Calling all Oslo & f600 Brothers & Sisters

[adrpga498]

Hi,
I'm a very happy castine owner of 11 years and will stay in the Jotul family for my next purchase. House is approximately 2200sqf Bi- level with stove in lower(groound level ) room. Here are some of my options or questions to any of you who may care to answer. 1. Do any f500 owners whish they had gone up 1 size larger to the f600? 2. Do any f600 owners feel they have "too much" stove ?

I can continue with the Castine, although I'd rather have more heat in the dead of winter. Castine can't keep up, no fault of stove or fuel, just too small for the house.

My main concern would be that I go for the f500 and then whish I had gone for the 600. Thanks for all your thoughts in advance.

 

[begreen]

For certain you would be refilling the stove less in either case. About what temperature outside do you start wishing you had a bit more horsepower?

 

[adrpga498]

At about 20 degrees and lower . I think loading less often would be great. Load at 11pm will carry to 7am with coals for restarts with ease. My issues are, 1. Keep the Castine, 2. wondering if I should have gone up to the f600 after a purchase of the f500. I'm not trying to eliminate the oil burner from kicking on all together but if that happens so much the better. Upstairs won't get above 68 when temps drop below 30's. Just trolling for opinions I suppose. TY

 

[begreen]

We went from the Castine to a T6 for many of the same reasons. Under 20F I had to push the F400 hard, which meant reloading every 4 hrs. And like you I was concerned about getting too large a stove. We couldn't accommodate the side load door for the Oslo and the F600 was too radiant for our corner install (windows close by that are hard to heat shield). Then the Alderlea came out. The difference being that the F600 is a radiant heater and the Alderlea is a convective heater. The T6 has worked out great because it never blasts us out of the room, runs well in mild weather on just a few splits, yet has tons of reserves when we need them. In the Jotul line the F50 Rangeley is similar in that it also is a steel stove with a cast iron jacket option. Your space sounds like it would benefit more from a convective heater. Radiant heat is not going to move well from floor to floor. It's easier to move hot air. But if you want to stay pure cast iron, and have the room, I think either stove will work out for you. Though I think the F600 would be my choice if you have the space for a big radiant heater.

 

[adrpga498]

Yes , I have the space for the 600 and I am familiar with your upgrade being a daily reader here BG. Looking for less often refills with the same simplicity to run as the Castine. I just don't want to regret not going to the 600 after purchasing the 500. Having viewed the specs its a greater jump from the Cstine to the 500 then 500 to 600. Either way I know I'll be pleased. Just looking for other opinions. Thanks again.

 

[moody]

my f600 is in the basement and its heating around 2300 sq feet an with shagbark hickery its no problem to have around 2 inches of hot coals after 12 hours

 

[begreen]

Yup, I understand. Hopefully some others that have done this will chime in soon.

 

[adrpga498]

Ty both, I'm not trying to make this a 500vs.600 by performance , just wondering if those that got the 500 would have gone larger if they had to do it over again. I know both stoves are great. Ty

 

[BrowningBAR]

How warm do you like the house?

Right now I am experimenting with smaller fires in a Defiant (about the same size stove as the F600) and it is working well for me. I would imagine smaller fires in the F600 would function about the same. I'm a fan of over-sizing so I would try to stick the largest possible stove in the house for the flexibility.

But, there are some here that can not stand it when the house goes above 72°. If you fall within that category then I would go with the F500.

My feeling is that the F500 would meet your needs, whether it is burn times or heating capacity, 90-95% of the time. You would probably only wish for the F600 when we get hit with colder than normal temps, like we did last year regularly. When that happens you will notice that you are reloading the stove more frequently and running at higher temps.

With the F600, I would suppose the only difference you would see when the temps really drop would be that you are loading bigger loads of wood into the stove.

 

[adrpga498]

I like a warmer house Mr browning. Although we keep bedroom cooler which is fartherst room from the stove anyway. Ty for your input. I'm strongly leaing towards f600. Seems like most f500 owners may not admit they may have gone too small. I don't plan on skimping this go around.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I like a warmer house Mr browning. Although we keep bedroom cooler which is fartherst room from the stove anyway. Ty for your input. I'm strongly leaing towards f600. Seems like most f500 owners may not admit they may have gone too small. I don't plan on skimping this go around.

I wouldn't go that far. The Oslo is a really good stove, but it is around a 2.5 cu ft stove and you are trying to heat 2,200 sq ft. That's not a small space and is above the expectations of the Oslo in even the most perfect conditions. So, a 3 cu ft stove would be more capable of handling that type of space.

 

[Jim Buckhorn]

The Oslo doesn't have that big of a box. The Firelight on the other hand, is too big in overall size to match most living areas, I think (unless you have cathedral ceilings and so on). Have you seen one on display?

 

[adrpga498]

Cathedral ceiling in the upstairs living and dining rooms. Yes I have seen the 600 on display.

 

[adrpga498]

I like a warmer house Mr browning. Although we keep bedroom cooler which is fartherst room from the stove anyway. Ty for your input. I'm strongly leaing towards f600. Seems like most f500 owners may not admit they may have gone too small. I don't plan on skimping this go around.

