So I have one of these. I installed it last year at my farm property. This was to supplement or replace a 35 yr old oil furnace. With the price of diesel I figured it would pay in a few years even though were not there much. Also the furnace is on borrowed time I feel and this gives a heat source if it were to give out. OK so this is a farm house built in early 50s, well more of a stick built home than what you may be picturing. Its 4 rooms basically and an addition that contains a bath. Total sqftage is 1200ish. Poorly insulated and drafty. I wedged it into the fireplace. Had to cut like 3" s off the base so that it would fit. Put a liner in and its good. Still need roxul block plate as I loose lots of heat into the chimney. Last yr I was not as happy but I was mostly burning 6month oak. This yr with 20 month oak there is a huge difference.was able to keep home comfortable at least the 3 core rooms. With block plate it will easily be four. The complaint which is not really one but just The small stove is that a reload is every 3-4 hrs. But I think the stove is only 1.3 ft3. My home stove is 3.5!! The VH will hold 3 smallish splits my home stove would hold 10+ of the same. More later maybe?? Bedtime
here is a stock picture of the stove. Mine looks just like this. It has a blower, but the switch is in the very back and because I have it in a fireplace and can't get to it, I just leave it set on high and plug it in when needed and unplug when not.
There are not many reviews of this stove ANYWHERE on the web. And I am pretty sure the bad reviews about it not even heating a room are people burning green wood or "seasoned" wood that was cut 3 months earlier! I took that chance on a hunch as it and the US Stove 1100 were the only stoves in my budget. Plus the only ones dimension wise able to slide in the fireplace as well. The VG said it was a .1 cuft larger and also "boasted" a bit larger heated area so I went with it. For what I have in it its a great cheap stove. Great for a shop, cabin or as a secondary one somewhere? Heck I'd run it as a primary if I had to but I am spoiled by my big steel catalytic stove. But if I was putting it in a home I lived I'd get an NC30 but remember in my application its size would not work. Its easy to work with one air control. Way simpler for the wife than my cat stove. Door seems heavy duty and gasketed well and locks tight. Glass stays clean when DRY wood is burned so air wash works well. The 6month wood blackened the glass. And it burns clean once hot smoke clears from stack fast, and will produce active secondaries pretty easy.
Nice. Looks like a good one. 1.3 cubic feet sounds like a bit of a challenge. The block off plate will definitely keep your btu's in the house.
There is no flue!! The chimney is an unclined brick chimney. I dropped about 14 feet of 6" liner down it and connected it with an appliance connector. Its a bit unlevel due to the fireplace floor. Let me dig I think I put some pictures "somewhere else " on the web . Hold tight bit busy but I will post them today if I find them.
your in luck!! I found my memory card from the phone i had last year. Being the person i am i take pictures of everything i do, so i was sure i had some somewhere!!!! Here is what i have. View attachment 7044 The picture of the insulation batt is from the inside of the stove, directly under the outlet. It is on top of the firebrick i guess to hold in heat. I was test fireing it and had some sticks and was putting in pieces of ripped up cardboard to get it going hot to get a super draft, well i got it!!!! The draft was so strong it sucked that insulation into the pipe and totally stopped the smoke causing it to spill into the house. I had to open the windows and closed the door and shut the air down but it still was coming out of the air holes as NOTHING was going out the stack!!! Once cool i pulled the liner off and saw that thing stuck in there. I ripped it out and has not gone back in, i dont want a repeat of that incident again!! Some said to weight it with like a circle saw blade or angle iron, but the way i see it is that tiny blanket has about an R1 value and i dont think it will do much? After all i dont live in this house. I still get secondary burns pretty fast so im not to worried about it anyway. This is only like my second or third post on here from a real computer. Wow the site looks really good from a full size monitor.
OH and Saftey Police yes thats a wood mantel, and no im sure its not clearance limits. But up untill my grandmother died like 5 years ago there was a fire going almost all winter in this fireplace for 60 years!! Fire brick had been replaced and concrete floor repoured a few times. Im not as worried about this stove catching it on fire as the actual FIRE that was in there.
I have the Vogelzang Performer Wood Stove. All the stoves of this design are basic in design even other manufacturers. You have secondary air tubes, a fire box insulated with firebrick and baffle plate that sits above the air tubes. The baffle plate also helps insulate the fire box as it is usually something that has insulative qualities. Your highlander stove uses fire brick for a baffle plate with a ceramic blanket on top of the brick for extra insulation. The ceramic blanket can withstand temps of 2300 degs F. My Performer stove uses a ceramic board two of them side by side as the baffles then also has a ceramic blanket on top of the ceramic baffle boards. Keeping the heat maintained up in the top of the fire box is important to keep the secondary flames going. Especially important as the fire burns down and the wood burns down lower and lower which means the flames in the top of the firebox are farther and farther away from the main wood and coals that also help maintain heat up in the top of the firebox. Vogelzang stoves are great stoves for entry level wood burners that need a economical solution. I got my 2.12 cu ft stove for $599 3 years ago onsale at a local Menards here in Indiana. Great solution for me as I was looking for a solution that wouldnt take me several years to break even financially. In the first year of burning wood I save enough on the electric bill to break even on the stove and my wood splitter. I already had a flue to use, so I didnt have that cost plus I got the $300 government rebate. My stove is under sized for my house but my setup is ideal so I am able to heat my house with it fine. I have a 1900 square foot house heated from a basement family room thats an additional 600 square foot in size. I added back in 1995 additional insulation and energy efficient windows. When the temps get down to close to zero or in single digits for extended periods of time I have to use my best quality wood and load the stove well to keep the house up to temps but it is workable. I get easy 8-9 hour burns some times longer. I have also have done some performance tweaks with the stove that have helped.
