pyrojoe said:Thanks ploughboy. I wrote the comments below before I saw your post. I'll post them anyways. I think the R-value is around 1. I've felt the bottom of the decking and the protruding screws from the crawl when the floor is at it's hottest. It's just warm not at all hot. But I know plywood has an r value as well. I don't know how to calculate the temp on the other side of it.
I have done the dollar bill and light test. I can pull the dollar bill through, but there's resistance. I don't have any problem controlling the fire once it's going and the flue definitely stabilizes and cools down some. I'm just on edge when getting up to temp. Seems like a lot of draft (but nothing like if the ash door is cracked a hair). It appears the flames are likely reaching/going up the flue a bit. Should I experience this with the doors sealed and primary open? Are other Oslo owners seeing this? On my previous setup I couldn't hear it so much with the door closed. Of course it was a different setup, I could burn the whole load wide open. Is it possible, in-spite of being able to control the fire, I may have significant air leakage? Thanks for the replies so far.
A few items . . .
Do not burn this stove with the ash pan door open . . . open the front or side door to get the fire going . . . but not the ash pan door. Not that the warrantee is still in effect, but doing so can void the warrantee . . . and more importantly . . . it can damage the stove . . . there have been some Oslo owners in the past who paid the price for doing so. It's a bad habit to get into . . .
I assume the baffle and insualtion blanket are in place . . . you can see the baffle by looking in the firebox . . . and you can feel for the baffle blanket or even do a visual inspection by removing the oval plate at the top of the stove . . . it may only seem as though the flames are going up the chimney . . . I mean to say there will be a lot of flames . . . but if things are all in place . . . things should be fine.
In my opinion if you can control the fire . . . i.e. once you're up to temp you start to dial down the air and you begin to see secondaries . . . you probably do not have an air leakage issue.
Oh yeah . . . definitely do not run this stove with the air open all the time . . . this will put more heat through your chimney . . . and you will not burn efficiently . . . i.e. no secondary burn and short burn times.