OR ONE INCH OF SAND AT THE BOTTOM...

Great timing on my part.

A crack in a stove should not be taken lightly. You may want to post a picture of the crack.

 

[Magus]

I took the shop vac and cleaned out all of the ash.

You may know this... or you may not, but you need about one inch of ash in the stove to protect the bottom of the stove from cracking.

Ummm...Too Late. I noticed (I believe it was already there) a small hairline crack toward the bottom of the front of the stove....The piece that looks like crown molding...When I first vacumed it out and put a fire it it...it got really hot and that is when i noticed it. The crack is about an inch long. After the first burn while there was still ash in it and it had cooled down..I set another fire. (that just sounds odd)..The stove got really hot but the crack did not appear anymore.

So...what do you do if you have a crack on the bottom....leave it? Is it not save to install?

After the first three fires is when I cam accross the PDF of the stove that said NEVER START A FIRE IN THE STOVE WITHOUT ASH OR ONE INCH OF SAND AT THE BOTTOM...

Great timing on my part.

A crack in a stove should not be taken lightly. You may want to post a picture of the crack.

Thats just it...I only saw it once. I've never seen it again. The stove was so stuffed the firs time I loaded it there was no space. Remember when I said I started the fire outside. I had it in updraft mode. I wanted to see how hot the heat was comming out of the stove so I put piece of 2x4 across the flue...within 10 min, it was chared 1/8th of an inch into the wood....so it was VERY hot. Prob borderline hades hot.

 

[Magus]

I took the shop vac and cleaned out all of the ash.

You may know this... or you may not, but you need about one inch of ash in the stove to protect the bottom of the stove from cracking.

Ummm...Too Late. I noticed (I believe it was already there) a small hairline crack toward the bottom of the front of the stove....The piece that looks like crown molding...When I first vacumed it out and put a fire it it...it got really hot and that is when i noticed it. The crack is about an inch long. After the first burn while there was still ash in it and it had cooled down..I set another fire. (that just sounds odd)..The stove got really hot but the crack did not appear anymore.

So...what do you do if you have a crack on the bottom....leave it? Is it not save to install?

After the first three fires is when I cam accross the PDF of the stove that said NEVER START A FIRE IN THE STOVE WITHOUT ASH OR ONE INCH OF SAND AT THE BOTTOM...

Great timing on my part.

A crack in a stove should not be taken lightly. You may want to post a picture of the crack.

Thats just it...I only saw it once. I've never seen it again. The stove was so stuffed the first time I loaded it there was no space. Remember when I said I started the fire outside. I had it in updraft mode. I wanted to see how hot the heat was comming out of the stove so I put piece of 2x4 across the flue...within 10 min, it was chared 1/8th of an inch into the wood....so it was VERY hot. Prob borderline hades hot.

It also takes about 5 or 6 18" logs

 

[rodeo720]

i heated our house with 1977 for 20 yrs and have it now in the horsebarn if you can
find a set of warming trays it really makes it.just bought a heritage and i like it
but a smaller box.vigilant is a great vermont casting stove.good luck.

 

[Magus]

i heated our house with 1977 for 20 yrs and have it now in the horsebarn if you can
find a set of warming trays it really makes it.just bought a heritage and i like it
but a smaller box.vigilant is a great vermont casting stove.good luck.

what are warming trays?

 

[rodeo720]

trays that mount on the top lip on the right and left side for warming soup bread etc.iam not at home so i
cant post a photo of my stove.the have a dragon or serpant on the front and diamods patern
to sit things on.

 

[Magus]

trays that mount on the top lip on the right and left side for warming soup bread etc.iam not at home so i
cant post a photo of my stove.the have a dragon or serpant on the front and diamods patern
to sit things on.

Sounds nice...I will try and find some

 

[Magus]

Well, I thought this weekend was going to be productive.

I was going to start putting tile on the floor and then I read the directions again.

Floor: calls for two sheets of (1/4 inch) non-combustable "Mineral" board. Well Durarock does not count as mineral board. Also I have this screwed into the wood floor...so if I put tile on top of that and the heat transfers from the tile to the screws to the wood floor and plywood, this could turn out bad ...i.e fire under the wood floor.

The heat shield around the stove to reduce clearance.
I was going to use aluminum beams which would have given me a two inch air gap instead of one inch. I was going to put cement board on top of that and tile it...again...heat going from tile to cement board, to screws to aluminum frame or from cement board to aluminum frame and end up not being much of a heat barier.

