Jotul F500 vs Woodstock Fireview?

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Hmm. . .maybe atmospheric conditions were giving you better draft on your first burns. . .or maybe not. Some other things to consider: Flue leak? Did you seal the connection at the flue collar with furnace cement? Maybe the door latch needs to be tightened. . .check the door seal with a dollar bill. Try using smaller pieces of wood very loosely packed to heat up more quickly.
 
Gyprat said:
Backwoods Savage said:
Gyprat said:
Ran it again all night. This thing is fuel hungry. I loaded it 2/3 full with dry oak and there was no wood left in the burner 3 hours later.

Say what???? If I loaded our Fireview 2/3 full of oak it would no doubt be good for 10 hours or more! Perhaps it is time to learn some new wood burning skills with this new stove.

As Todd stated, getting the stove temperature up is a problem with some folks as they seem to think running the stove with the draft set full open is the key. That is working against rather than with the stove and fuel. Once you get a fire and the wood charred it is time to set the draft down to 2. This will keep more heat in the stove rather than up the chimney. With the new steel cat you can get the stove to 200 degrees (flue to 400) and engage the cat. While engaging the cat, dial that draft down further (perhaps to 1 or 1.5) and you should see the stove top temperature climb much faster. As to your final setting on the draft, that will come with time. No doubt you may have the final setting a bit higher at this time of the year but when the air gets cold outside you'll have the draft set even lower. We find the sweet spot on our draft at .75 or at 1 (the higher being at this time of year).

This is pretty much what I've been doing. It worked this way for the first 2 burns. The temperature would rise quickly once the catalyst was engaged.
Not anymore. I just can't get the top surface tempeature above 380 Deg.F I engage the catalyst at 250 deg and close the intake to about 1 1/4. The temperature stays at around 300 and then starts to drop after about 3 hours. It gets to about 380 degrees if I move the intake lever between 2 and 3. Closing the damper back to 1 makes the temperature drop to about 220 in about an hour. My wood seems dry. I even tried some Eco-Bricks to eliminate the wood problem. Same thing again. Maybe the catalyst is bad? Can it go bad in 5 days? I see some glow in the catalyst area when the damper is set to 2-3.
I'm thinking of calling Woodstock tomorrow. Maybe they need to send me a new catalytic converter..

It sounds as if it could be 2 things:

1. Cat not working properly. Pull the cat and check it.

2. Bypass not working. Easy to determine by opening top lid and working bypass lever while watching bypass.
 
Gyprat,
How tall is your chimney and what's the weather like down in SC?
 
And did you call Woodstock? Answer? Or did you check the cat and the bypass? What did you find?
 
Gyprat said:
Ran it again all night. This thing is fuel hungry. I loaded it 2/3 full with dry oak and there was no wood left in the burner 3 hours later.



Sounds like you have a good wife, good chainsaw, and a good kerosene heater. Maybe in time you can make that cat-rock keep you warm :lol: just funning of coarse you will get it going.
 
Gyprat, I hope you can straighten out your quick burn problems. I would go with what others above have said. You'll be up an running in no time.

I was reading this entire thread last night and know that one of your concerns was the ash removal on the fireview. I was finding that I had to remove some ash and coals daily (still do) to prevent large coal buildup. It was tedious to remove hot coals with a shovel and dust could easily get all over the house. I never spilled a shovel full of ash, but could imagine the mess it would make.

I bought the "Ash Dragon" last burn season. I am very happy with it. One scoop every morning and I'm good to go for the day. It closes right over the ashes to prevent spillage. It also is just the right width to get in the side door of the Fireview stove. Check out some old threads. I believe others are happy with this device too. http://www.ashdragon.com/
 
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.
 
Gyprat said:
We've been looking for a new wood stove for a while. The choices were finally narrowed down to Jotul Oslo F500 or Woodstock Fireview.

I looked at those same choices when I moved into our new house. It came down to capacity - I needed the firebox size of the Oslo. If faced with a similar decision again I would still come down on firebox size as the deciding factor between such two well regarded, quality stoves.

