Vigilant II is just humming along!!!

Hey Matt - we're not getting the cold like you are but tonight into tomorrow we're looking at a possible coating of 1-3". Then comes the cold air with a breezy 15* on Sunday morning. My stove will be maxed out too but won't keep up with with the heat loss from my 3,100 ft^2. It'll give it all it's got but it will fall short here if I hold the Vigilant II to ~700*. Don't want to warp the grill. I need something (read my Koker hooked up) to kick in the extra heat that could come from another 3/4 ton when it's this cold in a typical winter. I don't mind the oil furnace running a little - you know - use it or loose it At the most I use 150 gallons of #2 in a typical winter. Should be a lot less this year, I'd guess about 20 gallons so far this season and I'm most of the way thru my third ton.

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:Hey Matt - we're not getting the cold like you are but tonight into tomorrow we're looking at a possible coating of 1-3". Then comes the cold air with a breezy 15* on Sunday morning. My stove will be maxed out too but won't keep up with with the heat loss from my 3,100 ft^2. It'll give it all it's got but it will fall short here if I hold the Vigilant II to ~700*. Don't want to warp the grill. I need something (read my Koker hooked up) to kick in the extra heat that could come from another 3/4 ton when it's this cold in a typical winter. I don't mind the oil furnace running a little - you know - use it or loose it At the most I use 150 gallons of #2 in a typical winter. Should be a lot less this year, I'd guess about 20 gallons so far this season and I'm most of the way thru my third ton.

Hey Vig,

Tonight is going to be really cold, I think I missed an ash clean-out last night. The stove was burning at about 575 F in a retarded state. Working on getting the coals up to snuff right now. I see some ash build up in the corners but will not remove them until there is a good bed established. I, m thinking that tonight
would be a good night for some Blashak Nut I got next to the coal bin.

I ordered 100 gallons this winter, and have not used much....my wife is telling me to get the VigII going Got to go!!!

Well it is now mid-Feb, so the VigII has been burning without interruption for 3 months. Temps were colder this last weekend with a low of -8, but lately,
it's only in the mid-to-high 30s at night. When it was real cold, a mix of nut and pea did the job with the stove at 700 F. Last few nights, she's ok at 600-650 F with the air inlet at 1/8th inch vs 1/4 or so on cold nights. The house is plenty warm with the corner fans operating. I think is is important to slice
in an upward angle to the back portion of the grates and the back fire wall, and pull down the ash. I see clumps of burnt coal fall into the ash pan (along with a ton of fine ash). Using Reading, its 2 pans of ash a day.... Blashak is a little less but both burn very well IMHOP. I am still learning and expect it will take many seasons of burning coal to really master the art. Luckily the the VigII is a very forgiving stove.

Thanks,

Matt

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:Hey Matt - we're not getting the cold like you are but tonight into tomorrow we're looking at a possible coating of 1-3". Then comes the cold air with a breezy 15* on Sunday morning. My stove will be maxed out too but won't keep up with with the heat loss from my 3,100 ft^2. It'll give it all it's got but it will fall short here if I hold the Vigilant II to ~700*. Don't want to warp the grill. I need something (read my Koker hooked up) to kick in the extra heat that could come from another 3/4 ton when it's this cold in a typical winter. I don't mind the oil furnace running a little - you know - use it or loose it At the most I use 150 gallons of #2 in a typical winter. Should be a lot less this year, I'd guess about 20 gallons so far this season and I'm most of the way thru my third ton.

VigII, I'm in that same boat with about 50 gals of oil used. Most of that was a week that I was away in December though. Other than that, the furnace has only come on 3 times when the temps were down at single or below zero digits. My set up handles everything else quite well. I have been thinking that a little more horsepower on the middle chimney (where my Star Herald is) would handle every situation and lower the need for the cookstove in the kitchen too. Like several, I'm looking for the "perfect" candidate at a decent price. For me, that a Glenwood #6 which has a 16" pot versus the 10" in the Herald. That's allot more power but as I said, it will lower the need for the Glenwood C in the kitchen and I like the the fact that I could run it low and slow for the same output as the Herald and have longer tend times too. But, the fact that we only had a few situations where my current line up wasn't enough leaves me in no real rush about it. If I knew that every winter would be like this one, I'd just keep these two as is. But, I feel like this one has been milder over all?

Another log entry here: It's getting colder this afternoon. Temps are dropping and it may be in the high 20s tonight. I'd say it's 32 F now, so the the stove is kicking at
around 650 F with a rear inlet opening of 1/8th inch or so. "Will probably bring in a mix of nut and pea from the bin for the night. Starting tomorrow, the night
time temps will be in the low 20s thru the coming week. The following week or the last full week in Feb, expect low temps to be in the teens...

'Using the slicer to remove the ash in the far back of the grates and then slipping the slicer between the grates and turning the blade sideways with a slight wiggling action, removing only so much ash so the grates are still protected. 'Been dumping two 3/4 full (plus) pans per day. Life is good!

