My Jotul F 500

You, like I when I installed my 500 this fall may have misunderstood their meaning of "burn time". It should say heat output time. There is no way that you will get flames for the time you think. I installed mine in Oct. too and was of the impression that when they said 8 hour burn times I could keep a load BURNING for 8 hours. This caused me to load and operate the stove completly wrong and at my first 2 week inspection of the flue I found a nice shiney black layer of creasote which I quickly went to work on cleaning out. I was given bad advise from freinds that have totally different kinds of stoves and was under the impression that I could throw big ole unsplit hunks a wood in this thing and it would burn allnight. WRONG.
I can load mine up at 8pm and when I reload in the morning I still have a 455 pound cast iron stove that is at 200° external temp which means it is still somewhat heating. I am by no means an expert on these things but I have been really keeping a good eye on this stove, how it behaves and how to operate it in different weather conditions. I love mine so far and hope you learn to love yours too. Them Norwiegions know how to make a stove. As far as the stove pipe, yes, you need to remove the 2 bolts to get the pipe off. Mine are 10mm self tapping bolts. Just be careful on reassembly that you get the holes lined back up correctly cuz if you dont you could actually tighten the bolts and push in the pipe creating a concave in the pipe.

Same boat as well. Do a search here for overnight burn or long burn times. Operating this stove, loading for the night, etc can be a lot different that what you were used to. Little tricks and techniques can help extend that burn time. Good luck.

As for the burn time, do you shut the air down once the stove is up to temp.? Do you clean the ashes very often? How tall, and what kind of a chimney do you have? All these things can make a difference. On the Oslo, there is an oval plate on top, this is held in with two 10mm bolts, they can be removed from the front, they are right in the center of the stove, remove these bolts. This gains you access to flue collar and baffle. In the older manual it said to remove upon installation, the new manual doesn't say to do that, not sure why. On my Oslo I ran it for two years this way and had no problems. If you have a slip in your pipe, it might be easier to lift the pipe though. I've loved all my Jotuls, I hope you will too.

I'm sure others that know more than me will chime in soon with burn techniques. It will make it easier if you tell us a little about your setup and the fuel you are burning.

I put the oslo in our new home around 5 years ago and have burned a quarter tank of fuel oil in that time so I KNOW it's a good heater. Our home is well insulated, heating about 1800 sq. ft. in south central Pennsylvania.

I never get 8 hours of 'flame' time, probably get about what you say, 4 or 5 hours at the most.

If I want the best bang for my buck in terms of heat output in my stove I load it with 22 inch hickory, red oak, or locust splits, and I mean pack it.

Run it up to about 550 degrees, then set it at half way air open for a short spell, then shut the air almost completely off.

I'm sorry, but what do you do now to help the stove? Thanks guys- Paul[/quote] I'm sorry, not real sure what you mean here. I was saying that if you remove this plate, you can clean the creosote out of the flue collar after you it is swept. You can also easily clean the fly ash off the baffle.

ansehnlich1 said:

I put the oslo in our new home around 5 years ago and have burned a quarter tank of fuel oil in that time so I KNOW it's a good heater. Our home is well insulated, heating about 1800 sq. ft. in south central Pennsylvania.

I never get 8 hours of 'flame' time, probably get about what you say, 4 or 5 hours at the most.

If I want the best bang for my buck in terms of heat output in my stove I load it with 22 inch hickory, red oak, or locust splits, and I mean pack it.

Run it up to about 550 degrees, then set it at half way air open for a short spell, then shut the air almost completely off.

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This is the same process I used, it works very well.

Not much to add here . . .

As mentioned . . . many folks (myself included) read the literature and pictured "burn time" to be the time where the fire was just flaming away . . . but many of us now realize that this definition is pretty subjective . . . most of us I would guess would define burn time as the time from when you are getting meaningful heat from the stove . . . or the time from when the stove reaches X degrees to when it falls below X degrees . . . or the time from first flame to when there are still coals enough to easily light the fire by just tossing some small splits on it . . . or . . . as you can see . . . there is no one definition . . . but the one truth is you will not get 8-10 hours with roaring flames in the firebox.

