Jotul F45 Greenville Experiences

[Todd]

Shoulder season has arrived! We had one of the coldest Winters on record around here. Many below zero mornings with the coldest hitting -35 a few times. Still over a foot of snow in my woods but it’s melting fast with this warm March sun and temps in the 40’s.

The stove has worked out great, had no problem heating the cabin in the coldest weather. I’ve burned through just about 3 cords of firewood, mostly Aspen so Im happy with that. Most Winter days I loaded the stove 3 times per day but colder weather sometimes called for a hotter stove so I’d end up burning half loads every 4-6 hours at a higher air setting To keep the stove hot.

With the warmer temps it can be a challenge keeping the cabin from overheating. With 30-40 high temps I can get away with a12 hour reload schedule with plenty of coals for reloading without kindling. When the high temps get up to 45+ It’s more challenging depending on the amount of sunshine so I prefer to burn one evening fire and hope the cabin holds the heat til the following evening. If not I’ll burn a little propane during the day. I had my little 100 gl propane tank filled last December to 80% for $230 and today it sits at 67% So I can afford to burn a little gas.

 

[Todd]

Cold temps continued throughout the Spring. Pretty much ended up burning 24/7 right through April, pretty sure I’m done, knock on wood. I ended up burning a little over 3.5 cords.

Cleaned the chimney today and had less than a quart of light brown powder so pretty happy with that. Seemed that most of the soot fell down inside the pipe onto the rear section of the flue collar area. I was thinking I could get away with an every other year sweep but I’m afraid that soot buildup in the flue collar could cause draft problems if not cleaned out every year.

 

[Todd]

After a beautiful 75 degree fall day it looks like Temps will drop 30 degrees into the 40’s for the rest of the week. I’ve only had a few take the chill off fires so far but it Looks like the F45 will be put into full service until further notice.

We had a couple days in the 40’s the other day so I took advantage of a hot stove and cooked up some grilled cheese and tomato soup.

 

[Todd]

Winter came early this year, woke to a couple inches of snow lol! Nice and toasty in the cabin burning low and slow 12 hour loads of Aspen.

 

[GrumpyDad]

Winter came early this year, woke to a couple inches of snow lol! Nice and toasty in the cabin burning low and slow 12 hour loads of Aspen.

View attachment 300532

ha nice! Im not looking forward to all of the leaves then a wet snow on top of them.
I see some solar panels waiting for some sun to do some production. What is that about 1.8kw total? Do you have it go to batteries or did you grid tie?

 

[Todd]

ha nice! Im not looking forward to all of the leaves then a wet snow on top of them.
I see some solar panels waiting for some sun to do some production. What is that about 1.8kw total? Do you have it go to batteries or did you grid tie?

I’m off grid with a 2.5kw system. It would of cost double what I paid for this system to bring in electric.

 

[Todd]

16” of snow just east of me, just a dusting here. Funny how that lake affect works.

I’ve been doing 12 hour reloads of Aspen keeping the cabin a little too toasty at times. Had to crack a window most of today.

I think my log cabin has finally settled and dried out. Seems to hold the heat much better. 😁

 

[Todd]

Here’s what my 12 hour burn with Aspen looks like. I pack the firebox just about full and with the air cut back all the way she will cruise in the 500 STT for a couple hours before slowly going down. After 12 hours the stove temp is only 150 but still plenty of coals for relight.

 

[Crab]

Is that a reload? And do you still have the boost air holes plugged? BTW many thanks for your posts on the F45 operation.

 

[Todd]

Is that a reload? And do you still have the boost air holes plugged? BTW many thanks for your posts on the F45 operation.

Actually the first pic was a cold start that evening then the next morning coal bed and the reloaded fire.

Yes the boost air is blocked with a couple screws. I find it more controllable that way with my straight up 22’ chimney.

 

[Todd]

20+ inches heavy wet snow last week and now an arctic blast! When it’s very cold like this, was -20 this morning, I like to run the stove on half loads at the medium air setting. This gives me a nice hot 700 peak stove top and about a 4 hour reload time. Before bed I’ll load her up full for an 8 hour burn with the air at Med-low. There’s no bragging of long burn times with this kind of weather.

