Jotul f45 reviews- what would you do?

[Ctwoodtick]

We are looking to move soon-getting some things lined up and could potentially be into something new within a couple of months. Will be transporting my firewood supply to new house. Looking to downsize to between 1100 and 1500 sq ft. Most definitely want to continue with wood heat. Assuming that we would switch out stove with whatever we would be buying, if there was even a stove there in the first place. Looking at the Jotul f45. I’d like to purchase the stove ASAP even before house is bought bc I know that supply is unpredictable now. Not exactly sure what we’re moving into,but I would imagine the f45 would heat that square footage well assuming it has any degree of insulation. For you guys who have the f45, what are your thoughts/reviews on this stove?

 

[armanidog]

It sounds like everything is up in the air. One step at a time. Buy the house and then buy a stove. What if something happens?
Then you have a stove with no house.

 

[Todd]

Love mine, great burn control, glass stays very clean, long consistent 8-12 hour burn times.

 

[EbS-P]

I’d wait. For the only reason that if you top vent the f45 you have to take the back panel off to get the baffle out. Fine if it’s a free stand stove but if it’s installed in a fireplace it would be nearly impossible without pulling the stove out. Could always rear vent it to a T but then it’s sticking out much further. Too many unknowns for me commit to a stove. Storage moving installing. I’d be looking for a tax credit eligible stove.

 

[Todd]

I’d wait. For the only reason that if you top vent the f45 you have to take the back panel off to get the baffle out. Fine if it’s a free stand stove but if it’s installed in a fireplace it would be nearly impossible without pulling the stove out. Could always rear vent it to a T but then it’s sticking out much further. Too many unknowns for me commit to a stove. Storage moving installing. I’d be looking for a tax credit eligible stove.

Why would you need to get the baffle out?

 

[jotulf45v2]

I got mine in December 2020 and have no complaints. The air control is very responsive, glass gets dirty every ~6 weeks or so based on 24/7 burns of mixed woods and cleaning it is pretty straight forward. I have a top vent (I don't think the f45 can be rear vented, unlike the f55) and removing the top plate is annoying to access the bolts but it makes cleaning a cinch. I'm happy with the length of wood I can put in, at an angle I can fit ~19". Fire bricks are still intact. Gasket on the door is starting to decompress - the glass was getting dirty on the bottom left corner which indicated a slight air leak. I'm planning to adjust the spacer when the season starts. I imagine a spacer will need to be removed every season until a new gasket is required.

 

[EbS-P]

Why would you need to get the baffle out?

If it’s is a top vent fireplace install to clean the flue bottom up to get access to the flue or top down to clean out all the creosote that you swept down.

Evan

 

[begreen]

The infor is in the manual on page 25. Based on these instructions it looks like the stove needs to be pulled out to maintain the top of the baffle unless it projects far enough onto the hearth to provide easy top access or if the lintel is substantially higher than the stove top.

 

[Lbk]

Hello To All who have participated in this thread.
I would love to hear more about the Jotul F45 and if you still appreciate it after this winter.
I had my first experience with catalytic and that did not go very well for us.

Our first love and standard for our stove is the Jotul F100 that was amazing. But now that we have doubled the size of our house to about 1200 sq.ft. open space, we are again looking for an upgrade. We bought and will be exchanging the Green mountain 60. I understood that it has to burn very hot with very dry wood and maintained hot to be at its best. But it does not fit our needs. ( instead of a Ferrari (GM60) we would be more the Ford 150 type, or rather Volvo, to stay in the Nordic region) . I also understand that catalytic stoves all need to get their chimney hot before really kicking in and functioning at their best, and thus excludes the Jotul F500 that I was eyeing.
So now I have turned to the Granville F45 for its non-catalytic and hopefully more radiant heat. I did consider and look at the Drolets for radiance but I think I would like to stay with Jotul, although since 2020 changes its really hard to find our landmarks and trust any stove, unless we have some good info on them through your amazing blog/site/exchanges on stoves.

We've been using a really old PE super27 in the mean time and it just burns anything any time and starts every time. Back to basics. I thought all stoves were like that, but I learnt, 5 grand later, that not all stoves are that simple.

Would love to hear more about the F45. Does it start fires easily, is it forgiving if the wood is a little over 10 % humid around the 17 mark.
does it heat up the place fast. Can you feel radiant heat. Do you leave the door cracked open to start it.
I think I read someone said they cook on it? Do you think that at maximum heat it can heat 1000 sq.ft. when its -22F 24/7 for a week.

Has anything changed after 2020. The turbins?? maintenance ??
thank you for any input thoughts and feelings and facts

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I never ended up getting the F45. Decided not to move after all.
I’ll continue my wood burning life with my Jotul insert.
I have a 1000 sq ft place in NW Maine where I had a Regency 2450 installed. I can’t say enough about this stove. That may be a good one for you to look at, if available.

 

[Lbk]

thanks
does it do long burns

 

[snobuilder]

Hello To All who have participated in this thread.
I would love to hear more about the Jotul F45 and if you still appreciate it after this winter.
I had my first experience with catalytic and that did not go very well for us.

