fire habit changed suddenly in Jotul

Did the baffel above the secondary air tubes get knocked out of position? There are small groves in it to indicate how it should be sitting above the tubes.

The baffel is a one-piece unit located above the 3 secondary air tubes.

It might have gotten out of position if you hit it with a split when loading the stove.

Thanks Shari, I also suffer lower temps as He says, cant seem get above 425 or so , understand the dry wood needs of the Oslo I am burning Hedge ...and have huge piles of coals like never in any stove....noticed other day as You said the flames going rite up the back of the stove as I looked inside the side door....didnt hit me then ...Now as You have asked about the baffle I looked and sure enough the huge piles of coals and my efforts to add more wood on top has moved the baffle forward, duh....not realizing it was even a loose fit, it took a little in the Hot stove to get the baffle moved back to the rear of the stove and the flames now come to the front like supposed to...gonna be interesting to see if the Temps climb now Also another fello other day [posted about Oslo stove how to get it going by the side door up to temps you want then shut down the air in front, a little and check temps later if they are rising to try shutting down air a little more....in other words less air once it has built heat helps retain the Heat instead of loosing with the big air out the flue, Thanks again for that Huge insite as I have always burned the ole dragon with as much aor as possible to get the heat and this Stove is a different animal Still Learning

DON'T USE THE ASHPAN DOOR TO GET THE FIRE GOING. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.

Sometimes low or high pressure systems will effect you stove more then you would think.
I have seen it here.

Some times its hard to get on top of a dense wood like hedge and like hotcoals said maybe the conditions have changed, got any other wood besides hedge to try, I have said it before and I will repeat here these stoves have a mind of their own.

Have you checked your primary air inlet to see if it may have clogged? This has happened to me once or twice.

Sven1277 said:

I haven't checked that. I'm not actually sure where the air comes in from on this stove

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Not sure on your stove, but mine is front center below the door opening. I think I clogged mine while raking the coals forward, now that I know its there, I'm more careful and keep that area clear.

On the Oslo the primary air enters the stove on the bottom, in the very back and center. There is a round hole, it's about 2.5" diameter, look around in there, make sure there is no lint ball or something in there.

webby3650 said:

On the Oslo the primary air enters the stove on the bottom, in the very back and center. There is a round hole, it's about 2.5" diameter, look around in there, make sure there is no lint ball or something in there.

Click to expand...

I believe you are speaking about the OAK access point. OP did not say he has an OAK attached so this area should be closed off as it came from the dealer.

Shari said:

webby3650 said:

On the Oslo the primary air enters the stove on the bottom, in the very back and center. There is a round hole, it's about 2.5" diameter, look around in there, make sure there is no lint ball or something in there.

Click to expand...

I believe you are speaking about the OAK access point. OP did not say he has an OAK attached so this area should be closed off as it came from the dealer.

Click to expand...

No, it's not closed off. That is still where the stove gets it primary from.

I just replaced the bottom casting on my Firelight 600 at the beginning of this heating season from the ash door being left opened. It will crack the bottom casting if it hasn't already. It would result in too much air and hotter temps., so it doesn't sound if that has happened yet, but it is just a matter of time if you keep doing it. One thing I did find during the rebuild was refractory cement blocking the air passage from the bottom back air intake from the factory, that's why it was always hard to get up to temperature. Having said that, I would check that round hole in the bottom back and make sure the narrow slot in the base plate above that hole in the back wall is clear. if it is blocked, you will not get air to the always opened secondary air passage that runs up the back of the stove. It would be hard to block air to the front inlet the way the stove is built. My stove will not draw right if the stove pipe is not sealed where it enters the stove. Perhaps the gasket under the collar needs replacing to keep air from sucking in around the pipe, or the pipe needs sealing to the casting. If the pipe comes out of the back instead of straight up. make sure the pipe in the back slopes up slightly. These are all things I have noticed that have affected the stove coming up to correct temperatures for those really cold nights.

