Home Stove Works

smithy wrote:Thanks Norcan the motif is suppose to be the design from the cartoon tangled but may have been subliminal inspired.
I can see where having the ability to have a smaller deep fire for warmer weather is an advantage.my first burn with a full pot was successfull .
Now I am having delamination issues with the mica

Do you have air leaks from the delamination? mine are also having delamination, more where the mica has a big curve. But they are air tight, I caulked them with Ultra Black H.T. silicone from the outside to get even more air tight sealed. It looks like when you make a seal with silicone to a window. I re -sealed the 3 lower windows micas. Even the bolts head were letting the light go through form the light test. So I sealed the bolts head with that silicone. Nice to use cause black, H.T. and flexible...No more refractory cement for me now. When I put the micas in place I made a bed with the black silicone on the back support and on the doors' frame to hold the mica in place, seal and have a flexible seal so it can have some play from the heating/cooling cycles.

what did they do back in the day of manufacture ? Did they cement in place or just friction fit? I am realy not concerned with the fuel consumption at this time, it is a 14" pot afterall .burn time is what I
need I have no experience .
I am experimenting reducing the areas for fair weather burning. My guts tell me the builders or original designers were not overly concerned with the tightness. I think we are confusing the comfort demands of 100+ years ago with the ultra sensitive human of today. Just my opinion

smithy wrote:what they did back in the day of manufacture ? Did they cement in place or just friction fit? I am realy not concerned with the fuel consumption at this time, it is a 14" pot afterall .burn time is what I
need I have no experience .
I am experimenting reducing the areas for fair weather burning. My guts tell me the builders or original designers were not to concerned with the tightness. I think we are confusing the comfort demands of 100+ years ago with the ultra sensitive human of today. Just my opinion

The original designers of these stoves were very, very concerned with their efficiency and performance. Just read any advertising material from the time period. The Base Heaters like my Glenwood were advertised to be air tight, efficient and low maintenance. Which they are. The mica base burners like you have can be just as efficient, but; require a lot more effort to maintain their tightness. The main selling point of the mica base burners is their high degree of radiant efficiency. The mica windows allow the radiant heat to escape the stove easily, however; all the little windows and frames are potiential leak areas which require due diligiance to prevent. They were aware of that back then as we are today.

You have to remember that coal cost money back then too and the buying public wanted the best product they could afford. Not much has changed in that regard.

Please Don't get me wrong I mean you guys no disrespect I am new to this and welcome all data,its just my nature to overthink and try things outside the normal excepted practice.

Norcan the mica delaminated after my first burn and I think windex or the soap and heat may have dissolved the glue or binder. My micas look like chip board or orient strand board "osb" I ordered the clear micas today.

The best way to run the stove cooler on days you don't need so much heat is to have a thicker ash layer on the grate. You also have an internal check damper on the rear of the stove. This is one of the special options on base burners you don't get on a lot of stoves The check damper is for the purpose of reducing the amount of primary air going through the fire bed by diverting it straight up the chimney. The check damper works very well to control the rate of burn and the temperature output of the stove when used in conjunction with the other dampers.

My VigII is what can be named a new stove and I had to fix a lot of air leaks on it.
Nothing perfect on this world and that gives us the chance to "improve" or play with ours' toys.

Yes I believe a trip to the home center for some more cement to plug a few of them holes "I like your method of sealing up the footrest hole Norcan, and pickup an other heat probe.
The reduced capacity divider has resulted in sub-1/2 pound per hour burns and am trying a full pot tonight 40lb

CapeCoaler wrote:Sounds like you might have an air leak...
Dampers closed and all...
If the stove is cold, a lantern inside when the room is dark will show the gaps...
But you have all that mica...
So a smoke test when you run the stove next...
The stove will draw in some of that cigar smoke through any leaks...

may have not had the stove in baseburner mode. Question will the stove run hotter ( have more draft) in direct mode vs baseburner mode?

smithy wrote:Yes I believe a trip to the home center for some more cement to plug a few of them holes "I like your method of sealing up the footrest hole Norcan, and pickup an other heat probe.
The reduced capacity divider has resulted in sub-1/2 pound per hour burns and am trying a full pot tonight 40lb

CapeCoaler wrote:Sounds like you might have an air leak...
Dampers closed and all...
If the stove is cold, a lantern inside when the room is dark will show the gaps...
But you have all that mica...
So a smoke test when you run the stove next...
The stove will draw in some of that cigar smoke through any leaks...

may have not had the stove in baseburner mode. Question will the stove run hotter ( have more draft) in direct mode vs baseburner mode?

The stove will run hotter in direct draft and will send a lot of that heat in the chimney too. In base b. mode the stove will slow down but you will get more heat in the house. So in B.B. mode you can run the stove at a lower T. and get more heat in the house than in direct draft. All depends of where you want the heat.LOL.

Thanks, that explains why my first run was so hot .... "lightbulb"
I believe there is so much information in your "I have my baseburner" thread that it needs an index!

You know Smithy, I burn ant for a few years and with the Bride things are not exactly the same as with the Vig II. So we learn both together all the art hidden in these stoves.Making very slow adjustments :air damper, MPD, B.B. mode, check damper...is a part of the "secret".

I followed some good advice and fixed a hole or two in the footrests using some leftover ceramic fiber blanket and made some washers.

Steve,
You did a good job on these footrest hooks. Your solution will make a good seal, simple and efficient. Better to control the stove burning rate from the parts made for it: the air damper!
Nice photos.

Thanks Norcan , oh sorry the name is David I did check around but my wife assureed me there is no Steve here lol and I did peek under the bed too anyway
Yes the proper control for the proper controls.
The air tight thing threw me because the damper on the home is just not tight . The way it is made suggests they were not trying for tight

smithy wrote:Thanks Norcan , oh sorry the name is David I did check around but my wife assureed me there is no Steve here lol and I did peek under the bed too anyway
Yes the proper control for the proper controls.
The air tight thing threw me because the damper on the home is just not tight . The way it is made suggests they were not trying for tight

The damper is supposed to fit tight against its bearing surface. Glenwood has a spring loaded cap that pulls the sliding damper tight against the door. I don't know if your stove has the same design or not. Anyway after years of existance the springs loose their strength and need to be replaced. Again there should be absolutely no play or looseness in the dampers. An easy fix is to get a lock washer and cut a plug out of it and slip it between the outside cap and the door. It should pull to the door tight and you can still slide the damper.

Well that's the problem the door radius and the damper radius are not the same the sliding part is smaller so it wont seal at the edges if you look at the pic at the top there is a gap ?

That's why I thought their concern was less than foremost in there mind? ...
Or the part ia defective