And the ash pan on the Oslo didn't hurt either. The open grate in the Oslo with the large ash pan is a big deal to me. I also burn 24/7 for about five months a year and the ability to quickly remove the ash without disturbing the fire is a real plus. I wish I could go a week, but it is every three to four days for me.

The comment above about the air control getting hot caught be by surprise; I had never thought about it. It does, of course, but I don' grab it, just tap it one direction or the other
 
Backwoods Savage said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.
My stove works better with less ashes in it so I clean mine out every 4 days or so and my wood is dryer than a popcorn fart.
 
I'm curious why that is. Ours is better with a good bed of ash. I try to leave some even when cleaning out the clinkers.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

Yes, I know that pulling ashes out daily is not the best thing. I've discovered that this stove is simply too small to heat the area that I am heating. As a result, I have to run it as hot as I can to keep the space warm. Basically, I'm running it as hot as I can get it 24/7. So, by doing that, I get coal buildup. I know my wood is dry (with an occassional wet piece once a week or so), so know that isn't the problem. Current wood has been C/S/S for 2 years, starts like a dream and gets the stove plenty hot.

I considered upgrading to the new, larger Woodstock stove, but thought it over and I'll stay where I'm at. I just don't want to spend another $1800-2K on a stove. My wife would shoot me!
 
BeGreen said:
I'm curious why that is. Ours is better with a good bed of ash. I try to leave some even when cleaning out the clinkers.
I leave the one inch or so but it seems like the fires get going quicker with less ash, the Nashua was the same way, a deep bed of ash and a new fire seemed slower to get going.
 
jdinspector said:
Backwoods Savage said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

Yes, I know that pulling ashes out daily is not the best thing. I've discovered that this stove is simply too small to heat the area that I am heating. As a result, I have to run it as hot as I can to keep the space warm. Basically, I'm running it as hot as I can get it 24/7. So, by doing that, I get coal buildup. I know my wood is dry (with an occassional wet piece once a week or so), so know that isn't the problem. Current wood has been C/S/S for 2 years, starts like a dream and gets the stove plenty hot.

I considered upgrading to the new, larger Woodstock stove, but thought it over and I'll stay where I'm at. I just don't want to spend another $1800-2K on a stove. My wife would shoot me!


If you're burning that hot now, there is no way it will keep up when the temps get really cold.
 
Nonprophet said:
BeGreen said:
Ash pans are way over-rated in my opinion. Even when we had the Castine, I preferred to keep the ash pan full and let the ash build up accumulate in the stove until it needed cleaning. We have never used the ashpan feature on our Alderlea. If you like the Fireview, I wouldn't let this be a deciding factor.

+1 we never bother with the ash pan--it's too much of a hassle. Our old Defiant-Encore had a nice cover that would slide over the ash pan to keep ashes from flying everywhere while you were getting the full pan to wherever you were emptying it, and that was nice, but on our Oslo we never used the ashpan.

I've never used a Woodstock stove so I can't say anything much about them except that they seem like a great company that puts out a great product.

I can say that we were not happy with our Oslo, and in fact we just sold it. I think you need at least 25' of chimney to get enough draft for them to work right (we had 20' for a single story house), and I never liked the air control lever that got very hot when you were burning yet it had no Alaska handle or anything on it--just bare metal--so I was always looking for something to move the air control lever which was kind of a pain in the rear. Reviewers that say the Oslo is picky about needing very dry wood are spot on. The other issue was that whenever you opened the front door you'd get ashes falling out onto the hearth--not a very good design IMHO. They're certainly nice looking stoves and Jotul has a great reputation, but I would not buy an Oslo again.


NP
I don't think Oslos need a super chimney. Mine is about 15 feet, external masonry chimney, 8" square clay tile lined, uninsulated. Not exactly the best recipe for a chimney. Yet my Oslo runs like a champ. Starts right up, don't need to crack any doors to get it going, no smoke spillage issues. I can't comment on the wood quality sensitivity, as I have only tried burning thoroughly dry wood.

