Jotul Oslo thoughts after 1 month of use

[Bruce P]

Ok I PACKED the box with about 8 splits and got it up to 400 before cutting it back about 95 % Seeing nothing but secondary burn tube flames and lots of orange. Hope it keeps burning to morning.

House temp 66 outside 9

 

[Bruce P]

Ok I PACKED the box with about 8 splits and got it up to 400 before cutting it back about 95 % Seeing nothing but secondary burn tube flames and lots of orange. Hope it keeps burning to morning.

House temp 66 outside 9

 

[claydogg84]

Ok I PACKED the box with about 8 splits and got it up to 400 before cutting it back about 95 % Seeing nothing but secondary burn tube flames and lots of orange. Hope it keeps burning to morning.

I load as much as I can safely fit without breaking stuff. I knocked a corner out of the vermiculite last season, so I'm trying to be more cautious this year. Some people will tell you that the stovetop temps will rise with the secondaries going, but that's only true if you've got great secondaries with nicely seasoned wood. If you've got mediocre wood, you'll get mediocre secondaries which tend to leave me right around 400 or so.

 

[branchburner]

Seems to burn hotter with ash pan fuller. Should I leave pan full and just sweep out box ?

Couldn't hurt to try. You might also want to pick up an IR gun (about $25 at Harbor freight, on sale)... you can easily check temps of the flue and different spots on stove top, and compare to your current readings. If you are overdrafting, your flue temps will likely be running on the high side, meaning a bit less heat for your house and more for the outdooors. Combined with subpar wood, this would help account for shorter burn times and lower temps in the corners of the stove (but perhaps higher temps right in the middle of the stove).

 

[claydogg84]

For the record, I always empty my Ash pan.

 

[branchburner]

Some people will tell you that the stovetop temps will rise with the secondaries going, but that's only true if you've got great secondaries with nicely seasoned wood.

Yup, the difference is impressive. With good secondaries you might see higher stove top temps and lower flue temps, and noticeably greater heat being thrown by the stove. Without good secondaries, even a full firebox can struggle to heat the house.

 

[firefighterjake]

Packing a little tighter can help extend burn time. Not sure where the recommended place to measure on the Oslo is but 250 stove top and blackened glass are signs the wood is not optimal. May be good enough to get by though. Have you checked all the gaskets to make sure everything is seated and tight (e.g. dollar bill test door), baffles are seated?

Recommendation is to place the thermometer on one of the four corners on the stove top . . . I experimented a bit and found that with the way I run my stove the right rear corner tended to be a bit hotter than the others.

Like others have said . . . and you say . . . 250 degrees stove top is most definitely too cool.

 

[firefighterjake]

Ok I PACKED the box with about 8 splits and got it up to 400 before cutting it back about 95 % Seeing nothing but secondary burn tube flames and lots of orange. Hope it keeps burning to morning.

Eagerly awaiting the return of Bruce P so we can get an update on how things went . . .

 

[firefighterjake]

Not sure of brand of thermometer , wife got it at a fireplace dealer. Its yellow green (ideal) and red. Have it in right rear corner. How many splits do you use to fill the box. Ive never tried really stuffing it. Dont want to damage burn tubes by knocking splits into them. Yes it burns great with door shut and even air partly to mostly closed. Just dosent stay as hot. Im at 300 right now. Seems to burn hotter with ash pan fuller. Should I leave pan full and just sweep out box ?

Keep in mind that when you ask folks how many splits they put in the answers may vary . . . since it depends on how large the splits are. Some folks may split their wood quite small, others quite large . . . and I suspect most folks have a mix of sizes.

Empty the ash pan or not . . . it's one of those hot debates around here. I empty my ash pan when it gets full -- about every 3-4 days of 24/7 burning . . . but I try to always have some ash in the firebox as it helps preserve coals and makes burning easier.

 

[Bruce P]

Eagerly awaiting the return of Bruce P so we can get an update on how things went . . .

OK so last night and again this morning I PACKED the firebox with about 8 splits 3 on the bottom then two on top then another two on top of that Stove climbed to 400 degrees air open and a tually rose to 450 once I shut it all the way down over ten minutes Held 400 for two hours or so before dropping to 300 nothing but secondary burning and orange wood. Wen to bed so not sure how long it lasted but house was down to 60 at 8,am from 65 at midnight .Making progress but would like longer burn time. Does anyone get 8 hour overnight burns with this stove ?

 

[claydogg84]

OK so last night and again this morning I PACKED the firebox with about 8 splits 3 on the bottom then two on top then another two on top of that Stove climbed to 400 degrees air open and a tually rose to 450 once I shut it all the way down over ten minutes Held 400 for two hours or so before dropping to 300 nothing but secondary burning and orange wood. Wen to bed so not sure how long it lasted but house was down to 60 at 8,am from 65 at midnight .Making progress but would like longer burn time. Does anyone get 8 hour overnight burns with this stove ?

You are getting an 8 hour burn time essentially. 12 - 8 with coals left to re-light. I think you need to let the stove peak at a higher temp - at least 500, before shutting the air down. That should warm the house up a bit more in advance of the declined heat output from the coaling stage. I load at 9:30 and wake up to a nice bed of coals with stove around 200 @ 5:50AM.