Cleaning . . . I am spoiled since I can clean my chimney outside . . . from the ground. However, on my annual cleaning (and from what I've read) most folks with a straight shot to the roof either sweep everything down so it drops down . . . and then they remove the oval plate and vacuum out the creosote and gunk . . . or they remove a section of pipe and clean from the bottom up with a taped bag to lessen the mess.

Overnight burns . . . as mentioned you're not going to get the roaring fire the whole time . . . but if you load it with the good stuff it's very possible to load it up at 9:30 a.m. and have enough coals 7 or 8 hours later to easily reload the fire and get it going again.

victorytea said:

Master, in other words, you sweep your pipe and then remove the plate and clean the creosote? Or do you remove the plate and then sweep your pipe? I can't believe this stove doesn't have an external lever for aand internal damper or baffle. Keep the info coming- you guys are being really helpful!! Thanks, Paul

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You would want to sweep it before taking anything loose. According to our Jotul rep. "they do not reccommend leaving the bolts loose, they should be re-installed after cleaning." If you have a slip section in your pipe, it would be easier to pull the pipe up. It is not real common for stoves to have a bypass damper, other than cat stoves, not many have a bypass. Do you clean out the ashes very often? I can tell a big difference in burn times after I clean out the stove.

As many said, I had to adjust my expectations as well to flames for 4-5 hours.

But you can have 200 - 300 F stove with coals on the bottom for 8 hours, and possibly 10 hours.

Tips:
good hard wood (oak, hickory, locust) burns longer than lighter wood (maple, etc)
large splits or medium rounds - it is good to have one or two of these in the back/bottom of the load
use 22" rather than shorter in order to fill out the firebox
once the stove is cruising, above 450 F, shut the air down so that all the air is secondary air

When refilling a stove before turning in, if the stove hasn't cycled back, but there is still a good fire going. Be careful to not put splits in that are too small, or else you might find the stove going over 650. I like to put in my big splits at that time as they will not burn as fast as the small splits.

I have to admit that I was disappointed that I don't usually have thick bed of coals after 8 hour which my old cat stove could do without any effort (it had a 33% larger firebox + the Cat). But getting into my 3rd season, I have gotten used to it. This stove is great as it is easy to start and get it cruising quickly, gives great light shows, and looks great. Different than my old stove as it is not going to give the 10 -12 health bed of coals that my old CAT stove could do.

Green Energy said:

use 22" rather than shorter in order to fill out the firebox

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That might be best for you, however I would highly recommend staying in the 18"-20" length range. At 22" you seriously run the risk of logs not fitting properly when you have a nice coal bed. Also, not sure what others are doing, but I like my splits at 3.5"-4.5" thick. They load and burn the burn the best for me, and they tend to season the best in 12 months.

Like Mike I prefer my splits and rounds to be 18-20 inches . . . it never fails . . . some coals build up or when I'm loading the wood there is a Y or small nub and things don't fit in nice and neat . . . having just a few inches shorter gives you that fudge factor and doesn't lose that much fuel load.

I clean the flue on my Oslo from within the stove. Using a flexible rod set after first removing the tubes, baffle and blanket from below. It takes about 1.5 hours. Never disturbing the griddle or stove pipe. Works great!

Valhalla said:

I clean the flue on my Oslo from within the stove. Using a flexible rod set after first removing the tubes, baffle and blanket from below. It takes about 1.5 hours. Never disturbing the griddle or stove pipe. Works great!

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Wow, that ain't easy! Why do you do this? Can you not access it from the roof?

webby3650 said:

Valhalla said:

I clean the flue on my Oslo from within the stove. Using a flexible rod set after first removing the tubes, baffle and blanket from below. It takes about 1.5 hours. Never disturbing the griddle or stove pipe. Works great!

Click to expand...

Wow, that ain't easy! Why do you do this? Can you not access it from the roof?

