Apparently there are various interpretations of "works great, no issues, tons of heat"

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73blazer

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We recently bought a place on a lake to fix up for retirement in 5-10 years, in the mean time it's good enough for a cabin like place. It has a VC Winter Warm 2080 "small" date coded circa 1995 . Basically the same exact model as an Interpid II stove, just in insert form.
The main form of heat is an old fuel oil boiler. When I asked the previous owners, directly, about the insert, "we use it all the time, works great, no issues at all".
So I go to check this stove out finally a few weeks ago while we're here snoeshowing and snowmobiling, I didn't know it was a cat stove when we first bought it but I of course figured that out when I got into it I was able to look at it thoroughly. I removed the back plate to find.....the cat totally caked up and covered with 3-4" of ash alot of which I chouldn't even chip off of it. . After some more investigation I figured out there was supposed to be a refractory box, and it was partially still there,, basically just the bottom portion, but the front and top of it were completely gone, and it's gasket was gone.
It's fan needed new bearings, no way I was gonna listen to that thing squeal. The ash pan gasket was half gone.

So with no seal from the back plate to the refractory box and no top to the refractory box , the stove was effectively in bypass mode all the time. Which I guess works. But not as designed. I'm guessing it's supposed to produce alot more heat from a given load with the cat engaged. I also noticed, you can blow the top of this insert's refractory box out with chimney cleaning, all the crap falls right on top of it. I managed to find a new refractory for $213 (some places were $300, and a few were over $400 for that box?) , new 5/16" gasket for it, and a new ash pan gasket and a new condor cat. The chimney was cleaned, so, we'll give it a go here later today! I've never run a cat stove.

The firebox is super small. At home we have a North Star I installed and that stove is a beast, heats the 2400sqft home no issue unless it's really really cold. I'm guessing this is not that considering it's size. This is an old mining house probably 2100sqft and compartmentalized. Should be good enough to save some expensive fuel oil though.

I shouldn't have been surprised, like everything else in there, everything was on deaths door. In the first few months I had replaced both toilet valves, a couple faucets, water pressure tank,several plugs which where blown up, boiler expansion tank, the boiler was in a desperate state of repair although still working, I heavily cleaned that, changed all it's filters, controls that needed tapped to work, valves, and gauges (there wasn't a working gauge on it!), ran acid through it the whole 9 yards. They had just run everything down to within death. So, the insert shouldn't have really been a surprise.

[Hearth.com] Apparently there are various interpretations of "works great, no issues, tons of heat"
 
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I hear you, it doesn't look like a very deluxe solution. The place will get completely redone , like a this old house redo, in a few years, at which point there will be somthing much better, for now I just wanted to maintain status quo. Between the refractory and cat and gaskets it was like $340 in parts. So I figured that was acceptable for now. The masonary firebox is very small and I dunno that many inserts would even fit in there. I'm not sure you could even put a wood stove in front, the height of the masonry is only 24" So to put a wood stove in front of it you'd have to blow out some bricks above it to get a chimney from a back exit stove in there.
 
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Yeah those stoves absolutely are not worth putting the money for parts into them
 
I concur. Pull the old VC and measure up the fireplace cavity to see what will fit. Doing this will also determine whether a proper chimney liner was put in and its condition, or if there is just a direct connect stub above the damper.

If the rooms are small and cut off from each other by narrow doorways then it might be worth considering the long-range plan on how to best heat the place. Will doorways be opened or partitions removed to open up the space? This and the budget will decide on the replacement insert. If the stove room is small and partitions are to remain in place, then a small insert in the 1.5 cu ft range may be best to continue with. If you can post a sketch of the floorplan that shows the stove location, doorways, and stairwell that will help.
 
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I had already bought the $340 in parts. As stated before this is just a measure to keep the status quo for a few years until we do the total redo where, yes, down to the studs, rewired, re-plumbed, re-insulated, some layout changes, yes some walls will be coming down and a total heating solution one which includes a nice wood stove, that's modern and efficient will get put in place. I'm sure I'll get my $340 back in saved fuel oil over the next few winters for the time being. I'm not replacing an insert for a few years use. I'm sure the choices are very limited considering the size. The masonry firebox is already super small as all homes around here had free steam heat from the stamp mill down the hill. So a fireplace was purely for ambience most of these mining homes didn't have them, this one did because it was the mill superitendents house as built in 1897 which was built alot better than most, heavier walls, 10' ceilings, large windows and walk in closets and indoor bathroom, a mansion for it's day. That whole masonry structure (all brick on bottom for 10' , then 20+' of cinder block which was likely replacing outside crumbling brick at some point decades ago) is likely going to go anyway.
 
