Bought a 600 Firelight about a month ago.
I owned a 25 year old VC Resolute top loader. That is an awesome stove. It was built in Randolph and, really, has a lot of years left in it. BUT, we are interested in not using our gas furnace and so I spent a year looking at upgrading. I finally decided between the big Quadra Fire Isle Royal top loading stove and the Jotul 500 or 600. I looked at all the stoves and decided on the 600 for the following reasons:
1) We live in West Michigan in an 80 year old non-insulated Craftsman two story house. At 1800-1900 sq/ft it's really too small for a 600 BUT it's also drafty and I wanted to be able to keep the place warm in January.
2) I love the top loading of the Resolute and Isle Royal but decided against it because it seemed to me that the baffles on the IR interfered with really loading up the stove.
3) I also did not like the tapered design of the IR since it would require me to cut different size logs to get a full load.
4) Deciding between the Oslo and the Firelight was tough since an Oslo might have been sufficient for our needs. I didn't want to risk not being able to get enough heat during the cold months so I went larger.
5) I wanted a big fire box. The FL has over 3 feet of volume, will take a 24" log and if loaded through the front I can put a large diameter log in the back and build a fire in front of it and have a good burn/coals 15 hours later. The back log burns slowly because of its size AND I did NOT have it burning full bore. Obliviously a log that size will be used up faster in January than in October. So bear that in mind.
6) The large windows are excellent for viewing the fire.
7) Ashes spill out the front when I use those doors but the Resolute wasn't particularly clean either. Does such a stove exist? By using the side door things stay relatively clean. No ashes spill out.
8) Air Control is a learning process. Once the stove is hot (400 degrees top plate temp) the stove pulls air really well. Before that and with the wood I'm using I need to leave the side door open for awhile to get things rolling. The exhaust has two 90 degree turns but is straight for over 20' so I have a really good draw. Better wood would give a better burn!
9) Air wash on windows is excellent. If they get creosoted up a hot fire cleans them well.
10) Breaking in smelled bad but I expected that. Our stove is a simple black mat finish...so it smoked for several burns during the break in period. I took the smoke detector down during the break in burns and put two fans in the windows to exhaust the smell and smoke. Worked fine. I knew that would happen because of the info. I got here.
11) I couldn't find out where IR's were built. The Jotul is a Norwegian company and they have a factory here in the US. I liked the idea of not sending my money to China and I couldn't find out where the IR's were built or who owned the company. I think the IR is probably a fine stove, it just lost to another fine stove for our use.
12) Finally, I do not work for Cherry Valley Stove and Saw in Caledonia but I bought this stove from them and have rarely gotten service/help/advice like that from anyone. They are honest, hardworking good folks. So good I went back two days ago and bought a chainsaw from the. I recommend them to everyone. They have more products than Jotul and won't steer you wrong!
I love this stove. The more I use it the more I appreciate it. We'll see how it does in January and I'll try to remember to post the results. Finally, I am NOT a salesman for Jotul though you'll have to take my word for that.
The Jotul was on sale and with the Govt subsidy this will be a $1700 stove. Hard to beat that!
I owned a 25 year old VC Resolute top loader. That is an awesome stove. It was built in Randolph and, really, has a lot of years left in it. BUT, we are interested in not using our gas furnace and so I spent a year looking at upgrading. I finally decided between the big Quadra Fire Isle Royal top loading stove and the Jotul 500 or 600. I looked at all the stoves and decided on the 600 for the following reasons:
1) We live in West Michigan in an 80 year old non-insulated Craftsman two story house. At 1800-1900 sq/ft it's really too small for a 600 BUT it's also drafty and I wanted to be able to keep the place warm in January.
2) I love the top loading of the Resolute and Isle Royal but decided against it because it seemed to me that the baffles on the IR interfered with really loading up the stove.
3) I also did not like the tapered design of the IR since it would require me to cut different size logs to get a full load.
4) Deciding between the Oslo and the Firelight was tough since an Oslo might have been sufficient for our needs. I didn't want to risk not being able to get enough heat during the cold months so I went larger.
5) I wanted a big fire box. The FL has over 3 feet of volume, will take a 24" log and if loaded through the front I can put a large diameter log in the back and build a fire in front of it and have a good burn/coals 15 hours later. The back log burns slowly because of its size AND I did NOT have it burning full bore. Obliviously a log that size will be used up faster in January than in October. So bear that in mind.
6) The large windows are excellent for viewing the fire.
7) Ashes spill out the front when I use those doors but the Resolute wasn't particularly clean either. Does such a stove exist? By using the side door things stay relatively clean. No ashes spill out.
8) Air Control is a learning process. Once the stove is hot (400 degrees top plate temp) the stove pulls air really well. Before that and with the wood I'm using I need to leave the side door open for awhile to get things rolling. The exhaust has two 90 degree turns but is straight for over 20' so I have a really good draw. Better wood would give a better burn!
9) Air wash on windows is excellent. If they get creosoted up a hot fire cleans them well.
10) Breaking in smelled bad but I expected that. Our stove is a simple black mat finish...so it smoked for several burns during the break in period. I took the smoke detector down during the break in burns and put two fans in the windows to exhaust the smell and smoke. Worked fine. I knew that would happen because of the info. I got here.
11) I couldn't find out where IR's were built. The Jotul is a Norwegian company and they have a factory here in the US. I liked the idea of not sending my money to China and I couldn't find out where the IR's were built or who owned the company. I think the IR is probably a fine stove, it just lost to another fine stove for our use.
12) Finally, I do not work for Cherry Valley Stove and Saw in Caledonia but I bought this stove from them and have rarely gotten service/help/advice like that from anyone. They are honest, hardworking good folks. So good I went back two days ago and bought a chainsaw from the. I recommend them to everyone. They have more products than Jotul and won't steer you wrong!
I love this stove. The more I use it the more I appreciate it. We'll see how it does in January and I'll try to remember to post the results. Finally, I am NOT a salesman for Jotul though you'll have to take my word for that.
The Jotul was on sale and with the Govt subsidy this will be a $1700 stove. Hard to beat that!
