Jotul F55

[Creekheat]

So my new F55 has non/cat clean burn tech. What type of burn times should I see out of this stove? I know there are many factors that contribute to this.
I will be burning good dry properly seasoned hardwoods and I live in KY. Moderate temps.

Cast iron cleaning tech?

Recommend a sweep once a year?

This stove burn better NS? Or EW?

Max loads only or partials?

 

[Grisu]

So my new F55 has non/cat clean burn tech. What type of burn times should I see out of this stove? I know there are many factors that contribute to this.
I will be burning good dry properly seasoned hardwoods and I live in KY. Moderate temps.

Depends how you define burn time. Fire maybe for 3 to 4 hours, significant heat 8 to maybe 10, hot coals for an easy restart have been reported up to 24 hrs later for that stove although I doubt that is the norm.

Recommend a sweep once a year

For someone new I would recommend to check the chimney at least every few weeks. A thorough cleaning should certainly be done once a year.

This stove burn better NS? Or EW

It is a N/S loader but part of the fun is to experiment with the loading strategy a bit. What I do in my N/S loader is to rake all the hot coals towards the door for a reload. Then I drop 2 to 3 short splits E/W behind those (wearing welding gloves) and fill the stove up N/S until I almost reach the baffle. That way I maximize the space in the firebox and the coals will nicely burn down during the reload. Plus, the fire stays controllable and the coals help with igniting the fresh load. Once the wood is burning I close the door and when I see a good fire I start turning down the air. With a warm stove and dry wood I have sometimes the air closed within 10 minutes.

Max loads only or partials?

Depends how much heat you want. You regulate the heat output with the amount of wood you load; the air control is an insufficient tool to do that as those modern stoves cannot be smoldered.

 

[Knots]

I'm burning splits that are on the small side, and are softer hardwoods. I get 6-8 hours.

I burned both N-S and E-W and settled on N-S. It seems to burn well that way and the logs can't roll against the glass.

I burn full loads, but I'm heating a lot of square footage and it's been cold. We'll see when it gets warmer.

 

[Creekheat]

Knots,

Any particulars about this stove you have noticed? Just trying to get as much info as I can. What do you think of the "noncatalytic clean burn tech" looks like that fire is rolling good! Stove temps? My house is 3100 sqft. Although I am only going to be heating the main floor and upstairs which is 2000.

 

[Creekheat]

I am really interested in over firing as I want to prevent this. I have a 26 ft stack all double wall. How easy do you guys think it will be for this thing to run away. Ideally once I've learned the stoves operation I would like to be able to load it up and go to work but at first I'm leery. This is my first stove, I want to do it right but also maximize my output. I heard if you throw just a couple splits on here and there it's more prone to over firing than with a full load. Thoughts?

 

[Creekheat]

And of course I will take any advice I can get lol

 

[begreen]

I recommend getting used to the stove for awhile before attempting burning while at work. Start out with nights and weekends and go for long burns on the weekends. It takes a while to get the hang of the stove and build confidence. There are a lot of variables in the wood load, air setting, wood species, draft etc. that take a bit of practice to get used to.

A couple splits are no more prone to overfire than a full load... unless those splits are large and put on a very hot coal bed. It's all about how quickly a fresh load of wood outgases from being heated.

 

[Creekheat]

Thanks.

 

[Knots]

And of course I will take any advice I can get lol

Ad-vice is the worst vice!

That said, here's my opinion/experience for what it's worth:

I'll start out by saying that I don't regret buying it, it's a great stove.

I'll second begreen's advice. It took me awhile to get to where I felt comfortable in leaving the house or going to sleep with the stove going. I'd suggest getting a stove-top thermometer. I can now tell when the stove is "happy" and I can let it go.

Most of the heat comes off the top and out the front of the stove.

I like the simplicity. About once a week I shovel out the ashes.

