Feeding the beast

[Butcher]

It's been a month since I bite the bullet and bought my Jotul 5oo and installed it. I was wonderin about loading it. The instructions as I understand them say to let the fire burn down to a 2 inch bed of hot embers and then reload the box. The instructions say this will usually have a burn time of 90 minutes. Which it does just like clock work. The first 2 weeks I had this stove I was not operating it as per the manual. Old habits are hard to break I guess. I was operating it like I did with my old metal tin can stove. After the first 2 weeks of the nightly fire to just relax and eat and watch the nightly news I went to do a chimney inspection. I was amazed to see a thin shiney black coating of creasote covering the entire chimney. Of coarse I freaked and climbed down and then back up started brushing it out right quick. Well anyhow, after that first scare I reread the book on this thing and have been doing it exactly as they say to with the 1 exseption of I leave the side loading door open just a crack till I get the flue temp up to the high end and a good fire going in the stove. After another 2 weeks of operation as per manual I looked at the chimney again. Just a dull black haze not unlike I see in the top of the muffler on my old Oliver tractor. Just enough to make your finger tips dirty iffn you rubbed them on the clay liner. I guess my ? is, do you all let the fire burn down according to the book, or throw a stick in when the fire is getting low? Clear as mud right? Like I said when I came here last night I have a ton of ? but will spoon them out 1 at a time. Thanks all.
Lesson learned though. I cannot go and grab some 5 inch rounds offin a standing dead elm I just cut down and let them smolder in this stove overnight. Not like I used to anyhow.
I'll get some pics when I get time but need to figure out how to post youtube on here. First attempt didnt work. Maybe i should read the instuctions?

 

[ScotO]

these new stoves are built to be run in cycles, load up some wood and get the temp up, let 'er burn to a nice hot coal bed, start over again.....they like to get up to temp and that is where they shine......it's amazing how efficient they are when they get nice and hot.....and you are right you can't treat them like the ol' stoves where you load up "whatever" into the firebox, cut the draft nearly off, close the damper and walk away......you won't get any performance from your new stove if you do that.....you'll get the bugs out, there is a learning curve with them and once you do, you'll love it....

 

[Danno77]

90 minute burn time? That's the second stove I've seen on the forum in the past couple of days with 2hr or less burn time. What's the point of a stove that does that?

Edit: I'm reading that it has a burn time of up to 9 hrs. What am I misunderstanding?

 

[NordicSplitter]

I have the Jotul F600. After my initial start up fire from 5pm-8pm....I put about 4 or 5 good size splits in, watch it for about an hour...turn the damper down to 2(scale 1-10)..go to bed. When I get up at 4:30am...nice bed of coals and if I wanted I could start it up again will no problem. During the week I just go to work..the living room is still a toasty 74-76F..Upstairs in 72F...Just let it relax and start it up when I get home. Great stove!

 

[Shari]

Sorry - I edited my post -

How much wood are you putting in the stove?

Where do you have the air setting at?

Need more info - we are here to help.

 

[Butcher]

90 minute burn time? That's the second stove I've seen on the forum in the past couple of days with 2hr or less burn time. What's the point of a stove that does that?

Edit: I'm reading that it has a burn time of up to 9 hrs. What am I misunderstanding?

This thing will hold a hold hot coals for well over 12 hours iffn I set the air controll right when I go to bed. Thats were I ran into problems when I first started using it. I thought I could just throw some big ole hunks of wood in there like I used to and set it and forget it. It's starting to get cold around here so at night before I go to bed I put about 5 splits in there that are about 3 to 4 inches in diameter and let them get cookin and shut the air flow down to about 1/3 and go to bed. In the morning I still have a good warm bed of coals on the stove temp is around 200°. If I was going to be home all day snowed in or sumthin I could easily start a fire with just some kindlin.

 

[Butcher]

Sorry - I edited my post -

How much wood are you putting in the stove?

Where do you have the air setting at?

Need more info - we are here to help.

