Frustrated with new Oslo burn times

Seems like you answered your question multiple times. Your wood sucks. Steaming wood isn't going to give you hours temps or burn times.try some eco bricks or something and see if it makes a difference.

Nightskies said:

It's only the second load of wood, the stuff I got this past Wed. that has been steaming. My previous cord wood did not steam at all. (C/S/S since at least 8/10, probably longer, with tarp over it)

We have thrown in an eco brick sometimes, and that helps get the temps up faster, but hasn't changed the burn times. Should we be putting multiple eco bricks in? I had though that putting more in could be dangerous.

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No offense intended here but your scenario is exactly what I would expect from less than stellar wood. I would bet money that the wood you have had stacked for 8 months still wasn't worth burning. When you have to run the stove wide open to get the fire to burn I would expect the majority of the heat to be going up the chimney and the problem is by the time you get the moisture driven out of the wood there isn't much left to burn.

certified106 said:

Nightskies said:

It's only the second load of wood, the stuff I got this past Wed. that has been steaming. My previous cord wood did not steam at all. (C/S/S since at least 8/10, probably longer, with tarp over it)

We have thrown in an eco brick sometimes, and that helps get the temps up faster, but hasn't changed the burn times. Should we be putting multiple eco bricks in? I had though that putting more in could be dangerous.

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No offense intended here but your scenario is exactly what I would expect from less than stellar wood. I would bet money that the wood you have had stacked for 8 months still wasn't worth burning. When you have to run the stove wide open to get the fire to burn I would expect the majority of the heat to be going up the chimney and the problem is by the time you get the moisture driven out of the wood there isn't much left to burn.

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I agree with good wood and a good draft you should be able to turn your air control down to almost closed.

I'd try the bricks. I've been very pleased. I'm getting higher temps and longer burn times. Fwiw, I'm putting 8 at a time into my 2 cu ft firebox--that's packed pretty full.

If the previous owner's wood was under a tarp (not sure if that's what you meant), that would inhibit drying.

I had an Oslo & I suffered through the same disappointing burn times.
I doubled the size of my previous stove & didn't even come close to doubling
my burn times. I suffered through a couple years of it before I ditched it
for a cheepo steel box stove. In the end, I got better burns.

I figured mine was a one-off, because others had great success.

Something else seems to be going on here other than wood. Assuming I understand, your wood was top covered since August 2010, correct?
So let's take that out of the equation for now.

Have you checked the door gasket using the dollar bill test or better yet run a lit candle around the closed door when the stove is burning? Short burn times are an indication there is an air leak, except in your case you are also having trouble getting decent stove temps.

I wonder if that tall interior chimney is just too much draft for the stove, and the heat is being sucked too fast up the flue?? The only way I know to confirm this is to add a damper. I assume by lined you mean a 6" SS liner.

To positively eliminate the wood as an issue, it may be worth it to pay a visit to HD and buy a bunch of those overpriced Kiln dried splits, fill the stove and see what happens.

When you say 4 hour burn time, do you mean 4 hours and you can barely relight a new fire with hot coals?

Rob From Wisconsin said:

I had an Oslo & I suffered through the same disappointing burn times.
I doubled the size of my previous stove & didn't even come close to doubling
my burn times. I suffered through a couple years of it before I ditched it
for a cheepo steel box stove. In the end, I got better burns.

I figured mine was a one-off, because others had great success.

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I have read hundreds of post on this forum about stoves that do not work correctly and there must be 6 or so (at least) where a person changed out a stove and the new one worked perfect with the same set up, some times things dont make sense. One guy spent a lot of money on double wall stove pipe and 2 45's to no avail, changed out the stove and problem solved.

The problem is the same im having i think im going to change my stove out after thinking about it.

White oak split and stacked 18 months is still not seasoned enough. Two years is the minimum. Three is better. Other species do dry more quickly.

An "older leaky 2200 sq. ft. house" in your climate will probaby push the Oslo beyond its design limits. I suspect a mechanical engineer would calculate you need something like 120,000 btu to bring a house your size up from 62 deg. to 72 deg. in anything like an hour. The Oslo supposedly can put out 70,000, but lets face it - few stoves will average half their rating over a burn cycle. I know my house needs at least two hours to get from 64 deg. to 70 deg. in normal weather. If it is below 0 deg. out I better just not let the house get that cold!

There does seem to be a learning curve though, so it may get better with time. Even with dry, seasoned wood, it was during the third season I got the hang of keeping my stove going overnight. And I have no idea just what I am doing all that different.

Then there is loading. The Oslo will take 22" wood very nicely. Sometimes you can squeeze in a couple of 24" pieces. So if you have a bunch of 16" wood you are giving up almost a third of your firebox. And to maintain high temperatures very long at all the firebox does need to be full.

That said, I rarely see 600 deg. stove top temps, at least according to my thermometer. I do suspect that thermometer, however, because when it shows 550 deg the stove is HOT! So hot that it is difficult to add wood, even with gloves. During a typical cycle the stove will run up to 500 - 525 for, oh, maybe an hour at most. Then I get perhaps another three hours at 400 deg. Again, this is all according to my thermometer, so it may be higher. I usually let it run another hour at 300-350 so that coals do not accumulate. My house is extremely well insulated, but 2500 sq. ft. over a 2000 sq. ft. basement, and we do not have to struggle to keep warm at anything above 10 deg. f. Below that my cycle times drop to something closer to three hours.

