It's all about the draft with my Oslo

[nelraq]

Finally remembered my password so that I could get in here and post!

About this time last year I sold my PE spectrum and installed a new Oslo. I 'fought' with the Oslo all of last winter. It would take
(sometimes) up to 3.5 hours to get the stove up to 500 degrees! This was with using very dry wood that was between 8 and 16%.

I posted about this last winter. I think I finally convinced you guys that the wood was not the problem! I tried putting a spacer behind the "doghouse", putting a chimney damper in to keep more heat in the stove,, etc. etc. --all to no avail.

Several of you suggested that the draft was inadequate. I refused to believe that it could be a draft problem because:

The PE was almost impossible to control--had way too much draft. I was always afraid to load it up because the stove top could be red hot within minutes! From stovetop to chimney top was about 13.5 ft.

Anyways, thanks especially to BE GREEN! He suggested that I add about 3 feet of black pipe to the chimney. I had some old pieces in the shed so I thought it was worth a try! Added 3 feet -no difference! Added another foot -noticed (I think) a small difference! Added another foot -VOILA - problem solved!! Stove top up to 600 degrees in about 30 minutes!

So...I added another 5.5 feet of insulated pipe to the chimney. This happened in March last year.

The Oslo works just great now! It's funny though how one stove can have too much draft with 13 feet of pipe, and another needs 18 feet plus to work as designed.

The extra 5.5 feet of chimney looks rather odd; and I have to take the 5.5 feet off to clean the chimney - but it doesn't take too long and it is certainly worth the effort.

BTW I cleaned the chimney and stove yesterday and got a small amount of black fluffy stuff - weighed it for the heck of it --5.75 ounces!!

 

[oldspark]

nelraq, I think you are right on, finding the right combination can be a trial and error with no science to it.

 

[begreen]

Good to hear that you are back and heating well now. Thanks for the update. Different stoves really do have different draft requirements. The flue is 50% of the wood burning system.

 

[wendell]

Thanks for posting this. I have only burned my Oslo 6 times thus far because it has just been too warm this fall but although I have learned a few things about the stove, I have yet to get to 600 on the stove top, usually topping out at 500-500 and also getting more white haze on the glass than I care for. I have an extra 3 and 2 ft. section I was going to return but now thinking I may add on the 3 ft and see if it makes a difference. It will mean I will need to dismantle the pipe to clean it but if it gives me a better burn, so be it.