Jotul Castine Burn Time

[gpcollen1]

Just looking to maximize my Castine burn time and looking for anything that may help. I installed the Castine to compliment my Olympic burning 24/7. Burning the Castine 24/7 has proved a bit difficult as burn times around 8 hours are quite difficult to achieve. 5 - 6 hours are no problem - and even 7 are doable for sure. You do need some kindling always on hand to get the thing stoked up but that is no big deal.

I've been spoiled with the Olympic which touts 12 hour burn time and gets me more than that for sure and have only been driving this baby for a week or so now and have gotten used to her a bit. I have been using a good hot coal bed and loading the stove to the gills with red oak and still having some trouble getting the 8 hours - would love to have some coals after 9 hours too. I just want a sanity check on if this is really not possible. I am fine with getting some super cedars and having kindling around all the time so we can get that stove churning again when I/we get home from work as it wont last the 8-12 hours.

Any tips/experience from you Castine owners.

 

[kobudo]

I have had my Castine for a few months. I have only been able to get about 6 hours of good burn time. Granted, the hardest wood I am burning is birch and I have been a little leery about loading it to full until I am comfortable it won't overfire but I am not expecting much more than 6 or 7 hours at the most.

 

[begreen]

That's about right for the 1.5 cu ft firebox on the F400. With softwood I had to work hard to get 6 hr meaningful burns.

 

[polaris]

You have no coals left after 9 hrs? Once you load up and char the wood how far to the left are going with the air control? I have enough coals left after 7-8 hrs. to refire splits without kindling. I char for about 20 min. (large splits) then close it down at least 7/10. The secondaries burn for about 4 hours and it continues to heat for a few more. After 7-8 hours it is down to a couple of 100 degrees and needs to be refilled. I don't think I'll ever see a 10+ hr. burn time out of mine.
Joe

 

[begreen]

I had coals sometimes at 8-10 hrs., but the stove was like 100 degrees. Just lukewarm to the touch.

 

[kobudo]

I still more experience with mine.
How far do you move the lever to the left? I moved it about 3/4 of the way to the left before bed. Can I move it more without smoking up the glass?

 

[gpcollen1]

In most cases, I have a decent coal bed, get a fresh load in - been saving the largest pieces for the long burns of course, char it and close it down as necessary to get secondaries going and eventually close it all the way down. I had a 7 hour or so sleep last night = burn time and had a few, and I mean a few, coals this AM. Had some nice tiny and DRY red oak slivers all ready to get her ripping. That worked fine. I had an 8 hour burn the other day and had one lone coal when I check it.

Polaris - 9 hours = no coals but that was only one time so far. as I have said - only been burning this one for a week.

kobudo - you can move it all the way to the left - but if you wood is not charred and getting secondaries going - I bet you get some black glass. The glass cleans right up with a good and hot burn.

PS - anyone have this in a small room - say 200 sq ft? Think it will cook me out of there if I move it in there instead of the fireplace in the living room?

 

[deedub]

like so many others, i get a good bed of hot coals, rake them forward and put my biggest split ( 8"dia ) all the way in back, and load it up completely with maple and ash. i then let it rip for about 20-30 mins and slowly damper down..most nights, all the way down. i will get7-8 hrs max on a good night. by morning, the stove is 2-300 degrees. i turn it all the way down to maximize my burntime, but have been getting black glass in the morning. maybe i should leave it open a little ?

 

[gpcollen1]

I can live with a bit of black glass if I get a better burn time/more coals in the AM.

 

[kobudo]

Thanks, that is helpful information. I didn't know I could push the level all the way to the left without killing the fire.

 

[begreen]

It depends on the flue and the wood. If the stove was already hot, I could close off the F400 without problem once the wood was burning well. You can't fully cut off the air in a modern EPA stove.

 

[deedub]

i have found that dampering down all the way to the left doesn't kill the fire, but temp will often rise, then drops for me. i guess there is a balance or sweet spot with burntime and temps/meaningful heat but i haven't found it yet. when loaded up, the wood is glowing, damper is down, my temps are 3-400d. let's hear from more castine owners.

