Chubby or Vigilant.??

Which one is a better heater the Chubby of the Vermont casting Vigilant 2 ..??

Posted in the wrong sub-forum. This is the hand fired boiler forum. Try one sub-forum up from this one, hand fired stove forum, and you should get plenty of help. Be patient, it's sort of slow this time of year. Welcome!

I'd personally do the CHUBBY due to it's simplicity--BUT----------- it comes down to what/how much your heating--open floor plan or an old broke up farm house like my situation--ended up with a HITZER 50-93 & have never looked back.

Chubby all the way. More BTUs, easier to use and shake down, and way less moving parts. i believe the Chubby holds more Coal. You can fill from the top or the door. Customer service by Larry is second to none, you speak to the owner every time. Also the Chubby has a very effective blower whereas I believe the VC does not.

Larry will also refurbish your existing or sell you a refurbished unit if brand new is not for you.

If I was burning wood, I'd be all for the Vermont Castings product. The Chubby is so much better for Coal burning.

Vigilant II 2310 all the way but i am just a little biased. There hasn't been a wood burning Vigilant made in decades. I must admit customer support is priceless if you are starting out and you won't get that from VC for the vigilant.

I can say the 2310 is a great heater for its size. As stated, the shaker grates are not too aggressive.

I love my chubby. Granted it's the only coal stove I've ever owned but it does what I need. It's rugged, easy to use, burns all night and the service (Larry) is great.

I would like to get a Chubby one day but I have a Vigilant II. Burning only anthracite I can get 12 hours or more no problem as long as I keep the fly ash down. Biggest problem is the corners get full of ash and when that happens burn times drop and so does heat output. Other than that I also burn wood in it before it gets really cold and it is a great wood burner with 6-8 hours burn time. Have had the stove for over 5 years and also have a VC Resolute wood burner that is 30 years old. The older VC products are great stoves.

I am biased too. I absolutely love my chubby!!
Super simple and rugged.
And Larry’s customer service sets the bar for any company out there!

So what did ya go with ?

I do not own a Chubby but do own a Vigilant II stove. I am very pleased with the Vigilant II. The doors have relatively large windows that give you a nice view of the fire. Top loading makes adding coal real easy. Ease of ash and clinker removal as well as long burn times are important if you want to keep a fire going continuously. That is where the Vigilant II shines IMHO. The doors open and a cover piece easily comes out to expose the grate. It is easy to floss the grate and push ashes out. I don't bother using the shaker handle at all. I never spend more than 5 to 10 minutes servicing the stove. Despite what some have said about the grates, they seem robust and are very easy to replace if need be. The individual pieces can move a little bit side to side making it easy to get rid of clinkers. The stove has a recirculation mode that, when engaged, re routes exhaust gases down the sides and up the rear of the stove, a concept similar ( albeit not as elaborate) as a baseburner antique stove. The air intake has a flapper "valve" thermostat that maintains an even stove temperature. I only have a barometric damper. No MPD is needed with the Vigilant II. I can burn pea, nut and stove coal without any issues. 12 hours burn time with 400-450F temperature is no problem even with large stove sized coal. Nut and pea coal burn even slower and I can get 15-16 hours easily. Yes... ashes can accumulate in the corners and reduce the amount of coal that burns.... but cleaning out the corners is easy and never a problem. I can't compare to a Chubby, but I can compare the Vigilant II to a large Godin Oval stove. The Godin does not have a recirculation mode. Instead, the exhaust manifold in my Godin is set up to vent low, which makes it more efficient as the manifold acts as a heat exchanger. Both are great stoves and put out a good amount of heat. However, the Godin takes more time to service. I have to spend more time poking out ashes through the front grate and move the lower grate with the riddling rod. I alternate between poking ashes out and using the ridding rod for about 15 minutes to get all the ashes and clinkers out. The end result is the same. I can keep both stoves going continuously. However, there is much less mess and work cleaning the Vigilant II. I've had my Vigilant II for about 25 years and have not had any problems with it. I take care of it, clean it out thoroughly at the end of the season, remove ashes and coal pieces from the sides and rear, use stove polish. It still looks and works like new. I guess I am biased toward the Vermont Castings stove. It is my favorite.

FWIW... I bought a used older Vigilant some years ago and it came with coal grates (but they were still in the original box never installed). I wasn't aware at the time of purchase but the manufacturer recommended (or maybe required) this Vigilant use an 8" exhaust vent. My chimney is 6" and so I never used the stove and sold it shortly after buying it at a small profit.

I've been real happy with the Chubby.

Ha! This is an old thread

keegs wrote: ↑

Sat. Nov. 20, 2021 1:28 pm

FWIW... I bought a used older Vigilant some years ago and it came with coal grates (but they were still in the original box never installed). I wasn't aware at the time of purchase but the manufacturer recommended (or maybe required) this Vigilant use an 8" exhaust vent. My chimney is 6" and so I never used the stove and sold it shortly after buying it at a small profit.

I've been real happy with the Chubby.

6" probably wouldve been fine for Coal. Chubby is a grate stove.

ASea wrote: ↑

Sat. Nov. 20, 2021 2:42 pm

6" probably wouldve been fine for Coal. Chubby is a grate stove.

Yeah.. the 6" flue would have worked fine but I probably wasn't sure how the insurance company would look at it had there been the need for a claim.

keegs wrote: ↑

Sat. Nov. 20, 2021 4:45 pm

Yeah.. the 6" flue would have worked fine but I probably wasn't sure how the insurance company would look at it had there been the need for a claim.

Truth! Anything that gives them an out.