When I reload I am putting in 2 or 3 small pieces (less than 2 inch diameter) towards the front and as much bigger splits as will saftly fit in the fire box. Mostly all 4 inches or so i guess. Most of the wood I have split for the next 2 years was split thinking I was going to burn it in my old stove so it is quite small. I been cutting and splittin wood this fall and not splitting it down as much. I'm sure larger chunks would give me a longer burn time but this is workin out for now I guess. As for the air, I run it wide open for about 10 or 15 minutes till everything gets cookin good then shut it down in small increments. First to about halfway and then to about a quarter of the way. I just been making this judgement by watching the flue gas temp and the stovetop temp. I dont do it by the thermometer on the room wall anymore cuz no matter what or how I run this stove down there it gets HOT! But I guess thats what I bought it for huh?

 

[Shari]

It's been a month since I bite the bullet and bought my Jotul 5oo and installed it. I was wonderin about loading it. The instructions as I understand them say to let the fire burn down to a 2 inch bed of hot embers and then reload the box. The instructions say this will usually have a burn time of 90 minutes. Which it does just like clock work. The first 2 weeks I had this stove I was not operating it as per the manual. Old habits are hard to break I guess. I was operating it like I did with my old metal tin can stove. After the first 2 weeks of the nightly fire to just relax and eat and watch the nightly news I went to do a chimney inspection. I was amazed to see a thin shiney black coating of creasote covering the entire chimney. Of coarse I freaked and climbed down and then back up started brushing it out right quick. Well anyhow, after that first scare I reread the book on this thing and have been doing it exactly as they say to with the 1 exseption of I leave the side loading door open just a crack till I get the flue temp up to the high end and a good fire going in the stove. After another 2 weeks of operation as per manual I looked at the chimney again. Just a dull black haze not unlike I see in the top of the muffler on my old Oliver tractor. Just enough to make your finger tips dirty iffn you rubbed them on the clay liner. I guess my ? is, do you all let the fire burn down according to the book, or throw a stick in when the fire is getting low? Clear as mud right? Like I said when I came here last night I have a ton of ? but will spoon them out 1 at a time. Thanks all.
Lesson learned though. I cannot go and grab some 5 inch rounds offin a standing dead elm I just cut down and let them smolder in this stove overnight. Not like I used to anyhow.
I'll get some pics when I get time but need to figure out how to post youtube on here. First attempt didnt work. Maybe i should read the instuctions?

There's your problem - in red - don't leave the door open that long - you are sending all your btu's up the flue. At most, leave the door cracked just until you know you have a good draft going and a few flames showing. Close the door, slowly, with air open 100%. Watch your temps on your stove top thermo and when you start approaching around 425-450 start shutting down in increments. Example first shut down should be around 50% at 450 °F, second shut down should be about 15 minutes later to around 25% and final shut down another 15 minutes later to around 10% or all the way off - which equates to 3 shut downs. Sometimes I just do 2 shut downs: 50% at 450 °F and final shut down to 10% 15 minutes later.

 

[Butcher]

It's been a month since I bite the bullet and bought my Jotul 5oo and installed it. I was wonderin about loading it. The instructions as I understand them say to let the fire burn down to a 2 inch bed of hot embers and then reload the box. The instructions say this will usually have a burn time of 90 minutes. Which it does just like clock work. The first 2 weeks I had this stove I was not operating it as per the manual. Old habits are hard to break I guess. I was operating it like I did with my old metal tin can stove. After the first 2 weeks of the nightly fire to just relax and eat and watch the nightly news I went to do a chimney inspection. I was amazed to see a thin shiney black coating of creasote covering the entire chimney. Of coarse I freaked and climbed down and then back up started brushing it out right quick. Well anyhow, after that first scare I reread the book on this thing and have been doing it exactly as they say to with the 1 exseption of I leave the side loading door open just a crack till I get the flue temp up to the high end and a good fire going in the stove. After another 2 weeks of operation as per manual I looked at the chimney again. Just a dull black haze not unlike I see in the top of the muffler on my old Oliver tractor. Just enough to make your finger tips dirty iffn you rubbed them on the clay liner. I guess my ? is, do you all let the fire burn down according to the book, or throw a stick in when the fire is getting low? Clear as mud right? Like I said when I came here last night I have a ton of ? but will spoon them out 1 at a time. Thanks all.
Lesson learned though. I cannot go and grab some 5 inch rounds offin a standing dead elm I just cut down and let them smolder in this stove overnight. Not like I used to anyhow.
I'll get some pics when I get time but need to figure out how to post youtube on here. First attempt didnt work. Maybe i should read the instuctions?

