Oslo burner w/a couple of questions

er318 · Dec 10, 2009

Hello all! I think I've finally mastered my burning tecniques with my Oslo. Only a couple of problems so far. One is a clearance issue from a non-combustable wall for my corner install. Specs 9" min clearance which is where I'm at but one of the walls still gets too hot for my comfort now that I'm burning the stove hotter. I think I've got a solution for this though by using a sheet stainless steel electric range backing I had on hand between the stove and the wall. Other than other suggestions for that, my two questions are:
1. I'm using good seasoned wood now that lights and burns well (didn't start off this way) but I still occaisionally hear a small piece of creosote falling down inside the chimney when I'm getting the stove up to temp. Is this normal to hear from time to time?
2. I'm using a fan maybe 12 feet from the stove pointed towards it to blow off the hot air and circulate it through the house. Because I have a stove top oven on the top of it I've placed my temp guage on the side and found it to read about the same as it did on the top. Now the difference in my temp reading from no fan to having the fan on is about 100 degrees lower. Do I ignore the fact that the fan lowers the temp reading and shoot for the "optimal" burn temps or do I need to take into consideration the lower temp reading due to the fan and burn accordingly? I know alot of you also use fans so I'm wondering how you approach this.

Valhalla · Dec 11, 2009

From my perspective:

1. A heatshield only works by the air insulation between the heated device and the shield itself.
Do not fabricate one that you trust your family home to casually. Suggest you move the stove
or seek a local professional. The metal does not shield the heat, it is the air in the small space directly
next to the stove.

2. If you try to measure the stove top temp while removing heat by a fan and a stove top oven
you may never get a baseline reading. There are only so many BTUs available. Remove the oven and
fan, then measure it over at least a few hours time.

Falling creosote in a flue makes noise. Sounds like you should check, and possibly also clean your flue.

Take no shortcuts, safety first.

er318 · Dec 11, 2009

Thank you...was awaiting responses

Valhalla said:
From my perspective:

1. A heatshield only works by the air insulation between the heated device and the shield itself.
Do not fabricate one that you trust your family home to casually. Suggest you move the stove
or seek a local professional. The metal does not shield the heat, it is the air in the small space directly
next to the stove.

Perhaps it's the reflective qualities of the stainless steel that makes it different....BUT.....even at the highest stove temps the sheet is cool to the touch. I have it about 3/4" off the wall. The air behind it and the wall behind it are also cool to the touch and was almost too hot to hold my hand on before. If that isn't working then.....???????.......

2. If you try to measure the stove top temp while removing heat by a fan and a stove top oven
you may never get a baseline reading. There are only so many BTUs available. Remove the oven and
fan, then measure it over at least a few hours time.

I've already said I'm aware of the approx difference in the temp with and w/out the fan running; not looking for a baseline reading. My question is do you guys that run fans still take your stove to 550-600 (actual reading with fan running which would equate to about 650-700 on mine without the fan running) or do you take your stove up to 450-500 (actual reading with fan running which would equate to about 550-600 on mine without the fan running).

Falling creosote in a flue makes noise. Sounds like you should check, and possibly also clean your flue.

So does everyone hear this sound occaisonaly?

Take no shortcuts, safety first.

ansehnlich1 · Dec 11, 2009

Man I hear all sort and manner of tinkling, crinkling, cracking, and even sometimes banging when my stove's crankin...

Cast Iron and steel tend to move around when things get hot and cool down!

As far as your heat shield, check your manual, go with the clearances stated there, read closely the info. you find regarding reducing clearances.

The manual clearly refers to NFPA 211 for clearance reduction standards and states no other source should be used. It will explain what a "protected surface" is and how to properly construct one, thereby reducing clearance to combustibles.

hardcore · Dec 11, 2009

My wall gets very hot as well. It is drywall and I am well above the requirements for a corner installation. I gues the requirements are there for a reason. Jotul knows that a combustible surface will get very warm when it is installed to the minimum specs, but it must still not be even close to a concern or else they would have lawsuits out the ying yang!

er318 · Dec 11, 2009

ansehnlich1 said:
Man I hear all sort and manner of tinkling, crinkling, cracking, and even sometimes banging when my stove's crankin... Cast Iron and steel tend to move around when things get hot and cool down!

As far as your heat shield, check your manual, go with the clearances stated there, read closely the info. you find regarding reducing clearances.