Oldvet66, Where does the air come into the stove @? Understand it comes from the hole in the back/bottom but inside the Oslo, where can I see the entry to see if it is coming thru? I placed split DRY 2x4 pieces on a few hot coals last nite, waited 30 mins, finally had to open the SIDE door to get air inside which of course it flamed up!! I do empty my ashes pan and rack ashes thru the grateing, but still of course have plenty of ash inside....I am definately Blocked somewhere as everyone else seems to get a flame with splits and door shut Thanks

The bottom plate where the grate fits in and the casting below it where you see the air hole in the back, form a channel for air that runs all the way around the ash grate opening and extend out to the sealed outer edges of the stove. It would be impossible to block that air opening unless you have had a herd of mice nesting in there. You are getting some draft because the side door lights the flame right up, so the answer has to be that you are not getting any air up front, or your draft has changed dramatically. The air lever may have jumped over the two tits that allow it to slide the plate opened and closed. I would take the cover off and the plate out of the stove, put the cover back on and see if you get a fire going with a little kindling with the door closed. Make sure the holes in the cover are not blocked. That should confirm that you are getting air to the front opening. The lever is threaded on a bolt just inside the center of the ash door. Depending where you center the lever before the bolt threads into it, will adjust it up and down. It should be centered in it's opening below the door. Too high and it will skip over the two tits, too low and the lever will not want to slide the slider when the stove is hot. You have to play with it a little to get it just right. Use automotive anti-seize compound (the aluminum looking stuff that always makes a mess) on all bolts you take loose so they will never give you a problem later. Download the exploded view .pdf file from Jotul on the Firelight 500 page, and you will start to see how the stove works. 12/1 casting channels free air up to your secondary burn tubes and lines up with the air intake hole in the bottom. Your stove is just a smaller version of mine, very similar in construction. I just re-read your first post about your ash clean out door in the basement. I take it you are not using a flue liner on this stove? The only other answer would be draft and in that case I would put a flue liner in your system.

Shari said:

webby3650 said:

On the Oslo the primary air enters the stove on the bottom, in the very back and center. There is a round hole, it's about 2.5" diameter, look around in there, make sure there is no lint ball or something in there.

Click to expand...

I believe you are speaking about the OAK access point. OP did not say he has an OAK attached so this area should be closed off as it came from the dealer.

Click to expand...

Plain n simple: Air itself enters the stove through the hole on bottom back... air then travels and enters the box area through the doghouse holes in front of stove just beyond the air lever control.

logger said:

Shari said:

webby3650 said:

On the Oslo the primary air enters the stove on the bottom, in the very back and center. There is a round hole, it's about 2.5" diameter, look around in there, make sure there is no lint ball or something in there.

Click to expand...

I believe you are speaking about the OAK access point. OP did not say he has an OAK attached so this area should be closed off as it came from the dealer.

Click to expand...

Plain n simple: Air itself enters the stove through the hole on bottom back... air then travels and enters the box area through the doghouse holes in front of stove just beyond the air lever control.

Click to expand...

Yes - I just didn't want the OP to play with the OAK access panel.

Ya, but you mentioned the hole should be closed off from the dealer which isn't true as far as I understand. That hole should be open to allow air into the stove. The only reason to plug it fully or even partially would be to stop an overfire or maybe if one was experiencing major draft issues. I just didnt want this person closing it off like you said it should be.

Thanks Fellers, my front air handle is very ruff going to the left , so I amagine it is Not in the Correct Position....will open it up as soon stove cools a little which it is in 20s today n need Oslo going So when the ashes are covering the Doghouse area , does everyone attempt to uncover the air holes all the time , which makes no sense to me....how is the air supposed to get thru the ashes?

Also I have read about a Modification somebody did of the doghouse, Anybody know about where to find it? Thanks for all the info

yaker57 said:

Thanks Fellers, my front air handle is very ruff going to the left , so I amagine it is Not in the Correct Position....will open it up as soon stove cools a little which it is in 20s today n need Oslo going So when the ashes are covering the Doghouse area , does everyone attempt to uncover the air holes all the time , which makes no sense to me....how is the air supposed to get thru the ashes?

Also I have read about a Modification somebody did of the doghouse, Anybody know about where to find it? Thanks for all the info

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Doghouse comes apart easily.. screws are right next to it. I only dump ash once every two weeks or so. If I light a new fire I'll move ashes away from doghouse, but other than that I dont mess with it too much. In fact, its a good habit to rake hot embers in front of the doghouse when doing a reload to get them hotter to light the new splits.

logger said:

Ya, but you mentioned the hole should be closed off from the dealer which isn't true as far as I understand. That hole should be open to allow air into the stove. The only reason to plug it fully or even partially would be to stop an overfire or maybe if one was experiencing major draft issues. I just didnt want this person closing it off like you said it should be.

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Sorry to confuse the topic as I made two assumptions which apparently are wrong:

1. My assumption was that OP has a rear heat shield as most stoves are sold with this item. While I don't have one, as I recall the sample my dealer had on their floor model had a knockout plate or bolted plate in the OAK area.

2. I didn't want the OP to go messing around with the heat shields OAK access point.

Sorry to confuse the topic - just ignore me re: the OAK.