I wouldn't go that far. The Oslo is a really good stove, but it is around a 2.5 cu ft stove and you are trying to heat 2,200 sq ft. That's not a small space and is above the expectations of the Oslo in even the most perfect conditions. So, a 3 cu ft stove would be more capable of handling that type of space.

Point well taken, I shouldn't have said "most " 500 owners. Although if there are a select few , I would rather not be another if that makes any sence.

 

[Stubborn Dutchman]

All I can add is that I love my F600. The larger firebox makes it much easier to fit in the oddball shaped splits I keep ending up with. This winter has been so goofy I haven't been able to really put it to the test max heat wise.

 

[ddddddden]

Jotul F50/F55 is in your size range and available with cast side panels for some of that Alderlea-style convection mojo.

 

[jotul8e2]

In your situation, if you can fit in the 600 it would be a better choice.

We bought the Oslo, knowing that it was undersized for our house in extreme cold, for the following reasons:
1. The loading door is on the left. Our stove location requires a left hand or front loading door.
2. I believed the Oslo would work in a wider range of the climate conditions we have here in SW Missouri. Currently, with daytime highs of 45-50 we build one fire and load once. Anything more is too much. Only in extreme cold do I struggle - say 10 below or colder. This occurs once every three or four years.
3. The 600 will really dominate anything but a very, very large room. Our "stove room" is 16X20 and the 600 would simply overwhelm the space.

As much as I wanted the larger firebox, if I had to do it over again today I'd still buy the 500 for my application.

 

[begreen]

All I can add is that I love my F600. The larger firebox makes it much easier to fit in the oddball shaped splits I keep ending up with. This winter has been so goofy I haven't been able to really put it to the test max heat wise.

I'm curious about how you run it in this milder weather. What has been the daily operation?

 

[BrowningBAR]

I like a warmer house Mr browning. Although we keep bedroom cooler which is fartherst room from the stove anyway. Ty for your input. I'm strongly leaing towards f600. Seems like most f500 owners may not admit they may have gone too small. I don't plan on skimping this go around.

I wouldn't go that far. The Oslo is a really good stove, but it is around a 2.5 cu ft stove and you are trying to heat 2,200 sq ft. That's not a small space and is above the expectations of the Oslo in even the most perfect conditions. So, a 3 cu ft stove would be more capable of handling that type of space.

Point well taken, I shouldn't have said "most " 500 owners. Although if there are a select few , I would rather not be another if that makes any sence.

Go with the F600 and enjoy the extra heat.

For me, the colder it is out side, the more enjoyment I get making it really, really warm inside.

 

[Stubborn Dutchman]

All I can add is that I love my F600. The larger firebox makes it much easier to fit in the oddball shaped splits I keep ending up with. This winter has been so goofy I haven't been able to really put it to the test max heat wise.

I'm curious about how you run it in this milder weather. What has been the daily operation?

I just run it with the firebox about 2/3 full. With cherry and ash mostly, it runs a little over 400. It often gets pretty warn in the kitchen but this big old farmhouse has a very restrictive floor plan so the rest of the rooms are mostly in the mid sixties. I made the mistake of making most of my splits pretty large so the F600 seldom sees 600 + temps. Not enough to be a concern this mild winter but I made a ton of smaller splits for a better mixture for this coming winter. I reload this way once in the morning and again in mid-afternoon. I pack her as full as I can about ten or eleven p.m. and end up with 2"/3" of good coals for the a.m. reload.

For my first winter with the F600 I am very pleased.

 

[tcassavaugh]

i've never run into a situation when i've thought "i wish i got a smaller stove.....this one is just too big". however, i have been in situations when i've wished i bought a bigger stove. i've had times when i bought stoves that were borderline for the sq footage i have and really had to fire them when it got real cold. now after years of burning, i get a big one and have small fires. much better to have a big one if your living space will accomidate it. i have a jotul f3cb (small stove) in the living room and a PE Summit downstairs (big stove). didn't need the big stove much this year.

jmho

cass

 

[mikefrommaine]

I have the f600. Never wished that I went smaller.

Either one is super easy to operate.

 

[Dexter]

With regard to the smaller-fire when not-as-cold: In our Firelight cb, we get short-duration fires that peak out hot enough that they don't stain the glass or overheat the house. We build 'em N/S, with small to medium splits, 3 on the bottom, 2 in the middle, & 1 on top, close to the burn-tubes. With fire starter used in a top down start, the secondary manifold and tubes "torch-off" quickly, but the fuel runs out quickly, too. 'A very satisfactory solution to preventing over heating with that large stove.

Cheers.

 

[Dougiefreshhh]

I've had our F500 for about a month now.

It replaced an old VC resolute, and can say the F500 is a greate stove for our heating needs.

A F600 would have been too big for our set up.

If you want longest burn times, I'd go with the biggest box.

If, like me, you are trying to supplement your furnace, and only burn 2crds/year, then the F500 might make more sense.

Happy hunting...and let us know what you decide.

Doug

 

[JDC1]

We use small splits for a short hot fire and let it go out in our 600. I will hit 500* and then turn the air down halfway. The stove stays around 150-200* for a long time after the fire has burned out. This is our first year with ours and am still learning how to maintain high temperatures for an extended amount of time. It keeps our 3300 square foot home comfortable in all but the coldest temperatures when we use the Super Jack to heat the upstairs.