Vermont Castings Vigilant Smoke

[remkel]

If you close the secondary air intake you are not getting any air for secondary combustion which would allow more of the gases and smoke to pass into the flue which would potentially create more creosote, or at least that is hoe I understand it. Admittedly, the secondary burn on the Vigilants are primitive compared to today's technology, but it helps a bit. I always operated with the secondary air open when in horizontal mode.

OR, I am way off base.

 

[fbelec]

the manual for the defiant and vigilant are the same manual. in my manual it says if the stove is to be run in horizontal mode in their words (the long burn) that the secondary air supply should be left open, that air control is for the secondary chamber only. it has nothing to do with the primary air. the secondary air never gets into the firebox. if there is no oxygen for a secondary fire there will not be a secondary fire unless the stove needs a rebuild and the cement between the secondary and primary ports is broken or missing. i had a very bad chimney fire because i never opened the secondary air. that made a cooler and smokey fire which caked up the chimney in under a months time. the chimney looked like a brand new chimney when i moved into this house. i checked before i fired the stove up. next thing i know i had someone banging on my door to get me out of the house because of the 5 foot flames shooting out of the chimney. i would hate to put someone thru that when it is avoidable. i'm not trying to knit pick and it maybe working for you on your stove and if it is i would check to see if your stove needs a rebuild. very easy to do btw. (rebuild the stove that is). when you have a fire going if the stove is tight and you close all the air into the stove it should just about put out the fire. my stove does since i rebuilt it. it wont go out completely but it will bring it down to a smolder.

 

[Tmac845]

I have a Vigilant and love it. I don't expect to ever want to replace it. I can have a 700 to 750 degree griddle in about 15 minutes, whereupon I switch to horizontal. When I throw the damper for a horizontal burn I get a roar through the back side exit and typically the griddle gets even hotter for a while.

Aaron, when you switch to horizontal are you still giving it a lot of air? You are familiar with the thermostat and flap at the back of the stove, aren't you?
Keep that flap open for a while to make sure the wood keeps burning well after the switch. In horizontal burn we're not really looking for a roaring flame anymore but with enough air, the stove will stay good and hot though should settle down to 450 to 500. At bed time, I totally fill the box through the griddle top. (be sure to switch back to vertical before opening either door!) Once I refill, I open the right front door about an inch to get a super draft. Soon I have a roaring fire again, just enough to char the new wood. Then I close the front door, switch back to horizontal burn, and adjust the thermostat flap to be just barely closed. I also usually close the little tear drop flap on the lower left wall of the stove.

With a final reload at bedtime (around 10:30) I'll wake up about 7:30 or 8:00 to a 350-450 degree griddle top and some pretty good hot coals. Enough to get another fire going if I want it.

Good dry wood and air. That's all you need. Don't worry about smoke. If you have a good fire, smoke will be minimal.
Do you have a Vigilant owner's manual? If not, let me know and I'll email you one.

Cheers!

Ken

Hi Ken. I just picked up a 1977 VC Vigilant. Do you still have that owner's manual? Sure would appreciate it! Thanks.