Jotul Oslo 500 - which corner to measure temp?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Dougiefreshhh

New Member
Dec 12, 2011
56
North Central CT
Hi All:

Starting year 2 with my Oslo 500...and loving it so far (been pretty mild though).

Anyway, just got a IR laser thermometer, and wondering which corner on the stovetop to measure?

Right now the corner temps read (imagine looking down on the stove)

flue
400 500
430 550
front

Suggestions/advice much appreciated!
 
We keep a magnetic thermometer in the back left corner of our f600, but I sometimes zap the other corners with the IR therm. Sometimes they're the same other times they're different; just depends on how the fire's burning. Don't think you can go wrong with one of the back corners. If you really want to see a difference in temperatures, zap the middle of the stove when she's cranking.
 
The hottest spot on old Black Sabbath always seems to be the front right corner. Now, that is not always the case. If you check with your IR gun you will find the sweet spot but I am learning to watch my flue temps and the far itself and dial it in as needed. I'm pretty sure Jotul makes stoves for us that just want heat and not alot of messin around tryin to second guess a woodstove.
 
Mine is right rear. As stated, depending on how the fires burning you can have 4 different readings in the 4 corners.
 
Magnetic thermometer is on the right rear, but I check with the IR also. The rear two corners are always the hottest and the alternate regularly. Front corners have never registered the hottest temps.

The only temp I usually see at the center of the top is ERROR (IR only goes to 612 degrees)
 
Pick a corner . . . any corner. My hottest corner was consistently in the rear right . . . but the difference between the four corners is not overly great. I think the reason my right rear corner is usually the hottest is due to the way I load the wood which tends to push up ash into the side and then the coals and wood sits up slightly higher there.
 
From the manual:

F500 thermo.PNG
 
Thanks all. Glad to hear what I'm seeing is not out of the normal.

Now, if I could only get 9 hr burns out of her!
 
Thanks all. Glad to hear what I'm seeing is not out of the normal.

Now, if I could only get 9 hr burns out of her!
I can get more than 9 hours on mine. That being said, I dont think when Jotul says "burn times" that they mean flames if thats what you thinkin you should get. I'm pretty sure that figure is meant to state how long you can effectivly get heat from the stove in a perfect situation. I've had times where mine has gone over 12 hours without a reload but I still had a nice hot coal bed and the stove was still just under 200° top temp. I figure if I got an almost 500pound chunk of cast iron in my basement that is 200° it is still producing some heat allbeit not much.
 
Thanks Butcher.

After running all day, I'll packed her full on top of coals around 11pm. I'll open her up until the secondaries are going, and then put her at 1/4 air. Come 6am, my thermoelectric fan is rotating....not 'spinning'.

I dump in a bunch of splits, open her up, and were off to the races for another day.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.