Info on VC vigilant

I was given a VC vigilant 1977 the previous owner
knows nothing about. It relatively clean and it had
the coal kit with it but the hopper and shaker grates
are missing. The ashpan is there but how do you burn
wood in it I would think you would need some sort of
grate above the ashpan to rest the burning wood on.
I also would like to hunt around for the rest of the coal
kit what is my best resource? I found a full kit on eBay
but the guy will not ship it and he wants $450 for it.

hello, i have 2310 vigilant but i have seen pictures of the older units i dont think you use anything on the bottom of the stove when burning wood. there are many places online that sell coal kit parts one is woodmanspartsplus or you could try a VC dealer you need to be sure of the model there have been a few.

Put Vigilant in the search function in the upper right and you will get a lot if information both pro and con on your model.

chopper698 wrote:I was given a VC vigilant 1977 the previous owner knows nothing about. It relatively clean and it had the coal kit with it but the hopper and shaker grates are missing. The ashpan is there but how do you burn wood in it I would think you would need some sort of grate above the ashpan to rest the burning wood on. I also would like to hunt around for the rest of the coal kit what is my best resource? I found a full kit on eBay but the guy will not ship it and he wants $450 for it.

You should post pictures of the stove, with the interior also photographed. If it's the model I think it may be, there were two types of internal set-ups, one for coal and one for wood. There are internal side walls that can be changed to accommodate wood burning or coal burning, the coal set-up also had the grates, ash pan and hopper. You don't use the ash pan for wood. The wood sits on the bottom of the stove. Vermont used to recommend 1 1/2" of either sand or ashes to be put on the bottom of the stove to make your fire on when burning wood. If it was originally sold as a coal stove by Vermont at that time, it would have been made from a special grade of cast iron that is more heat and fire resistant than their wood stove models. But before I go making a fool out of myself, post photos, there are several folk on here that know a lot about the old Vermonts...

dj

I would like to post pics of it but I have
no idea how too. I know the back wall
of the stove says 1977.

When you are posting a response, below the box where you type what you want to say, there are two tabs, one says 'Options' and one says 'Upload attachment'. Click on that second tab. Then you have to 'Choose File', a dialog box pops up where you find the picture you want to upload and click on it. You can add in several photos at once, but you have to 'Add the file' to get it to post. First time it's not so clear, but try it once or twice and you'll find it's pretty straightforward.

dj

1977 inside the stove backwall fireback casting or on the silver tag outside the stove on the rear? I may have a contact for you for co al parts. Also ckech North Jersey
Craigslist.

I think I have a new old stock vigilant coal kit in the barn. I know the hopper and grates are there and most of the rest. Emery

chopper698 wrote:I would like to post pics of it but I have
no idea how too. I know the back wall
of the stove says 1977.

I'm pretty certain that the "1977" cast into the stove's fireback is the year the Vigilant model was originally introduced to the market, not the year your particular stove was cast. IIRC, my Vermont Casting Defiant wood stove had '1976' cast into its fireback. I bought it and picked it (and a few other) directly from the Randolph, VT foundry in 1979. My stove had a aluminum tag riveted onto the back of the stove with the mfg date on it. You'll be lucky if it's still there.

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:

chopper698 wrote:I would like to post pics of it but I have
no idea how too. I know the back wall
of the stove says 1977.

I'm pretty certain that the "1977" cast into the stove's fireback is the year the Vigilant model was originally introduced to the market, not the year your particular stove was cast. IIRC, my Vermont Casting Defiant wood stove had '1976' cast into its fireback. I bought it and picked it (and a few other) directly from the Randolph, VT foundry in 1979. My stove had a aluminum tag riveted onto the back of the stove with the mfg date on it. You'll be lucky if it's still there.

That makes allot of sense DJ. They would have to change casting molds every year other wise.

I think that same thing applies to our old Glenwoods. I find different years cast into many of the cookstove parts ranging from 1909-1922. It's my guess that these represent part numbers as well in my case. Also, in my house the fieldstove fireplace in the kitchen happens to have a 1922 scratched into one of the flat stones by the mason who built it. I would bet they bought the Glenwood 208C that same year to install there.

Sorry to hijack your thread Smoker.