2nd season of use....anything I should know?

[Greenghopper]

Hi all,

We installed a Jotul Oslo last year and it worked great! We seasoned it of course and as I mentioned, it worked well. We did have the installer come by this summer to do a cleaning / inspection and they ran the pipe cleaner. My question: is there anything else I should consider before we dive into a second season of use? I suspect none given that we had it inspected and pipes cleaned. If there's any words of wisdom, please let me know.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

When they cleaned the chimney did they tell you what came out?

 

[Greenghopper]

Just some mild creosote buildup. We have also have a Quadrafire insert that they also cleaned and compared to the Jotul, it had much more significant buildup. Which is weird given that it's used less for the same period of times.

 

[xman23]

Here's some tips and tricks we learned the hard way. After 1/2 a season the cap screen was plugged up cap. The chimney guy couldn't diagnose it. The lesson learned was clean it yourself, you will know it's done properly, and you'll sleep better.

If you were blackening the glass almost every burn, as I did. It gets better as the wood is seasoned and your burn technique gets better. Now, all season burning and clean white haze occasionally.

Did you learn to use only the side door.

We used to badly overheat the house. Now, most of the time the house temp is dialed in. We now plan when to burn and not to burn, This saves a lot of wood.

 

[Greenghopper]

Here's some tips and tricks we learned the hard way. After 1/2 a season the cap screen was plugged up cap. The chimney guy couldn't diagnose it. The lesson learned was clean it yourself, you will know it's done properly, and you'll sleep better.

If you were blackening the glass almost every burn, as I did. It gets better as the wood is seasoned and your burn technique gets better. Now, all season burning and clean white haze occasionally.

Did you learn to use only the side door.

We used to badly overheat the house. Now, most of the time the house temp is dialed in. We now plan when to burn and not to burn, This saves a lot of wood.

Thanks for the tips. The wood stove pipe going through the roof is at a one story level and is just the double walled pipe. Draft is good and it works well. The insert is on the two story side and uses the venting pipe that you typically see like is like a giant long coil of piping. That may be the reason for the higher buildup.

Yes...we use the side most often, aside from starting the fire. And yes, we have a pattern of use based at the limits of our heat pumps and what the weather is going to be like that establishes our frequency of use.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hi all,

We installed a Jotul Oslo last year and it worked great! We seasoned it of course and as I mentioned, it worked well. We did have the installer come by this summer to do a cleaning / inspection and they ran the pipe cleaner. My question: is there anything else I should consider before we dive into a second season of use? I suspect none given that we had it inspected and pipes cleaned. If there's any words of wisdom, please let me know.

Assuming that the sweep/installer not only swept the chimney and stove pipe . . . but also cleaned out any fly ash accumulated above the baffle (it can build up over time on top of the baffle blanket and block the exhaust).

I would also assume he checked that there were no cracks and joints were sealed up . . . and that all gaskets were inspected.

The one thing he may or may not have checked is the air control slider . . . I find that taking the doghouse off (a quick job with a 10 mm wrench or socket) and cleaning out the fly ash and lubricating the metal with powdered graphite helps keep the air control from sticking.

 

[Ashful]

The one thing he may or may not have checked is the air control slider . . . I find that taking the doghouse off (a quick job with a 10 mm wrench or socket) and cleaning out the fly ash and lubricating the metal with powdered graphite helps keep the air control from sticking.

I can’t believe Jotul is still using that design. Folks had issues with these sticking 25 years ago, and Jotul’s answer (rather than coming up with a less troublesome design) was to add that access panel so you could get in there to clean and lube it. I had some old Firelights both with and without that access panel, and those without the panel were a real issue.

It is a crappy design, the only good thing you can say about it is that at least it would stick CLOSED, not OPEN. I just believe that, after users have been having issues with that air control mechanism for 30 years, they haven’t gotten away from it.