I ran accross a USSC APS1100 wood stove for 350 bucks. supposed to heat up to 1100 sqft.

The fire box on this thing looks really small

The only upside that I can see is I go from a 8" pipe to a 6" pipe and I can place it 13" from the wall in the rear and not have to worry about heatshields on the back or sides.
Also the Class A pipe in 6" is alot cheaper than the class A in 8"

So I have stopped for now....what are your thoughts.

 

[Mad Tom]

Magus, what is that piece on the floor in the corner behind the stove? Is it part of the stove?

I have one of these. We heat a near 4000 square foot home with it. It sits in a huge, full cathedral ceiling "Great Room." I can easily keep a low to mid 70s temp in that room and it might be even higher in the two open lofts upstairs. Back in the master BR it may be in the low 60s and that's fine with us. It's in great shape. I replaced the top door seal last year. That's all it has needed. We haven't turned on our two central heating units in over three years. Granted, this is south central Texas, not Wisconsin but we do get freezing nights here and last year it was down in the mid teens. The VC did a great job for us.

Let me get this straight....You heat a 4000! Sf home with this one wood stove?...Please tell me you are kidding. I have exactly 1035 sqft...not counting the 3/4 finished basement at another 750sq ft. So I am not going to have any problem heating my home with this thing. My "cathedral ceiling" is only 9ft high. It's what you call a California Ranch.

So it is possible that I can turn on the central fan to move the heat aound the house?

Sorry for all the questions, Im new at this.

I heat a 3000 sf home in VT with one stove. I am pretty well insulated and have new windows in most of the house. Home Depot had r30 for 10 bucks a roll so you cant go wrong. Lots of overlaying. I have most of the house @70 to 72 degrees and I am happy with that.

My main room with the stove is about 800sf. I have a 13x13 opening leading upstairs that does a good job of getting the heat up. A large ceiling fan goes into action when I need it.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Nice old stove... grew up with a Vigilant as well.

One question, was "1977" a particular model or did you all just happen to buy em the same year? My folks moved into thier current house in 82 or 83 and put in a Vigilant and just replaced it a couple years ago with an Isle Royale.

 

[begreen]

1977 is just the date in the casting mold.

 

[JV_Thimble]

I took the shop vac and cleaned out all of the ash.

You may know this... or you may not, but you need about one inch of ash in the stove to protect the bottom of the stove from cracking.

+1. Really good point - I have one of these, have used it for ten years, and didn't know this.

Cheers,

John

 

[JV_Thimble]

trays that mount on the top lip on the right and left side for warming soup bread etc.iam not at home so i
cant post a photo of my stove.the have a dragon or serpant on the front and diamods patern
to sit things on.

Sounds nice...I will try and find some

Magus -

Let me know if you find warming trays - these sound awesome.

 

[BrowningBAR]

trays that mount on the top lip on the right and left side for warming soup bread etc.iam not at home so i
cant post a photo of my stove.the have a dragon or serpant on the front and diamods patern
to sit things on.

Sounds nice...I will try and find some

Magus -

Let me know if you find warming trays - these sound awesome.

$30 a shelf at Black Swan.
(broken link removed to http://www.blackswanhome.com/product/warming-shelf-vigilant)

 

[OhioBurner©]

1977 is just the date in the casting mold.

Still a little confused on what that means, so thats the year it was cast then? And just a coincidence that many folks have Vigilants that were made in 77?

 

[spirilis]

1977 is just the date in the casting mold.

Still a little confused on what that means, so thats the year it was cast then? And just a coincidence that many folks have Vigilants that were made in 77?

VC liked to stamp the date of when the stove was designed in the fireback casting. His stove may be newer than that but probably not by much. My VC Defiant has a placard on the primary air lever box that states it was tested in June of 1980 I think, but its fireback does say "1975" on it. The Defiant probably was originally designed in 1975 although my particular model (dubbed the Defiant II in technician lingo) has some minor tweaks to it over the original 1975 design (like a 2-piece fireback instead of 1-piece, etc).

 

[marysue price]

hi I bought a house with a vermont vigilant wood stove. i am sure it is from the 70's original to the house. It works great and is in great condition.
I wonder where I can find a owners manual? and I can not figure out how to use the danper inside there is a handle onb the outside that moves the damper up and down it can be closed or open but there is no way that I can see to have it in between these two settings to control the damper . anyone have any hints? about this or anything else with the stove as I have just started to use it . thanks so much