 

[gpcollen1]

i have found that dampering down all the way to the left doesn't kill the fire, but temp will often rise, then drops for me. i guess there is a balance or sweet spot with burntime and temps/meaningful heat but i haven't found it yet. when loaded up, the wood is glowing, damper is down, my temps are 3-400d. let's hear from more castine owners.

In my short stint so far, i have been fooling around with how much to damper down for sure. It'll take a bit to get it perfect but Ive would generalize with 1/3 - then another 1/3 and then all the way. If I am just looking to get some secondary and burn her, I just put it about 1/2 way closed. It will depend on how hot the stove is for sure and what the wood load is and if it is dry and if and if and if...

I agree that I'd like to hear from more Castine owners. There was some good Castine info from the past few years when searching but it was in the middle of much unrelated stuff so a long read for sure...

I am wishing now that i had not split all of those smaller red oak rounds as they seem to be burning the longest...

 

[deedub]

"I am wishing now that i had not split all of those smaller red oak rounds as they seem to be burning the longest…"

same here. i was planning on splitting some old seasoned wood until i learned that rounds are great for longer burns. makes sense and is easier.

 

[ejwoodward]

I too am working out the kinks in the F400. We got rid of our old fisher a couple of months ago and replaced it with the f400. I am burning a mix of hard/soft woods that have been seasoned for at least a year and am finding that the smaller splits tend to burn a lot better with great secondary burn. I find that the stove likes to burn between 400 and 500 consistantly. My burn times seem to be a lot less than what I have been reading from other posters. I find that I only get about 3 hrs of good burn from the time I get the stove roaring until the temps drop below 300 and I load her up again. I close the air control down to about 30% open because any lower than that and the flames go out. When I use larger splits I find that unless I leave the air control wide open I get a smoldering fire with lots of smoke. I feel like the wood that I am burning is in decent shape without any sizziling. Part of me is wondering if I have a draft issue but then again I don't have any problems getting the fire started with the front door cracked open an inch or so for 15-30 min. I also notice that I get smoke leaking out whenever I open the front door slowly. Any pointers would be very much appreciated as we are wanting to use the stove at least 70% of our primary heat.

 

[adrpga498]

Here's what I've learned the past few years having owned the 400 since 2001. (older 2door model) which I like. Anyways, Nothing beats having seasoned hardwood at least 12 months. Solves many issues, draft, clear glass ,restarts from embers etc. For my 8 hour overnights, I pull most coals towards the front as many people have mentioned here. Then I put 1 Large split in the rear of the box with 2 midium splits on top of the coals in the front. Let it all char ,about 15 minutes set to 1/2 closed air. Wait another 10 minutes should spike to about 600-650 top temp then close air down to 3/4 close and I'm off to bed. 11pm Up and relaoding at 7am. Loading 1 Large and 2 mediums is how I'll burn when not around during the day also. I would always recommed at least splitting 1 round in 1/2 to help season. I rarely burn any round unsplit. Oh well thats my story and I approve this message.

 

[gpcollen1]

adrpga498 - When you say one large and two med splits - does that fill the firebox?? I have to wonder if your draft is less than others if not. I would think my draft is right in the middle of the curve - 18' of uninsulated liner in an outside chimney. Sounds like you are getting 8 hours easily. If you want to burn rounds, you have to make sure they get seasoned - if oak, that would be 2 years or so.

ejwoodward - 3 hrs stinks for burn time but you are not talking until you get coals so you may not be so bad off. I think you need to get that stove up to 500-600 or a bit more for sure, then add some more wood, cook it a bit and then damper down - thought there is nothing wrong with burning in the 400-500 range. You NEED to get that temp up if you want some secondary burn for sure. I rode mine a bit too high the other morning [keep your showers short] - 700ish - but got some phenomenal secondary after that.

For smoke control - open air all the way for 30 seconds prior to opening door. I have a double door - so I crack one and then pull the other one - opening them together if I want both open. Open door(s) slowly if you want to minimize smoke.

 

[adrpga498]

adrpga498 - When you say one large and two med splits - does that fill the firebox?? I have to wonder if your draft is less than others if not. I would think my draft is right in the middle of the curve - 18' of uninsulated liner in an outside chimney. Sounds like you are getting 8 hours easily. If you want to burn rounds, you have to make sure they get seasoned - if oak, that would be 2 years or so.

ejwoodward - 3 hrs stinks for burn time but you are not talking until you get coals so you may not be so bad off. I think you need to get that stove up to 500-600 or a bit more for sure, then add some more wood, cook it a bit and then damper down - thought there is nothing wrong with burning in the 400-500 range. You NEED to get that temp up if you want some secondary burn for sure. I rode mine a bit too high the other morning [keep your showers short] - 700ish - but got some phenomenal secondary after that.