The key is the air control. How much air you need will tell you the quality of your wood. With truly seasoned wood I start cutting off the air once the temps reach 300 deg. Once I am up to 400 I can cut the air down to the left of the embossed quarter mark - all but closed. With less seasoned wood I may have to leave the air control half open the entire time, and burn times are awful - assuming I can get it to burn properly at all.

Ultimately only really, really good insulation OR a really large firebox (or both) will allow real comfort from a wood burning appliance left untended for extended periods of time.

I am leaning away from the wood being the issue, because you are down to ashes in only 4 hours. Wet wood coals up and leaves big, cold, dead coals.
And you never said the wood was hard to get lit. Unseasoned wood is hard to get burning.
I'm not saying not to try the Kiln dried wood, but I don't think that's the problem.

Regarding too much draft causing low stove temps, I can tell you that when I ran my FV with the bypass open (maximum draft up the flue) I had trouble getting the stove hot unless I reduced the air control to a very low setting.Others reported similar experience. So why would that principle not apply to a stove that drafts too much all the time? Seems unlikely, but we are kind of scratching our heads on this one.

I say try the wood first, it's quick and easy.

Different density's of wood will also dictate how far you can turn down the primary air also, Oak is a dense wood and he is burning it up pretty quick so I agree the wood might not be the issue, 18 months curing Oak for some works just fine.

Not me, I need the full 3+ years for oak. Anything less sizzles and burns terrible. I cannot figure out what would cause a stove to burn down a full load of oak to ashes in 4 hrs other than high draft/air setting. Just high air setting should get the stove temps up, so that's part of the mystery.

Well i'm gonna stick my inexperianced nose into this one. I installed mine in Oct. I am just now learning how to run it with my particular setup. I've found that splits on the 4 to 5" size work the best and I still have to play the wind as to draft cuz we get alot of wind out here in the middle of nowhere. I have to be careful of not loading the stove to full cuz it will easally get to a STT of 800° iffn I aint carefull. My wife and I have been having a full month what with doctors and hospital surgery's so I havnt been keeping a far going 24/7 but I can do a no match cold reload after 14 hours with just some kindlin and a few good puffs outta a small bellows. Give it some time and play with the thang. JMHO. Mine is in the basement and it will easilly get a 24 by 50' unfinished basement from 60° to 70° in about and hour on a cold start. By load 3 of the day its up to 80° and the upstairs is gettin close to 65° without any fans or nothin.
Your milage may vary.

Then there is loading. The Oslo will take 22†wood very nicely. Sometimes you can squeeze in a couple of 24†pieces. So if you have a bunch of 16†wood you are giving up almost a third of your firebox. And to maintain high temperatures very long at all the firebox does need to be full.

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There's another 2 hrs!

If your wood is dry, and if you have good draft, the LESS air you supply to the fire, the hotter your stove will get and the longer it will burn. MORE air burns up the wood more quickly and sends all the heat up the chimney! (Think: more air and you have turned your stove into a fireplace.)

Its pointless now cause the better wood is gone and all he has now to use is steaming sheet wood, nothing good to even try.

Kiln-dried bundles (enough to fill the stove once) sell for $5 around here. Seems like a $10-15 investment would be worth it for a test, to establish once and for all what's going on.

I am running an f600, but the operation is comparable.

As others have stated, sounds to me like it may be a little operator error here. I load the stove and let it get to 400or so, turn the air down to 1/2 and let it rise to 550-600 at which point I shut down the air completely. Occasionally if the wood is not the best in the stack, after shutting down the air I two it back open to maybe 90 % to let q little more air in, which does not affect my overall burn times.

I am able to have ample coals after 8 to get the fire going again. I. Do agree with the shorter split lengths you will be getting shorter burns just because of the reduction of fuel in the firebox.

Give it time and that stove will hum long for you.

the stove just might not be big enough to handle the house. you have a "We have a larger(2200sq ft heated), older, leakier house,......." to begin with. you have a stove that is recommended tp to 2000 sq ft as its maximum capacity.....and trying to heat above its capacity. also, you are burning what sounds like non seasoned or green wood which is not a good formula for heat. you'll have t run it wide open and feed it like a locomotive to keep the temps comfortable or even close to comfortable.

the jotul is a good stove. i've had two, a 602 from years ago (that i still have) and currently use a small F3CB that is rated for 1300 sq feet and 7 hrs burn time that i absolutely love. i use it upstairs at the beginning and end of the season when its not so cold. it heats my 1200 sq ft upstairs sufficiently and i get 7-8 hr burn times at night when we go to bed when i load it and shut it down after it gets going and has a bed of coals. i have a summit downstairs in the basement (another 1200 sq ft) that is rated for 3000 sq ft. it heats both floors pretty good most of the time just using the optional blower....right now its 30 outside, 80 downstairs and 75 upstairs with only the PE Summit going. if it gets real cold, which it seldom does, i have to burn both of them to keep temps comfortable in the house.

my brother is due west of you over the n.y./mass border north of i90 and west of willimstown/pittsfield. he has been telling me that until recently its been a unseasonably warm winter. i know it was in november. I might consider getting a different stove for next year, or if you can swing it, this year. if a sales person sold you this one, it was probably the wrong stove (thats almost blasphemy for a jotul owner) for your house. i like the idea of biggers better when it comes to stoves. you can get longer burn times and the extra btu's are there if you need them.

good luck....a cold house is not fun.

cass

I tend to agree with Cass. The 600 would have been a better choice because you say that you are using dry wood. But before buying a new stove it's best to really winterize your home, plug all air leaks, insulate, cover windows etc. Be safe.
Ed