The manual clearly refers to NFPA 211 for clearance reduction standards and states no other source should be used. It will explain what a "protected surface" is and how to properly construct one, thereby reducing clearance to combustibles.

Thanks. I re-checked the specs and it was 9" to combustible wall and 6" to combustible wall behind a NFPA 211 heat shield. Like I said before, I should be good to go now but I'm not feeling real comfortable with it without the shield. It could also be caused by the fan directing the heat towards the wall (?) With the heat shield I know I'll be fine.

Anyone have the NFPA 211 specs for the heat shield? Does it mention bare (reflective) stainless steel? This stuff seems to work great, doesn't look too bad and is also thin which is important given my lack of space.

er318 · Dec 11, 2009

Hardcore said:
My wall gets very hot as well. It is drywall and I am well above the requirements for a corner installation. I gues the requirements are there for a reason. Jotul knows that a combustible surface will get very warm when it is installed to the minimum specs, but it must still not be even close to a concern or else they would have lawsuits out the ying yang!

Yes, I thought the same thing but used their numbers and it just gets too hot! It has caused some minor warping of the drywall and some of the vinyl spackling that I used on a seem beneath the paint becomes a little mushy. I haven't yet seen any blistering of the latex paint but wouldn't be surprised if I did given the heat. Without a heatshield I wouldn't be comfortable operating the stove at it's upper limits; no way. I didn't have any lee-way in the install due to a nearby doorway/walkway.

begreen · Dec 11, 2009

The wall shield is a very good idea with a close installation, some of these stove do get the walls hot. Make the wall shield permanent by attaching it to the wall with non-combustible spacers leaving an air gap top and bottom so that air can freely enter at the bottom and vent at the top.

ashpanannie · Dec 11, 2009

er318 said:
1. I'm using good seasoned wood now that lights and burns well (didn't start off this way) but I still occaisionally hear a small piece of creosote falling down inside the chimney when I'm getting the stove up to temp. Is this normal to hear from time to time?

Did you do a sweep out since you were burning greener wood? You would be shocked at how much and how fast creosote can form. If you really think what you are hearing is falling creosote, you really should check it out very soon.

logger · Dec 11, 2009

Sounds like a new stove so I would say the sounds you are hearing are probably not creasote falling. As someone else mentioned, these stoves sound like they might take off through the roof and head to their mother planet sometimes. What you're hearing is pretty normal. With that beaing said, I'd play it safe and look into it if you were burning green wood for a while.

firefighterjake · Dec 11, 2009

Random thoughts . . .

Heat shield: As mentioned you should be good to go with the distance to the walls if you followed Jotul's clearance requirements (as mentioned these numbers are derived from testing which means the distances should be safe) . . . but that said I didn't like how close my stove was sitting to the walls so I pulled it out a bit further than the minimum specs. If you are concerned and want to build a heat shield I would say you could build a real heat shield by having the sheet metal with a gap between the wall and space above and below the shield to allow the air to freely flow between the wall and shield . . . this would be the correct way to build a shield as the air would cool the wall. It sounds as though you already have the start of this as you mentioned having an air gap between the wall.

Noise: The noise you heard could have been anything from the normal snap, crackle and pop of a woodstove and pipe heating up (sometimes I get the normal ticking of the metal and once in a blue moon I'll even get a louder, but solitary bang ... which I also suspect is metal heating up) . . . or it could be creosote . . . especially if you were burning unseasoned or semi-seasoned wood. Early on last year I was home burning when it sounded as though someone had dumped a bag of potato chips down my flue . . . or as if hail was falling down the flue . . . I am almost 100% positive this was a small chimney fire and the sound I heard was because a) my wood at the time wasn't seasoned as much and b) I wasn't burning hot enough. In either case, it sure wouldn't hurt to inspect and clean your chimney if necessary.

Temperature: Don't sweat it. I actually found the temp difference in the stove top and side to be quite a bit different . . . and as you have noted running a fan will result in the thermometer reading being a bit lower. However, again, don't sweat it. You can get and achieve secondary combustion with a good range of temps. To be honest since putting the soapstone top on my Oslo I continue to look at my Condar thermometer (which seems to be about 200 degrees cooler than the actual temp when on the metal -- when compared with the IR thermometer) . . . so I use that temp as a rule of thumb . . . verifying the temp occasionally with the IR gun.

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Oslo burner w/a couple of questions

er318

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Valhalla

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er318

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ansehnlich1

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hardcore

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er318

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er318

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begreen

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ashpanannie

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logger

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firefighterjake

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