Jotul Oslo (used): questions

[bostock]

hey folks. just bought this off Craigslist today. First question is easy - is this the famed "blue/black"? looks primarily black to me but the sheen level plays some tricks..
2nd question - tricks/tips with burning? I currently use the F3 without any problems, i love it (but small firebox) - i see a few threads with complaints about the Oslo (ash, smoke, draw, etc). Should i chalk these up to poor habits, or is there something truly less-than-great about the Oslo?
(**paid $250 for this stove, no cracks or damages that i can see. Was told it is approx 8 yrs old**)

 

[pen]

Yep, I would have given 250 for it as well. Great deal IMO.

These modern stoves have a pretty restricted path for the exhaust gases to travel through to exit the stove. If a door is opened during a smokey stage in the burn cycle, there will always be a chance for smoke to escape. Load the stove properly the first time, don't poke at it, turn the air down in small increments until she's up to temp, and you should have nothing to worry about.

Also, having a chimney setup that is less than ideal (under 15 feet, several bends, larger than 6 inches, unclean cap) then your chances of smoke coming into the room will increase.

pen

 

[ridemgis]

Nice find! There are a couple of excellent (if a little goofy) videos from Jotul here:

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[fishingpol]

You did very well for $250.00 it looks a little dirty, but cleaned up it should look nice. Looks like b/b enamel to me. It is a great finish and cleans up nicely. I wish I could add that stove to my sig.

 

[jotul8e2]

If I was closer I'd ask if you wanted to make a quick $300.

It is the blue black enamel - an excellent finish. If asked, I would have said the blue-black was only introduced about five years ago; but I could be wrong.

It would be an unusual stove if it did not need new door gaskets. Other than that, the Oslo is one of perhaps just a half dozen or so truly outstanding wood burning stoves available. The video notwithstanding, no one loads their Oslo from the front. They dump ash out the front in prodigious quantity.

 

[Ashful]

It is the blue black enamel - an excellent finish. If asked, I would have said the blue-black was only introduced about five years ago; but I could be wrong.

I agree, it's blue/black enamel. Your comment about the sheen is the give-away.

I have a 1993 vintage Jotul in blue/black, so I know that finish is older than 5 years!

 

[BrowningBAR]

Wow. That's a damn good deal for that stove. You should feel good about this purchase. The Oslo is a really good stove. It will produce a lot of heat and a lot longer burns than compared to your F3.

Great find!

 

[bostock]

thanks everyone. I'm really looking forward to burning it in the next month or so. I'm still using th f3 in another part of the house too - but looking forward to longer burn times and longer wood in the Oslo. The f3 restricts me to approx 16" logs and not many at one time...this Oslo measures approx 22" inside the box (N/S) so a 20" will be no problem. Chimney is old masonry with SS liner (already inspected and clearered), 8" but chim is 32' high so i'm hoping no draft problems..we'll see though

 

[BrowningBAR]

thanks everyone. I'm really looking forward to burning it in the next month or so. I'm still using th f3 in another part of the house too - but looking forward to longer burn times and longer wood in the Oslo. The f3 restricts me to approx 16" logs and not many at one time...this Oslo measures approx 22" inside the box (N/S) so a 20" will be no problem. Chimney is old masonry with SS liner (already inspected and clearered), 8" but chim is 32' high so i'm hoping no draft problems..we'll see though

Give it a go and see what happens. I would suspect you would be fine. Inspect the liner frequently to make sure you don't have build up.

 

[begreen]

Great score. Go over the whole stove exterior with a lightly dampened rag and that stove will clean right up.

Most Oslo installations draft fine with a good flue. Let us know how it works out.

 

[firefighterjake]

Based on the pics and the fact you mention a sheen . . . I would guess it is the blue black. If it was the "standard" black paint it would be a dull, matte finish . . . and yes . . . I am envious . . . I really wish I had gone with the blue black myself.

Ash . . . as mentioned . . . few folks use the front loading door since the ash does tend to build up there and drop down on to the ash lip and the hearth. If you do a search you'll see some owners have made some modifications which have worked to some degree. Most folks however seem to just open the front loading door when they want easy access to clean the glass or stove -- otherwise the side loading door works out well with no ash spillage.