Man.. You are triggering flashbacks to when we bought our house about 6 years ago. Inherited a VC Winterwarm Large ZC unit and some of the same issues were found. Refractory box was pieced together just like a puzzle (cat was ok) and gaskets needed to be replaced and adjusted constantly. The back of the firebox ended up eventually crumbling/blowing out so that made our decision to move on from it a pretty easy one.
 
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It'll be 86'd soon enough. Just need to get a few yrs from it. It was the same with the boiler, without fully knowing the plans of what we wanted to do, you can't pick a replacment, plus you couldn't install a new one anyway as the utility room is completely illegal by todays standards the way it's layed out, until all the old mech's are gutted completely, it was easier just to put a few hundred bucks into to keep it going for now for part time use. I did all the work on it, so I'm now a boiler tech. Well I had alot of remote help from my uncle who's a retired HVAC tech with a boiler cert. 🤣
 
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I'm sure I'll get my $340 back in saved fuel oil over the next few winters for the time bein
I wouldn't count on that. These things are incredibly unreliable
 
I had already bought the $340 in parts. As stated before this is just a measure to keep the status quo for a few years until we do the total redo
I can understand wanting to buy some time, though I am very surprised that one could get the full refractory package and a new cat for that price. Hopefully, the previous owners didn't run the stove poorly for long enough to cause collateral damage to the bypass assembly or other parts. If not, and this is all the stove needs, then it could be ok for the next few years. Be sure to examine the fireback for warping and replace any gaskets in the insert.

Moving this to the VC forum. For future assistance, the title would be better to read, VC Winterwarm Small repair. I can change that if you want.
 
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I can understand wanting to buy some time, though I am very surprised that one could get the full refractory package and a new cat for that price. Hopefully, the previous owners didn't run the stove poorly for long enough to cause collateral damage to the bypass assembly or other parts. If not, and this is all the stove needs, then it could be ok for the next few years. Be sure to examine the fireback for warping and replace any gaskets in the insert.

Moving this to the VC forum. For future assistance, the title would be better to read, VC Winterwarm Small repair. I can change that if you want.
stoveking.com had the refractory for $213. Although curiously he's just raised to $237.

Some guy on fleabay was selling off his stash of condor cats which apparently fit several stoves/inserts etc. $100. But I got his last one. It had said 1 available 3 sold when I took his last one. Couple gaskets and whatnot, and she's in business.

The title was correct, the main point was how other people take care of their stuff. It is not about repair or Vermont Castings, or advice on other inserts or if I should that's just what others said and I answered.

[Hearth.com] Apparently there are various interpretations of "works great, no issues, tons of heat"
 
If you can sav running the oil even a few times a day with the wood heat, you will save more 300 bucks in oil. Use it til you get another one, seeing as its just a cabin for now. Why go big when you can go NOW!
 
If you can sav running the oil even a few times a day with the wood heat, you will save more 300 bucks in oil. Use it til you get another one, seeing as its just a cabin for now. Why go big when you can go NOW!
Because these stoves very quickly become money pits. If the cat and refractory are really the only problem and the actual correct parts can be bought for that price it's probably worth it. But I have my doubts. That price is extremely low
 
Because these stoves very quickly become money pits. If the cat and refractory are really the only problem and the actual correct parts can be bought for that price it's probably worth it. But I have my doubts. That price is extremely low
I gave the link to the $213 refractory,,,well now $237. The cat was $100 from fleabay. Hell even new from condor it's only $190. You know it's rather insulting to be called a liar.I'm an ocassional poster here you can belive me or not. Your beliefs which i have respected over the years, of what it should cost are irrelevant of facts.Shop around, you can find it for less. It's that simple. The refractory is pretty specific there is no "uncorrect" part because nobody made an afternmarket for it, it's just all about who is selling it and how much they want to make from you off it. the cat, it's VC or condor, period. Condor is an excellent name I've no issues with them.
 
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I gave the link to the $213 refractory,,,well now $237. The cat was $100 from fleabay. Hell even new from condor it's only $190. You know it's rather insulting to be called a liar.I'm an ocassional poster here you can belive me or not. Your beliefs which i have respected over the years, of what it should cost are irrelevant of facts.Shop around, you can find it for less. It's that simple. The refractory is pretty specific there is no "uncorrect" part because nobody made an afternmarket for it, it's just all about who is selling it and how much they want to make from you off it. the cat, it's VC or condor, period. Condor is an excellent name I've no issues with them.
I am not calling you a liar at all. I absolutely believe you found parts claiming to be correct for that price. And I hope they actually are right and not a scam. I really am sorry that it came off as me calling you a liar that was not my intent at all
 
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