I've been using a Jotul 118 since the early 1970's, and love it, and I am extremely sorry I didn't find out all this much sooner. First of all, if the bottom of your stove has lines, or ridges, that's because before you even make your first fire, put some ashes in there as it protects the bottom from heat, which will crack a cast iron stove. The bottom of a stove is the hottest part because all those hot burning nuggets are resting right on it. Those grooves have nothing at all to do with air circulation. I did have the instructions, and actually read them and my stove bottom is fine, for which I am very thankful.
If your house has heat registers from a regular hot air heat system, and or air conditioning, seal them off as tight as you can. Otherwise it is the exact same thing as having a hole in the side of a straw. You'll have a hard time sucking milk out of that glass. Since air hitting the stove rises, it causes every square inch of air to move along the floor, from every single room, no matter how far away the room is. This means that all the walls in your house has air moving down them, and when you have a hole from a register in those walls, guess what, there's a milk shortage. Air moving this way is called convection. It's just like when you open a door at one end of the house and the curtains move at the other end. Down the hall from my stove is the basement door, and it had a gap at the bottom of about an inch, so I attached an air damper, or brush-like product. The bottom line? The house is lot easier to heat, I use less wood, house maintains a more stable temperature, the comfort is very noticeable, and the bad part is that I only, on my own, found out about this in 2012. I was looking at the stove one day, and looking at the register right behind it, which was open because when I had the wall bricked up it would not fit anymore. So I blocked it up with a piece of old wall paneling, (that area stays cool even though it is right behind the stove) then I leaned the old register against it to hold it, closed all the others, and since the return ducts have no way to close them I used pieces of wall paneling. Man what a difference!! Oh Yeah! Hey, it only took me 30 something years to realize it, man am I ever steamed about that. If only someone would have mentioned it to me, so I'm mentioning it to you all.
Ok, the wood. Whatever size you split it, split it two more times. I know, I know, you're thinking smaller pieces burn faster and don't last as long. Yes, you are right, unless you do it the right way. You see, every time you split a piece of wood, there are now two more sides that can burn, and give off a lot more heat, and it dissipates any water a lot faster, and I've even burned totally green wood with not much more creosote. What I do is to get my house up to whatever temp I want, which is quick as the pieces are smaller, then I rake all the burning embers and pieces into a flat surface, then I load the stove completely, which fills more space because since the pieces are smaller they fit a lot better than larger pieces, then I immediately turn the air down very low. 12-14 hours later there are still plenty of embers to get the new logs started. My Jotul 118, being a long stove, and air tight, the logs burn like a cigarette, from front to back. Yes, I use a lot less wood now that I figured out the right way. Dammit, I only found this out in 2011. My wood mainly glows rather than flames, and the temp doesn't much go under 70. With fatter wood you need to leave the air vent open wider to get it going good, but not with my way. I'm talking temps between 23-35, so of coarse if the temps were lower I'd open the air more and use more wood, but it probably would not be much more as I can see now how much more efficient I'm running. This does come with a small price, since I'm keeping the flame low, there is more chance for creosote, so I check it every two weeks, by letting it burn out, placing a small mirror up the stack, to see if I can see light at the top, and I always do see a nice round hole with light up at the top by the cap. But I clean it out anyway because I'm to afraid of a stove ruining my life. First of all, the top of my stove comes off, and this was meant so that you could put a piece of meat on the tray that is just above the fire, and smoke meat. Never did it myself. But, this gives me easy access to the bottom of the stove pipe. I use a plumbers snake, a flat stiff wire about 3/16" wide and about 1/16" thick, and bent the end in a u shape. Then I took bailing wire and formed a ball, about 3" in diameter, and attached the two ends to the snake. Then I put it up the stove pipe and work it up and down rapidly, and the ball flops back and forth cleaning off any loose creosote. Of course there is always stuff stuck to the side of the pipe but nothing to worry about. Only when there is enough creosote to break off and plug the pipe, will tremendous heat build up and cause a creosote fire, which would turn your pipe cherry red, and burning pieces will shoot out and land on the roof, and burn the house down. I never saw one of these fires but people tell me it sounds something like a jet engine. You don't want that and neither do I so I am always on the safe side. Then I simply put my hand in the bottom of the pipe, scoop up any pieces, and put them in the pot I keep at the front of the stove. I firmly believe that once wood is split, let it sit for 3 years. You'll have better heat and less problems.