There's your problem - in red - don't leave the door open that long - you are sending all your btu's up the flue. At most, leave the door cracked just until you know you have a good draft going and a few flames showing. Close the door, slowly, with air open 100%. Watch your temps on your stove top thermo and when you start approaching around 425-450 start shutting down in increments. Example first shut down should be around 50% at 450 °F, second shut down should be about 15 minutes later to around 25% and final shut down another 15 minutes later to around 10% or all the way off - which equates to 3 shut downs. Sometimes I just do 2 shut downs: 50% at 450 °F and final shut down to 10% 15 minutes later.

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

As folks have mentioned . . . burning in cycles helps . . . and it really truly is the best way to burn.

Thermometers . . . do you have them? I'm a big advocate of a thermo for the stove (i.e. lets you know when your stove is hot enough to start cutting back on the air and when it is getting too hot and is near the over-firing temp) and the flue (i.e. lets you know when you're burning too cool, too hot or in the Goldilocks zone -- just be sure to either have a magnetic thermo for single wall pipe and a probe style thermo for double wall pipe). Truth be told . . . I often use my flue thermo as more of a guide as to when I can start cutting back the air.

No disrespect to Shari . . . but it sounds like you're more or less running the stove like I do . . . I leave the side door a crack until I get the temp up and running . . . but the key thing is I know when I've reached that temp due to the thermometers . . . not just a guess based on what I think the flames look like or how warm I feel.

Wood . . . yeah . . . gotta have nice, dry, well-seasoned wood which even with standing dead wood typically means you cannot just go out and saw a tree down, buck it up, split it and toss it into the firebox.

Don't panic . . . having a bit of gunk in the chimney happens . . . especially with less than ideal wood . . . it's when the gunk gets really bad and starts building up thick that problems can develop.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want . . . we like answering questions . . . it's our way to give back to the forum . . . plus it makes us feel very, very smart.

Oh yeah . . . one more thing . . . in case myself or others have forgot . . . welcome to The Hearth.

 

[Shari]

Oh poo foo, Jake - no offense taken here.

I guess you could say I leave my side door open just a bit. I have never left the room with the door open - except - in the morning when I time my exit for 1.5+ minutes to warm up water in my coffee cup for cappuccino - and then I retire to the couch to watch the morning news show. Kitchen is just around the corner from the living room - hubby is always still in bed - no little ones here to distract me from my 1.5 minutes + stirring time.

 

[Butcher]

Random thoughts . . .

As folks have mentioned . . . burning in cycles helps . . . and it really truly is the best way to burn.

Thermometers . . . do you have them? I'm a big advocate of a thermo for the stove (i.e. lets you know when your stove is hot enough to start cutting back on the air and when it is getting too hot and is near the over-firing temp) and the flue (i.e. lets you know when you're burning too cool, too hot or in the Goldilocks zone -- just be sure to either have a magnetic thermo for single wall pipe and a probe style thermo for double wall pipe). Truth be told . . . I often use my flue thermo as more of a guide as to when I can start cutting back the air.

No disrespect to Shari . . . but it sounds like you're more or less running the stove like I do . . . I leave the side door a crack until I get the temp up and running . . . but the key thing is I know when I've reached that temp due to the thermometers . . . not just a guess based on what I think the flames look like or how warm I feel.

Wood . . . yeah . . . gotta have nice, dry, well-seasoned wood which even with standing dead wood typically means you cannot just go out and saw a tree down, buck it up, split it and toss it into the firebox.

Don't panic . . . having a bit of gunk in the chimney happens . . . especially with less than ideal wood . . . it's when the gunk gets really bad and starts building up thick that problems can develop.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want . . . we like answering questions . . . it's our way to give back to the forum . . . plus it makes us feel very, very smart.

