500 square foot cabin (2 stories 15 x 15 ft each) can i expect Jotul 602 to heat entire building

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Jonsered

Member
Feb 7, 2010
120
Woodstock CT
Hi guys,

Just wondering if I can expect my Jotul 602 to comfortably heat my small cabin ca. 500 sq feet by itself.

The cabin has full insulation and modern windows doors (built in the past 6 years).

I just want to confirm that this little stove is up to the task of heating the building on its own. Burn time aside assume it can be contastantly fed as required is the heat output enough? I thought for sure that this little stove could cook me right out of the building and I just want to confirm that.

Thanks,

Nate
 
Once the cabin is up to temperature it should do fine. But getting it up from zero to 60 is going to take quite awhile.
 
Yes, I have a 20x30 cabin with a 20x12 loft (840 sq ft) . It takes almost 24 hours to bring it up to 70 degrees if it has been sitting for weeks and the inside temp is around 10 degrees when I arrive. A larger stove probably wouldn't reduce that time much, since it is the thermal mass that must be heated. Once it's heated, though, it doesn't take much to keep it warm (and it isn't as well insulated as yours).
 
Confirmed...the little giant is heating the whole building just fine and I still have an open bay in the attick with no insulation so I'm losing heat through there but that will be finished as soon as I finish putting a plumbing vent in.

I am very happy with the confortable temp the 602 keeps the cabin now that it is insulated and have no fear that it will be able to keep it at 70 in sub 0 temps once finished!
 
18 years ago, when my wife and i were first together we had a split level with a stainless steel chimney hook up in the living room from a previous wood stove. I being a N.Y. farm boy remembered wood as our primary heat source for years. My wife had no experience with wood heat or stoves at all. She came home one day and said a friend of hers offered her a wood stove ,for free, and asked if she should accept it. My motto is "if its free, its for me" especially when it comes to something like that. Well imagine my surprise when we got there this itty bitty jotul 602 (old model with no viewing glass only a solid door) was what they were wanting to give away. I was expecting something a little larger but ended up picking it up and walking it out to the truck. I got some pipe, some floor and wall protectors and we had that little thing pumping away in no time. It heated the common area (living room, dining room, kitchen) well and provided some heat to the bedrooms making it just right for sleeping. That year we had one of the worst ice storms i've seen in southern maryland. You could skate on the road. Power went out for days but we had that little Jotul 602 to keep us warm and to cook on (we had municipal water/sewage so well water). I think I made spagett with warmed italian bread the first night, cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and a lunch of soup and sandwhiches. Not to mention Coffee. We moved after a couple of years and brought our 602 with us and installed it, along with a new stainless steel hookup, immediately in the common area in our new (to us) house. We later put a large VC downstairs in the basement and didn't use the 602 much anymore so we took it out. However because of the faithful service and indestructable nature of the 602 we bought a F3 CB and reinstalled it back upstairs in the common area. Its a little better fit as the flue can be centered in the top of the stove vs. the back, taking less floor space and the burn time is a little longer and it can burn a little longer wood. We now use it in the shoulder season or when it gets real cold and the new summet downstairs can't keep up. We still have the 602 taking up space in a corner of the laundry room but I'll probably move it out to the garage (unattached) and put it in place for those chilly days when you want to putter in the garage but its just a little too cold to not have some heat.

Its a great versitile little stove, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed mine over the years. Its ONLY drawback is the short wood non extended burn time.

cass
 
Its a great little stove and with constant feeding it should heat it fine on paper. Lack of surface area means it may take a while to get the temp up initially as suggested by BG
 
get a supply of pine to use for the initial heatup.
 
Ditto on the pine suggestion.

Second- log homes are notorious for springing new leaks every year and that is the limiting factor on the coldest days in my (1600 sq ft) log home for an insert heating the whole place. I borrowed a friend's IR thermometer and have found the leaks. Got to keep up with backing rod and chinking.
 
I am getting 12 hour burns and it is 30 degrees out I cannot believe it but I am not complaining!
 
6-7 hours with a full load on a good coal bed is the norm for me with my 602.....thats night time, during the day if i,m around we put less in a lot more often,glad its working out for ya...
 
Chettt said:
Photo's please! My dream home is a small cabin with a Jotul 602, make me jealous.

I'll get some pics...now the cabin is finished and I live in it...measured out it is 375 sq feet haha 2 story cabin on lake access property in North East Ct.

It has no basement it is built on a slab...I bought it from my father and he had built the cabin on a slab...if it was me I would have built it on a full basement so I could store the pressure tank, water heater, etc in the basement.

Nate
 
roddy said:
6-7 hours with a full load on a good coal bed is the norm for me with my 602.....thats night time, during the day if i,m around we put less in a lot more often,glad its working out for ya...

Ya that is more what I expected to get out of it...lucky for me the cabin is so small I can leave the air vent open just a tiny bit which helps my burns last the longest possible...the cabin is VERY well insulated so I am able to retain the heat it generates without asking it to crank up much more.

I leave at 7:20am and return at night at about 6:45 or 7pm and have just enough coals to stir them up and put my new splits on and get it going again...I let it burn much hotter for about 1 to 2 hours now that I am home and then I fill it and turn it down again before bed.

Very impressed with this little burner.
 
yep thats what i do,i,m surprised other people on here report real short burn times and what not,hell its one fifth the size of a blaze king,yet heats half as long,mayber the 602 is the pound for pound king of heating:)
 
Chettt said:
Photo's please! My dream home is a small cabin with a Jotul 602, make me jealous.
 

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Very Nice!! My wife and I are thinking about getting a flat screen TV as well. It will have to go near the stove. Our living room is about 14'x16. Do you have any problems with your TV that close to the stove?
 
barn burner said:
Very Nice!! My wife and I are thinking about getting a flat screen TV as well. It will have to go near the stove. Our living room is about 14'x16. Do you have any problems with your TV that close to the stove?

We have the Lopi in my sig and our TV is mounted above the wood box shown here:

index.php


We just bought a cheapie on sale TV because we weren't so sure if the stove would over heat it, but it doesn't even get warm. I think it's a 32" and it's about the same size as the box, to give you an idea of where it is in relation to the stove/pipe.

I imagine it depends on the stove, I just looked at the Fireview from Woodstock for kicks and my hair about stood on end when I saw the 30" rear clearance (compared to 4 1/4" on the Republic-we're 9" off though). Seems the heat comes off the front and top way more than the back and sides on ours.
 
If you want a bit more surface area, keep an eye out for a a Jotul 606, same footprint and firebox but a lot more efficient due to addtional heat exchanger area.
 
barn burner said:
Very Nice!! My wife and I are thinking about getting a flat screen TV as well. It will have to go near the stove. Our living room is about 14'x16. Do you have any problems with your TV that close to the stove?

I was wondering the same thing. I'd make a simple L-shaped heat shield out of sheet metal. It could be fastened on the wall with the L-leg on top so that you barely see it. Make it about an inch wider than the set and at least an inch deeper than the front, then place it about an inch below the TV.
 
The TV is above the insulated portion of the stove pipe which I think helps some...I have put the back side of my hand up against the bottom of the tv a few times when the stove was really going and it was hardly even luke warm...Maybe it would cause damage but I am not worried about it after the way it has felt so far...I also have such a small stove that temps may not get as hot as some of the larger stoves cranked.
 
I still need to get a shelf and mount the cable box and DVD player and run wires over to the left of the TV to clean up that area but I wanted to watch it in the mean time so I just ran that power wire down to outlet...looks dumb but works until shelf I ordered comes in.
 
Here is a recent shot
 

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