When cleaning ashes out they need to be pushed to the rear of the stove. I use a piece of flat metal, 1/2 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick, 3 feet long, and attached a 3 inch piece of angle iron to one end. When I push the ashes to the rear I then lift the pusher up, and as I keep pushing, the finer ashes go to the bottom. Then I pull the larger pieces forward, and what's left, I push back some more. Then when I eventually shovel the ashes out, it is all very fine. Remember, even small pieces are fuel, and they will burn till powder. Why waste them? I put the ashes in an old cast iron cooking pot that's right at the front of the stove, and after about a week, dump them in my garbage can. Make sure it's a week to be sure all embers are out. Use a small shovel with a long handle so that when you scoop the ashes from the rear your hand is not over the embers at the front. I pull the shovel out slowly, and carefully lower it into the pot, then I raise the handle and let the ashes slide off, otherwise I would have a cloud of dust if I just dumped them.
Water is needed in the air for comfort during the winter. Winter air is dry to begin with and when you add a stove it gets dryer. We used to keep a tea kettle on top, but one day my wife put her grandmothers old baking pan on top and man O man what a difference. Since the pan is shallow and wide open there is lots of water vapor, but not enough to steam the windows. What a difference, and the comfort is just fantastic. So glad we learned this one early on.
I remember when I first got my stove, I knew nothing about it and was following my neighbors lead. I was scared because it was like having a monster in my house, but I found that if you treat the monster good you get monster rewards.
Oh, here is a good one. One winter I was getting a cold, felt miserable, had all the symptoms, laid down on the couch and fell asleep. When I woke up a couple hours later I was bone chilling cold, and I'm thinking this may be what hypothermia feels like, like falling into a frozen lake, but man was I ever feeling horrible as I was so cold I could hardly believe it. So I got over to the stove and hovered over it as close as I could, with my arms over it. I was loving the heat but still feeling cold so I stayed there about ten minutes till I felt warm. Talk about a mind blower, when I walked away not only was I warm but all my cold symptoms were gone and I felt fantastic. I was ecstatic with joy!! So, was it the moisture or the heat, I don't know, and I suppose I'll never know, but I love my monster, and I keep reminding my neighbor to let me know if he gets a cold.
I hope I've helped someone here and if you like it pass it on. Fireup.
If your house has heat registers from a regular hot air heat system, and or air conditioning, seal them off as tight as you can. Otherwise it is the exact same thing as having a hole in the side of a straw. You'll have a hard time sucking milk out of that glass. Since air hitting the stove rises, it causes every square inch of air to move along the floor, from every single room, no matter how far away the room is. This means that all the walls in your house has air moving down them, and when you have a hole from a register in those walls, guess what, there's a milk shortage. Air moving this way is called convection. It's just like when you open a door at one end of the house and the curtains move at the other end. Down the hall from my stove is the basement door, and it had a gap at the bottom of about an inch, so I attached an air damper, or brush-like product. The bottom line? The house is lot easier to heat, I use less wood, house maintains a more stable temperature, the comfort is very noticeable, and the bad part is that I only, on my own, found out about this in 2012. I was looking at the stove one day, and looking at the register right behind it, which was open because when I had the wall bricked up it would not fit anymore. So I blocked it up with a piece of old wall paneling, (that area stays cool even though it is right behind the stove) then I leaned the old register against it to hold it, closed all the others, and since the return ducts have no way to close them I used pieces of wall paneling. Man what a difference!! Oh Yeah! Hey, it only took me 30 something years to realize it, man am I ever steamed about that. If only someone would have mentioned it to me, so I'm mentioning it to you all.
