F55 Owners, Step Inside

Creekheat said:

Do you load yours to the tubes? I usually do but if you think lighter loads work better I may try that

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I Ioad mine as full as I can get it, unless I get off schedule and want a short burn before the overnight load. I think smaller loads burn more completely without fussing with the air. I find that a really full load needs more air adjustment as time goes by in order to burn the wood in the back of the firebox well. Of course, I don't bother doing this when I am sleeping. And since it is already below zero, I just stuffed mine to the gills. Normally the furnace might turn on around 5:00 am on a cold night, and tonight it has already come on. Tough to keep up right now, especially with the wind.

I stumbled on a technique for this stove using just two 10 - 14 inch diameter logs, set close together, ends facing the door, then light the wood between the two pieces using a piece of that super-cedar fire starter stuff. Start with the air wide open, then cut it down to 1/2 when it gets going, which can take an hour. But it will go on for 7-9 hours at 400º. Not much left but ash. I'm burning well cured, peeled, pine logs.

This is my second season burning my f55 24x7.I have it installed in my fireplace, on an outside wall, at one end of the house. though it is mostly out of it on the hearth and it is a very large shallow type runmsford type fireplace, so I dont think I lose a lot of heat into the masonry.

This stove is heating my entire 2800 sq ft house, with less than ideal placement, though I have an open first floor plan and a large central staircase.

Yes I've had it at 750 on the stovetop a few times, hasn't seemed to phase it. I don't have a blower and never felt the need for one. I have not seen any bowing of the plates inside.

I've also felt the stove tolerates not perfectly seasoned wood well, and still throws a ton of heat- I have burned some beech that was cut and split last April and other than some sizzling when it first goes in , the stove burns fine and still throws lots of heat with no visible smoke once it gets rolling.

Love the stove for its simplicity and robust design. I don't see many things that could go wrong with it.

Last night it was -23 with the wind chill and living in a large wood tent with nothing but a 3" slab of wood and roof shingles to protect us from the elements, I'd say we did pretty well.

I know my oil boiler would have been running constantly to try and keep up and would never have satisfied the thermostat. The house would have been cold.

We were told that the loft in the house was going to be like a sauna, but so far that hasn't happend. I expect it might happen once the outside temps get back to something more normal.

Been loading mine N/S so far and like the results.

Jsd245 said:

...I've also felt the stove tolerates not perfectly seasoned wood well, and still throws a ton of heat- I have burned some beech that was cut and split last April and other than some sizzling when it first goes in , the stove burns fine and still throws lots of heat with no visible smoke once it gets rolling.

Love the stove for its simplicity and robust design. I don't see many things that could go wrong with it.

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I'd like to echo this experience. Such a forgiving wood stove. Beautiful look, nice even heat, simple to operate.

I am into my second season with my F55. Last year I ran 6 cord through it. This year I've run 3 thus-far, haven't been home as much during the day. I have all mixed hardwoods, <20% MC (I have a meter and check, anything above 20 I sit aside. My best burns are with white oak. I rarely get more than 6 hours out of a burn before I'm down to coals and the heat output starts to get a bit chilly. Outside air temps right now are in the teens to single digits. My house is 3500 sq ft, but the stove is heating an area about 1/2 of that. I like the room where the stove is installed (central room in the main section of the house) 70+ degrees. I waste more money on the standby loss on my furnace than I want to admit, it almost never kicks on to actually heat the house. I find the best way to load my stove with is a bottom row of small splits oriented N/S to facilitate airflow from the front of the unit, with the remainder of the splits above that oriented E/W. As the stove warms up I can cut back on the secondary air and watch the secondaries firing. I usually have to fiddle with the air control the further I get into the burn to keep the stovetop temps and heat output up. Stovetop temps range in the 500's and the flue temps in the 600-800 range. Once I loaded the stove entirely N/S with smaller splits (early on as I was getting to know the stove) and realized this was a stupid mistake as I watched my flue temps soar above 1200 and stovetop temps run in the high 6/low 700's even with the secondary air closed. Nothing was glowing but I definitely got the paint-curing smell throughout the house. Needed to take a couple of valium with that experience, I didn't know about the primary air intake in the rear and using a piece of foil tape to reduce the intake back then.

Couple things I don't like about the stove:

a. After several days of 24/7 burning I end up with a huge pile of coals, and a lot of charcoal in the rear of the stove where the airflow can't keep the wood burning as well (this is why I tried an entire N/S load once). To get rid of the coals I have to leave the secondary air all the way forward after scraping the ash/coals away from the door so the secondary air can flow over the coals;

b. The lack of an ash pan. I realize a lot of serious burners don't care for ash pans, but I find it an immense pain in the ass (even with an ash-dragon to sift through my ashes) to clear out the ashes that accumulate in the stove. I end up throwing out perfectly good combustible material whenever I clean the ashes.

c. My relatively short (compared to other people) burn times. Sure would be nice to get some 8-10 hour burns like folks here say they do. I simply can't seem to get it... at least, with the heat output / temperature I want to maintain for my "comfort" zone. My girlfrend has raynaud's in her feet and hands so even 60 degrees feels "cold" to her.

d. Mitten racks. I sure miss the mitten racks on my old stove. When the weather breaks I'm going to get some old horseshoes and weld up some mitten racks to sit on top of the griddle plate.

e. the lacks of andirons in the front. On more than one occasion I've had the wood load shift inside the stove and ended up with a piece of wood laying right up against the glass, effectively preventing me from opening the door until it burned down to a reasonable point. Once or twice I've actually had logs in the rear shift and roll out onto the hearth, or embers from logs which rested against the glass end up rolling onto my floor.


If I were in the market for a stove again, though, I'd still buy the F55, even with my "complaints". It has been a workhorse for these past two winters..

