Fully Packed Oslo

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KJamesJR

Feeling the Heat
Jan 8, 2018
362
New Hampshire
Packed the Oslo up full for tonight. Only gonna get down to 29f overnight so I might regret it! The little opening at the bottom is where I piled the coals up managed to squeeze a split infront of it.

Ya ya I could have done some more micro splits but everything started to catch so I had to make it quick.

Anyone else pack there’s full yet?

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EDIT: Meant to post this in the wood stove sub-forum. Sorry!
 
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Where do you leave your burn lever on a full load like that? I cruise with my lever full closed on a normal sized load and have never packed it that full. I’m thinking of re-sawing to 8-10” and going N-S. But it’s more work I really don’t have time for.
 
After mine is hot and a bed of coals, my air is almost all the way off. I open it up when reloading, until there lit up. That said I've never had a problem controlling the fire with a full load. Never tried North / South. I guess it burns a bit different. But all my wood is 18 - 22 inches.
 
Where do you leave your burn lever on a full load like that? I cruise with my lever full closed on a normal sized load and have never packed it that full. I’m thinking of re-sawing to 8-10” and going N-S. But it’s more work I really don’t have time for.

After it lights off I leave it almost fully closed. I’ll close it all the way then give the lever a little tap open.

When I went to bed it was 74 inside so I don’t know exactly how hot it got in the house.
 
After it lights off I leave it almost fully closed. I’ll close it all the way then give the lever a little tap open.

When I went to bed it was 74 inside so I don’t know exactly how hot it got in the house.
That is exactly where I used to set the Castine's air control to unless it was very cold out or I had a particularly lively load in the stove. Then it was all the way closed.
 
Packed the Oslo up full for tonight. Only gonna get down to 29f overnight so I might regret it! The little opening at the bottom is where I piled the coals up managed to squeeze a split infront of it.

Ya ya I could have done some more micro splits but everything started to catch so I had to make it quick.

Anyone else pack there’s full yet?

View attachment 250489

EDIT: Meant to post this in the wood stove sub-forum. Sorry!
That is a solid load. A bit early for Nov 3. Unless it is all softwood.
 
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Maybe this is why I never got super long burn times out of my Oslo, I never in my life packed it so tight. Is this normal for most folks? for some reason I envision this taking forever to get cruising, even with a hot coal bed.
 
That looks like a pretty normal load for me in any of the stoves I have used. Infact I usually pack tighter.
 
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Sooooo... this my my first few attempts at burning my new Oslo. I made bout 6 or 8 fires so far this year. Last night we had 36 as our low temp. So I packed the stove about 80% full with some well seasoned sugar maple . Wanted to see what The stove with an almost full load could do. Well it was stupid. I packed it up 80% primary full open. I got the pile burning and fully closed the primary completely. Beautiful blue secondaries in full effect! Went out to dinner. When I returned two hours later the upstairs loft was 83 and the main lev3l was 80! French doors in the great room went full open for 45 minutes. The Oslo is an absolute beast! Mind you my house was just built and has SIP panels. Ultra insulated and airtight. Maybe the F400 would have been a better choice!?!? I’ll have to wait until it’s 20 below outside with highs in the minus single digits to see.
 
That is a solid load. A bit early for Nov 3. Unless it is all softwood.
All Oak there.
I never in my life packed it so tight. Is this normal for most folks? for some reason I envision this taking forever to get cruising, even with a hot coal bed.
Yeah, it does take a while to get the stove up to temp, for me anyway, packed load on top of coals. The fire is trapped under the load for a while if it's packed tight. If I don't have a lot of coals, I'll shove them out of the way and lay the wood in the ashes, then start a top-down fire. That takes a while to get going too, but at least you don't feel like you have a huge fire under the load, just burning up your wood and not giving you much heat. You need real dry wood for top-downs to work well.
this my my first few attempts at burning my new Oslo. I made bout 6 or 8 fires so far this year. Last night we had 36 as our low temp. So I packed the stove about 80% full with some well seasoned sugar maple....I got the pile burning and fully closed the primary completely. Beautiful blue secondaries in full effect! Went out to dinner.....house was just built and has SIP panels. Ultra insulated and airtight. Maybe the F400 would have been a better choice!?!? I’ll have to wait until it’s 20 below outside with highs in the minus single digits to see.
Wow, I'd be nervous about leaving, first time I put a big load in a stove I wasn't too familiar with. :oops: But if you had the air cut all the way, on an Oslo, stove top probably didn't overheat. I have a paperclip rigged on my stove top meters so I can see how hot they got when I was gone.
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Depends how big your house is, but yeah, the Oslo might be too much heat.
 
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I made bout 6 or 8 fires so far this year.
80% full with some well seasoned sugar maple
Depends how big your house is, but yeah, the Oslo might be too much heat.
The Oslo has a wide range of outputs. If after 6-8 so far this year, and just finding out it's a beast first time with a full load, means you'll be good for when the weather really decides to turn. Here the break even outside temp for 24/7 and a full load like that is around 20deg. on a sunny day , or a little more if cloudy or windy. Otherwise it's softer woods. A stove full of oak (or hard maple) is for when it cools off outside.
Top down fires are nice.
 
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yes at night and then again in the morning before we go to work. This way we have hot coals when we get back. if one of us are home we will burn up any big long splits that won't fit N/S.
 
That is a solid load. A bit early for Nov 3. Unless it is all softwood.

Oak and beech lol.

During the day when the suns out, one or two splits will keep the house at 72 for a few hours with the air half open. Again it’s only been in the low 50’s. Going to cool down big time come Friday and looks like snow already for next week.

Half the reason why I did this was because I think my stove top temp is broken. A load like this the stove should cruise around 550f for a while. So I think my temp is broken as it never went much over 400f.
 
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I don't think I've ever loaded my Oslo that full . . . even in the dead of winter, much less this time of year.
 
I wonder if people have been known to stuff the firebox with toothpicks to minimize air gaps or constructed a solid slab of wood stuffed into the firebox to maximize their loads...