How does the stove perform?

I have a rustic stone cabin that is too small for a big oven of any kind. I am considering getting the small Vogelzang.

What do you think of it?

How does one prevent rust on a wood-fired stove?

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net), December 13, 2001

Answers

I use one, but it is too new for any problems. We have had it for about two years. Heats fantastic. Use a stove temp. to keep it the fire in the right zone so it does not mess up the stove.

-- notnow (notnow@blabla.com), December 13, 2001.

What do you mean by "Use a stove temp. to keep it the fire in the right zone"?

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net), December 13, 2001.

I have one. Its a smallish stove, with two lids for cooking and a big removable top for, I suppose, larger trays. I got mine for 89 bucks at tractor supply- it was on sale. It is the only source of heat in our 900- 1000 sq. ft. house and does an OK job (the house is poorly designerd for effiecient heating, so that is a major factor in the OK rating). The stove isnt that good quality. BUT for 89 bucks.. you get the picture. Some potential points to consider. Get a spare damper- it will burn out quick (the factory one is junk and the spot welds come undone). The stove's paint isnt great and it will need to be painted after a few months of running. The air intake is a good design- but ash does tend to build up below the intake tray and needs to be shoveled out often. The stove itsself becomes very ineffiecient when there are alot of ashes in the bottom- it needs to be shoveled down to about an inch of ashes left in the bottom (packed) about weekly. DONT BURN 2/4s or something like that in quanity in these stoves. They (stoves) have too many air leaks even with the intake shut completely and will quickly over heat. The top burner area leaks smoke a little tiny bit until you get the stove drawing correctly- but I wasnt about to get stove sealere to adhere to that surface. Make sure you fire this puppy outside before you bring it in for the first time, as the cooking paint really stinks. All and all, I use mine for total heating of the house, partial cooking and even some baking (I set up a baking tray with water in it and put the item to be baked in another tray with tin foil over the top- the item to be baked's tray is placed in the first. Expect moist result- cornbread is good to do this way). Also, one last thing, the accessories are overpriced for the most part and can be bought cheaper than what is listed on the acessory pamphlete included with the stove.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 13, 2001.

We just started using ours, so can't really tell yet how it's going to do.Except to say we bought the grate to go inside it to hold the wood up off the floor of the stove.It was expensive but does seem to make the wood burn more efficiently.But he's right, it really does stink and smoke the first time you fire it up good.

-- VickiP. (counrymous@webtv.net), December 14, 2001.

Compared to the ashely wood stove that I had before, the volz is really cheap. My door latches continually come apart, and it seems like I continually stand at the door throwing wood in to keep the house warm. And as mentioned above it does have a lot of air leeks. When I get the money I will definetly be trading back for something better.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), December 20, 2001.