jotul 602 ins and outs

[raiderfan]

what's goin' on guys... brand new to burning wood. was given a jotul 602 (older model, green enamel) and will use it this winter to only heat my basement. (have natural gas as primary source of heat). So I guess my questions revolve around how to best operate this stove. What i mean is I don't want to overload it or overheat it. I want to know what i should do with the air control (how long i should leave it wide open and if and when i should shut it completely).

my basement is, at its coldest in the winter, around 58 degrees... i used the stove the other night and it in the matter of hours i could feel the basement heating up. the warmest it got was 77 degrees (more than enough for me), so i was very happy. i just want to make sure i'm not overloading the stove or putting too much wood in too frequently. Basically looking for heating with jotul 602 for dummies Thanks a lot for any info!!

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Lucky you, the 602 is a great little stove. However, it can be an overachiever. It's a stove that needs a thermometer and should be watched for temps. It really is better in a place where it's close by to watch and feed. Before burning, first be sure the interior burn plates have no cracks in them and are not warped. Also be sure the upper baffle is all the way to the back of the stove and sitting snugly in place. It helps to keep a nice ash bed in the stove. Don't go too crazy cleaning out ashes. Always leave at least 1/2" after cleaning.

Loading and firing is pretty easy. The air blasts right at the bed of the fire when the air spinner is open. The trick is to close it down in stages. Once the fire is going watch the stove top temps. Close the air off to about 3/4 closed once the fire is going well. The temp should still be climbing. As it hits 600 close the air off "almost" all the way. If possible you want to keep it from going much over 700. The stove should cruise at about 650-700 for an hour or two, then it will taper off. By hour 3 it will be hungry again.

It's easy to get involved and space out the stove when it's down below in the basement. This is the primary reason for overfiring the stove. I would suggest getting used to having a timer near by that you can set to remind you of when to close down the air. But personally, I would have the stove on the first floor where it can be appreciated visually and the heat will be more effective.

Edited to add "almost" to closing off the damper.

 

[webby3650]

Be Green is right on, but I don't know if he ment for you to keep the air all the way off? I had a Jotul 118 and a 606 that have the same air control. Shutting the air all the way off on my stoves would kill the fire completly, don't know if they are all that way?

 

[begreen]

Good point, it varies with the draft. We could close ours 95% of the way closed. But this is something that needs to be determined with the individual stove and flue setup.

 

[raiderfan]

thanks a lot guys... i will look into a thermometer for it. the reason it is in the basement is that i have no form of heat down there. I had a LP vent free (30,000 btu) wall heater which i used to heat the basement, while i was burning oil. However, with the nat gas switch, i couldn't also burn propane (and with it being vent free, i couldnt convert the heater to nat gas). So, with the oil boiler gone from my chimney and my nat gas boiler direct vented out of my house, i had the opportunity to use the chimney (which is stainless steel lined) for this wood stove. And after the other night, my first night of heating the room, i absolutely love it!!

the basement is used as a gameroom, mostly... so the stove won't be used unless i am down there. and probably won't be used more than 3x a week. i just want to understand how NOT to overload it or overheat it. the baffles are in good shape. my brother-in-law runs a chimney co. and he installed/inspected it.

when i started it up the other night, i noticed a smell. almost like a burning plastic smell. from what i have read on this forum, i attributed that to dust burning, as it was sitting dormant in a garage for awhile. I also noticed some smoke emitting from it when i loaded it with logs. but that also stopped as the night went on. not sure what happened there. it looked like it was coming from the heat plate and then from the base of the stove pipe (i have it top vented), but then disappeared and did not reappear from either place. worried me at first, but did not continue to happen, so that eased my worries. but all in all, i think i'm gonna love this little stove, as it definitely does the job for the basement. I just now want to make sure i'm doing it safely thanks guys...

 

[webby3650]

Good point, it varies with the draft. We could close ours 95% of the way closed. But this is something that needs to be determined with the individual stove and flue setup.

It is that glimmer from the other 5% that made us want to see more flame! So we bought a new Jotul 500 with the black blue finish. We love it!

 

[begreen]

And a good choice at that webby.

raider, good to hear that you will be nearby when the stove is running. Your chimney may be cold at first and needs warming up before it drafts strongly. However, if there are competing devices in the basement, they may affect the air available to the stove. Pay attention if you notice smoke coming from the stove. It could be because of the boiler coming on, a bathroom fan or a clothes dryer running. If so, you may need to address this issue. But if it's not related to those influences, it could just be a cold chimney that drafts better once the stove is warmed up.

 

[raiderfan]

And a good choice at that webby.

raider, good to hear that you will be nearby when the stove is running. Your chimney may be cold at first and needs warming up before it drafts strongly. However, if there are competing devices in the basement, they may affect the air available to the stove. Pay attention if you notice smoke coming from the stove. It could be because of the boiler coming on, a bathroom fan or a clothes dryer running. If so, you may need to address this issue. But if it's not related to those influences, it could just be a cold chimney that drafts better once the stove is warmed up.

yeah, definitely will be nearby... i will keep an eye on the boiler firing. Not sure what i can do if that happens to be the case. Not like i can shut the boiler down. I know I'm going to start even more gradually from small fire to big, however, as each time i saw it was when i initially "packed" it full of splits.

so as a summary: i leave the air control 3/4 of the way open as the fire gets going. then gradually shut down from there on -- all the way to 1/4 open -- when the fire is burning strong, and there is a nice bed of hot coals. I am planning on using it again thursday night, so i will concentrate on NOT going too big too fast. I seem to be a bit log happy!! :red: I wait for one of the 3 splits to burn up and then immediately add another!! I will start to wait for all three to burn up and THEN add to the stove.

What thermometer should i get? Is there any special kind i should be looking for? My local hardware store has a Rutland Magnetic Stove Thermometer, will that be sufficient? Thanks again guys!

 

[begreen]

If you do find the boiler competing with the stove for air supply, remember, it's also competing for your air supply. If this is the case, a fresh air feed can be supplied to the boiler.

Just about any thermometer will do, Rutland, Condar, Drolet, etc. I prefer one that doesn't have the scales on them for cold-safe-overfire, but if that is all you can find, it will work fine. The scales are for when the thermometer is placed on single wall flue pipe.

 

[raiderfan]

sweet... gonna pick up the rutland this week then. will place it on the stove top. so i don't need to pay attention to the "words" on the thermometer, as they are associated with the flue temp? that's good to know.

what temp is too hot for the 602? def wanna make sure i'm not overfiring this thing, even though i'll be in the room with it.

 

[begreen]

Try to keep it under 800. You'll know when it's getting to that temperature by the smell. It is a unique, "I'm really hot metal" smell.