I too have a 26 foot chimney. It goes through the center of the house so it stays pretty warm. I have too much draft in my opinion. The secondary air is unregulated. There's only a 4" wide slot at the back of the stove that feeds the secondaries. When I first got the stove it would over-fire. The characteristics of your install may be different. I used aluminum tape and gradually blocked off the secondaries until they burned well without over-firing. Here's a couple of pics of how I started and where I ended up. Proceed at your own risk and remember that I'm just some knucklehead on the internet.



The "non-cat clean-burn tech" (secondary air) is great stuff and works well. Once my stove is above 450 there's no smoke coming out the chimney. Dry wood is very important for this to work.

So here's my routine:

1. Wait until the stove temp drops to 300 (thin bed of coals).

2. Open primary air (front) and flue damper (you may end up wanting one too - the manual mentions the possibility).

3. Load splits N-S.

4. Let the fire roar until the stove hits about 450 and all the wood is blackened.

5. Gradually shut the primary and the damper down until there's just some rolling secondaries and a small amount of flame at the bottom. Close too soon and the fire "falls on its face" (there will just be some flames on the bottom and no secondaries).Usually the temp will get to 600-650 and then slowly drop down. Most of the time I have my primary bottomed (although some primary air still gets in with the primary all the way to the left).

6. Enjoy the toasty goodness.

 

[Creekheat]

Wow that's really interesting knots. I'll get some aluminum tape just in case I need it. I have the blower attachment coming with mine as well so perhaps that will help regulate it some. I do have a thermometer. I did not get a flue damper. I wonder how much of a pain this will be to add later?

 

[iluvjazznjava]

Congrats on your F55 purchase! I just bought one too a few months ago. Here is my experience thus far:

- I burn only softwoods - fir and larch - mostly dry, but I've had a couple less than ideal loads and I definitely noticed the performance hit the stove takes with less than ideal wood.

- I always load full loads as my stove is in a 1,400 sq ft basement that needs the heat. If I'm starting with a bed of coals and using dry wood, I close the air from full down to about 2/3rds in about 15-20 min after loading and then usually get it down to its cruising state around 1/3 in another 20 min or so. Each load is a bit different depending on the wood.

- I had one "run away" fire so far and it has shown me that the stove is pretty tough. Wife loaded up the stove about 9 AM and went shopping. I was already out of the house and when I came home around noon I found the stove running full out (the air had been left wide open hours). My stove top thermometer was right up to the max (around 900!). Surprisingly, the stove wasn't visibly glowing, but the extreme heat did discolour my tin colored stove pipe connecting to my chimney liner. I let the stove die down and then opened it up for a good inspection - thanfully it appears that no harm was done and the stove is still working normally. The wife promises it will never happen again, but its good to know that the stove can take some abuse if it accidentally happens.

- I find an N/S load burns most consistently, but I think I can actually get an extra one or two splits in with an E/W load. I think is because of the shape of the baffles at the top. E/W loads are a bit trickier since you don't want to overheat the glass, but my stove dealer said that he never sees the glass on these stoves break due solely to heat. He said it usually requires some kind of impact - like somebody trying to jam the door closed when one of their splits is sticking out a bit and they use the door to try and push it in. I'm still experimenting with this, but I don't think it matters that much if you are using dry wood.

- Not sure what you mean by "cast iron cleaning tech", but if you are talking about keeping your stove clean there are polishes available.

- Haven't swept mine yet, but will soon. I estimate I've put at least three cords through mine since I bought it. If you can inspect the top of your stack that is usually where the worst creosote buildup is - if it looks clean up there you are probably good. I would sweep once a year just to be safe if you burn at least semi-regularly.

Happy burning!

 

[Knots]

Wow that's really interesting knots. I'll get some aluminum tape just in case I need it. I have the blower attachment coming with mine as well so perhaps that will help regulate it some. I do have a thermometer. I did not get a flue damper. I wonder how much of a pain this will be to add later?

You may not need one. Wait and see.

Blower will probably be good. I don't have one so that could be a factor with my set-up.

