Has anyone had both of these stoves? How do they compare? Things like wood consumption, burn time, ease of use in general, ect.......
Jotul F3CB vs Oslo 500
- Thread starter billdad1
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
I've had the F3CB and the F400. Only played with an F500, but it was fun.
All are very easy to use, but the Oslo would get my vote as the most convenient with side door loading and greater capacity. A small stove needs smaller splits and more frequent, careful packing. I had to do a fair amount of resplitting of bought wood when I had the F3CB. I don't miss that. The big difference is firebox size, F3CB=1 cu ft, F400=1.5cu ft, F500=2 cu ft. That translates almost directly into longer burn times for the bigger firebox.
Burn time is going to vary dramatically with the type of wood burned and the amount of draft on the flue. For "rough" estimates I would put the F3CB at 3-6 hrs, F400 at 4-8 hrs and F500 at 6-10 hrs. But as others will let you know, your mileage may vary. Some folks do better and other's report worse. With the F3CB I rarely got over 4 hrs burning softwood, but we've had a recent report of 8 hrs. With the F400 I usually got 6 hrs with softwood and sometimes 8hrs, but the stove wasn't putting out much heat by then.
Quality of these stoves is excellent and if you care for them, they hold their value well. I particularly like the blue-black enamel finish. It stays looking like day one, year after year.
All are very easy to use, but the Oslo would get my vote as the most convenient with side door loading and greater capacity. A small stove needs smaller splits and more frequent, careful packing. I had to do a fair amount of resplitting of bought wood when I had the F3CB. I don't miss that. The big difference is firebox size, F3CB=1 cu ft, F400=1.5cu ft, F500=2 cu ft. That translates almost directly into longer burn times for the bigger firebox.
Burn time is going to vary dramatically with the type of wood burned and the amount of draft on the flue. For "rough" estimates I would put the F3CB at 3-6 hrs, F400 at 4-8 hrs and F500 at 6-10 hrs. But as others will let you know, your mileage may vary. Some folks do better and other's report worse. With the F3CB I rarely got over 4 hrs burning softwood, but we've had a recent report of 8 hrs. With the F400 I usually got 6 hrs with softwood and sometimes 8hrs, but the stove wasn't putting out much heat by then.
Quality of these stoves is excellent and if you care for them, they hold their value well. I particularly like the blue-black enamel finish. It stays looking like day one, year after year.
You skipped over the F400! Begreen gave you an excellent rundown. 400 is pretty finicky with the draft and wood seasoning, but after you spend some time with the stove and figure out what it likes, you can get it cranking with any pile of sticks. I echo Begreen about re-splitting wood that I had delivered. Mine prefers smaller splits to larger ones for the most part, but like I said, if all I've got is big stuff, I can get it going with that. Great heater - I imagine the 3 is comparable and the 500 is even better.
go with the f500 to me its a no brainer if u have the room and the cash get as big a stove as u can. i have the f3cb and it is great but my house is only 900 sq ft and that was the biggest stove i could afford at the time. im very happy with it but if i could of got the 400 or 500 i would of bought it in a second i too like the blue black enamel.
argus66 said:
I have an Oslo, and I suspect it would run you out of a 900 sq. ft. house. I am heating 2500 sq. ft. (well insulated, to be sure) and with daytime highs in the 50s and nighttime lows in the 30s I can only run it for about three hours of an evening before putting in a final load for the night. I can't run it during the day at all or it will be unbearable.
These stoves have to run about 350 deg. or so to achieve secondary burn, so getting one sized for the heat requirements is important.
Mark
I have the Jotul Oslo F500. It's in well insulated, 1800 sq ft. cathedral ceiling's, open floor plan. It's plenty of stove for the house, but I wouldn't want anything smaller. If we crank it we need to open the windows when it's single digits outside. Burn time varies a lot. When it's real cold outside and the walls and insulation are not heated we need to run hotter, maybe 4 -5 hours between reloads. Other times we can get thru the night 6-8 hours, let the stove burn out and the house temp has only dropped 5 - 10 degrees. Once the stove has a bed of coals I burn monster oak splits, as big as 6" x 6" x 20". I have a friend that had to big of a stove. He couldn't keep the fire alive without overheating a very small cabin. I don't recall what stove it was, he finally gave it away and got something smaller. We can run the Oslo with fairly small fires, but when we don't need much heat I find it's best to run it up hot and let it burn down and maintain a bed of coals.
