New to pellet stoves. debating ashley or a vogelzang

[woodsman1775]

Hello all.
New to the forums and to the pellet stove world.
I burn wood in my shop and am looking at putting a pellet or a multi fuel stove into my house. I found 2 similar stoves at tractor supply. I'm on a limited budget. So the two stoves I'm looking at are the vogelzang large hopper pellet stove and an Ashley apc1406. I like the idea of a multi fuel stove but the Ashley's don't have the greatest reviews and the vogelzang seem to have decent ones. The down side to the vogelzang is that it's only pellets. So I'm on the great debate of do I just go with the Ashely and take the chance that the others just had bad luck or didn't know what they were doing or do I just forgo the option of multi fuels and go with the pepper stove. Look forward to all your advice. Thanks in advance. Best regards. Jordan h

 

[jackman]

I would say it largely depends on where you live and the local availability of pellets. Here in Oregon the only pellets available are douglas fir so that would drive the decision making on a stove. Multi-fuel stoves have no real benefit here.

 

[woodsman1775]

I would say it largely depends on where you live and the local availability of pellets. Here in Oregon the only pellets available are douglas fir so that would drive the decision making on a stove. Multi-fuel stoves have no real benefit here.

Im located in Connecticut. I am a farmer and live in a farming community so its pretty easy to find multiple fuels. Not sure about what kind of pellets are around here. I'm not necessarily concerned with the fuel type as I am the two brands. I was hoping to get input on the stoves.

 

[Shane1]

Your best bet would be to research availability of parts for each stove. Being as they are sold at tractor supply you won't be able to get a repairman to fix any issues. Good luck with whichever you choose.

 

[Bioburner]

Aren't they both US Stove Co. stoves? I know the control boards for their stoves are like platinum price. Check craigslist for a used Countryside as its a basic multifuel that was copied. Want to go way up the quality scale see if you can find a Harman PC45 or the p series can digest up to half corn.

 

[FirepotPete]

Both are owned by USSC. It's just like GM, do you want to buy a Nova or Caddy? I love the bio stoves myself. I know a lot of people don't take the time to learn how to run them. Actually if it wasn't for a forum years ago mine would have been to the curb within a couple of months!

And the control board prices have dropped. Not through USSC themselves but they are available other places now, where they weren't before.

Another thing is that the USSC replacement motors are available through 3rd party cheap compared to USSC. I like the fact that I can replace anything on my stove without a problem.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

Both are owned by USSC. It's just like GM, do you want to buy a Nova or Caddy? I love the bio stoves myself. I know a lot of people don't take the time to learn how to run them. Actually if it wasn't for a forum years ago mine would have been to the curb within a couple of months!

And the control board prices have dropped. Not through USSC themselves but they are available other places now, where they weren't before.

Another thing is that the USSC replacement motors are available through 3rd party cheap compared to USSC. I like the fact that I can replace anything on my stove without a problem.

I am very happy with my USSC product. I do like the looks of their Ashley line. I have also verified the parts in these things can be sourced from other parties and the prices for said parts are easily affordable.

 

[Natedawg63]

Take a look at a scratch & dent Englander stove from AMFMEnergy. Jus went through the same thing... first time pellet fuel owner. I was also on a budget and purchased the SmartStove 2200 sq/ft stove from Englander. Had a wonky bend in the steel on the back, so it did not meet the quality control for being put on floor for general public sale. Has zero effect on the operation of the stove and unless you look in the back... you would never know it was there. They also have a very popular discounted model that I believe uses dual augers instead of the single auger system like their newer stoves use. Ordering is trouble free and for $75 they deliver it to your curb... all you do is put it on a dolly of some sort and wheel it where you want it. Very pleased with mine. I installed the thru-wall venting kit from DuraVent... also a breeze if you are not afraid of cutting holes in your wall.

This is their discount model that lots on here like... the SmartStove is a lil more but worth it in my opinion cause it uses the newest technologies.

(broken link removed to http://www.amfmenergy.com/55trp22--epa-certified-pellet-stove--2255222200.html)

 

[3650]

I see that Lowes is now carrying Summers Heat pellet stoves which is Englander re branded. $1099 not bad.

 

[Natedawg63]

The $999 stove at AmFm includes the $75 to your curb included in the price... that is nice!

 

[two401pm]

Im located in Connecticut. I am a farmer and live in a farming community so its pretty easy to find multiple fuels. Not sure about what kind of pellets are around here. I'm not necessarily concerned with the fuel type as I am the two brands. I was hoping to get input on the stoves.