Smoke . . . the only time I have had issue with smoke . . . well two times actually is a) in the early Fall or late Spring when the temps outside are close to the temps inside and I get a reverse stack condition which I easily remedy by simply opening up a nearby window a crack until the fire gets going and b) the one time I put some cardboard on some coals and left the draft down with the door closed as this caused the cardboard to smolder, building up gases in the stove until they suddenly ignited and I had some blow back with smoke coming out of the stove pipe connections (again . . . easily prevented by giving this more air when starting the fire.)

Draft . . . no issues other than, as mentioned, in the early Fall and Spring when temps outside and inside are close to each other. I have a total 26-foot or so of stove pipe and Class . . . goes up 4-5 feet and then heads out the side of the house and up. No issues with regards to the draft, despite my initial concerns.

Tips and Tricks: This stove, like most EPA stoves, likes well seasoned wood.

Top/down fires rock. Super cedars rock. Backwoods Savage rocks.

The air control lever sometimes sticks -- dissembling the doghouse above the air control lever and lubricating the slide mechanism is a 5-minute job that you may have to do 1-2 times in a burning season if you're going 24/7 (although last year I was using an ash vac to clean the hearth and outside of the stove and I ended up not having to use any graphite.)

Like many secondary burning stoves -- control your heat output with what you put in the stove.

Rib eyes taste very good when cooked in a cast iron fry pan on hot coals in an Oslo.

Don't open the ash pan door to start a fire.

Turn down the air control incrementally when starting a fire. A good way to do this is to turn it down a quarter mark at a time and wait 5 minutes -- if the flames are sustained and the temps are still good turn it down another quarter mark.

Thermometers are very useful on the stove and on the stove pipe (or in the stove pipe if you need a probe style thermo for double wall pipe.)

If you walk around with a clipboard at work folks will think you are busy and not goofing off.

Moxie comes in an orange can, but it does not taste like orange-flavored soda.

I think that's all the tips and tricks I can think of for now.

 

[bostock]

lol Jake do you seriously cook inside the stove on those coals? i like that idea a lot, i'm a cast-iron junkie..

 

[firefighterjake]

lol Jake do you seriously cook inside the stove on those coals? i like that idea a lot, i'm a cast-iron junkie..

Did so twice last year with some rib eyes . . . but only after seeing another member post pics of some really, really good looking steaks that he did in a similar fashion. I will most certainly do so again this year . . . I may even experiment with some more cooking on the coals as those steaks were among the best I've ever cooked.

 

[PapaDave]

"If you walk around with a clipboard at work folks will think you are busy and not goofing off."

Jake, you just gave it away. They're watching you.
Very good points you've made.

 

[ailanthus]

That was a fantastic find. I would've jumped on that in a second! Happy jotul-ing.

 

[clr8ter]

To OP: We bought ours used 3 years ago for $1200. We thought that was a great deal. I'd buy as many Oslos at your price as I could, and quit my regular job, if I did. We love our Oslo, no big complaints. I have noticed that as our wood has gotten drier, the stove has been easier to run. I suspect a lot of the little things about it relate back to the operator. Question: What is that light band around the stove just under the top? Our does not have that.......

Moxie comes in an orange can, but it does not taste like orange-flavored soda.

LMAO. So true. But you should be ashamed, Moxie comes from Maine, no? (Unless your statement was just an observation, not a warning.......)

 

[clr8ter]

FFJ, could you give us more specifics on how you cooked those steaks? Temp, leave door open, close, ect.? That sounds really good, and the only good use of my wife's cast iron frying pans.

 

[begreen]

Question: What is that light band around the stove just under the top? Our does not have that.......

I wondered about that at first too. An Oslo with a racing stripe? Actually, I think it's the appliance dolly strap.

 

[firefighterjake]

To OP: We bought ours used 3 years ago for $1200. We thought that was a great deal. I'd buy as many Oslos at your price as I could, and quit my regular job, if I did. We love our Oslo, no big complaints. I have noticed that as our wood has gotten drier, the stove has been easier to run. I suspect a lot of the little things about it relate back to the operator. Question: What is that light band around the stove just under the top? Our does not have that....... HehHeh . . . this puzzled me for a bit too until I took a long, hard look at it . . . and realized it was most likely the strap from the hand cart/dolly. For awhile I thought it was some special embellishment.

LMAO. So true. But you should be ashamed, Moxie comes from Maine, no? (Unless your statement was just an observation, not a warning.......) Just an observation . . . based on what my wife told me when she first came to Maine and bought an orange-colored can of Moxie thinking it was an orange-flavored soda.

 

[firefighterjake]

FFJ, could you give us more specifics on how you cooked those steaks? Temp, leave door open, close, ect.? That sounds really good, and the only good use of my wife's cast iron frying pans.