 

[Todd]

We have been spoiled with mostly above average temps this month. Returned to reality this weekend. Stove is working hard but I’m still keeping cabin temps above 70.

Last week passed the 2 cord mark. Have 1.5 cords of Aspen left and about the same in Red Pine I mostly use for the sauna stove.

 

[Hoytman]

Start another thread and show us the sauna stove. I’d like to build a sauna.

 

[Todd]

Start another thread and show us the sauna stove. I’d like to build a sauna.

 

[Crab]

Yikes! -20F .........We will go below average for a couple days starting Tuesday, but nothing anywhere near that cold. 51 today and tomorrow.

 

[Todd]

Just past burning 3 cords of Aspen for the year. Looks like I’ll be burning at least another 1/2 cord or so, Winter doesn’t look like it wants to end anytime soon. Another snow storm on the way this weekend. We’re well over 100” for the season. The F45 keeps chugging along nicely!

 

[begreen]

Just past burning 3 cords of Aspen for the year. Looks like I’ll be burning at least another 1/2 cord or so, Winter doesn’t look like it wants to end anytime soon. Another snow storm on the way this weekend. We’re well over 100” for the season. The F45 keeps chugging along nicely!

We had a brief respite and now cooler weather has returned. It looks like we'll be emptying the wood shed this season. That hasn't happened in a long time.

 

[Todd]

I’m just about out of my Aspen supply but I have a cord of dead dry Red Pine I need to burn anyways. I’ve been doing full load consistent 12 hour burns the last couple weeks. Had another 4” of snow the other day, still 24” on the ground! It’s going to be a mess around here when all this melts.

 

[Crab]

. Had another 4” of snow the other day, still 24” on the ground! It’s going to be a mess around here when all this melts.

Snow? What's that? 65 today mid 70s tomorrow. I'd rather have snow then the EF3 tornado that formed 25 miles to our east. The storm that spawned the deadly tornado in Delaware passed over us, before becoming severe as it moved east. Extended forecast calls for maybe 2 days around 40 for a low, so maybe a quick fire to take the chill off then we will be finished for the year. I do not beleive we burned much more then a cord. The "winter" was incredibly mild and snowless. The F45 did well but was never pushed hard.

 

[Todd]

Yeah you guys out East had it pretty mild this Winter. I could use a good mild winter for once. The last three have been pretty brutal.

I even looked into swapping out my F45 this year for a Jotul Sebago propane burner. Sometimes it really sounds nice to just set a thermostat and give up the firewood processing routine, all the mess and physical demand but it’s real hard to justify paying for propane when I have 23 acres of free heat. The local stove shop even offered me $1500 for my three year old F45 but the bid still came in over $5k! That can buy a lot of firewood!

 

[GrumpyDad]

Yeah you guys out East had it pretty mild this Winter. I could use a good mild winter for once. The last three have been pretty brutal.

I even looked into swapping out my F45 this year for a Jotul Sebago propane burner. Sometimes it really sounds nice to just set a thermostat and give up the firewood processing routine, all the mess and physical demand but it’s real hard to justify paying for propane when I have 23 acres of free heat. The local stove shop even offered me $1500 for my three year old F45 but the bid still came in over $5k! That can buy a lot of firewood!

Buy the propane heater, sell the firewood

 

[Woody Stover]

Winter doesn’t look like it wants to end anytime soon.

The death knell for winter was heard here today. I worked on Big Red, and with the temp, and humidity over 60%, actually broke a sweat! 😅 💦

 

[Todd]

Buy the propane heater, sell the firewood

I’d do that if I had some mature decent hardwood to sell. I’ve been thinning out the Aspen and Jack Pine that have been choking out the smaller Oaks and Maples.

 

[Todd]

The death knell for winter was heard here today. I worked on Big Red, and with the temp, and humidity over 60%, actually broke a sweat! 😅 💦
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Nice! It’ll be here before too long hopefully.

 

[Crab]

Was 85 Thursday, barely made 50 today with overcast and it was raw.. Was out all day, came home to 67 on the 1st floor, OMG the heat almost came on and besides that this old man got the chills, so fired up the F45. It drafts great at 50deg. Ahhh 75 now. 2 more mornings coming in the mid 30s, then it looks like burning season "might" be over. Might have to run the A/C by Thursday.