Our first love and standard for our stove is the Jotul F100 that was amazing. But now that we have doubled the size of our house to about 1200 sq.ft. open space, we are again looking for an upgrade. We bought and will be exchanging the Green mountain 60. I understood that it has to burn very hot with very dry wood and maintained hot to be at its best. But it does not fit our needs. ( instead of a Ferrari (GM60) we would be more the Ford 150 type, or rather Volvo, to stay in the Nordic region) . I also understand that catalytic stoves all need to get their chimney hot before really kicking in and functioning at their best, and thus excludes the Jotul F500 that I was eyeing.
So now I have turned to the Granville F45 for its non-catalytic and hopefully more radiant heat. I did consider and look at the Drolets for radiance but I think I would like to stay with Jotul, although since 2020 changes its really hard to find our landmarks and trust any stove, unless we have some good info on them through your amazing blog/site/exchanges on stoves.

We've been using a really old PE super27 in the mean time and it just burns anything any time and starts every time. Back to basics. I thought all stoves were like that, but I learnt, 5 grand later, that not all stoves are that simple.

Would love to hear more about the F45. Does it start fires easily, is it forgiving if the wood is a little over 10 % humid around the 17 mark.
does it heat up the place fast. Can you feel radiant heat. Do you leave the door cracked open to start it.
I think I read someone said they cook on it? Do you think that at maximum heat it can heat 1000 sq.ft. when its -22F 24/7 for a week.

Has anything changed after 2020. The turbins?? maintenance ??
thank you for any input thoughts and feelings and facts

Stick with something simple and basic which also can be inexpensive and of course non catalytic.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I

thanks
does it do long burns

If I load it up at 9pm, I’ve got a good bed of coals to reload in the morning. Regency put out a YouTube video about the burn time of this stove and it was very accurate I thought.

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[Todd]

Jotul F45 Greenville Experiences

Looking for anyone who has experience with this stove and can tell me how its working out? Looking for burn time info with different woods, I burn a lot of Aspen but also have better hardwoods for colder days. I've read the firebox is about 2 cu ft, anyone have the true dimensions? How hot does...

www.hearth.com

here’s my experiences with the F45 the last couple years. Easy to operate, clean glass and long burn times. As far as radiant heat this stove produces most of its radiant heat out the front and top. The cast iron shroud gives you a softer radiant heat off the sides not a seering hot radiant blast of a true radiant steel stove. Start ups are easy for me but I have a straight up 22’ chimney, never need the door open, no smoke spillage. with good wood you should have no problem heating 1000 sq ft with below zero temps.

 

[Ashful]

does it do long burns

If I load it up at 9pm, I’ve got a good bed of coals to reload in the morning.

I'd not call that a long burn time, unless you're talking the morning 1.5 days later. Put otherwise, if I load either of my stoves full at 9pm Monday, I'll still have a good bed of coals on Wednesday morning. Heck, I can still have active cat, if I wake up early on Wednesday.

Lbk, I'm not sure what issues you had with your Green Mountain 60, but don't assume that stove is representative of all cat stoves, or that your experience is common to most others. I've seen more people heating their homes on this forum switch from non-cat to cat, than the other way around, and it's not common to see someone having so much trouble with them. It's almost certain that whatever issues plagued you with your GM60 will reprise their role in your next install, whether cat or non-cat, if you don't have a good grasp of the cause of your troubles.

 

[Todd]

I'd not call that a long burn time, unless you're talking the morning 1.5 days later. Put otherwise, if I load either of my stoves full at 9pm Monday, I'll still have a good bed of coals on Wednesday morning. Heck, I can still have active cat, if I wake up early on Wednesday.

Lbk, I'm not sure what issues you had with your Green Mountain 60, but don't assume that stove is representative of all cat stoves, or that your experience is common to most others. I've seen more people heating their homes on this forum switch from non-cat to cat, than the other way around, and it's not common to see someone having so much trouble with them. It's almost certain that whatever issues plagued you with your GM60 will reprise their role in your next install, whether cat or non-cat, if you don't have a good grasp of the cause of your troubles.

I’ve seen quite a few bad reviews here on the Green Mountain line. Sounds like they are pretty draft sensitive stoves.

Yes the Blaze Kings are the holy grail to long burn times but those long burn times are mostly only useful during the warmer shoulder seasons and in colder weather you will probably burn them just as hot as a non cat and have similar burn times. At least that’s what I experienced with mine.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I'd not call that a long burn time, unless you're talking the morning 1.5 days later. Put otherwise, if I load either of my stoves full at 9pm Monday, I'll still have a good bed of coals on Wednesday morning. Heck, I can still have active cat, if I wake up early on Wednesday.

Lbk, I'm not sure what issues you had with your Green Mountain 60, but don't assume that stove is representative of all cat stoves, or that your experience is common to most others. I've seen more people heating their homes on this forum switch from non-cat to cat, than the other way around, and it's not common to see someone having so much trouble with them. It's almost certain that whatever issues plagued you with your GM60 will reprise their role in your next install, whether cat or non-cat, if you don't have a good grasp of the cause of your troubles.

