HOW MUCH MORE HEAT OUT OF FIRELIGHT THAN OSLO?

Diabel said:

jugarf said:

Does the 4.0 firebox vs the 3.0 firebox make a difference?

Click to expand...

Are these numbers correct? I looked at both stoves & they did not seem this big. In fact, the Oslo's box appeared the same as my Encores. Looks could be deceiving though....

Click to expand...

He's off by about 1 cu ft. The Oslo is a little over 2 and the firelight about 3.

Dexter said:

firelight non-cat is 3.6 cu. ft. It is a great stove, but big. I use it to heat (exclusively) about 2250 ft. of our house. I burn pine, almost exclusively. The box is big enought that, with a max-sized load, I typically get 6-7 hours of useful heat (over 200 on top surface), and 10-12 hours of coals hot enough to ignite the next morning's fire. Very clean glass as well. But the surface area is big enough that, when really rolling (about 550 degrees), it can be a sort of Hellish experience hanging out within a few feet of the thing. Very nice stove, though. We've loved it for 10 years.

Regards,

Dexter

Click to expand...

Absolutely no way is it a 3.6cf box. I just measured one myself as my father is picking one up in the next couple of weeks, it is 3cf as others here have mentioned.

Sorry guys: I'm not trying to be a font of authoritative mis-information. My Firlight CB is a very old one. It's not marketed as an F 600, but it appears nearly the same. My op. specs say 3.6, but as another post suggested, that may be marketing BS. I haven't take a tape measure to the box. My stated experiences with the stove however, are accurate. No BS intended.

Dexter

jugarf said:

SolarAndWood said:

Even if they are correct, a lot of those published numbers are bs. Put a tape measure in the firebox and see what you can reasonably put in the box without a lot of hassle.

Click to expand...

I have physically measured the stoves and my firebox. The Jotuls will actually sit nicely on my hearth. My fireplace is 30.5H X 42W X 34D(20" hearth + 14" inside the box).

Click to expand...

Jugarf, I was referring to the firebox #s for the stoves as opposed to your fireplace. Some companies are very creative in measuring firebox size. To get an apples to apples comparison, you really need to open the doors, look inside and measure what you could reasonably fill. For example, my stove has a published size of 4.3 cu ft. Technically I am sure it is correct. However, there really is only 3 cu ft of space that I can actually load without a lot of hassle. That effective firebox size has a big impact on your burn times.

Jugarf,

I used to have a larger firebox, 3+ CF, now I have a month old Olso, w/ 2 CF firebox. I have similar limitations in that I installed my Oslo on the hearth, in front of the fireplace. I needed a rear discharge lower than 27". So I could not use the Firelight and bought the Oslo with the short leg kit. I have not gotten into my 24/7 mode and only had a few fires since this November has been moderate, mainly in the 40 to 60s range. (Great heat pump weather and I save my wood for the 20 F nights to 40 F days or lower.)

The one concern that I have with my Oslo is the time I can go, either sleeping or to work, and still have coals so I do not have to start a cold stove every day. The new EPA non-cat stoves do not allow you to shut down the air to have a long slow burn like my old cat stove. So if you are going to be a 24/7 type wood burner, I would recommend the larger firebox. In another month or two, I will have been burning in the 24/7 mode and have a better feel for my stove. But right now, I am thinking that my be the main draw back. I do burn mainly red oak so I am hopeful I can handle it. I also tend to get up about 5 am, 6 hrs of sleep, and can get the stove going in the morning. But it is better if you have a bunch of coals verses a few. Also, I can be gone 10 hours during the day on average.

I also heat about 2000 SF on my first and second floors, basement not included. On a single digit night, or teens with a 20+ NW wind, the Oslo will be maxed out and my central heat, heat pump, will probably be tapping the Aux heat. So an extra 11,500 btu/hour will be very useful on those bitter winter nights. But in my region, I usually only have about 10-15 days of that weather in an average winter. So at this point, I do not regret buying the Olso, as I did not have a choice with the Firelight. But I do have some concern, and if I did have the choice, I would go with the Firelight.

