Remarkably Short Burn Times Jotul 450

[amikolajczyk]

Hi folks, 2nd year burning here and I'm perplexed. This might be normal, so bear with me. Last year I had less than seasoned wood. Fires were hard to start and got smokey and smouldery very easily. Lots of black glass meant I was cleaning it every few days. This year, I have good, well seasoned wood. Fires start well and burn clean and other than a slight haze that develops, I'm not needing to clean my glass much at all.

However, my fires, even when babied as much as possible, wont burn more than 3-4 hours before needing fed. Last year, I would routinely be able to conjure up a good flame after waking up in the morning or coming home from work(~8hrs). This year, I have nothing left but a room temperature bed of ashes. The wood is burning completely, I have no coals or chunks left over, but it's just burning a lot more quickly than I'd hoped.

I'd like to think I'm pretty good at loading up the firebox just about as tightly as I possibly can, and I turn down the primary all the way once I get ignition of the new load. Is my wood just that dry that it's burning that fast? Is the firebox on the C450 just that small that it can't sustain a 7-8 hour burn cleanly?

I love the stove, it performs great when I'm there to baby it and keep it fed, but it seems like after about 3 hours my wood load is reduced to big chunks of glowing coal that continue to release heat, while my stove top temps gradually decrease over the next few hours. It's still releasing heat, but my margin of truly useful heating is only maybe 3-4 hours on a full load.

Any thoughts? Or is this normal? At this rate, I'm considering waiting til this burn season is done and calling in a stove shop to see if I can't replace this insert with one that has a larger firebox. I'd like to rely on my wood burning as a primary source of heat, which I can only do now provided I'm home to dial the air in and add more wood throughout the burn cycle.

Thanks much in advance!
AJM

 

[begreen]

Do you know what species of wood you are burning? This sounds like a low energy wood like soft maple, poplar, etc.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

If your wood has not changed, I would check for gasket leaks in the door with the dollar bill test. Extra air would make it burn faster.

 

[amikolajczyk]

Thanks, I didn't cut it myself, and I'm definitely no expert so I couldn't say exactly what it is, but it's definitely a mix of a lot. I do recognize some maple in there. It was from an allegedly reputable firewood guy who came through a friend referral. It's definitely dry enough to pass the "clink" test when I smack two splits together and just looks and feels incredibly better than last year's wood.

The gaskets were all replaced with name brand stuff from my local stove shop and still pass the dollar bill test very nicely. I actually noticed a huge positive difference after replacing the gaskets as compared to last year.

Thanks for the suggestions though, I'll try to get a better handle on what species I've got, but I know it's definitely a mixed bag.

Regards,
AJM

 

[brianbeech]

I also find that the smaller my splits the faster they burn down. If you've got some larger splits, throw some of those in there and see if it changes. I know that in my stove I can only fit 3 decent size splits and get pretty good burn times, but if I put smaller splits, 4-6, I see quite a bit of difference in burn times. Maybe I'm crazy - I've been accused...

 

[Shari]

I also find that the smaller my splits the faster they burn down. If you've got some larger splits, throw some of those in there and see if it changes. I know that in my stove I can only fit 3 decent size splits and get pretty good burn times, but if I put smaller splits, 4-6, I see quite a bit of difference in burn times. Maybe I'm crazy - I've been accused...

Well, on this issue you are not crazy. All you have to do is think about it: Smaller splits = more surface exposed to fire. More surface exposed to fire = faster burn time.

 

[Wood Duck]

As for what is normal, I can only report that my small, non-catalytic wood stove (1.6 cubic foot firebox) burns about as long as yours. How large is the firebox on your stove (or is it an insert, not that it matters)? I get maybe 3 to 4 hours of good heat from a full load, perhaps a bit longer with all oak (I don't have much oak in this year's stacks, mostly lighter woods, so there haven't been many full loads of oak). If I load up the firebox on top of some coals, let the fire get going strongly, then turn down the air to about 1/4 of full, I will have a stove with some hot coals and stove top about 350 to 450 after three to four hours. That is about time for me to reload. Depending on the size and species of wood, I might have coals hot enough to light kindling for another couple of hours, but during those hours the stove would be cooling off and not really heating to its potential. My firewood is well seasoned and a mix of hardwoods.

 

[Troutchaser]

Thanks, I didn't cut it myself, and I'm definitely no expert so I couldn't say exactly what it is, but it's definitely a mix of a lot. I do recognize some maple in there. It was from an allegedly reputable firewood guy who came through a friend referral. It's definitely dry enough to pass the "clink" test when I smack two splits together and just looks and feels incredibly better than last year's wood.

The gaskets were all replaced with name brand stuff from my local stove shop and still pass the dollar bill test very nicely. I actually noticed a huge positive difference after replacing the gaskets as compared to last year.

Thanks for the suggestions though, I'll try to get a better handle on what species I've got, but I know it's definitely a mixed bag.

Regards,
AJM

If you bought it and it's that dry, it's probably softer/lower BTU wood. Don't fault the stove on that one.
Try bigger splits if you've got them.