It is decent for a mid sized non-cat.

 

[stoveliker]

If long burns means overnight burns, then most 2.5 cu ft and larger modern stoves will do that.

If you want to also be able to burn (for very long) at much lower output, see above. If that's not a concern then get any big enough modern (EPA) stove from a reputable brand, especially the one you or your SO like to see, and you'll do well as long as you feed it dry enough wood.

 

[EbS-P]

Hello To All who have participated in this thread.
I would love to hear more about the Jotul F45 and if you still appreciate it after this winter.
I had my first experience with catalytic and that did not go very well for us.

Our first love and standard for our stove is the Jotul F100 that was amazing. But now that we have doubled the size of our house to about 1200 sq.ft. open space, we are again looking for an upgrade. We bought and will be exchanging the Green mountain 60. I understood that it has to burn very hot with very dry wood and maintained hot to be at its best. But it does not fit our needs. ( instead of a Ferrari (GM60) we would be more the Ford 150 type, or rather Volvo, to stay in the Nordic region) . I also understand that catalytic stoves all need to get their chimney hot before really kicking in and functioning at their best, and thus excludes the Jotul F500 that I was eyeing.
So now I have turned to the Granville F45 for its non-catalytic and hopefully more radiant heat. I did consider and look at the Drolets for radiance but I think I would like to stay with Jotul, although since 2020 changes its really hard to find our landmarks and trust any stove, unless we have some good info on them through your amazing blog/site/exchanges on stoves.

We've been using a really old PE super27 in the mean time and it just burns anything any time and starts every time. Back to basics. I thought all stoves were like that, but I learnt, 5 grand later, that not all stoves are that simple.

Would love to hear more about the F45. Does it start fires easily, is it forgiving if the wood is a little over 10 % humid around the 17 mark.
does it heat up the place fast. Can you feel radiant heat. Do you leave the door cracked open to start it.
I think I read someone said they cook on it? Do you think that at maximum heat it can heat 1000 sq.ft. when its -22F 24/7 for a week.

Has anything changed after 2020. The turbins?? maintenance ??
thank you for any input thoughts and feelings and facts

If shopping again take a look at the PE T5. If you really want back to basics my Canadian built Drolet 1800i does everything my Jotul does at 1/3 the price. It's not a looker but does seem to be an easy breather and heats well. We would buy an F45 IF it was rear vent to a T with clean out or had a slip joint that facilitated easy bottom up (or top down cleaning if you have easy access). Procedure to remove top is complicated.

 

[Lbk]

Stick with something simple and basic which also can be inexpensive and of course non catalytic.

yes my thoughts precisely.

 

[Lbk]

thank you everyone for your replies and thoughts.
I went to the store yesterday, looked again at the Jotul F45 and found the glass so small.
They have many Pacific Energy stoves of about 2 sq ft firebox and they seem to be pretty basic with details and thickness to the steel that would in the long run possibly outrun a drolet...
My SO totally lost trust in any post 2020 stove after our weird experience with the GM60. we have a really old PE super 27 as an in between plan, but he would really love to find a Jotul Firelight 600.
His brother has three in France and heats from an old 1000 sq ft. high ceiling space to a small 600 sq.ft country home.

we want to be able to do some small fires for inter seasons but also heat our 1000 sq ft all winter.
Would anyone know where I could look for a used F600?

 

[begreen]

There have been only small changes to the 2020 PE stoves. The non-cat PE T5 LE also gets good reports. Unlike the GM60, this was not a major design change. It has the same firebox as the PE Super.

 

[snobuilder]

I’ve seen quite a few bad reviews here on the Green Mountain line. Sounds like they are pretty draft sensitive stoves.

Yes the Blaze Kings are the holy grail to long burn times but those long burn times are mostly only useful during the warmer shoulder seasons and in colder weather you will probably burn them just as hot as a non cat and have similar burn times. At least that’s what I experienced with mine.

Thanks for this post.....
I've only used non cats with secondary reburn so correct me if I don't clearly understand BTU's but I assume each split has X amount of BTUs no matter what stove you burn it in and if you are getting a clean no smoke burn and also not over heating your chimney or dwelling then a 6,8,10 hour burn is all you need to have or expect???? In other words If lets say I was using a cat stove getting me a 20 hour burn, but my back up heat system is needing to supplement, then what is the use of a Cat stove to me beyond long burn bragging rights?

 

[Lbk]

There have been only small changes to the 2020 PE stoves. The non-cat PE T5 LE also gets good reports. Unlike the GM60, this was not a major design change. It has the same firebox as the PE Super.

could you say that all PE stoves of the same size have a similar feeling and burn. Just the looks change?

 

[begreen]

could you say that all PE stoves of the same size have a similar feeling and burn. Just the looks change?

Not totally, but for the mainline, the T4 has the Vista firebox, the T5 has the Super firebox, and the T6 has the Summit firebox. There is also the Neo series which has the floating firebox design in a shallower unit. The T5 and T6 burn quite similarly. I haven't run the others.