So burn time is greatly affected by how hot you need to run it. I think the biggest issue with selecting a stove size is how hot you can run it without overheating the room where the stove is and being able evenly heat the house. Your house is what it is, but if your not locked into a stove location give this some thought. Also, do the best you can with the chimney, it's key to your burning success, draft and ease of cleaning.
As others have said, if you can spend the extra dollar's go for Jotuls porcelain enamel finish. It's hard glass finish that hasn't stained or rusted in 8 years. It's amazing the finish can take the expansion of the cast iron without cracking or delaminating, but it has. My stove looks like it did day 1. I have the green, but I don't see that color anymore, what a shame. The side loading on the Oslo is a very good feature. Opening the front door and having the ash spill out is an Oslo owners complaint. It's not that the door opening is to low, it's happens when you burn logs against the glass and the ash goes down between the door and the stove. Now we clean the glass thru the side door, and try to get thru the season without opening the front.
Did I say I love my Jotul Oslo.
Tom
So burn time is greatly affected by how hot you need to run it. I think the biggest issue with selecting a stove size is how hot you can run it without overheating the room where the stove is and being able evenly heat the house. Your house is what it is, but if your not locked into a stove location give this some thought. Also, do the best you can with the chimney, it's key to your burning success, draft and ease of cleaning.
As others have said, if you can spend the extra dollar's go for Jotuls porcelain enamel finish. It's hard glass finish that hasn't stained or rusted in 8 years. It's amazing the finish can take the expansion of the cast iron without cracking or delaminating, but it has. My stove looks like it did day 1. I have the green, but I don't see that color anymore, what a shame. The side loading on the Oslo is a very good feature. Opening the front door and having the ash spill out is an Oslo owners complaint. It's not that the door opening is to low, it's happens when you burn logs against the glass and the ash goes down between the door and the stove. Now we clean the glass thru the side door, and try to get thru the season without opening the front.
Did I say I love my Jotul Oslo.
Tom
I'm not sure why billdad skipped over the Castine, he has the F3CB now. The F400 might be a good compromise size given his location. But it would help to know how big a space he's trying to heat first.
An important point in this case is that the F3CB does not have an outside air kit option. The F400 and F500 do have this. From the other thread, it sounds like this is a tight house and he needs an OAK.
Another thought for billdad, if this is a corner installation, the F400 would be better. It's a front loader. The side door on the Oslo is supposed to be permanently locked in corner installations.
An important point in this case is that the F3CB does not have an outside air kit option. The F400 and F500 do have this. From the other thread, it sounds like this is a tight house and he needs an OAK.
Another thought for billdad, if this is a corner installation, the F400 would be better. It's a front loader. The side door on the Oslo is supposed to be permanently locked in corner installations.
Thanks for the replies!!
I am running my new F3 at 400-550 and I can not feel much heat through the room until hours later. Even then I barely feel any heat unless I stand near the stove. I love the way it is designed but I think I need a bigger stove. The other issue is the size of the splits I can use. Only very small pieces will fit because of the burn plate. Not a big deal but it keeps me feeding the little brute every hour or so if I am trying to keep the stove temp above 400 deg. I am heating about 2400 sq. ft. but the room the stove is in is about 800 sq. ft. with openings to the rest and I loose a lot of heat up the open staircase in my foyer. I should have started with a big stove. It sits on my fireplace hearth and is vented via a 6"liner up a 28' interior chimney. I figured I should consider going to a large stove and I like the side loading option.
By the way, I have a fresh air intake feeding my masonry fireplace that I installed when my masons built the fireplace about 10 years ago. I have already learned that I need to leave it open to get good air to the stove.
Thanks again for your feedback.
I am running my new F3 at 400-550 and I can not feel much heat through the room until hours later. Even then I barely feel any heat unless I stand near the stove. I love the way it is designed but I think I need a bigger stove. The other issue is the size of the splits I can use. Only very small pieces will fit because of the burn plate. Not a big deal but it keeps me feeding the little brute every hour or so if I am trying to keep the stove temp above 400 deg. I am heating about 2400 sq. ft. but the room the stove is in is about 800 sq. ft. with openings to the rest and I loose a lot of heat up the open staircase in my foyer. I should have started with a big stove. It sits on my fireplace hearth and is vented via a 6"liner up a 28' interior chimney. I figured I should consider going to a large stove and I like the side loading option.
By the way, I have a fresh air intake feeding my masonry fireplace that I installed when my masons built the fireplace about 10 years ago. I have already learned that I need to leave it open to get good air to the stove.
Thanks again for your feedback.