I can't agree with those who say the ash pan is worthless, though. I've had two stoves (old one was a VC Defiant Encore, too) and both it and the Oslo have great ash pans. I burn 24/7 and empty the Oslo's ash pan every 5-7 days. There is no ash mess at all if you do it right, which involves NOT raking a bunch of hot coals into the ash pan before removing it. If you just pull the pan, it's fairly cool, and the ash does not fly around.

Agree that the front door ash dumping is a design flaw. An Oslo is designed to be run from the side door. I open my front door once at the end of the season for spring cleaning.
 
BrowningBAR said:
jdinspector said:
Backwoods Savage said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

Yes, I know that pulling ashes out daily is not the best thing. I've discovered that this stove is simply too small to heat the area that I am heating. As a result, I have to run it as hot as I can to keep the space warm. Basically, I'm running it as hot as I can get it 24/7. So, by doing that, I get coal buildup. I know my wood is dry (with an occassional wet piece once a week or so), so know that isn't the problem. Current wood has been C/S/S for 2 years, starts like a dream and gets the stove plenty hot.

I considered upgrading to the new, larger Woodstock stove, but thought it over and I'll stay where I'm at. I just don't want to spend another $1800-2K on a stove. My wife would shoot me!


If you're burning that hot now, there is no way it will keep up when the temps get really cold.

I know it won't be my complete heating for the whole house. The layout of my house isn't conducive to heating with a single stove - even an Equinox, or some other large stove. I live in a large, old, uninsulated masonry home. There are simply no oppurtunities to insulate the exterior walls, mainly due to the type of construction. However, this stove (and the previous one) provide about 1/2 to 2/3 of my heating. I think the only way to heat the whole place with wood would be to have a second stove (like you!). Not something I'm willing to do, yet. So far (we've lived here for 17 years) the heating bills are manageable and the stove is a great source of extra heat, a great gathering place for my family, and a great hobby.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
And did you call Woodstock? Answer? Or did you check the cat and the bypass? What did you find?
Yes I did call Woodstock. They advised to buy some kiln dried wood from a grocery store and try again. They also suggested to pull out the combustor and check for any contamination or damage.
It'll be another week before I can do this. I'll post the results.
 
Den said:
Hmm. . .maybe atmospheric conditions were giving you better draft on your first burns. . .or maybe not. Some other things to consider: Flue leak? Did you seal the connection at the flue collar with furnace cement? Maybe the door latch needs to be tightened. . .check the door seal with a dollar bill. Try using smaller pieces of wood very loosely packed to heat up more quickly.

Yes I put some stove cement on the flue collar although the manufactutrer did not recommend using any cement. Checked the door gasket. Everything seems ok.
 
Todd said:
Gyprat,
How tall is your chimney and what's the weather like down in SC?
The cimney is about 16 ft total length. The weather was around 31 degrees when I did the testing. It's warmer now.
 
jdinspector said:
BrowningBAR said:
jdinspector said:
Backwoods Savage said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

Yes, I know that pulling ashes out daily is not the best thing. I've discovered that this stove is simply too small to heat the area that I am heating. As a result, I have to run it as hot as I can to keep the space warm. Basically, I'm running it as hot as I can get it 24/7. So, by doing that, I get coal buildup. I know my wood is dry (with an occassional wet piece once a week or so), so know that isn't the problem. Current wood has been C/S/S for 2 years, starts like a dream and gets the stove plenty hot.

I considered upgrading to the new, larger Woodstock stove, but thought it over and I'll stay where I'm at. I just don't want to spend another $1800-2K on a stove. My wife would shoot me!


If you're burning that hot now, there is no way it will keep up when the temps get really cold.

I know it won't be my complete heating for the whole house. The layout of my house isn't conducive to heating with a single stove - even an Equinox, or some other large stove. I live in a large, old, uninsulated masonry home. There are simply no oppurtunities to insulate the exterior walls, mainly due to the type of construction. However, this stove (and the previous one) provide about 1/2 to 2/3 of my heating. I think the only way to heat the whole place with wood would be to have a second stove (like you!). Not something I'm willing to do, yet. So far (we've lived here for 17 years) the heating bills are manageable and the stove is a great source of extra heat, a great gathering place for my family, and a great hobby.


