Advice on a Smaller Stove

Here are some photos showing the rope gasket around the door. The latch is adjustable to make the seal air tight, use a paper band to see if the seal is tight at many places around the door.
Also the small air opening door on the left side of the stove could be opened to reduce a little the draft.
Take a flashlight and look Inside the ash pan pit to check for a bad cement seal. Usually, the Vigll has less draft when the top damper is closed so the gasses have to travel a much longer path before escaping to the stove pipe.But making some testings is the best for you, what works good for one may not for an other one.
See if the primary air flapper at the back of the stove is working properly, or closing if placing the lever in the closed position.
Hope it helps.
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I use to have a vigilant stove. I can tell you the stove is NOT too big for your place. You should be able to dial it back enough. Also can leave the internal damper open, as mentioned in earlier reply.

change all the door gaskets, and look it over for leaks, especially where any linkages, etc. go into the stove body for raking, door handles, glass, etc. We had that problem last month with a Newcastle. It was cooking the owner out of the house and they couldn't turn it down enough.

it needed new door seals, new glass seals, and the raker rod hole in the side of the stove, was leaking air big time. It would run with the draft completely closed, just off the raker rod leakage.

we replaced all those seals, and I made a gasket for the raker rod hole, and now it's running fine and can idle right down to barely a simmer

if you "must" try a smaller stove, get a Harman I on the used market, they are around for about 1/4 price lately- or try one of those small potbelly RR caboose stoves, just realize if you trade down to a small bucket-a-day potbelly pot size, you'll be filling the stove more often. If you buy a used stove, make sure the firebrick or liner is good. There's a ton of old vintage stoves out there now, with missing burned out liners and no firebricks.

an old style mini 2-lid cook stove would heat that space just fine

yep...as CC says, you need to check for the leaks... first dollar bill test the doors (thats an easy place to start)... then stuff a shitload of paper into the flu pipe and lite it, close the stove up and use a smoking candle or lighter and start going around everything below the firepot (cast iron can warp, glues & cements wear out and fail, screws and bolts can become loose)... find the area thats sucking in your smoke/lighter and you will know what has to be fixed. I do believe the Mark 1 is a solid welded 1/4 steel combustion chamber (like Crane Stoves) so you always know the only possibility is door gaskets on those types of stoves.

So I called a company to come look at the stove. They think I have too much draft and prob need a metal insert in my chimney. Is there a cheaper way to reduce my draft. Can't afford to drop 1k on a insert. Btw here is a better view of my place. The ceiling fan doesn't work. Just picked up a new one 70". I am going threw a lot of coal per load. I got one of those coal buckets and I over flow it with coal. 12 hrs later barely anything left.

I cannot say with certainty, however, the odds are you do not need a chimney liner. Did he check your draft or just eyeball it? Did he, in fact, check your chimney to determine its condition? Don't blow any $$$ yet!

First off, thank you for your service. I appreciate that!

Secondly, DO NOT let ANYONE sell you a stainless liner! It will not last with coal - even with regular cleaning your looking at 10 years absolute maximum before it perforates like a sieve. Probably less. Fly ash + H2O = sulfuric acid. Masonry is the best way to go.

Cheapest way to reduce draft is with a barometric damper. Most expensive one is like $80 - much better than a G-note.

Are you burning coal, pea size coal and not those pine fire logs next to the stove? Sacri lege

michaelanthony wrote:Are you burning coal, pea size coal and not those pine fire logs next to the stove? Sacri lege

LOL its my cheating way of getting the coal going. Work Smarter not harder lol

You could easily replace the 90° elbow with a T, and install a barometric damper there.

A barometric damper should solve that "too much draft issue''.

Just wanted to say thank for all your help. Every Time I have a question on here I always get an answer.

As Smitty said, Thank You for your service !!!!!!

Now Sarge, could you be a little more specific on your location besides the entire state of R.I. ??

It is possible there is someone living near you who can help you out by giving your stove a look see and give you some pointers. And definitely stay away from a liner insert. There are far more options already given here that will help slow that puppy down and keep you from burning too much.And I'm pretty sure that a member here will not be trying to sell you a liner !!

With too much air coming in (bad gaskets or seals) and too much going out (no restriction on the flue either by manual or baro damper) there is no way to throttle that thing back.

As a FNG it will take you a little time to get this coal burning down to a science but by the end of the season, you will be a pro.

Rick

Sarge, could you tell us how much coal is a lot. 50 lbs a day? 20-30-40 a day? Pea and nut run well in that unit AND it is a very good stove, however as this cold snap heads our way this week, you may be thinking about MORE heat. It appears that you have an outside wall for the chimney, and we would like to know if that is true. Having too much draft sure is easier to live with, and easier to adjust than too little draft. The fringe season this year went into last weekend, but now that winter appears to be closing in, you will be able to get the answers you desire. Why anyone who is a 'dealer' would tell you about adding a grand to the chimney for nothings makes me angry. If you do not know, simply say so. If you think acids and SS get along well, just ask the folks who have SS outdoor boilers.......then you get into the 303 vs 316 vs blah, blah, blah. There will be many stokers coming up for sale at the end of the season, and please do me a favor and check out some of them. You did your time, and thank you for that, now think about relaxing and not feeding and adjusting......just enjoy. I did notice your shoulder patch, and do understand what that means as well.

I don't even see a manual pipe damper on this installation. I am not familiar with this stove, is there a damper built into the stove? If not, I can see why it cannot be controlled. It needs either a MPD or Barometric or both. Am I missing something?
Randy