Jotul F500 V3 Eating wood

How long have you been drying the firewood? Some takes quite a while to fully dry and marginally dry firewood will yield shorter burn times and less heat.

jjmac1235 said:

My Jotul F500 V3 was installed a few months ago and although the stove has been great and easy to operate, it is chewing through wood at a rapid pace.

seasoned and dry wood. Only getting about 5 hrs of burn time. I have to load the thing up 3-4 times a day.

my wood is only 18” so maybe that has something to do with it as this stove can hold up to 21”. Don’t know.

love it but running out of wood!

anyone have any thoughts?

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Get more wood! It’s not even winter yet.

Could you also post a photo of a load that burns for five hours before and after?

We’ve installed a few, customers are having similar results. I think you will find that the new normal, is nearly uncontrollable unfortunately.
A pipe damper has helped one customer that was having similar issues.

jjmac1235 said:

My Jotul F500 V3 was installed a few months ago and although the stove has been great and easy to operate, it is chewing through wood at a rapid pace.

seasoned and dry wood. Only getting about 5 hrs of burn time. I have to load the thing up 3-4 times a day.

my wood is only 18” so maybe that has something to do with it as this stove can hold up to 21”. Don’t know.

love it but running out of wood!

anyone have any thoughts?

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Yeah, I couldn't keep my flue probe under 800°F with only 3 16" splits in the Oslo V3. And that was with my pipe damper CLOSED. These things have way too much air going through them.

I think you have bigger issues to deal with, but regarding your wood length - I believe your V3 will take a 24" split, just like the V2. However, a more realistic max. length is 22". A 24" will fit - but 1. only in the middle of the firebox and 2. it will be right up to the side load door.

I do like the 22" length - that's what I cut all of my wood at. For any given size load, going from 18" to 22" give you an additional 22% more wood in the stove - that's pretty significant.

XmasTreefarmer said:

I think you have bigger issues to deal with, but regarding your wood length - I believe your V3 will take a 24" split, just like the V2. However, a more realistic max. length is 22". A 24" will fit - but 1. only in the middle of the firebox and 2. it will be right up to the side load door.

I do like the 22" length - that's what I cut all of my wood at. For any given size load, going from 18" to 22" give you an additional 22% more wood in the stove - that's pretty significant.

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That should yield a 1 to 1.5 hour increase in burn time, maybe a bit more at the OP's current load size. I notice a difference in burning 16 vs 18" splits.

I suspect the stove design has some play here to, more then likely its an increase in minimum primary air with free flowing secondary air, the hotter the fire from primary, the more secondary air will come in.

jjmac1235 said:

My Jotul F500 V3 was installed a few months ago and although the stove has been great and easy to operate, it is chewing through wood at a rapid pace.

seasoned and dry wood. Only getting about 5 hrs of burn time. I have to load the thing up 3-4 times a day.

my wood is only 18” so maybe that has something to do with it as this stove can hold up to 21”. Don’t know.

love it but running out of wood!

anyone have any thoughts?

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Depending on the chimney and draft, quality of wood and operation this sounds to be more or less normal range depending on your definition of burn time . . . at least with the older versions of the F500.

Is there a way to adjust the ash pan latch? Maybe turning the air down faster/sooner into the burn will help. On really cold windy days if I don't get my air closed down to 15-20% open my stove can take off really quick and I won't have any coals in the morning. If loading on active coals and a hot stove I can turn it down to cruising settings almost immediately.

its junk! i'll take it off your hands.

I would have a key damper on that thing pronto. Tall chimney is sucking everything right out.

I installed a flue damper on my V3.....really happy with the result. The butterfly thing cost about $40 I think. Fantastic.

Brogan007 said:

I installed a flue damper on my V3.....really happy with the result. The butterfly thing cost about $40 I think. Fantastic.

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I am just getting started with my new V3. I saw you said you had a flue damper installed. I am thinking of doing the same. I get uncontrolled burning once it gets going (even with the primary air fully closed). I have a really tall flue ~28ft. With the butterfly damper installed, are you able to better control the secondary burn rate/temps?

CSJ_PA said:

I am just getting started with my new V3. I saw you said you had a flue damper installed. I am thinking of doing the same. I get uncontrolled burning once it gets going (even with the primary air fully closed). I have a really tall flue ~28ft. With the butterfly damper installed, are you able to better control the secondary burn rate/temps?

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What are your stove top temps?

kennyp2339 said:

What are your stove top temps?

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Stove top

kennyp2339 said:

What are your stove top temps?

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Stove top temps max that I've observed we're about 550 (measured in all corners)…but my secondary burn temps have gone up above 1300 with little effort and fully closed primary air.

I wonder if cutting off the unregulated primary air from the firebox dog house would slow these things down?

550 stove top temps are within the lower normal range, 650 deg f is optimal with over-firing range at 850 deg f, secondary combustion doesnt start until the internal firebox temp (inside the fire above the fuel but below the baffle ) reaches 1,100deg f or higher, the more you close your primary air the better the secondary's will fire depending on fuel load (dry wood splits with surface area) will have more off gassing then 3 large 7" thick splits.
A damper wouldnt hurt the setup but I do think you are running within the design parameters of the stove, a damper may be needed once the temps get really cold and draft naturally improves, if you have high draft you'll have over fire temps, or even with secondary combustion (gates of hell stage) smoke still coming out the chimney cap.

kennyp2339 said:

What are your stove top temps?

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I've been posting on another page showing the temps and pics.
In case you cant find it...search for V3.
I can't get stove top above 400F before I put in damper.
After damper, I still can't get it above 400 but the burn rate slows way down.
The damper holds in a lot more heat.
See the pics I posted.

Brogan007 said:

I've been posting on another page showing the temps and pics.
In case you cant find it...search for V3.
I can't get stove top above 400F before I put in damper.
After damper, I still can't get it above 400 but the burn rate slows way down.
The damper holds in a lot more heat.
See the pics I posted.

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Post the link