Well, don't beat yourself up over it. Many of us have made the same underestimation. The Oslo sounds like a good choice for you. Your F3CB should retain good resale value. Considering this is a new purchase you might want to ask the dealer about an upgrade. Our dealer offered one to me.
billdad1 said:
As it so happens, I did indeed own both. Started w/ F3CB, and then decided to go with the 500 with hopes of getting
more heat & longer burns. Big mistake!! The Olso was a very "hungry" stove that put out just a bit more heat, but the
burns weren't any longer. Getting a "clean" burn w/ my Oslo just didn't seem to happen as much as it did w/ the F3CB.
Sure, there were conveniences w/ the Olso, but it seem to waste a lot of wood. Knowing this, I would have stayed w/
the F3CB, and not gone w/ the Oslo (which I ended up selling).
Running an Oslo in a 1400 sf home built in 1952 (read, no insulation). It will heat me out of the room that the Oslo is in (will run 90+). I do however have the rest of the house at about 72-74. I was going to pick up the Castine (400), but the dealer talked me into the Oslo instead. I can't be more happy. I mainly use the side door, haven't even opened the front door yet this year. It is a great stove for me. I use about a 24' chimney, brick, but in the garage so not quite outside. I really like this stove, not sure what you pay for the difference, but if you are on the bubble between these, go with the 500. If you are really considering the 3cb, go with the 400.
Hope this helps.
Chad
Hope this helps.
Chad
I've not burned the F3CB but I do have the F500 Oslo.
The Oslo is a powerhouse heater. Mine is hooked up to an outside brick chimney lined with an 8x8 outside diameter rectangular clay flue and it runs just fine.
I loaded it last night with splits of good dry ash, ran it up to 600 degrees, after backing the air off to half for a short time, I shut it off completely, woke up this morning to a hefty bed of coals, and fired it right back up with 4 splits of boxelder.
Our home is 2200 sq. ft., and I KNOW the Oslo will heat the whole dang place.
The Oslo is a powerhouse heater. Mine is hooked up to an outside brick chimney lined with an 8x8 outside diameter rectangular clay flue and it runs just fine.
I loaded it last night with splits of good dry ash, ran it up to 600 degrees, after backing the air off to half for a short time, I shut it off completely, woke up this morning to a hefty bed of coals, and fired it right back up with 4 splits of boxelder.
Our home is 2200 sq. ft., and I KNOW the Oslo will heat the whole dang place.
Bill, If your stove location has the heat moving out and up from the stove room without overheating, that's real good. As Chad said he can make a dry sauna in the stove room. Bringing up the whole house and wall temp up will take many hours. But if you can get the house temp up, what's it take to keep it there, and can you do it with cold outside temps. My stove takes hours to get the house temp up and idles to keep it there.
The specs, F3- 42,000 BTU, 265 LBS, 18 log. The Oslo 70,000 BTU, 445 LBS, 22 log. If these numbers mean anything the Oslo is almost twice the stove.
Yes, Rob it's is a hungrey beast. To get the cold 445 pound box cranking out heat takes 2 - 3 reloads. But once it hot and you have a bed of coals it's easy to keep it there. I guess if you can heat the place with a smaller stove you will have a hotter cleaner fires.
2400 sq ft with decent air flow I think the Oslo would work fine.
Tom
The specs, F3- 42,000 BTU, 265 LBS, 18 log. The Oslo 70,000 BTU, 445 LBS, 22 log. If these numbers mean anything the Oslo is almost twice the stove.
Yes, Rob it's is a hungrey beast. To get the cold 445 pound box cranking out heat takes 2 - 3 reloads. But once it hot and you have a bed of coals it's easy to keep it there. I guess if you can heat the place with a smaller stove you will have a hotter cleaner fires.
2400 sq ft with decent air flow I think the Oslo would work fine.
Tom
xman23 said:
This is exactly how my F400 jotul is.it can send you out of the room.i would love to see how the F600 heats up.
Hi! I'm looking for a used Jotul F3cb to fit inside a fireplace. It's the right measurements and heating capacity for what I need. Thanks!!
billdad1 said:
Billdad . . . I've only run the Oslo so I can't really comment any on the F3CB. However, I will say the Oslo has pretty much been what I was expecting in terms of heat. I have found that the burn time was less than I thought and as such wood consumption has been a bit more than I expected (I was thinking that the time from adding wood to hot coals to having to put a new load on the hot coals to maintain the same room temp would be a bit longer than the 4-5 hours that I've been getting -- but this could be due to the size of the wood I am using.) That said, the heat output has been fantastic.
I am a bit surprised to see you comparing these two types since I was under the impression that the F3 was designed for much smaller areas than the Oslo.
- Status
Similar threads
