Just picked up an Oslo. After hearing all these years what a great company Jotul is, I was surprised how bad the owner's manual is. As a technical writer I always find it ironic when a company spends millions of dollars making a good product, then sends it out with a lousy manual.
The stove comes with a number of pieces in the firebox which the installer must install. The assembly section covering this is one paragraph long, with no illustrations. It tells you how the ash lips go, but never says what ash lips are so you got to go to the back of the manual, read down the list of parts, then turn to the microscopic schematic to find out what they look like.\.
There's a bag of small parts included, but no explanation of what they are or where they go. A proper manual or packing slip would have pictures and description to identify each part. While the manual tells (in the aforementioned single assembly paragraph) how to put on the flue collar and ash lips it makes no mention of the knobs and attendant hardware which are also in the small parts bag. Back to the microscopic blow up page. OK, the knobs turn out to be pretty straightforward, other than the two washers which are located (if the location shown in the blow up is correct) pretty non-inutitively.
Finally there is a big, bent piece of sheet metal. No label or explanation in the assembly section as to what it is or what to do with it but it is pretty clear it should not stay there. Get out the reading glasses and back to the blow up. Turns out its a bottom heat shield, and there is a very brief description of its use (but not its installation) in the "Accessories" section.
Actually, other than many duplicate outlines of the stove in the clearance section and the parts blow up there are no pictures in the manual at all. Too bad. While it isn't that hard to figure out, given a little staring at the blow up and parts list, and trying the different parts in different places, how things go, why should the new owner have to do that? It's funny too that Jotul dealers love to boast how instead of expensive refractory the Jotul uses standard, ownere-replaceable $2 firebricks - but the maintenance section doesn't have a word to say about how to replace them. Come to thing of it, it doesn't mention the replacing the burnplates or refractory blanket which I am told will need periodic attention.
Maybe I have been spoiled by the gorgeous, thorough and beautifully illustrated manuals from VC's glory days, but it really seems to me that Jotul could greatly enhance the new owner experience by spending another 50¢ or so on the manual.
Oh, and some tips on how to get the stove off the pallet would be appreciated too.
The stove comes with a number of pieces in the firebox which the installer must install. The assembly section covering this is one paragraph long, with no illustrations. It tells you how the ash lips go, but never says what ash lips are so you got to go to the back of the manual, read down the list of parts, then turn to the microscopic schematic to find out what they look like.\.
There's a bag of small parts included, but no explanation of what they are or where they go. A proper manual or packing slip would have pictures and description to identify each part. While the manual tells (in the aforementioned single assembly paragraph) how to put on the flue collar and ash lips it makes no mention of the knobs and attendant hardware which are also in the small parts bag. Back to the microscopic blow up page. OK, the knobs turn out to be pretty straightforward, other than the two washers which are located (if the location shown in the blow up is correct) pretty non-inutitively.
Finally there is a big, bent piece of sheet metal. No label or explanation in the assembly section as to what it is or what to do with it but it is pretty clear it should not stay there. Get out the reading glasses and back to the blow up. Turns out its a bottom heat shield, and there is a very brief description of its use (but not its installation) in the "Accessories" section.
Actually, other than many duplicate outlines of the stove in the clearance section and the parts blow up there are no pictures in the manual at all. Too bad. While it isn't that hard to figure out, given a little staring at the blow up and parts list, and trying the different parts in different places, how things go, why should the new owner have to do that? It's funny too that Jotul dealers love to boast how instead of expensive refractory the Jotul uses standard, ownere-replaceable $2 firebricks - but the maintenance section doesn't have a word to say about how to replace them. Come to thing of it, it doesn't mention the replacing the burnplates or refractory blanket which I am told will need periodic attention.
Maybe I have been spoiled by the gorgeous, thorough and beautifully illustrated manuals from VC's glory days, but it really seems to me that Jotul could greatly enhance the new owner experience by spending another 50¢ or so on the manual.
Oh, and some tips on how to get the stove off the pallet would be appreciated too.
