First wood stove: Jotul F45

[Mustard Tiger]

Was dead set on a pellet stove, had it purchased and ready to get installed this week but really wasn't 100% on it. Never owned a pellet or wood stove before and immediately went with pellet simply for the convenience. But after talking with friends and coworkers, seems like the overwhelming majority of folks (nearly all of them) have wood stoves and have hardly come across anyone with a pellet stove. So yesterday I switched the order and ended up purchasing a Jotul F45. It will be installed later this week. Main floor of the house is 920 sq ft with a 410 sq ft loft. There's also a 920 sq ft basement that is unfinished and not heated.

Now I have to source the fireawood. Don't own a splitter and don't really have a way to do out and get my own firewood, but do have a few acres with quite a bit of lodgepole pine on it, some is beetle kill and my property backs up to state forest land, and permits are easy and cheap to get. Only thing is I don't have the means to cut and split my own wood, but hope to change that over time, so for now I'll just purchase a few chords locally and have it delivered to get me going for now. I have a large carport that should be more than suffucient to store the wood under.

Pretty excited about the Jotul.

Here's the carport I plan on storing the wood under. Now I have to get to cleaning up the yard and getting rid of all those pine needles (property has been unoccupied for around 7 months).

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, get wood split, stacked off the ground under that carport asap - if it's pine it'll likely be okay to burn next year.

A chainsaw and Fiskars x27 is not that much $$ as compared to buying cords of wood.

Be careful though, dropping trees is not easy - to do it safely. I in particular note dead trees with dead branches that often break off. Wear a helmet (seriously!).

Permits may be easy, but staying in one piece when you've never cut wood before is not simple.

 

[kborndale]

If you have to buy wood but it tomorrow. It might not be fully dry by October but if you buy it in the fall you won't enjoy your wood stove. Don't believe the wood dealer that says his wood is ready to burn, it isn't.

 

[Mustard Tiger]

That was the plan to buy several cord now and just have it. Same reason I decided to buy a stove now. Will be one less thing I have to deal with once it starts getting cold again later in the year.

 

[begreen]

Is this Northern CA or eastern OR? If you can get the pine split and stacked in the next month it will be good for burning by Oct/Nov. In your dry climate this wood dries out quickly once split.

 

[djlew]

Congrats on your stove! I just finished my first burn season on a Jotul 602. You have the right idea. Listen to the folks above, get wood ASAP. The hardest part is building your initial stock and then you can pile and season the wood for seasons to come. I got the 5 ton splitter from Harbor Freight and while it doesn't do crazy splits, it's worked for me so far and for 300 USD it was a worthy investment. Moisture meter, hatchets, etc. are useful. I got a kindling cracker which makes splitting kindling nice and easy.

Overall, just some gadgets to acquire over time and it will make it easy moving forward. Good luck!

 

[Todd]

Congrats on your stove! I just finished my first burn season on a Jotul 602. You have the right idea. Listen to the folks above, get wood ASAP. The hardest part is building your initial stock and then you can pile and season the wood for seasons to come. I got the 5 ton splitter from Harbor Freight and while it doesn't do crazy splits, it's worked for me so far and for 300 USD it was a worthy investment. Moisture meter, hatchets, etc. are useful. I got a kindling cracker which makes splitting kindling nice and easy.

Overall, just some gadgets to acquire over time and it will make it easy moving forward. Good luck!

How’d that little 602 work out for you this season? Was it enough heat for your space?

 

[djlew]

How’d that little 602 work out for you this season? Was it enough heat for your space?

Honestly not bad at all! It's a little too small when the weather gets super cold but that was only a few days out of the season, and really all I had to do was wake up in the middle of the night and load. Burn times aren't incredible but that's expected. Might get a room transfer fan and dial in a convection loop to get the one room that doesn't get much heat but I'd recommend it to others who want a reliable other source of heat when the heat pump doesn't cut it.