For smoke control - open air all the way for 30 seconds prior to opening door. I have a double door - so I crack one and then pull the other one - opening them together if I want both open. Open door(s) slowly if you want to minimize smoke.

Yep, 3 splits fills it. Approximately 24ft.( 2 story bi-level) ss double wall outside. Very good draft.

 

[stoveguy13]

that stove is about a 5-7 hr burn time burn times are calculated as from point that you start a fire till when you have a enough hot coals to start the fire again.

 

[gpcollen1]

that stove is about a 5-7 hr burn time burn times are calculated as from point that you start a fire till when you have a enough hot coals to start the fire again.

Yeah - I am getting that. Had a great 6 hour run last night that I just got back up to about 550, cut half way and watching the secondaries and checking temps before I go in the shower.

 

[dznam]

We got essentially similar performance to CTwoodburner out of our single door Castine. It is a small volume firebox and burn times longer than 7 hours were elusive for us. Up to 7 hours required a good sized hardwood round (white oak, preferably) and then a couple of large hardwood splits and a few smaller sticks to fill as much of the firebox as possible on top of a modest bed of coals topped with a couple of 6: pieces of dry pine lathe (1x4") to get things kicking. 7 hours later there were only enough coals to get get a fire restarted with some kindling and stovetop temps would register in the neighborhood of 100-150 degrees. I guess that I don't really consider a 150 degree stove counting as burn time, but that's just my seat of the pants opinion. I'd say that it was "operationally hot" for up to 6 hours...

Ultimately, we wanted better burn times (more sleep time!) and replaced it with an Oslo (side loader) which is working well for us.

 

[deedub]

so last night wasn't that good for my castine. went through the typical setup for an overnight burn, raking coals, largest split in the back, and loaded to the gills. went to bed at 11pm, stove was at 500d, 3 hrs later, only the large split was intact, with a ton of coals, temp was 200d. the air was 7/8 closed so i wasn't happy at all with the short burntime and rapid temp loss. once every couple of days, i seem to get a poor performance with the same materials and stove, don't know why. it's just so much easier to go to bed and know that you will have something to work with in the morning. one morning, before i knew how to build an overnight burn, there no coals in the am. stove was stonecold...ugh !

 

[dznam]

When the wind blows hard here, the chimney draft increases considerably and the Castine seemed to be very sensitive to that. When it blew like that I would get much shorter burn times (3-4 hours) with a very hot burn, even damped down all the way. I was planning to put a damper in to hopefully get rid of the excess draft problem, but decided instead to install a larger model Jotul in place of the Castine. That has taken care of the problem for me. In my experience and comparing the two stoves in the same location, the Castine seemed to be very "draft sensitive". Is it possible that you have the same issue?

 

[deedub]

i believe i heard "be green" say that the castine is inherently draft sensitive, but i haven't noticed this. my chimney is around 25ft, insulated liner, and it drafts fine, maybe slightly too well, but fine. my castine is in an existing firebox alcove, almost all the way in. the top is not exposed, but under neath the lintel so i am convinced that i need to pull the stove out after flipping the flue collar. even if it's just 4", i think that will help quite a bit. i'll keep everyone posted.

 

[VanLandry]

I'm burning bio-bricks in my new castine and I'm finding the same results as everyone else it seems. 6 hour burn times are no problem and I can load it up before bedtime(11:00) and can usually get another fire going in the morning with just the left over coals but the stove temp is no more than 150-200 degrees. However, since i'm new to this I'm hesitiant to put more than and 8 bricks in at a time and I think I'm still closing the damper to soon. 500 degree temps have been rare so far and so I think I'll be putting in more bricks and letting it heat up longer before starting the damper closing procedure.

All things considered I'm thinking the castine is a bit finicky but for me it's been consistenly finicky so I'm sure I'll be happy with it once I'm more familiar with the workings of the castine.