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Four bolts, then the tubes and all are easy to remove. Then I use a drill driven multi piece flex rod and brush set. Vac it all out, reassemble and it is all done. Quite easy!

The chimney is 30+ feet and covered with ice mid winter. So I do it all from below.

Valhalla said:

webby3650 said:

Valhalla said:

I clean the flue on my Oslo from within the stove. Using a flexible rod set after first removing the tubes, baffle and blanket from below. It takes about 1.5 hours. Never disturbing the griddle or stove pipe. Works great!

Click to expand...

Wow, that ain't easy! Why do you do this? Can you not access it from the roof?

Click to expand...

Four bolts, then the tubes and all are easy to remove. Then I use a drill driven multi piece flex rod and brush set. Vac it all out, reassemble and it is all done. Quite easy!The chimney is 30+ feet and covered with ice mid winter. So I do it all from below.

Click to expand...

Ah, just noticed your location. No need for mid winter cleanings here, I'm glad this works well for you.

Four bolts, then the tubes and all are easy to remove. Then I use a drill driven multi piece flex rod and brush set. Vac it all out, reassemble and it is all done. Quite easy!The chimney is 30+ feet and covered with ice mid winter. So I do it all from below.[/quote]Ah, just noticed your location. No need for mid winter cleanings here, I'm glad this works well for you.[/quote]

Yes, a mid winter cleaning is always a must. Safety first in many ways!

mikepinto65 said:

Green Energy said:

use 22" rather than shorter in order to fill out the firebox

Click to expand...

That might be best for you, however I would highly recommend staying in the 18"-20" length range. At 22" you seriously run the risk of logs not fitting properly when you have a nice coal bed. Also, not sure what others are doing, but I like my splits at 3.5"-4.5" thick. They load and burn the burn the best for me, and they tend to season the best in 12 months.

Click to expand...

Mike and Jake,

Yes, you're right about the 18"-20" v 22". Ash and coals build up can make it difficult to get the full length splits in. My point is that is it important to pack the firebox.

On the burn time issue, last night while I was thinking about this thread, I refilled the stove about an hour before I turned in, and then topped it off so that it was pretty packed right before I went to bed, all red oak. Seven hours latter, when I got up, I had a healthy bed of coals with some chunks of coaled splits still left, with the stove top temp 250 F. On the morning load, I had it flaming so well that I could turn the air down to 1/2 after 10 minutes, and temp was up to 450 F within 20 minutes.

I certainly could of had plenty of coals after 8 hrs if I had left it go another hour. One caveat is that loading the stove when its real hot like I did to pack the stove mid cycle, one has to be careful not to hit the secondary air tubes cuz they dent/bend/tweek very easy when they are real hot. On my old stove, the cat sat in a cast iron chamber. I can't believe I used to use splits to hammer in splits so I could get the door closed. That's another reason for the longer burns, I had a different definition on "packed" with my old stove. I never force splits into the Oslo that do not easily fit.

With the Olso and non-cat stove, you have to get used to the cycles more than the even output that you get from a cat stove. However, the cast iron weight of the Oslo provides some thermal inertia that keeps the cycle from being more dramatic.

Sean

stoves with the ash drawer seem to burn faster..some peole on here let that drawer fill up and use a shovel instead.

I would rephrase the term burning time to heating time. Check the temp in the room that the stove is in, if it is high enough to keep the thermostat from kicking on, you win. I'm rarely able to keep the upstairs zone, set at 62 from kicking in overnight, but that was never the expectation.

i get 8 hr burn times out of my little f3cb no problem, i pack it full before i go to bed get it up to about 400 to 500 then damper all the way down. i burn all blk locust, oak, and swamp maple. 2 yr seasoned wood, its not good to damper all the way down but i clean my own pipe 2 times a yr and burn great wood. go to bed 10 or 11 wake up 6 or 7ish to a little bed of hot coals and re-fire. house is easy 65 to 72 when i get up.

I put things in and burn things up. dont over think it.