My Vigilant Has a Check Damper?

 
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michaelanthony
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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 9:57 am

There is a small cast iron tear drop shaped, swing-a-way cover on the bottom left side of the Vigilant 2310, it may be on the Wood model as well but I can't say for sure.
I have been burning coal for 5 yrs and have heard, read, and even typed that this little tear drop shaped cover is to allow over fire air in the stove, end of story.
As I consider the air passages, this air inlet and the direct/indirect setting of the damper this little tear dropped shape cover can have 2 duties.
The primary air comes into the stove in a direct shot in the rear and under the grates, the ash pan door can be popped open for the 'turbo' effect regardless of the damper setting.
When the stove is in direct draft the side down draft passages of the stove remain stagnant awaiting their use for indirect draft of the damper and at this point the little tear dropped shape air inlet cover can be opened to allow additional secondary/over fire air to flow up the left side ONLY down draft chamber and into the fire box. I said ONLY the left side so why not have one on the right side as well, the opening the little tear drop cover exposes is about the size of a nickle.
I have yet to fire my vigilant as the weather has been mild and the basement stove is keeping pace but as I type the second snow storm in 3 days has arrived and soon 2310 will be fired.
In the past I have used this little side air inlet a couple times and now rethinking it's purpose.
When the stove is in 'indirect mode' which is 99% of it's usefulness the air path where the left side air inlet sits is a one way street speeding towards the rear of the stove where the exhaust zig zags across the rear before exiting the stove.
Now by opening the little tear dropped shape air inlet cover the exhaust passing by cannot allow over room air to enter and create a 2 way street in this area for 'over fire air' but what it CAN do is act as a check damper cooling and slowing the exhaust and lowering the amount of heat being wasted and moving up the chimney by introducing room air to it.
I plan on using this little tear dropped shaped air inlet as I see it as a check damper 99% of the time instead of 1% because I don't think a company would incur the cost of a stove part hardly ever used and could never be used as secondary air inlet if the front door was cracked open in it's place.
Regardless what you are burning, wood, bituminous, or anthracite coal, this cannot be a secondary air inlet if the stove is in 'indirect' draft.
The parts list for this model stove refers to this tear dropped shape air inlet as an "air control" and my understanding is now check damper :)
Your thoughts folks.

MA


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 10:21 am

:wtf: no pix MA???? sounds like over air for wood, but hell, you ain't no dummy, use it for whatever blows smoke up your skirt! :clap: toothy

 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 10:24 am

michaelanthony wrote:The parts list for this model stove refers to this tear dropped shape air inlet as an "air control" and my understanding is now check damper
Your thoughts folks.
In the original wood burning Vigilant that was a secondary air inlet connected to a tube within the fire box to supply heated secondary air. In the coal stove it no longer does that and is vestigial; just left over from wood burning. I guess it was cheaper to use the original casting rather than make new patterns to eliminate it.

It could be used as a check damper but because the stove has a bi-metal air control I can't see the usefulness.

 
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Post by SWPaDon » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 10:31 am

freetown fred wrote::wtf: no pix MA???? sounds like over air for wood, but hell, you ain't no dummy, use it for whatever blows smoke up your skirt! :clap: toothy
I agree, I wanna see pics of MA in a skirt also..................or do I? :bag: :rimshot:

 
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Post by joeq » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 11:21 am

Well Mike, if you've got a manometer, why not open up the "check damper", and see if you're draft lessens?
By the way, did you guys get hit with any snow yet? We got a dusting last nite, but warm temps right around the corner. Heard some parts of New England are going to get hit hard. Just don't know who.

 
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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 11:26 am

Here you go Fred, had to use the iPhone, my Windows on the computer still is frigged up.

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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 11:43 am

joeq wrote:Well Mike, if you've got a manometer, why not open up the "check damper", and see if you're draft lessens?
By the way, did you guys get hit with any snow yet? We got a dusting last nite, but warm temps right around the corner. Heard some parts of New England are going to get hit hard. Just don't know who.
Eight inches Sunday and another foot or so today and 10*...just came in from playin' with my son in the snow, good times!

