Help with Vogelzang Mountaineer Woodstove

[sancraft]

I had an old boxwood stove that was starting to show wear. I saved and bought a Vogelzang Mountaineer woodstove with a blower. My daughters and I moved the bear and set up the new stove, also quite heavy. We are having problems with the new stove. When you open the door to add wood, smoke billows out into the room. Whenever we open it, we have to open the windows and put a fan in the door to pull the smoke outside. All of that then counters having a wood stove to heat the place. The fire never really blazes up, unless the door is open. As soon as you close the door, the flame goes back done. The damper is open and the chimney worked fine with the other stove. Smoke pours out the top of the chimney now, but it seems like the stove isn't getting a good draw. There is always smoke in the firebox. Does anyone have any suggestions. I don't want to have to try and get this thing back out of the house and onto the back of the truck and do the reverse with a new stove. We nearly died this time.

[omnicat]

Does it have an air control lever? Sounds like it's not getting enough air.

And the description sounds like what my catalytic wood stove will do if I forget to disengage the catalyst before opening the door. But I don't think yours is a catalyst stove...

[stanb999]

Are you sure the damper on the stove is open?
This is an "exempt" stove. So you can't really "damp it back".
If it's smoking like that with the damper open. I'd check the flue for a blockage.
Also is it warm outside? If it's warm it may not draft as well also.

[Okie-Dokie]

Got to be the chimney is too small for this stove or some sort of blockage in the pipe. Are you sure you got the damper in right?

[sancraft]

It doesn't have a lever. I'll check the chimney for blockage and I'll recheck the damper installation. I'll let you know how that works. Thanks. Any more suggestions of things for me to try anyone?

[sancraft]

How far should the damper turn. Right now full open it only goes apart 1/4 of a turn from closes position.

[TexasArtist]

Sancraft can you tek the pipe off from where the damper is and get a picture for us?. I have a vogelzang fronteirsman and my damper goes all the way around. I wondering if maybe something is blocking yours form turning?

[FreightTrain]

i sorta had the same problem...
my wood stove doesnt have an air control lever and the damper only closed 2/3s the way... i installed a second damper and use that one.... before i open the door, i fully open the damper, then CRACK the door open just a hair for a min so the heat draws the smoke inside the stove up the pipe ... i still sometimes get a bit of smoke but fortunitly i have a 3/4 closed off ceiling vent at each end of the barn/workshop.. so it eventually clears out

and as others said, check for creasote blockage in chimney and at damper on the stove

[insanity]

I pulled the handle out of our damper once when cleaning the pipe. And when i put it all back together i found that i had put the damper back in backward. Which stopped it from turning all the way around.
Just a thought. Though I'm thinking it only stopped it from closing all the way.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Sounds like you are starting the fan after some smoke has already come out but that could make it worse by competing with the stove, but not likely to be your primary problem, just a thought. (I knew a girl once that started her first fire in a stove without opening the damper, got a little smoke, so decided to turn on the attic fan, it put the woodstove into reverse and filled the house with smoke!)

[farminghandyman]

were you using the old stove this year?
or last year?

I have had birds build nests in the chimney over the summer or try to and partly plug the chimney,

also my wood stove is very picky and needs a very clean chimney to keep it drawing good,

[Cabin Fever]

Well, it appears that the only way you can control the amount of air coming into your woodstove is by adjusting the damper (or opening the door). The damper is full open when the handle is pointing up and down (1/2 turn from closed position). The diagram below is the damper for your stove:



If the stove seems to not be getting enough air when the damper is full open, I would try cracking open a window. Perhaps your house is too tight and burning the woodstove is creating a slight vacuum inside the house. This vacuum would keep the maximum amount of air from entering the stove.

Tell us about your chimney. How high is it above the roof of your house? Are there tall trees nearby? Could your chimney cap be plugged with paper ash? I've seen many chimney caps (spark arrestors) that are plugged from the paper ash that flies up the chimney when people start a draft using newspaper before lighting the firewood.

[sancraft]

Believe me, this place isn't tight at all. It's just a 12x30 hunting cabin with no insulation. The fan on the stove we haven't installed yet. We used a box fan pointing it out the opened door to pull the smoke out of the house. The problem definately seems to be the damper. It only opens at most 1/4 turn. I checked and it is installed correctly. There are 3 feet on the bottom that fit into 3 notches on the stove. the feet stop the damper from opening fully. We are taking it back to the store today and just getting another boxwood stove.

[Cabin Fever]

I realize a person expects something that he or she buys new to work perfectly. In this situation, however, I would be inclined to remove the damper all together and buy a separate damper….the kind of damper that fits into 6-inch stovepipe. To me, that would be easier that lugging a several hundred pound stove around and then installing a different stove that may require you to adjust the length of the stovepipe that you already have set up.

[sancraft]

When we first installed it, we had to wait 3 days for a replacement part because the pedastal shelf opening was smaller than the stove body opening. That was 3 days with no heat and limited cooking. Then the damper isn't right and my house place is smoky and curtains and clothes are grayish from the smoke. Then yesterday, the door stopped sealing completely when closed, so smoke was pouring into the room with the door closed. We had to open all windows and doors, turn on a fan pointed out of the window and leave until the smoke cleared. Then we had to clean up the mess when we got back home.
I think this one is just a dud and I don't want to be stuck with a stove that's having this many problems in the first week of purchase. I know the replacement stove will fit because it's just like the one we just took out. We cleaned the stove pipe before firing the old stove up this winter. I'm in GA so I don't have to burn it every day. We cleaned it again before we installed this stove I know it's not my stove pipe. This stove is just defeative. The manager of Northern said we would come up one day next week (2 1/2 hour drive) and take this stove out and install the new stove. But it was freezing last night and we can't wait until some day next week. It's too cold now for that. The cabin gets colder inside than it is outside.
We had help and got it in the truck today. We're coming down for Thanksgiving and will be right near the store where we bought it. The manager has the new stove waiting for us. I am so impressed with how they have handled this whole ordeal. I will definately shop Northern Tool.

[HermitJohn]

I dont know what is causing your problem. I will comment that these non-airtight "exempt" stoves are bad deal. The only control you have is the damper and the size of the fire (amount wood put in). You cant shut one of these down if you get too big of a fire going.

Unfortunately unless you luck into a good used airtight stove or can build your own airtight stove, the new airtights are very expensive. I am still using my old Sotz airtight barrel stove kit I bought in early 80s. When it eventually is no longer usable I will just build one from scratch. Course who knows, I recently saw real deal on a used Jotul locally. Somebody with too much money who bought the thing and then decided wood heat was too much bother i guess. A Jotul is cast iron and if not abused (overfired) they are a lifetime stove.

[fitwind]

I just recently purchased the same kind of stove. We have a littlebit of smoke come out but not very much at all. When we purchased the stove the part where the damper goes didn't have the holes drilled in it. I had asked the store about this problem and what he had told me made alot of sense. He said to put the damper in the stove pipe instead of the origanal placement he said if it was in the place where the put it the damper is unable to open all the way which causes some problems. So thats what we did we drilled holes in the stove pipe and placed the damper in it and it seems to work fine but we syill have a little smoke but that could be because we don't have it open enough or something ( it's my first woodstove so I'm not sure about everything). But you might want to try it out to see if it works for you.

[myheaven]

I have the same stove and had the same problem, The little like door on the bottom for the ash pan has to be opened about two inches. it will get a perfect draw then

[caroline00]

we have the same stove. There was no way to put the damper in and have it functional. We drilled holes in the stove pipe and moved the damper higher.

[Cabin Fever]

Caroline did exactly what I more or less sugggested.