Hmmm . . . I can try . . . but my memory is never all that good.

Prepared the steaks (I prefer thin to medium cut rib eyes or chuck eyes) by drizzling olive oil in seasoned cast iron fry pan and then seasoning liberally with salt and pepper.

I had a fire going earlier . . . no flames . . . coals were the size of walnuts, maybe baseballs. Leveled the coals off and put the frying pan inside with the steaks. Closed the door -- you'll want to do this since the hot oil and fat pop and sizzle and get all over the place -- in fact there is a chance when you pull this out you may get some oil or fat on to your hearth.

I let the steaks cook 2-4 minutes per side -- they cook fast. One nice thing is with such a high heat the meat is quickly seared and seals the juices and while there is no smoke the steak did pick up just a hint of smoke flavor . . . or maybe that was just my imagination working over time.

Final thought -- make sure you have really, really good gloves to remove the frying pan -- it will be wicked hot. I tend to use my actual thicker fireplace gloves vs. standard, thinner welder's gloves to carry the pan from the living room into the kitchen.

 

[bostock]

yes indeed that is the strap from the dolly. I'll throw a new pic on here soon -. It's in place but not connected to liner yet. Need coupler to get from stove's 6" flue to the 8" liner.

 

[mikefrommaine]

Great deal. Three years I upgraded from a f3 to the f 600 firelight. Night and day difference, you won't be disappointed.
Fwiw I paid 1000 for the f600 with heat shields. It was like like new though. And I was able to sell the very used with chipped and flaking enamel f3 for 500.

 

[bostock]

I think I paid approx $1600 for my F3 in 2010 because I bought it new from dealer. I guess I wasn’t confident enough to buy used at that point. So that F3 cost me 6+ times what I paid for this Oslo I still love it though, and I’ll be using both stoves this winter

 

[Blue Vomit]

but looking forward to longer burn times and longer wood in the Oslo. The f3 restricts me to approx 16" logs and not many at one time...this Oslo measures approx 22" inside the box (N/S) so a 20" will be no problem.

I was curious about this since I tried burning n/s a few times last winter. Did you mean 22" e/w? I measured mine n/s and came up with about 15".
You can get a 24" split in there e/w, I usually cut my lengths at 22" to be safe.
I think you will like this stove... Big heater.
I ran an 8" ss liner last year as well but my height is only 25'. I'm going to put in a 6" liner for this winter and see how much of a difference I get.
Good luck

 

[stovelark]

Hi Bostock great find! The Oslo premiered in Nov 1999, replacing the Jotul 8 (catalytic) series. The blue black goes back into the 1980's with Jotul. It is a satin finish by using and baking less coats of paint in the enameling baking process. It touches up well, and if you put your stove in a room, take a flash pix, the "blue" color usually comes out. The F3 and Oslo tended to look more blackish than blue while the Jotul 12 Firelight in B/B seemed more bluer. Telling you this as I was a Jotul salesman at Preston Trading Post- a major Jotul dealer in New England. Tim from Jotul is the guy in the Jotul videos nicest guy you'll ever meet, typical Maine guy (Jotul US homeport is now Gorham/ME). Tim is laid back, but knows Jotuls through and Through- as for age if your Oslo has the ceramic baffle with the insulating blanket on top of the baffle, on top of sec air tubes, its 2004-now. From 1999 to 2004 they had a cast iron baffle set on top with the Ins blanket on top. (I had a B/B Oslo myself for 7 seasons, beautiful burning if you give it good dry seasoned wood). Be patient it takes about 45-60 Mins to go cold plate to 500 Degrees- you are heating up 485 pounds and it feels like every ounce too. Your F3 comes in at 268 lbs, still very robust, a great stove thats been around since the 80's, the F3CB (cleanburn) is the present model, I think you have that. You'll love the Oslo, everyone does. At that price, wow. Oh yeah, unlike the 3CB, the Oslo air control is slower to make big changes, most people get to burn temp (help with the incoming air by putting side loading door on latch, not via ash door being cracked open). then set air control to low or mid setting. I now sell Enviro and VC stoves so I burn an Enviro wood stove, it works well, but its hard to go against Jotul and its looks, the Oslo especially. Good luck,

Stovelark
Enviro Kodiak 1700 FS wood
Enviro Empress FPI Pellet
Enviro EF3 FS pellet (guess I like Enviro)