I could try the manometer but I am not so much concerned with the draft as I am with the heat leaving and what I mean by that is if I can run my stove at 450* - 500* flue pipe say's 110* or lower with a .04 draft I would love to run at 700* when needed and lower the temp of the flue pipe from 200* to ??? and still have an .04 draft


 
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Post by joeq » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 12:02 pm

I must be missing something. If you have a manometer Mike, open the component you "think" is a check damper, and watch your draft, to see if it goes down. Isn't that the point of a check damper? To admit secondary or external air into the stove pipe, and cut down the draft?

 
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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 12:15 pm

joeq wrote:I must be missing something. If you have a manometer Mike, open the component you "think" is a check damper, and watch your draft, to see if it goes down. Isn't that the point of a check damper? To admit secondary or external air into the stove pipe, and cut down the draft?
I plan on a second manometer, I use my manometer on the old box stove in the basement. The Vigilant runs so good I took the manometer off a couple of yrs ago.

Like I said earlier, I'm not worried about the draft so much but the temp of the flue pipe...just tinkering joeq, the Vig is a top runner.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 12:15 pm

joeq wrote:I must be missing something. If you have a manometer Mike, open the component you "think" is a check damper, and watch your draft, to see if it goes down. Isn't that the point of a check damper? To admit secondary or external air into the stove pipe, and cut down the draft?
Joe,

If it's too close to the firebed it may make it burn hotter if whatever other secondary air supply is not enough to burn off all the CO. If it were further down stream where any residual CO can't be ignited, then yes, it becomes a check damper.

Paul

 
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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 12:20 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:Joe,
If it's too close to the firebed it may make it burn hotter if whatever other secondary air supply is not enough to burn off all the CO. If it were further down stream where any residual CO can't be ignited, then yes, it becomes a check damper.

Paul

As franco b stated earlier, it is a remnant left over from the wood burner model and the stove had a tube that delivered secondary air over the fire. Now it is merely a hole in the lower left side with a little swing away cover. When the stove is in indirect mode the added air can only exit with the stove exhaust. It is approx 1/3 the distance from the fire to the flue pipe.

edit: The Vigilant allows air to enter under the front doors as the gasket is cut short / factory. I think there is plenty of 2ndary air as the blues never stop with this stove.

 
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Post by Turbogeno » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 1:02 pm

There's a YouTube video of a guy with a wood vigilant. He filmed fire in the side chamber through the side vent. Whether the side vent ignited the gasses or not I don't know.



 
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 1:08 pm

Sounds like you're just down to the experimenting stage MA. Just throw a magnet thermo on that pipe, hell that's close enough in Freetown. ;)

 
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Post by joeq » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 1:15 pm

Turbogeno wrote:There's a YouTube video of a guy with a wood vigilant. He filmed fire in the side chamber through the side vent. Whether the side vent ignited the gasses or not I don't know.


What a bummer. This guy's got a Vigilant W/O any viewing windows. He had to drill a hole, and put a sight gauge in it to see what his fire is doing.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Dec. 29, 2015 1:58 pm

michaelanthony wrote:
Sunny Boy wrote:Joe,
If it's too close to the firebed it may make it burn hotter if whatever other secondary air supply is not enough to burn off all the CO. If it were further down stream where any residual CO can't be ignited, then yes, it becomes a check damper.

Paul

As franco b stated earlier, it is a remnant left over from the wood burner model and the stove had a tube that delivered secondary air over the fire. Now it is merely a hole in the lower left side with a little swing away cover. When the stove is in indirect mode the added air can only exit with the stove exhaust. It is approx 1/3 the distance from the fire to the flue pipe.

edit: The Vigilant allows air to enter under the front doors as the gasket is cut short / factory. I think there is plenty of 2ndary air as the blues never stop with this stove.
Yup, saw that, Mike. I was just answering the question of if it could still be used as a check damper. Like they say the three most important things in real estate are, location, location, location. :D

Paul


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