Ok, the wood. Whatever size you split it, split it two more times. I know, I know, you're thinking smaller pieces burn faster and don't last as long. Yes, you are right, unless you do it the right way. You see, every time you split a piece of wood, there are now two more sides that can burn, and give off a lot more heat, and it dissipates any water a lot faster, and I've even burned totally green wood with not much more creosote. What I do is to get my house up to whatever temp I want, which is quick as the pieces are smaller, then I rake all the burning embers and pieces into a flat surface, then I load the stove completely, which fills more space because since the pieces are smaller they fit a lot better than larger pieces, then I immediately turn the air down very low. 12-14 hours later there are still plenty of embers to get the new logs started. My Jotul 118, being a long stove, and air tight, the logs burn like a cigarette, from front to back. Yes, I use a lot less wood now that I figured out the right way. Dammit, I only found this out in 2011. My wood mainly glows rather than flames, and the temp doesn't much go under 70. With fatter wood you need to leave the air vent open wider to get it going good, but not with my way. I'm talking temps between 23-35, so of coarse if the temps were lower I'd open the air more and use more wood, but it probably would not be much more as I can see now how much more efficient I'm running. This does come with a small price, since I'm keeping the flame low, there is more chance for creosote, so I check it every two weeks, by letting it burn out, placing a small mirror up the stack, to see if I can see light at the top, and I always do see a nice round hole with light up at the top by the cap. But I clean it out anyway because I'm to afraid of a stove ruining my life. First of all, the top of my stove comes off, and this was meant so that you could put a piece of meat on the tray that is just above the fire, and smoke meat. Never did it myself. But, this gives me easy access to the bottom of the stove pipe. I use a plumbers snake, a flat stiff wire about 3/16" wide and about 1/16" thick, and bent the end in a u shape. Then I took bailing wire and formed a ball, about 3" in diameter, and attached the two ends to the snake. Then I put it up the stove pipe and work it up and down rapidly, and the ball flops back and forth cleaning off any loose creosote. Of course there is always stuff stuck to the side of the pipe but nothing to worry about. Only when there is enough creosote to break off and plug the pipe, will tremendous heat build up and cause a creosote fire, which would turn your pipe cherry red, and burning pieces will shoot out and land on the roof, and burn the house down. I never saw one of these fires but people tell me it sounds something like a jet engine. You don't want that and neither do I so I am always on the safe side. Then I simply put my hand in the bottom of the pipe, scoop up any pieces, and put them in the pot I keep at the front of the stove. I firmly believe that once wood is split, let it sit for 3 years. You'll have better heat and less problems.
When cleaning ashes out they need to be pushed to the rear of the stove. I use a piece of flat metal, 1/2 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick, 3 feet long, and attached a 3 inch piece of angle iron to one end. When I push the ashes to the rear I then lift the pusher up, and as I keep pushing, the finer ashes go to the bottom. Then I pull the larger pieces forward, and what's left, I push back some more. Then when I eventually shovel the ashes out, it is all very fine. Remember, even small pieces are fuel, and they will burn till powder. Why waste them? I put the ashes in an old cast iron cooking pot that's right at the front of the stove, and after about a week, dump them in my garbage can. Make sure it's a week to be sure all embers are out. Use a small shovel with a long handle so that when you scoop the ashes from the rear your hand is not over the embers at the front. I pull the shovel out slowly, and carefully lower it into the pot, then I raise the handle and let the ashes slide off, otherwise I would have a cloud of dust if I just dumped them.
Water is needed in the air for comfort during the winter. Winter air is dry to begin with and when you add a stove it gets dryer. We used to keep a tea kettle on top, but one day my wife put her grandmothers old baking pan on top and man O man what a difference. Since the pan is shallow and wide open there is lots of water vapor, but not enough to steam the windows. What a difference, and the comfort is just fantastic. So glad we learned this one early on.
I remember when I first got my stove, I knew nothing about it and was following my neighbors lead. I was scared because it was like having a monster in my house, but I found that if you treat the monster good you get monster rewards.
Oh, here is a good one. One winter I was getting a cold, felt miserable, had all the symptoms, laid down on the couch and fell asleep. When I woke up a couple hours later I was bone chilling cold, and I'm thinking this may be what hypothermia feels like, like falling into a frozen lake, but man was I ever feeling horrible as I was so cold I could hardly believe it. So I got over to the stove and hovered over it as close as I could, with my arms over it. I was loving the heat but still feeling cold so I stayed there about ten minutes till I felt warm. Talk about a mind blower, when I walked away not only was I warm but all my cold symptoms were gone and I felt fantastic. I was ecstatic with joy!! So, was it the moisture or the heat, I don't know, and I suppose I'll never know, but I love my monster, and I keep reminding my neighbor to let me know if he gets a cold.
I hope I've helped someone here and if you like it pass it on. Fireup.
