Been running my Jotul as my main heat source here in Maine (well 90-95% of my heat source . . . I get lazy in late Spring and the oil boiler does kick on occasionally when I am away) for the past 9 years (2008.)
My thoughts in a minute, but I guess I could sum up my feelings for this stove with this statement: In all of the years here I've seen prettier stoves, longer burning stoves and stoves with more features and on occasion I've thought about buying a different stove, but what I constantly come back to is the fact that this stove has been reliably keeping me and my wife warm for several years with nothing done to the stove other than cleaning it and a year or so back I changed out a couple of gaskets.
I think buying a stove is similar to buying a car. There are all kinds of makes and models to choose from. Some are larger, some small . . . some are really fancy, others quite plain. Some have some cool tech, others are pretty simple. Some may require more maintenance, others less. Some will go longer, others go less. Just like there is no perfect car for every single person . . . there is no perfect stove for every single person. It's all in what you value.
Me . . . I value simplicity and reliability. The Oslo has pretty much hit the target on my wants. Now, if I was to look for a longer burning stove since I valued that more then I would take a look at the cat stoves.
OK, that said . . .
Burn Time: This "time" depends on a lot of factors: BTU value of the wood, moisture content of the wood, how much wood is packed into the firebox, strength of the draft, etc. By this I mean a person who packs in well seasoned 22 inch oak or sugar maple into the stove and has the ability to slow up the burn with a damper will most likely get a longer burn than a person burning 18 inch red maple, white birch, etc. in a stove without a damper.
Moreover, the definition of "burn time" is one of those things here which is often debated: is burn time the time from when the fire is lit until the coals go out, when the stove produces meaningful heat, time from when the fire is lit to when there are no visible flames, etc.
I would consider burn time to be the time of meaningful heat . . . and in my case . . . with 18-20 inch mix of wood (yellow birch, beech, red maple, sugar maple. elm, etc.) I tend to get a burn time of 5-8 hours.
Wood Size: Pretty sure the firebox is rated for 22 inch wood. I find that cutting my wood to 18 or 20 inches makes things a bit easier when loading as coals and ash do build up, wood often isn't perfectly straight, etc. and I often find that it's just easier to put in wood a couple of inches shorter.
Front Door: As mentioned the front door is best used for cleaning purposes . . . although one or two folks here have done some simple modifications (channel iron) to reduce the ash spillage out of the front.
Ash Pan: I personally think the ash pan in this model is one of the best features. I tend to empty my ash pan 1-2 times a week. The only two concerns is if I let it go too long it can be a bit messy pulling it out with too much ash and ash can build up behind the pan and prevent the ash pan door from closing easily so I routinely take a few seconds and use a fireplace shovel to scoop out the bit of ash that falls behind the pan.
Colors: Honestly, my only regret is not going with the blue black finish instead of being cheap and getting the matte black. The blue black finish just looks wicked nice.
and way too expensive needed repair parts.