I live in Iowa and have been burning corn for 25 years.The first stove I had to use wood pellets and gelled alcohol to start the stove and after it warmed up to start the feed of corn it was great.. I presently have a St Croix Lincoln scs model.. it has two hoppers a small one for wood pellets to start it , self lighting electric match, and a 2 bushel hopper for corn . It is controlled by a thermostat on the wall ..all I have to do is make sure both types of fuel are in it and empty the ash pan.. Best purchase I ever made... Corn is a fantastic fuel as there is no creosote build up in chimney.. some fly ash but that is all..and a yearly clean up.. You will love the heat output of corn if you decide to go this way.. I live in an old big two story house where the windows leak some air and are single pane.. so the house is a little airy, I have no trouble heating this house to 80 degrees in the winter, living in Iowa the winters are cold not as cold as Minnesota but it is cold and most times windy.. Good luck you will love the pellet corn stoves.. Before the corn stove I was burning 1500 gallons of propane..now I burn 125 bushel of corn..when corn was 2 dollars a bushel I figured I paid for the stove the first few winters..Because propane has been so expensive..

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Us stove company has terrible customer service. Im actually in the process of filing a bbb complaint against them and there dangerous fire hazard products. If you wait long enough you can have mine for free this spring when I rip it out and put a real stove in its place

 

[Hatemypelletstoves]

Us stove company has terrible customer service. Im actually in the process of filing a bbb complaint against them and there dangerous fire hazard products. If you wait long enough you can have mine for free this spring when I rip it out and put a real stove in its place

I just had a great experience with them. Were u in or out of warranty ?

 

[thatguy69]

my experince with my vogelzang 5790 has been far from good. i replaced every moving part on the stove the first year i had it. it never seemed to burn right from day 1 and none of there so called "tech's" could tell me how to cure the issue. they sent me another stove. once recieved i pulled the cardboard off you could see the door was installed crooked(by over a 1/2 and inch), and the ash catcher was bent to heck where it looked like the stove was dropped. sothey sent me yet another stove and its been installed for about 2 months now. and ive already had to replace both the combustion and convection blower due to squeling bearings,along with a door seal that was frayed badly at the seam due to poor installation. i have the extended 3 year warrenty BUT what they dont tell you is after the first year the only thing that warranty covers is things like the door,and firebox(things that wont go wrong). i would steer clear of vogelzang(USSC) and go through somebody thats quailty. vogelzang is built in china

 

[LordmetalZ28]

I just had a great experience with them. Were u in or out of warranty ?

Everything he said. Plus there employees are Ignorant and there only priority is to blame any issue at all on the customer no matter how outrageous there reasons are. I had one employee pull specs out of thin air to accuse me of installing it wrong! I had to send them there own manual to prove I did everything by spec. After the accusations and my request for a new stove,pipe, roofing repair reimbursement, etc etc etc to remedy there screwup the engineering dept got involved also there manager ANTHONY got involved who knew his employee screwed up and said he had no idea why his employee would say that stuff. He remedied this by apologizing many times and sending me a brand new stove out . From the beginning all I needed was a exhaust motor. The new stove arrived dinged up on the jacket and the pellet chute bent and spitting pellets everywhere. I called them and told them this and they accused me once again of damaging the stove. So my plan was to keep the old stove and the new stove till I got what I paid for a working stove!! Well ussc threatened to sue me!! And thier manager anthony would not return my 15 calls I placed. Ussc bullied me out of a working stove what am I going to do fight them and thier multi million dollar lawyers? I had to comply and am stuck with a stove spitting pellets everywhere and starting fires in the ash pan and other ash traps. Its just not worth it. Ill just spend the money and get a real stove. I dont have time or money for a court battle! and ussc knows this. Trust me this is 100 percent true I wouldnt type this many words to lie and if anybody needs more proof I can post that comply letter they sent me. Do yourself a favor and avoid anything to do with ussc.

 

[thatguy69]

I also didn't post all of the problems I had with either stoves to save you guys some reading.long story short it's a poor quality item trying to compete with quality built stoves. That combined with there poor customer service who doesn't know about there own stoves its just a bad combination.they also tried blaming my exhaust even though it was setup within there specs. Do your self a favor and go with a company that's better to there customers and products

 

[FirepotPete]

I've been running one of their (USSC) cheapest stoves, 10th season. A few problems, only two problems, one was the tstat jumper was missing from the board, they sent me another overnight. The other was the board went out and was about 2 months past warrantee. They still sent a new board as long as I sent them the old board back so they could find out what went wrong with it. When ever I called them the were always nice, not always the fastest figuring out what was wrong, but always helped me. I just have to say that my own experience with them is much different than what others have posted here. I will say that their manuals for their stoves are very lacking in detail on how to run the stoves, that would make a big difference for people not mechanically inclined or willing to tweak a stove without more information.