Fired up the Ol' Vigilant II Today!! (Can I Throw a Party?)

What a wonderful day today is Forcast calls for a Good old-fashioned Noreaster, temps in the upper 30s to low 40s... We all know what that means I do however need coal, only about 2 weeks worth left in the bin

I just fired my coal boiler. Temperature is supposed to drop to 27 tonight and tomorrow.

Me too! Frost on the pumpkin this morning, so time for a test fire in the old VC v1.0. Everything is working just fine . The time taken to install the extra gaskets and seal the insert was well spent. Gotta go pick up 20 bags of nut this afternoon.

I got the urge too! It's snowing, roads covered and the temperature is 32. But since there was so much talk about those angled fire brick pieces on other threads, I thought I'd butter them up. Well, then there were a few cracked brick so they came out. Then I started thinking about how other VC haters always talk about the tie rods rusting out, I figured what the hay, I'll pull the sides out of the stove to check that and the grate shaker rod. Report: all's well after 8 years of use, the rods look just as they should. I could use new glass as the old is showing some crazing but I'll use it one more season. Mission for tomorrow is new brick an, batten down the gaskets and away we go!

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:I got the urge too! It's snowing, roads covered and the temperature is 32. But since there was so much talk about those angled fire brick pieces on other threads, I thought I'd butter them up. Well, then there were a few cracked brick so they came out. Then I started thinking about how other VC haters always talk about the tie rods rusting out, I figured what the hay, I'll pull the sides out of the stove to check that and the grate shaker rod. Report: all's well after 8 years of use, the rods look just as they should. I could use new glass as the old is showing some crazing but I'll use it one more season. Mission for tomorrow is new brick an, batten down the gaskets and away we go!

Where are the tie rods?? I d like to check mine, just in case... The stove is about 9 yrs old.

I still.... after 4 years of burning coal cannot get over the fact that my stove was still cranking at about 400* for 25 hours!!! hooray!!!

ScubaSteve wrote:Where are the tie rods?? I d like to check mine, just in case... The stove is about 9 yrs old.

You have to pull the grill, grates components ) except the shaker rod assy (49,16). You'll see one screw at the bottom back of either side. I hit it with a squirt of Kroil and took a break to let it work in. I just used the phillips to move the screw back and forth and it came right out. Grab the internal side (14) and pull the front edge toward the inside of the stove, slide it to you and it should come right out. I had to finagle the shaker rod assy loose from the side but it came right out. Once the side is out, stick you head in and look at the front rods (15), top to bottom. I only inspected the bottom of the back rods because I didn't think it necessary to pull the back of the stove out since everything else rod related was fine.

VigIIPeaBurner wrote: other VC haters always talk about the tie rods rusting out, I figured what the hay, I'll pull the sides out of the stove to check that and the grate shaker rod. Report: all's well after 8 years of use, the rods look just as they should. I could use new glass as the old is showing some crazing but I'll use it one more season. Mission for tomorrow is new brick an, batten down the gaskets and away we go!

Hmmmmmm, I think I have one tie rod in mine,never checked it, and it is not high on my to do list, maybe next year, now that I know about it. My glass has been crazed for the last 25 years or so, I have no plans to change it, but do have the cast inserts downstairs just in case.

My VC's are ready to go, just some wood in the evenings just now, but soon will start the bag/ash two step!

Also I checked my tie rods last yeat and after 28 years they had the same diameter all the way up and were resiliant to my prying on them to see if I could break them

rewinder wrote:... the bag/ash two step!

I LIKE it!

stonyloam wrote:Hmmmmmm, I think I have one tie rod in mine,never checked it, and it is not high on my to do list, maybe next year, now that I know about it. ...

If you have 4 corners, there's 4 tie rods. I don't think you need to be concerned, especially since rewinder has 28 yrs on his. My old Defiant had 25 years and all was well. I think they'd have to be under water or in a very damp environment and suffer severely negligent maintenance for them to fail.

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:

stonyloam wrote:Hmmmmmm, I think I have one tie rod in mine,never checked it, and it is not high on my to do list, maybe next year, now that I know about it. ...

If you have 4 corners, there's 4 tie rods. I don't think you need to be concerned, especially since rewinder has 28 yrs on his. My old Defiant had 25 years and all was well. I think they'd have to be under water or in a very damp environment and suffer severely negligent maintenance for them to fail.

The diagram only shows one, but it makes sense that there would be 4. I am impressed at how well my stove is burning this fall. I used to burn only when it was really cold, because it was hard to control. Going to burn a lot more this year.

hey vc people, I have a vc 3810 6 yrs old. and I was wondering if anyone has a outside air intake adaptor attached (term might be wrong) . I have no problem with a draft but would like to use outside air to combust vs the air in the house, I called my dealer and they have no clue.just wordering were to attach and what dia pipe.
thanks,
nuthead
also burning wood til it gets colder

stonyloam wrote:The diagram only shows one, but it makes sense that there would be 4. (clipped)

The way I clipped the picture out of the model 2310's manual might have confused the count. Below is a larger clipped portion that shows the four of them, one in each corner. The manual lists two part numbers; 161629 for one rod and 5007497 for a set of 4 tie rods.

stonyloam wrote:(clipped)I am impressed at how well my stove is burning this fall. I used to burn only when it was really cold, because it was hard to control. Going to burn a lot more this year.

Good luck keeping that puppy fed! Last year I managed to keep one fire in mine from early December until I shut down in the spring. I did start it in early November but we had a warm spell and I let it go out because the house got too hot. Turned on the oil for a few days. Guess I got lazy I have a harder time when the temperates are 50+ even if I don't close the internal damper. Keeping it open dumps some heat up the chimney and keeps the draft up but it still gets too hot in my house unless I shrink the size of the fire box.

nuthead wrote:hey vc people, I have a vc 3810 6 yrs old. and I was wondering if anyone has a outside air intake adaptor attached (term might be wrong) . I have no problem with a draft but would like to use outside air to combust vs the air in the house, I called my dealer and they have no clue.just wordering were to attach and what dia pipe.
thanks,
nuthead
also burning wood till it gets colder

I think I know what you want to do but I've never seen one adapted to a VC stove. You could fabricate something that terminates in a metal "box" that surrounds the intake flap so long as it doesn't impinge on the metal chain that goes to the bimetallic coil. If it wasn't a fairly tight fit, the cold air near the thermostatic coil might mess up the ability of the coil to sense the actual stove temperature. It's a good idea for anther thead - maybe "How2?:Makeup Air & a Thermostatic Air Inlet"