 

[Bruce P]

No calls at eight stove was cold not sure when it went out but temp dropped at least five degrees at which point my propane came on to hold temp at 60 I would say fire lasted 4 hours to final coals went out

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

OK so last night and again this morning I PACKED the firebox with about 8 splits 3 on the bottom then two on top then another two on top of that Stove climbed to 400 degrees air open and a tually rose to 450 once I shut it all the way down over ten minutes Held 400 for two hours or so before dropping to 300 nothing but secondary burning and orange wood. Wen to bed so not sure how long it lasted but house was down to 60 at 8,am from 65 at midnight .Making progress but would like longer burn time. Does anyone get 8 hour overnight burns with this stove ?

This is still too low of a temperature. My stove will cruise at 500-600, and many times above that. If I put a reasonable load of wood in, let the air open until everything combusts (about 15 minutes), let it char for a few, and then incrementally close down the air, I will get several hours of above 450. Only when all the coals burn down does it stick at 350-400 for a while.

Chat with your stove dealer. This all sounds very strange.

 

[heavy hammer]

I can easily get 8 hour burns just depends on the wood and the size. I think your wood is just wet. I can place a large round that just barely fits through the front door, on top of a nice bed of coal and 12 plus hours later still have stove temps over 250 with a nice bed of coals to restart from. Now this doesn't happen every time but this stoves firebox lets you put a pretty good size piece of wood in it. It has taken some figuring out but this stove puts out some pretty good heat.

 

[Burnmeister]

Hi,
New here and was reading through this thread.

I have a moisture meter (A General, bought it @ Lowes) and it says the wood I am burning is anywhere between 12 and 18%. Not alot of checking on the ends though. Maple/oak mix, and I seem to be loading the stove every 3 to 4 hours. I think my meter is rubbish and its giving me false readings.

 

[Toploader]

No calls at eight stove was cold not sure when it went out but temp dropped at least five degrees at which point my propane came on to hold temp at 60 I would say fire lasted 4 hours to final coals went out

I get about 8 hr burns except on really cold days when I'll need to do 4 loads for the extra heat. One thing that I do to extend the burn is start dialling the air back little by little as soon as the firebox is ragging regardless of the stove top temp and as long as the temp keeps rising it will eventually get to 500 but by the time it does the air is about 3/4 shut already and the fire is ready to be slowed down the rest of the way for sure. It kicks out tons heat on the way up to 500 and it seems to me I get a longer burn by getting to 500 gradually.

 

[Toploader]

Hi,
New here and was reading through this thread.

I have a moisture meter (A General, bought it @ Lowes) and it says the wood I am burning is anywhere between 12 and 18%. Not alot of checking on the ends though. Maple/oak mix, and I seem to be loading the stove every 3 to 4 hours. I think my meter is rubbish and its giving me false readings.

For an accurate read on the wood you have to split a room temperature piece in half and measure the moisture content in the middle of the freshly split piece.

 

[Burnmeister]

I have had my stove about a month and a half and I also noticed today while cleaning the glass. It seems I have a leak. The bottom R corner (on the inside of door) seems to have some good creosote build up right at the gasket. Called the stove shop, no call back yet.
Will this hurt stoves performance?

 

[Toploader]

I have had my stove about a month and a half and I also noticed today while cleaning the glass. It seems I have a leak. The bottom R corner (on the inside of door) seems to have some good creosote build up right at the gasket. Called the stove shop, no call back yet.
Will this hurt stoves performance?

Yeah any air leaks will lead to shorter burn times and possibly over firing of the stove, i'm not sure that the creosote means you have a leak though.
Check all the gaskets with the dollar bill test.

 

[jatoxico]

It seems I have a leak. The bottom R corner (on the inside of door) seems to have some good creosote build up right at the gasket.

If the gasket shows signs that air and soot are getting past then it could indicate a leak. It may just be a cool spot on the door. You can check the seal by shutting a dollar bill in the door and seeing if it can be pulled out easily. It should be fairly tight. Do this all around the door gasket and adjust the door as needed.

 

[Burnmeister]

If the gasket shows signs that air and soot are getting past then it could indicate a leak. It may just be a cool spot on the door. You can check the seal by shutting a dollar bill in the door and seeing if it can be pulled out easily. It should be fairly tight. Do this all around the door gasket and adjust the door as needed.

If the gasket

I can't do the dollar test here. It's the gasket for the seal of the glass itself, but I do think you're on to something there with that the corner being a cool spot because my stove definitly doesn't overfire. When I leave the sideload door open, the fire does move left to right.

 

[Bruce P]

OK let stove stay wide open to 600 degrees last night at 10 pm gradually shut down with full load and was still over 400 when I went to bed at 12 Got up at 8 fire is out but house is 63 which is 3 degrees higher than yesterday morning Temp was 67 when I went to bed Outside Temp was 20 last night

 

[claydogg84]

OK let stove stay wide open to 600 degrees last night at 10 pm gradually shut down with full load and was still over 400 when I went to bed at 12 Got up at 8 fire is out but house is 63 which is 3 degrees higher than yesterday morning Temp was 67 when I went to bed Outside Temp was 20 last night

That doesn't sound bad at all. Were there coals left to get the fire going again?

 

[firefighterjake]

OK let stove stay wide open to 600 degrees last night at 10 pm gradually shut down with full load and was still over 400 when I went to bed at 12 Got up at 8 fire is out but house is 63 which is 3 degrees higher than yesterday morning Temp was 67 when I went to bed Outside Temp was 20 last night

This sounds better.

 

[Bruce P]

Yeah , I'm using the oldest wood I have seems to work better with full load but wish it would.burn longer into the morning. Also thought it would get the house warmer. Maybe a blower would help or using my ceiling fans?