My house is equally poorly laid our for good distribution of stove heat, i however bit that bullet and bought another stove. I will have to post the true rsults of this legendary duel set to go down. A but more work and it will be oslo vs fireview under one roof....

Now ill have to decide who will get the starting gig in the family room, and whos going for fridgid weather backup, in soon to be finished basement.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

You guys were right about the ash pan or the lack of it on the Fireview. No big deal. It's vey easy to clean and will easily go without cleaning for 4-5 days. No additional gaskets and dors to worry about.
 
Stump_Branch said:
jdinspector said:
BrowningBAR said:
jdinspector said:
Backwoods Savage said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

Yes, I know that pulling ashes out daily is not the best thing. I've discovered that this stove is simply too small to heat the area that I am heating. As a result, I have to run it as hot as I can to keep the space warm. Basically, I'm running it as hot as I can get it 24/7. So, by doing that, I get coal buildup. I know my wood is dry (with an occassional wet piece once a week or so), so know that isn't the problem. Current wood has been C/S/S for 2 years, starts like a dream and gets the stove plenty hot.

I considered upgrading to the new, larger Woodstock stove, but thought it over and I'll stay where I'm at. I just don't want to spend another $1800-2K on a stove. My wife would shoot me!


If you're burning that hot now, there is no way it will keep up when the temps get really cold.


I know it won't be my complete heating for the whole house. The layout of my house isn't conducive to heating with a single stove - even an Equinox, or some other large stove. I live in a large, old, uninsulated masonry home. There are simply no oppurtunities to insulate the exterior walls, mainly due to the type of construction. However, this stove (and the previous one) provide about 1/2 to 2/3 of my heating. I think the only way to heat the whole place with wood would be to have a second stove (like you!). Not something I'm willing to do, yet. So far (we've lived here for 17 years) the heating bills are manageable and the stove is a great source of extra heat, a great gathering place for my family, and a great hobby.


My house is equally poorly laid our for good distribution of stove heat, i however bit that bullet and bought another stove. I will have to post the true rsults of this legendary duel set to go down. A but more work and it will be oslo vs fireview under one roof....

Now ill have to decide who will get the starting gig in the family room, and whos going for fridgid weather backup, in soon to be finished basement.

This will be an interesting stove duel. Cat against non cat, stone against cast iron. Can't wait to hear the results.
 
Gyprat,
You will get it figured out, keep us posted, plenty of Fireview owners here to help out.
 
Todd said:
Stump_Branch said:
jdinspector said:
BrowningBAR said:
jdinspector said:
Backwoods Savage" date="1321211266 said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

Yes, I know that pulling ashes out daily is not the best thing. I've discovered that this stove is simply too small to heat the area that I am heating. As a result, I have to run it as hot as I can to keep the space warm. Basically, I'm running it as hot as I can get it 24/7. So, by doing that, I get coal buildup. I know my wood is dry (with an occassional wet piece once a week or so), so know that isn't the problem. Current wood has been C/S/S for 2 years, starts like a dream and gets the stove plenty hot.

I considered upgrading to the new, larger Woodstock stove, but thought it over and I'll stay where I'm at. I just don't want to spend another $1800-2K on a stove. My wife would shoot me!


If you're burning that hot now, there is no way it will keep up when the temps get really cold.


I know it won't be my complete heating for the whole house. The layout of my house isn't conducive to heating with a single stove - even an Equinox, or some other large stove. I live in a large, old, uninsulated masonry home. There are simply no oppurtunities to insulate the exterior walls, mainly due to the type of construction. However, this stove (and the previous one) provide about 1/2 to 2/3 of my heating. I think the only way to heat the whole place with wood would be to have a second stove (like you!). Not something I'm willing to do, yet. So far (we've lived here for 17 years) the heating bills are manageable and the stove is a great source of extra heat, a great gathering place for my family, and a great hobby.


