As I sit here typing I'm completing my final 400 F break in burn on the new stove. I thought I'd share a few observations so far based on my three fires. My stove has the enamel finish, which as I understand it puts off far fewer smells than the standard black paint. During the 200 F and 300 F burns I noticed some odor, but not very much. However, with this morning's 400 F burn the smell is much more pronounced. I've had to crack a couple sliding glass doors and turn the kitchen exhaust fan on low to help clear the air.
Controlling the stove temperature has been remarkably easy. I've been burning in stoves for over 25 years, so I guess I have a pretty good feel for how to feed a fire. I built each fire in a very controlled manner, slowly adding progressively larger pieces of wood to edge up toward each target temperature. By doing it this way my one hour burns took longer since I didn't reach my target temperatures for 45 - 60 minutes and then I held the stove there for an hour before letting it burn down.
I've been leaving my air control wide open as the heat in the stove builds and then as I approached each target I dropped the air to 75% and then 50% and that seemed to stabilize the heat at each target. I had hoped to be able to burn the stove tonight while we have friends over for dinner and bridge, but I don't know if the stove will cool down enough to reach room temperature before they arrive at 5 p.m. Also, with the odor coming off the stove I don't think we want to smell it during dinner and cards.
The mantel on my fireplace is a four inch thick piece of hardwood that is 9 1/2 inches wide and only 22 inches above my stove. My clearance is supposed to be 26" for an 11" wide mantel. After the stove sat on 400 F for awhile I shot the underside of the mantel with my infrared thermometer and got a reading of 150 F. I could place my hand on it without it being uncomfortably hot and leave it there indefinitely, so the three second rule seemed to show it wasn't a problem. Nonetheless, for peace of mind, I think I'll go ahead and install a heat shield under the section of mantel directly over the stove. I burned an insert that stuck out about ten inches under this same mantel for 12 years with on issues, but I never took any readings of the underside temperature beyond touching it with my hand.
I think my wife and I are going to really enjoy our new stove. I'm amazed at how little wood it takes to get some real heat out of the stove. For the 400 F burn I only used a couple 3" logs running across the front and back of the stove and then fed two small splits once I got some decent coals built up.I suspect I'll be able to get some decent over night burns out of the Jotul F 600.
Controlling the stove temperature has been remarkably easy. I've been burning in stoves for over 25 years, so I guess I have a pretty good feel for how to feed a fire. I built each fire in a very controlled manner, slowly adding progressively larger pieces of wood to edge up toward each target temperature. By doing it this way my one hour burns took longer since I didn't reach my target temperatures for 45 - 60 minutes and then I held the stove there for an hour before letting it burn down.
I've been leaving my air control wide open as the heat in the stove builds and then as I approached each target I dropped the air to 75% and then 50% and that seemed to stabilize the heat at each target. I had hoped to be able to burn the stove tonight while we have friends over for dinner and bridge, but I don't know if the stove will cool down enough to reach room temperature before they arrive at 5 p.m. Also, with the odor coming off the stove I don't think we want to smell it during dinner and cards.
The mantel on my fireplace is a four inch thick piece of hardwood that is 9 1/2 inches wide and only 22 inches above my stove. My clearance is supposed to be 26" for an 11" wide mantel. After the stove sat on 400 F for awhile I shot the underside of the mantel with my infrared thermometer and got a reading of 150 F. I could place my hand on it without it being uncomfortably hot and leave it there indefinitely, so the three second rule seemed to show it wasn't a problem. Nonetheless, for peace of mind, I think I'll go ahead and install a heat shield under the section of mantel directly over the stove. I burned an insert that stuck out about ten inches under this same mantel for 12 years with on issues, but I never took any readings of the underside temperature beyond touching it with my hand.
I think my wife and I are going to really enjoy our new stove. I'm amazed at how little wood it takes to get some real heat out of the stove. For the 400 F burn I only used a couple 3" logs running across the front and back of the stove and then fed two small splits once I got some decent coals built up.I suspect I'll be able to get some decent over night burns out of the Jotul F 600.
