Visit to the Jotul Factory, Fredrikstad, Norway

[AngusMac]

We were on holiday in Sweden and Norway and couldnt resist a visit to Fredrikstad, a beautiful town, with a beautiful factory.
We turned up unannounced at 16:00 hours on the Friday afternoon 9th July (2010) just as they were shutting up to go for their summer holidays, but we were very warmly received and shown round the showroom by a very nice lady of Finnish origin, who was about to leave for Finland for her holiday.
We enjoyed the visit and appreciate the time they took with me, my wife and 3 noisy, boisterous children.
Here are some photos;

My wife, on the right with the child buggy, and the Jotul rep. on the left, a very nice and helpful lady, who is of Finnish origin.

 

[cptoneleg]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing, some of those were on display at the dealer wher I bought, my stove, they said they were taken in as tradeins and put on display.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for posting Angus. There are some real classics displayed there. Some I've never seen before. The tall model with the nautical motif looks interesting. Is that a metal, tambour door on top for baking?

 

[Todd]

Very cool pictures. Is Jotul going soapstone? I see you tour guide is leaning on one?

 

[BrotherBart]

Very cool pictures. Is Jotul going soapstone? I see you tour guide is leaning on one?

http://www.jotul.com/en/wwwjotulukcom/Main-Menu/Products/Wood--Multi-fuel/Stoves/Jotul-F-476/

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Wow!

Very cool, thanks for sharing. Some really nice looking equipment in that place.

 

[AngusMac]

Very cool pictures. Is Jotul going soapstone? I see you tour guide is leaning on one?

http://www.jotul.com/en/wwwjotulukcom/Main-Menu/Products/Wood--Multi-fuel/Stoves/Jotul-F-476/

I think they are sticking with Cast Iron, but are producing variations on models so as to give more choice, so basically every model has a cast Iron burn chamber, some with vermiculite burn plates, some with cast, then there are options for convector skins of cast iron, aluminuim, steel, soap stone etc.

It is a very organised and well managed place, and was so clean that you could eat your dinner off the floor !!

They were so friendly towards us and it has convinced me that my next stove will be the Jotul 274, I was looking at this stove and the Morso 8140, but I have made up my mind for the Jotul.
It is in the photo below, just to the right of, behind the Jotul representative.

 

[begreen]

Looks like you got the magic whammy Dad.

 

[BrotherBart]

The Jotul lady is giving your wife the look that you see in Germany a lot. It is usually followed with "Why would you EVER want to do that?"

 

[Skier76]

Wow! Very cool pics! They have quite a collection of stoves there.

 

[wendell]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

 

[firefighterjake]

Cool pics . . . thanks for sharing them with us.

I particularly liked the last shot . . . the one with the Jotul rep giving the raised eye brow questioning look while your child has the "I'm so bored, let's go somewhere fun" appeal of desperation.

 

[cptoneleg]

Hey Angus does that gal have on Wooden pointed shoes ?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

great photo's, now i gotta go take a cold shower!!

 

[BrotherBart]

great photo's, now i gotta go take a cold shower!!

Heck Mike. Looks just like it did when I walked into the plant in Monroe. :lol:

 

[fraxinus]

In the fifth picture down, there is what appears to be a Firelight in the left background. I'm curious about the stove pipe. In the photo at least, it seems to be larger than 6" - more like 8". Likewise, in the last photo the pipe opening in the foreground also seems to be larger than 6". Thanks to anyone who can satisfy my curiosity.

 

[billb3]

All those stoves and they had hydronic heat ?

 

[BrotherBart]

All those stoves and they had hydronic heat ?

Noticed that too. Not a chimney in site.

 

[begreen]

I would expect that it is a pretty efficient building. Maybe they are scavenging waste heat from the electric furnaces?

 

[AngusMac]

Cool pics . . . thanks for sharing them with us.

I particularly liked the last shot . . . the one with the Jotul rep giving the raised eye brow questioning look while your child has the "I'm so bored, let's go somewhere fun" appeal of desperation.

Yeah for the kids it was pretty boring, I had to try and keep them under control and stop them from wrecking the place, whilst at the same time being in stove heaven.

We are getting a new stove in October, I ve currently got one of our Black bears on ebay, it far too hot for our living room, once its sold we are looking at a Jotul 274 (I dont think this is available in the US or Canada), we are also looking at the Morso 8140, but I think it will be the Jotul, especially as they were so helpful during our visit.