I would encourage you to consider installing the stove out on the hearth, instead in the fireplace. And install insulation and a heat shield in the back of the fire place if you have an exterior masonry fireplace. With my insulated heat shield I have 170 to 200 F space behind the stove. A lot of heat that would have gone out through the bricks.

GE

Not sure why he would have told you the firelight was harder to run than the oslo...the controlls are virtually identical? The firelight does have double side doors, which is not as convinient for front loading, but IMHO it looks better if you ever open the doors and use the screen kit. 11,000 BTUs and an extra sqft of firebox space is a lot more stove, and with a house your size you could use it.

Whichever you decide to get, the blue-black is the way to go if you dont want to worry down the road. As for overnighters, my Oslo usually burns for about 8-9 hours tops with enough coals to restart.. best of luck.

Do they make a short leg kit for the F600? Jotul does offer a short leg kit for the F500 that lowers everything 2". The top of the rear discharge on my Olso went from 28" to 26" with the short leg kit.

Also, I second the Blue-Black enamel finish. This is what we got and it looks great.

GE

logger said:

Whichever you decide to get, the blue-black is the way to go if you dont want to worry down the road.

Click to expand...

Worry about what?...sounds like you ran into a good salesman

The enamel finishes do look great...but "down the road", either will look about like the day you got it. Except for a few dings in the enamel of course Easier to wipe clean though.

I have had the Oslo and now have the Firelight within the past two years. The larger stove is the way to go and no difference in the way they are operated. The larger firebox is great and due to the area you are trying to heat, the 600 should work out for you.

Shorter legs are not available for the 600. It also comes with a heat shield for the bottom of the stove.

Jugarf,

How is this coming? Are you a Jotul owner yet?
One 45 is not unusual. Some use two, plus a 90
off the back of the stove. My Oslo manual shows
all three in Fig. 6 on page 15 and referred to in
section " 3.2 Hearthmount into a Masonry Fireplace"
on page 7. See the Jotul website for a pdf copy.

Just checking in. Choose wisely!

Here's another factor: The Firelight manual says the most efficient operation occurs between 400 and 600 degrees surface temperature. At 400+, this stove puts out a lot of heat. If this level of heat is too great for your space, insulation, etc. much of the year, you might be better off with the smaller Oslo if 300 degrees is an optimum temperature for its operation.

We've got both the Firelight (cat) and the Oslo installed in our home (Oslo 3 years and Firelight almost 12 yrs) and are 24x7 burners. Subjectively, the Firelight puts out quite a bit more heat than the Oslo - no surprise because, as others have mentioned, the firebox is larger, the mass is greater and the surface area is greater on the Firelight. The difference in heat output between the two is not subtle - the Firelight's in a different league. It is quite a bit larger than the Oslo in all respects. In addition, the firebox, actual and usable, is quite a bit larger on the Firelight and allows meaningfully longer burn times. Using same wood, similar air settings etc, I'd estimate at least 2 hours more, on average. Note that some of these observations may be skewed by the cat design of our Firelight. They're both nice stoves, but given your square footage and height, I think you'd be better served by the Firelight.

P.S. I don't understand all this talk of porcelain chipping on Jotuls - we've had Jotul porcelain stoves for probably 15 years and have never had a single chip. The Firelight is going on 12 years of 24x7 service. We don't treat the stoves gently, but we don't beat them with ball peen hammers, either.

Completely agree! Running somewhat smaller stoves
hotter and cleaner has always been my method.

Jotul vs new Vermont Castings= JOTUL Older Jotul vs Vermont Castings equal but I am told by many that is no longer the case and JOTUL has it over Vermont Castings by far. Pretty sad since the older Vermont Castings are famous for wonderful workmanship.

do not sell the house, try to hang on, jobs are coming back even if you both have to work two jobs for a while the economy should be coming back. Times are tough for a lot of people, you are not alone, but do not sell YOUR home if you can help it.