A Good or Not So Good Idea?

Pete69 wrote:I suggest that you run the stove for a couple days with the secondary air flap open and report back with the results. You may need to readjust the rear air flap to open a little more, because you would be robbing some draft for secondary air.
A short trial period before making modifications wouldn't hurt. Although I'm looking forward to see how future mods work out.

Hi Pete69, thanks for the infos. Few years ago, before beginning the modifs I tried to improve the stove's performances and tried to burn with the side air control open, closed and some between. Not great succes. My first stove was a brand new Vigilant 1wood burning. The worst of the 5 Vermont Castings I had. After loading wood for the night, at midnight there were almost always back puffs and strong enough to lift the top griddle and leave unburnt gasses in the house. Very bad during the night. Then I did tried many adjustments. That is when I discovered that the side air control did not a big change. I think the reason for the inefficacy of it is because the air entering is cold air and at a cold place. All new wood stoves have hot air to burn gasses. On the Vig11, the cold air coming from the side air control is sent to a just warm
place in the Z back chamber , where the gasses have already transfer the heat to the top and to the R. and L. sides of the stove so it is impossible to ignite gasses there.
Dont you think it would be easier to ignite gasses with super hot air instead of cold air and at the top of the fire chamber?

Hi all. Here is what I did to have the air vent traps on my Vig 11. I drilled two 1/2 holes in the bottom part of the front doors and made traps from an old poker handle. I splitted it in 2 parts and cut them to the good lengh. Made:, December,12. I note everythings I do ,ex Temp, int Temp, stove Temp, pounds added.
After loading the stove, the blue flames arrive sooner I imagine it burns something, the outdoor sulfur smell is rare. Tried to have the air warmer by placing bright St.St. refectors inside the doors to reflect heat toward the stove but it was not better so I removed them. Still on the testing mode.
nortcan

nortcan, Nice job! Seems to be working for you by the amount of blue flames in the picture. I really like the poker handle idea for the air vent covers. Keep up the good work and stay warm.

buck24 wrote:nortcan, Nice job! Seems to be working for you by the amount of blue flames in the picture. I really like the poker handle idea for the air vent covers. Keep up the good work and stay warm.

Thanks buck24, the vents seem to work but I wait a few time again. When I bought the new Vig 11, I was sure to have the best stove but with time I realised it was not.
Curiously, now the stove is perfect as much as I think of what is a perfect stove and I'm falling in love with someone else, the BASE B and BASE H stoves. Some friends on this forum presented some candidates to me and after a long examination time the love really got me...Watch yourself, they have a lot of charm inside and outside of them.
nortcan

nortcan, have you regasketed the windows in each door? I ask because when I look at your post from above it appears there is gasket material all the way around the windows. I my stove, the factory gasket job omits gasketing along the bottom of each windowpane.

Do you see a change in over fire flames when opening or closing the new vents after the fire is mature and all coal pieces are glowing red? I'm referring to a fire that has not received new coal in 8 +/- hours.

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:nortcan, have you regasketed the windows in each door? I ask because when I look at your post from above it appears there is gasket material all the way around the windows. I my stove, the factory gasket job omits gasketing along the bottom of each windowpane.

Do you see a change in over fire flames when opening or closing the new vents after the fire is mature and all coal pieces are glowing red? I'm referring to a fire that has not received new coal in 8 +/- hours.

Hi Vig11PB, yes I put gasket all around the glasses. Before drilling the doors I did try a lot of things with the windows gap but not very easy to control and I wanted the air as low as I can in the doors so it would be pre-heated a little. When the fire runs after hours, I don't see a big change if I play with the traps. One thing I observed is if I let them full open the stove seems to have more difficulties to go higher probably because of the bypassing from the holes. As I said still on the testings.
nortcan

Nice job. I like how careful you are in reporting what works and what does not work. Should help us all. Not many have your patience and good sense of observation.

franco b wrote:Nice job. I like how careful you are in reporting what works and what does not work. Should help us all. Not many have your patience and good sense of observation.

thanks franco b. Yes, if what I do on my stove can help or give some ideas to someone it's perfect. I'm learning a lot from this forum and will for a long time.
nortcan

Hi, just an update for the gasses burning traps I add on The Vigll. With the 1/2" holes the blues arrived sooner and the outdoor sulfur smell was less strong. But I noticed that after loading, if I rise the top lid just a little, the blues were arriving almost instantly. I imaginated 2 reasons: 1= the colder and heavier air arriving from the top lid was a better lightning source than the warmer one coming from the holes I drilled in the doors or 2= the air was not sufficient to ignite the gasses? ( I already wrote that it was the last modif( the tiles) I was making on that stove but...) so yesterday Pm I enlarged the holes from 1/2" to 7/8". Seems better but must continue the testings.
This morning I went out to "see" the smell but the wind coming from North was bringing a worst odor than the stove's one. I live near a town where there are a few paper mills...and it's about 5 miles far from here, with the St-Laurence River in the middle.

It would be so nice if we could plug in a computer on ours stoves and find out all the answers. So if someone has ideas about burning gasses over the fire please come in. Thanks
nortcan.