My house is equally poorly laid our for good distribution of stove heat, i however bit that bullet and bought another stove. I will have to post the true rsults of this legendary duel set to go down. A but more work and it will be oslo vs fireview under one roof....

Now ill have to decide who will get the starting gig in the family room, and whos going for fridgid weather backup, in soon to be finished basement.

This will be an interesting stove duel. Cat against non cat, stone against cast iron. Can't wait to hear the results.


I'm guessing the Oslo will pack a heavier punch within a certain radius. The burn times is where the Oslo will far way short.
 
BrowningBAR said:
Todd said:
Stump_Branch said:
jdinspector said:
BrowningBAR said:
jdinspector" date="1321227072 said:
Backwoods Savage" date="1321211266 said:
inspector, that is highly unusual to have to clean ashes that often and very undesirable for sure. We've burn a lot of wood for this early in the season this year but still have yet to empty any ashes. During the winter months when we are burning the most wood we empty ashes perhaps every 4th day. As for the coaling, excessive coaling is usually a hint that the wood is not as dry as it should be. Another thing on the coaling, just before our wood gets down to nothing but coals, we open the draft full. This will help to burn down the coals and works really well.

Yes, I know that pulling ashes out daily is not the best thing. I've discovered that this stove is simply too small to heat the area that I am heating. As a result, I have to run it as hot as I can to keep the space warm. Basically, I'm running it as hot as I can get it 24/7. So, by doing that, I get coal buildup. I know my wood is dry (with an occassional wet piece once a week or so), so know that isn't the problem. Current wood has been C/S/S for 2 years, starts like a dream and gets the stove plenty hot.

I considered upgrading to the new, larger Woodstock stove, but thought it over and I'll stay where I'm at. I just don't want to spend another $1800-2K on a stove. My wife would shoot me!


If you're burning that hot now, there is no way it will keep up when the temps get really cold.


I know it won't be my complete heating for the whole house. The layout of my house isn't conducive to heating with a single stove - even an Equinox, or some other large stove. I live in a large, old, uninsulated masonry home. There are simply no oppurtunities to insulate the exterior walls, mainly due to the type of construction. However, this stove (and the previous one) provide about 1/2 to 2/3 of my heating. I think the only way to heat the whole place with wood would be to have a second stove (like you!). Not something I'm willing to do, yet. So far (we've lived here for 17 years) the heating bills are manageable and the stove is a great source of extra heat, a great gathering place for my family, and a great hobby.


My house is equally poorly laid our for good distribution of stove heat, i however bit that bullet and bought another stove. I will have to post the true rsults of this legendary duel set to go down. A but more work and it will be oslo vs fireview under one roof....

Now ill have to decide who will get the starting gig in the family room, and whos going for fridgid weather backup, in soon to be finished basement.

This will be an interesting stove duel. Cat against non cat, stone against cast iron. Can't wait to hear the results.


I'm guessing the Oslo will pack a heavier punch within a certain radius. The burn times is where the Oslo will far way short.

Yeah, I'm guessing the Oslo heat will feel more intense and have more ups and downs in the heating cycle while the Fireview will give that longer lasting less intense even heat.
 
You are a very bad man, StumpBranch! :p
Similar predictions here. Both fireboxes ~ 2 cu ft, AFAIK, but I did read a recent post by someone who thought that the Oslo was bigger. . .I guess you will soon be in a position to tell us for sure. I'd probably use the FV as the steady heater. It holds coals, like f0rever, so it's very forgiving of missed reloads. To me, the heat capacity of the stone makes it like a train, slow to get up to speed and slow to stop, at it's best running non-stop. The Lil' Heat Engine That Could! :) The Oslo should be quicker on cold starts, and is rated for 70K BTU, but I guesstimate that this level of output would result in ~ 4-hr burn time. So yeah, I'd want to keep the FV simmering 24/7 and fire up Ozzy to add a fast blast of heat when temps dip, but you'll probably have to swap them around 3 or 4 times to know for sure. :p This is gonna be g00d!
 
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