Vigilant II Is Just Humming Along!!!

Now that I've graduated from "newbie" to "amateur" it's time I try that! I too finish with a few shakes which seem to assure good air flow. Thanks!

Hey Rich, what are your thoughts comparing the 2 different Vigilant models?

I heard you on an earlier post, and have been making notes. I'm just a couple of weeks into burning the 2310, but I'm happy to report what I've learned so far. I'll make a point of doing that this weekend. Thanks for reminding me of your interest in the comparison...

Comparison of the Vigilant 1400 ("multi fuel") to the 2310...

These two stoves are in very different installations. The 1400 is rear vented into the fireplace, center chimney, 2 story home, with a 6" ss liner left over from wood burning. The liner is straight pipe; not flex pipe. The 2310 is in an uninsulated single story outbuilding. It is top vented into a 6" stove pipe, then into double wall through the roof. The ambient temperature around the 1400 is usually in the low 70s, and around the 2310 it's been in the high 50's, as the stove is inside an 8' x 24' work area partitioned from the rest of the building only by sheet plastic.

Both stoves impress me to no end. I have been burning the 1400 for three seasons, and the 2310 for just three weeks, but here are my impressions so far. The 2310 is a deeper stove, in that the ash pan is under the stove, not in the stove. The 1400 ash pan comes out through the doors, and the ash pan for the 2310 is behind a separate door, as you know. The 2310 provides for more coal and a longer burn, since the grates dip down substantially farther than those in the 1400. I like the capacity of the 2310, but I could not lower it enough to fit in my fireplace due to the position of the ash pan. I like the swing out door for removing the ash pan, but I am also used to withdrawing the pan through the doors of the 1400, so that is not a big concern to me. I made a cover for the 1400 pan long before I used the handy 2310 ash pan cover, but the 2310 cover allows for carrying the pan at the center; the 1400 pan is carried by putting the slicer through from front to back, and carrying from the front, usually with a gloved hand under the back. Maybe I'll make a cover for the 1400 that is more like the 2310. The 2310 ash pan is slightly deeper, but its shape is such that its capacity is no greater than the rectangular 1400 pan. Otherwise, as far as internals go, these stoves are very similar. By the way, my 2310 came new without a restrictor plate installed, with a paper insert calling for anthracite only.

The exterior features of the stoves also have some differences. The 2310 has a much narrower ash lip than the 1400, so I am happy that it lives on a concrete slab. Using the same technique for de-ashing both stoves I get much more spillage of ash over the lip of the 2310 than I do over the wider lip of the 1400. Not a big deal; just an observation. I also prefer the fixed ceramic handles on the 1400 damper and doors when compared to the single handle of the 2310 that has to be used for the damper, front doors, and ash door. Again, not a big deal.

The biggest difference, and my principal reason for preferring the 2310, is the ash pan door and its influence on recovery time. The air intake on the 1400 is limited to the primary intake at the flap, whereas opening the ash pan door on the 2310 offers much more air. Thus the recovery time on the 2310 is much faster, and in fact start up time is also much faster. The 2310 in the shop will not be in continuous use until I retire, or at least semi-retire. I was concerned about the practicality of part time heating with coal, as I was used to putting a wood fire in my Resolute as needed, typically on weekends when I could spend time in the shop. Last night was my first restart after letting the 2310 go out during the week. Using what l have learned from this community of coal burners I was able to put a coal fire in the 2310 as easily as I used to put a wood fire in the Resolute. And knowing that it's out there glowing this morning, just waiting for me to liven it up is a good feeling. The time I spent tending the wood fire all day will now be applied to my projects!

So thanks for asking for my comparison of the two models. Feel free to post or PM any specific questions that I did not answer here. These stoves are not identical twins, but I love them both equally!

I call it my pilot light. I decided to see what it would take to keep the fire burning minimally in my shop stove during the work week. I de-ashed a "silo" and fed it a few pounds of fuel each evening. This is what it looks like after tending tonight, on the eve of another weekend burn.

Looks like a stoker, Rich, with that centralized glowing. Whatever happened to your resolute?
Had a compadre' in work, asking advice about his friend who owns one, and use to burn wood in it. Now he's converted to coal, and believe he mentioned changing the grates. But he can't get it to work. I believe he was complaining about burn times. I told him to visit this website, and check out this thread.

Nice job Rich, looks like a great way to burn in the warmer weather as well. Thanks for the comparison post earlier...looks like you have a great one, two punch for whatever winter can through at you. How needs electricity when you have a a pair of stoves like you.

I do something similar by deashing only one side of the stove and feed only that side. I alternate sides every couple of days in the shoulder months effectively using only 1/2 the stove with 1/2 the output. When it's too warm for the stove during the day but we still want some heat at night, I will switch to the bucket a day I have in the basement. I have it piped into the oil boiler which is our backup to baseboard fins. That way I can still supply hot water and heat to the house at night.

The bucket a day is much easier to get started

Joe...the Resolute is looking for a new home...
Michael...I first used the silo technique in the 1400 for warm weather standby. That's where I got the "pilot light" idea for the down time in the shop. It works well.

Shut down the vig a week ago when the temps started climbing. I lit off the bucket a day in the basement that we call R2 and I was getting concerned yesterday. It was 55 outside, the living room was 78, the bath and upstairs was 80+, and the DHW was at 175. Told my wife we were going to have to operate the window stats.

Got up this morning and OAT was 45. Two hours later it's 31. I put the windowstats into the normal closed position.

I did a quick startup on R2 in the basement and did a quick cleanout and restart on the vig. Both are running now and the house is 72 in the living room, 68 in the kitchen and 75 upstairs. Dropping to 24 tonight with 16 tomorrow night so this should be just right.

And once again "life is good" Larry.

I had let the 2310 go out last week but decided to restart this week on wood. I got to where I could restart the wood fire within a few minutes and have a nice fire going but......4 hours later it's dying out and have to restoke. This gets old really quick. I'm spoiled with coal fires that laugh at a 12 hour run. So I tried a little experiment. I had three buckets of buck and I said "self,,,,do you think it will burn both wood and buck at the same time?" Self said back "I don't know lets try it."

I put three smallish logs in the stove and lit it off on wood. Then I poured buck around the logs up to the half way point on log thickness. I let it sit and then poured some buck on top of the wood, not covering it, just coating it. When it lit I kept layering and so until the stove was banked high at the rear and low in the front. That was yesterday morning. We were gone 13 hours. When we got in last night it was still going good. The logs were gone and the buck was a burnin!!! This morning I put in two logs and when they caught I covered over everything with buck. Got home about 20 minutes ago and poured the last of the buck in after a 14 hour unattended run.

Jeeze I love this stove.

You got that thing fine tuned like a piano, Larry.

Woke up this morning to the sound of the oil furnace running? Yep it was. I looked at the outside thermometer and it was 39 I went to the dining room and deashed the left half of the stove only using a fire poker and some judicious movements of the shaker handle. We had been burning some wood so the ash was real fine and not a problem.

I got the matchlight left over from our first BBQ on May 1 and put a three layer pile on only the left side that I deashed. I lit it off and let it get going then opened the ash door. When it was "blowtorching" I poured 1/2 a hod on the coals and shut the ash door. 10 minutes later I have a nice fire. I backed off the thermostat and will be back on coal for today at least. Checked acuweather and they lie. According to them our OAT is 45. My indoor outdoor says 39. But we are in a "hollow" so that will make it a bit cooler. You country folks will know what a hollow is or depending where your at

a holler.

The only "hollow" I've experienced, is between my ears.