Oh yeah . . . one more thing . . . in case myself or others have forgot . . . welcome to The Hearth.

Thermometers? I gots 4 of them stuck all over that stove and the 4 foot piece of pipe that goes into the thimble just tryin to figure out witch 1 is right.
I'm just an old worn out biker/ hillbilly that aint used to this new fangled type of burnin wood I guess. I worry more about a chimney fire than anything. They can really ruin a guys day. Thanks for the welcome.

 

[Dexter]

Hey Nordic. 'Love our F600 too. We've burned it 12 seasons. 'Did take some learning, though.

I see what other posters are talking about though: With the air pretty "open" and a hot fire, the active phase will only be about 2 hours even in so large a stove. But shut it down to just the right level, and we can get all night heat (but not all night flames!)

Regards,

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

As folks have mentioned . . . burning in cycles helps . . . and it really truly is the best way to burn.

Thermometers . . . do you have them? I'm a big advocate of a thermo for the stove (i.e. lets you know when your stove is hot enough to start cutting back on the air and when it is getting too hot and is near the over-firing temp) and the flue (i.e. lets you know when you're burning too cool, too hot or in the Goldilocks zone -- just be sure to either have a magnetic thermo for single wall pipe and a probe style thermo for double wall pipe). Truth be told . . . I often use my flue thermo as more of a guide as to when I can start cutting back the air.

No disrespect to Shari . . . but it sounds like you're more or less running the stove like I do . . . I leave the side door a crack until I get the temp up and running . . . but the key thing is I know when I've reached that temp due to the thermometers . . . not just a guess based on what I think the flames look like or how warm I feel.

Wood . . . yeah . . . gotta have nice, dry, well-seasoned wood which even with standing dead wood typically means you cannot just go out and saw a tree down, buck it up, split it and toss it into the firebox.

Don't panic . . . having a bit of gunk in the chimney happens . . . especially with less than ideal wood . . . it's when the gunk gets really bad and starts building up thick that problems can develop.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want . . . we like answering questions . . . it's our way to give back to the forum . . . plus it makes us feel very, very smart.

Oh yeah . . . one more thing . . . in case myself or others have forgot . . . welcome to The Hearth.

Thermometers? I gots 4 of them stuck all over that stove and the 4 foot piece of pipe that goes into the thimble just tryin to figure out witch 1 is right.
I'm just an old worn out biker/ hillbilly that aint used to this new fangled type of burnin wood I guess. I worry more about a chimney fire than anything. They can really ruin a guys day. Thanks for the welcome.

HehHeh . . . four of 'em huh? I'm pretty sure Jotul recommends placing the stove top thermo at one of the four corners . . . what I discovered with trial and error in the first year and I think others have discovered is that even with the same thermo (and confirmed with my IR thermo) . . . just moving it to different corners can result in an impressive difference in temp. What I ended up doing was just picking the corner that was consistently hotter . . . which for me was the right rear corner (I think it is hotter because I tend to push the ash into that corner which causes the coals and wood to sit up higher in that area.

As for which thermo is right . . . if the thermos are all in the ballpark you're doing fine. These things aren't exactly done for being spot on. I did check the stove top thermo's reading against my IR thermo when I bought it and found both were pretty close which was nice to see . . . but again . . . I use the thermos more as a general guide as to burning too hot or too cool. In time you will kind of get used to looking at the fire and getting a pretty decent read on the fire temp . . . it's not fool-proof, but you can often tell if it's too hot or too cool.

The thermo on the stove pipe . . . is the stove pipe single wall or double wall?

Chimney fire . . . I don't worry too much about chimney fires with folks like you . . . it's the folks out there running the smoldering fires and burning unseasoned wood and who never think to clean, much less inspect, their chimneys that worry me the most . . . and generally these are the folks who do not have liners or Class A chimneys, but instead have the stove vented into an old masonry chimney that may or may not be lined with a clay liner . . . these are the folks who worry me . . . not the folks who do the installation by the book or even better than what is needed . . . not the folks who know to run their stove at the right temps and use seasoned wood . . . and certainly not folks who reguarly inspect and clean their chimneys.