I've been burning mine for just about a week now and I love it. As far as ashes go, I haven't taken any out and I've been burning 24/7. When the temp gets to 250-300, I take all the large coals forward and burn that on high for an hour. Sometimes I put a split easy/west to get as little more heat out of the stove. By the time that burns down, I only have a little ash up front.
I then reload and go from there.

The first season I used the stove, we went through 7 cords of wood. I was cleaning out 2 gallons of ash and coals every morning. I snuff it all out in steel sealed containers, then later sifted out the ash and used the charcoal in my garden. What I've since realized is that in my climate and with my house insulation, I can't keep the house much above 55-60ºF overnight no matter what I do with the stove. So now, before going to bed, the house at 75º with half a stove full of wood, I just open up the air 3/4 and let it burn out then start all over the next day. That helps keep the amount of unburned charcoal at a reasonable amount. I empty out the ash, about 3 gallons, every 4-5 days.

I started a fire last Friday (2/13) night around 6 pm. I have been using the coals from every fire since then to reignite the fire and warm up. I leave the house every morning around 8 and got home last night at 6:00. The stove was around 200* and there was plenty of coals in the back. I pulled them forward, tossed a small pine split on it and got the draft going nicely. I placed some small/medium sized wood (sassafras, maple, maybe there was a piece of oak) and brought the stove back to life quickly. I burned this load hot and fast to warm up the house and be able to reload later for an overnighter. At 8:45 I reloaded the stove to the gills and it was cruising nicely by 930ish. The photo below is after I racked the coals forward at 6:56am this morning. The flue pipe was around 125 and the stove about 200-225.

To me, this stove is super efficient. The stove uses every bit of energy in the wood and there's hardly anything left. I bet I don't have a gallon of ash in there after a weeks worth of burning. something doesn't make sense if your taking that much out every day. What's your moisture content at for the wood your burning? Most issues with burning is contributed to the wood so check that.

Last night I filled up at 10:30 pm and this morning at 8-830 the stove was just under 200 degrees. It did get to -7 so it was fairly cold. So I raked the hot coals forward, loaded get up and right now the stove is cruising at 550-600.
Last night's wood was loaded east/west and this morning's is north/south. It's going to be a heat wave today, forecasting for 20's. Tomorrow is shorts and tee shirt weather, low to mid 30's. Then back to single and negatives next week.

What is your flue pipe temp when the corner of your stove is at that temp? I haven't had my corner thermometer get that hot yet. Perhaps I'm not seeing everything this stove can deliver. What temp is the center of the stove at?

I loaded just a few minutes ago. Oak, maple and some Osage Orange. Cross cross load. She is cruising about 650*.

Looks like the stove is settling at 500 or so right now. As far as flue temps, I don't pay much attention to it. The manual says that optimum temp range is 400-700 on the corner of the griddle. So that's where I measure. I do hit the center just to see and it's usually about 100-150 degrees hotter. Depends on if the flames are wrapping up there or not. I'm not too concerned about those temps either. Just watch those corner temps like jotul says. They know their stove best.

Holzstapel said:

What is your flue pipe temp when the corner of your stove is at that temp? I haven't had my corner thermometer get that hot yet. Perhaps I'm not seeing everything this stove can deliver. What temp is the center of the stove at?

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Let that stove rip. What temps are you seeing on the griddle thermometer?

Just about 45 minutes ago the stove was down to 300 degrees so I raked the coals forward and put a small split on top. Temp went up to 400 and now slowly coming down to around 350. Somewhere around the 4-5 hour mark, I started opening up the air gradually as the temp hovered around 400 degrees. It's still in the high teens here and snowing.
I'll take a pic of the fire box and ashes before my next reload so you can see how many ashes are in there after a weeks worth of burning 24/7 in single to negative temps.

Here's ash after a week of burning. There's nothing from midway to the back. Stove top is 200

Load number 2 of the day. All white oak from the tree that hit my house during hurricane Sandy

Stove temp maxed out at 650 with this load. It's hour 4 and the temp dropped to 300. I just up opened the air to half way and secondaries started back up and the temp is rising

clark77 said:

Load number 2 of the day. All white oak from the tree that hit my house during hurricane Sandy

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If I packed my stove like that I would over-fire the stove, easily. I have to be incredibly careful with N/S loads. A few nights ago I did a load with the bottom row of (small) splits N/S, a row on top (large logs) E/W, and a few (small splits) N/S on top of that. Mixed species. Nothing more than 18% MC. I was hovering at 900 degrees flue temps in no time flat with with my secondary air all the way down.

ToltingColtAcres said:

If I packed my stove like that I would over-fire the stove, easily. I have to be incredibly careful with N/S loads. A few nights ago I did a load with the bottom row of (small) splits N/S, a row on top (large logs) E/W, and a few (small splits) N/S on top of that. Mixed species. Nothing more than 18% MC. I was hovering at 900 degrees flue temps in no time flat with with my secondary air all the way down.

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You can fix that by covering part of your secondary air intake. Search the site for Florida bungalow. Knots has post with some good pics.

ToltingColtAcres said:

If I packed my stove like that I would over-fire the stove, easily. I have to be incredibly careful with N/S loads. A few nights ago I did a load with the bottom row of (small) splits N/S, a row on top (large logs) E/W, and a few (small splits) N/S on top of that. Mixed species. Nothing more than 18% MC. I was hovering at 900 degrees flue temps in no time flat with with my secondary air all the way down.

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What's your flue setup like? You definitely can control more by limiting the secondary air inlet. I have a magnet just in case I start getting more than 650.
I'm in hour 5 of the burn and just opened the air all the way. Temp is about 375.

Here's the pics of the stove now at 375. White oak it's burning nicely.

Hour 7 and still at 350 degrees.