Jotul NR-4

[Vanskills]

Hello,

Been reading this forum for a few months and just joined.

I bought a Jotul NR-4 that was sitting in some old ladies garage for 500 bucks including all the piping and cap.

We live at 10,000 feet in Colorado with lots of snow and temps that get in negatives. We bought this house/cabin 900 square feet few months ago with propane heat, sucks bad and cost us about 400 a month in propane, not anymore! Lol

Anyway anyone have some tips for this stove? It looks pretty dam serious haha

 

[SmokeyCity]

You may have to make adjustments for thin air...


sorry this is off topic but i cant resist:

do u notice a difference in your wind/endurance/breathing when you travel to "normal" elevations ?

Do people that visit you notice the loss of oxygen ?

Hello,

Been reading this forum for a few months and just joined.

I bought a Jotul NR-4 that was sitting in some old ladies garage for 500 bucks including all the piping and cap.

We live at 10,000 feet in Colorado with lots of snow and temps that get in negatives. We bought this house/cabin 900 square feet few months ago with propane heat, sucks bad and cost us about 400 a month in propane, not anymore! Lol

Anyway anyone have some tips for this stove? It looks pretty dam serious haha

 

[Vanskills]

Alot of people that go above 5000 feet get altitude sickness, here at 10,000 feet it definitely would take a few weeks to feel "right". Some people cannot live this high, depends on the person.

I go to Hawaii all the time(sea level) that's were I'm from, i feel no different than at 10,000 feet

 

[Vanskills]

Oh and btw I almost bought the crappy volzegang $150 stove at lowes
and was going to mod it to fill in the air gaps, cause there was no way in hell was going to spend over a thousand for a stove.

I lucked out though ( in my eyes anyway) and got this beast of a stove, it's huge, was only fired up fir 2 months, and all the stainless piping with it for 500 bucks. I'm happy, just need to install now, will prob do it this weekend.

This website has been invaluable to me.

 

[begreen]

Is this the Easter Island looking Combi-4? That's a serious heater. Honor the clearances, it will radiate a lot of warmth.

 

[Vanskills]

Ya that's the one, Can't believe the shape it's in too, looks like it was never used

Can't wait to fire it up, so sick of my crappy propane stove

 

[esox]

We had a jotul 4 in an old log cabin I had with a couple other guys in northcentral PA a few years ago. It was in the living room per say with 2 bedrooms built above it. Had an old goldilocks fisher in the kitchen which we used to cook on and also heat a downstairs bedroom next to it. The jotul put out an extreme amount of heat and was easy to fire. It had the dial control for the draft which I'm assuming yours has which worked well but always felt it would have been improved with a damper which I never did. Sold the place and got another cabin closer to home. The damper would have increased the burn time significantly I think and given us much better control. The way we had it set up we were looking at 6 hours at best but looking back I'm sure that could have been improved. Very uniuqe stove though. Loved that thing. I've seen a few for sale here locally and dont think the people selling them are aware of its capability. The 1 response said beware of its clearences. Thats very true. At the price you paid with the accessories you did just fine. Enjoy.

 

[el-rey]

i have one in the garage.it's a great heater. Did it come with the damper? i turn the damper to almost closed once the fire has really taken off, then use the wheel to control the amount of burn. Btw my flue is at the back not the top. this way you can cook with it. i paid $20 for mine.

 

[esox]

$20? Now that was a good deal. I've seen a few advertised on craigslist and ebay between $300-$400. Have no idea if they sold or for how much but I'd pay $300 for that stove anytime if I were looking for something to heat a garage or a small cabin.
You mentioned the damper. Our stove had a rear exit also and I dont believe they made it with a top flue. Does yours have a damper built into the flue exit? Ours didnt. I was referring to putting 1 into the exhaust. Just curious if it was made with 1? Perhaps ours was removed before we got it. I cant remember where we got it but I know there wasn't a damper.

 

[el-rey]

It has a damper assembly that bolts to either the top or the back. I personally think it looks much better coming out the back.
My other great deal is a combifire #6 for $50. Now thats a beautiful piece of art.

 

[Vanskills]

Turn the damper down?

I was under the impression you never touch that, thought it was for cutting off air when stove not in use

If I turn the wheel down to about 1/4 no matter how raging the fire is, it will pretty much kill the fire, I'm thinking the damper turned down would snuff it out good

I'll try messing with the damper this week though, I Only use pine wood, it's all I can get here

Only thing I don't lie about stove is mo window to see how fire is going

 

[begreen]

The rear damper should be open to get the fire started, but once it is well established it should be at least partially closed. Try closing it about halfway. If the fire dies down too much, open the air a little more. And don't forget to reopen the damper before opening the door on the stove to reload. Otherwise you may get a snootful of smoke.

You will have to experiment a bit with this. Also, if the wood is poorly seasoned it is going to complicate setting things correctly. If this is the case you'll want to be checking the flue for creosote build up on a regular basis. I'd do it every two weeks to start with.

 

[Jerry045]

I have a combifire nr.4 with the exit at the top; he has a damper too. When using it, I have always had the habit of letting the damper wide opened and you guys are telling me that it should be partially closed. I try to maintain my flue temp at about 400F, sometimes to 500F with brief incursions up to 600F. I have pratically no creosote; the last two times that I have had the chimney sweep, the guy told me that I could sweep my chimney every two years, and that you would be good.
Just trying to be secure here.


Jerry

 

[begreen]

Jerry, you may be fine especially if this is connected to a short, or circuitously routed flue. No two installations are the same. Are these surface temps on a single-wall pipe or probe temps on a double-wall pipe?

 

[Jerry045]

I use a probe thermometer at about 18 inches above the top of the stove in a double-wall pipe; and burn seasoned wood.

Jerry