Thought I'd check in as well, just made it through my first 2 weeks burning coal and it's been pretty great! I will be starting to use Blakshak coal as of tonight as the original bags of "unknown" coal I got at the hardware store are depleted. I'm still having to keep my air inlet open more than most of the rest of you (1/2 to 3/4 to get a good hot burn), haven't really figured out why yet. I also noticed that my flue pipe measures just under 300 with the damper closed, this also seems a little hi compared to what I'm seeing here.

Over all though I am easily getting 12 hour burn time's and running about 50 lbs of coal through in 24 hours. Griddle temps are usually between 490 and 550. I can't go much above that as we are roasted right out of the room. I have ceiling fans and box fans and a tower fan all trying to get the air moving but it's not been that successfully so far. I think I need to get some door way fans and try and get a circular motion started. The Oil has kicked on in the mornings a few times but It doesn't bother me too much as I want the oil burner to stay in decent shape and my dirt floor basement can get pretty damp if I don't blow some hot air down there now and then.

BTW I paid $195/ton for the Blakshak at the Pine Grove breaker (Don't think it's a breaker anymore just a bulk seller) I went there because it's only about 15 min. and didn't want to drive up to Mt. Carmel, maybe next year.

Robmail1 wrote:Thought I'd check in as well, ...8<...I have ceiling fans and box fans and a tower fan all trying to get the air moving but it's not been that successfully so far. I think I need to get some door way fans and try and get a circular motion started. ..>8...

Robmail1, Try turning off the ceiling fans and see how it goes. Sometimes they help, sometimes they hinder. Too fast in the wrong direction, they prevent the air from flowing in the desired direction. Sometimes you have to find out which direction and what speed, slow or fast, works to help move air. There is a thread started last year on the forum where (I think Imonfire ??) worked with ceiling fans and such to help move the warm/cold air in the proper direction.

Hi Guys,

Well it's December 2012.... fired the VigII on November 4th.... after a through cleanout and a few tweaks, the stove is cruising nicely. One load of ash per day, one shake down
and two recharges. The rear flap intake is opened a sliver width. I hope everyone has an enjoyable heating season!!!

Matt

PS using one hod of coal a day... son is a big help....

vmi1983 wrote:Hi Guys,

Well it's December 2012.... fired the VigII on November 4th.... after a through cleanout and a few tweaks, the stove is cruising nicely. One load of ash per day, one shake down
and two recharges. The rear flap intake is opened a sliver width. I hope everyone has an enjoyable heating season!!!

Matt

PS using one hod of coal a day... son is a big help....

Nice!
I've been fired up since mid Oct on one stove (the 116) and about a month later added the cookstove to the mix. The two of them heat my old place really well. Each takes a hod a day when it's chilly like now in the 20's. Little snow coming down as I type, which is cool with me as long as it's a little.

You got two beautiful heaters Steve! Good Luck. Matt

Very good Matt. Once you get used to that stove, it makes a very good heating job. Still wondering if your Vigll is red or brown enameled? If so it could be from the first Vigll production and colored Vigll are quite rare. Anyway it's nice.
Stay warm!

Hey Nortcan,

The stove is a red color enamel. It turns brown when heated. It is an excellent stove.... how old do you think it is? It is the first production model?

Thanks,

Matt

Just too bad that V.C. didn't continue to make the Vigll with choice of enameled colors like yours.
Before my Vigll (black), I got V.C. wood stoves and they were all enameled, among the nicest modern stoves with some so good details like the swing-out ash pan and lid, long gases path... but with just a few modifs, V.C. Vigll could have been The Best anth stove on the market.

Happy New Year to All!

Tonight the low will be 5 F. The VigII has been operating non-stop since the 4th of November. This year I bought 3 tons of nut and 1 ton of pea, mixed as a range.
This has worked well as the burn on a half load is 12 hours +.

Last year I burned mostly bagged Blaschak while this year I got coal from Whitehall, NY, delivered. The ash content is nearly twice that of the Blaschak. Oh well.

I'm going to get one 50lb bag of stove today and give it a try. I want to see how well it burns to ash.

I have a Godin Large Round going in shortly. I know Pea is too small for the Stove, but read somewhere on NEPA that a fellow has burned Stove-sized in the Godin with
success.

Thanks,

Matt

Hello Everyone,

It's COLD tonight. Right now the temp. is -4 F and dropping, I expect to low to reach -18 F.

'Been running the VigII wide-open. She's cruising at 700F with a load of STOVE and NUT and some PEA coal.
The large STOVE-COAL was acquired from my neighbor. I have exactly one 50lb bag of Kimmel coal and I have burned thru half already, (2 days). This coal burns forever and it is
a sufficient compliment to the nut & pea.

I would highly recommend the VigII to any new-comer to hand-fired stove.

Not soon enough, a second hand-fired unit will be up and running in the rear of the house. 'Got the stove from my friend; it's a LARGE-ROUND GODIN wood/coal. It's got a funky little off-axis slightly rotatable circular grate maybe 6" diameter. I've read all the post on NEPA regarding stove operation and I am still mystified. I wonder how in the Sam Heck
am I going to shake down and remove the ash? I believe it will require much more TLC to keep the fire going!!!

Thanks,
VMI1983