interesting Jotul 505

[othillo]

I have a "new" antique Jotul 505. I bought it as is has a very small footprint and can take a great load. The issue I'm have is how the hell to control it?? There are 3 doors on the front, a loading door at the top, a fire-level door with a removable baffle inside and an ash pan door. All the doors have screw dampers and there is a riddle bed if you are burning coal. Above the top door there is a smoke box with a by-pass plug and a number of baffles. With all the baffles in place I get a good draw. What are the 3 controls for?? I seem to get an all or nothing burn, all thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Any thoughts where I can find a manual? I've written to Jotul but they haven't responded

 

[begreen]

Greetings. Are you from the US or abroad? These units are rare in the US.

I'll hazard a guess here based on similar setups. From what I gather, running the stove is a bit of an art form. The lower control is for burning coal. For wood, it may help with starting a balky fire, but is probably best left normally closed. The middle control can be thought of as the primary air. It feeds the fire at its front bottom. The upper control I am guessing is a bit like the secondary air, designed for reburning unburnt gases. If this is correct, for normal buring with dry wood, we can simplify operation down to 2 controls. Start a kindling fire to establish coals, using the center air control wide open. Then add medium sized splits. As they take fire, reduce the center control to maybe 1/2? and open the upper control a little bit. As the fire (and stove) get hotter, reduce the lower air control to the desired burn level. Experiment with the upper control to see what achieves the hottest stove top.

This will take some playing with. It may work better with more or less upper control air. It could be that you find a sweet spot for the upper air control and just leave it open at that setting. Having an IR thermometer or a couple magnetic units to see the effect of air settings on the stove should be helpful. Let us know how this works out and what you learn as you burn. And please post some beauty shots.

 

[othillo]

As requested, a beauty shot...

Yes, well guessed, I'm from the other side of the pond, but I did spend a year in Colorado a couple of years ago, wow, what a state. I know a guy who imports these units for Norway, and for us it is fantastic due to it's size and I love the fact that it heats your back up when you come in from the cold as it stands 4ft tall!!

Thanks for the advise, that was sort of what I had surmised. The confusing thing is that the lower damper has a very course screw and numbers embossed round it, leading me to think that this was the primary control. Due to the riddle in the floor of the bed it does not build up a bed of ash but this doesn't seem to be upsetting matters. I'm just experimenting at the moment, but it has huge potential, when it is going it just hums! Loving it.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[BrotherBart]

I want one.

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

Me too. I bet that would burn bit coal wonderfully.

 

[begreen]

Nice. Looks like a tower of power. Thanks for the picture. Let us know what you think the best way to run the stove is after you've had a chance to work with it.

 

[BrowningBAR]

As requested, a beauty shot...

Yes, well guessed, I'm from the other side of the pond, but I did spend a year in Colorado a couple of years ago, wow, what a state. I know a guy who imports these units for Norway, and for us it is fantastic due to it's size and I love the fact that it heats your back up when you come in from the cold as it stands 4ft tall!!

Thanks for the advise, that was sort of what I had surmised. The confusing thing is that the lower damper has a very course screw and numbers embossed round it, leading me to think that this was the primary control. Due to the riddle in the floor of the bed it does not build up a bed of ash but this doesn't seem to be upsetting matters. I'm just experimenting at the moment, but it has huge potential, when it is going it just hums! Loving it.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Holy crap, that's cool looking!

 

[begreen]

Nice. Looks like a tower of power. Thanks for the picture. I suspect this is primarily a coal heater. The numbers are so that you just dial in a running temp and walk away. I am curious as to how well it will burn wood. Try using the middle control for this and see if the fires last longer. Also check the flue to see what setting gives the cleanest burn at various stages of burning. Let us know what you think the best way to run the stove is after you've had a chance to work with it.

 

[othillo]

It chucks out the heat! I'm loving it.

Today I've had the bottom damper closed. The top damper seems to burn the smoke but also reduces the draw through the main damper. The stove can swollow a lot of wood, and seems to work best when it has a good load.

I'd still love to get hold of any form of jotul user guide, any thoughts?

 

[othillo]

It's working really well now, stoked up and closed down it will even burn for 12 hours through the night.

Any ideas on how to reduce the sooting up of the smoke box, I'm presuming that I should probably run it hotter?? any guides on temperatures?? I'm using mostly silver birch at least a year in seasoning. (Silver birch = a smaller Aspen)

 

[BrowningBAR]

If anyone is interested, a Jersey CraigList posting has a version of this Jotul:

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/app/1529491498.html

 

[othillo]

Wow, exactly the same but without the heat-exchanger on the top.