 

[iluvjazznjava]

Forgot to mention - when I am burning good, dry wood, I can reload about every 8 hours and the stove temp doesn't drop below 200F. If I reload about every 6 hours, I can keep the temp above 300F. You might be able to do better with hardwood.

 

[jeffesonm]

I like loading N/S so the logs can't roll onto the glass.

 

[BradleyW]

I load N/S, tried loading E/W a couple of times but didn't seem to work well with my set up. My chimney is only 15 ft, which is a little short for the stove. With your tall chimney loading E/W might help control the fire a bit if you are getting too much draft. You will probably want to be careful with small splits. They can really get the stove hot in a hurry.
My wood is less than ideal right now, but I am still able to get decent performance from the stove. I am looking forward to next year when I'll have drier wood. Even so, 95% of my heat comes from the stove with just a little boost from the furnace on cold (below 15 degrees) nights. We fully load it three times per day: once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once before bed. This is when temps don't get above freezing outside. In warmer weather, the mid-day load is pretty small.

 

[Creekheat]

Very good info

 

[clark77]

Ad-vice is the worst vice!

That said, here's my opinion/experience for what it's worth:

I'll start out by saying that I don't regret buying it, it's a great stove.

I'll second begreen's advice. It took me awhile to get to where I felt comfortable in leaving the house or going to sleep with the stove going. I'd suggest getting a stove-top thermometer. I can now tell when the stove is "happy" and I can let it go.

Most of the heat comes off the top and out the front of the stove.

I like the simplicity. About once a week I shovel out the ashes.

I too have a 26 foot chimney. It goes through the center of the house so it stays pretty warm. I have too much draft in my opinion. The secondary air is unregulated. There's only a 4" wide slot at the back of the stove that feeds the secondaries. When I first got the stove it would over-fire. The characteristics of your install may be different. I used aluminum tape and gradually blocked off the secondaries until they burned well without over-firing. Here's a couple of pics of how I started and where I ended up. Proceed at your own risk and remember that I'm just some knucklehead on the internet.

View attachment 151523 View attachment 151524

The "non-cat clean-burn tech" (secondary air) is great stuff and works well. Once my stove is above 450 there's no smoke coming out the chimney. Dry wood is very important for this to work.

So here's my routine:

1. Wait until the stove temp drops to 300 (thin bed of coals).

2. Open primary air (front) and flue damper (you may end up wanting one too - the manual mentions the possibility).

3. Load splits N-S.

4. Let the fire roar until the stove hits about 450 and all the wood is blackened.

5. Gradually shut the primary and the damper down until there's just some rolling secondaries and a small amount of flame at the bottom. Close too soon and the fire "falls on its face" (there will just be some flames on the bottom and no secondaries).Usually the temp will get to 600-650 and then slowly drop down. Most of the time I have my primary bottomed (although some primary air still gets in with the primary all the way to the left).

6. Enjoy the toasty goodness.

So you use a flue damper and blocked off the secondary air that much? Did you do the damper first or the tape?

 

[begreen]

Normally new stove modification is neither needed nor recommended.

 

[Knots]

So you use a flue damper and blocked off the secondary air that much? Did you do the damper first or the tape?

I got the damper at the same time I got the stove. The guy at the stove store listened to me describe my chimney and said I'd need one. I figured I could always just not use it. He had an F55 heating the stove shop with a lot of chimney and he had a damper, so I went with it. The manual says something about needing one in some installs.

When I couldn't get the stove under control with the damper closed and the primary air at the minimum, I had to resort to choking the secondary air. Other people's installs may not need this.

 

[Creekheat]

I can't find anything in the manual about a damper. Am I missing something? It mentions having a damper block off plate for a masonry chimney in certain installs. I will have a 26ft class A double wall chimney. Think I may need one?

 

[Knots]

Page 8. Section 2.3

"Excessive draft can be corrected by installing a butterfly damper. Your Jotul dealer is an expert resource to consult regarding draft issues or other performance-related questions."

 

[iluvjazznjava]

My chimney is probably 25' top to bottom and I don't think I have ever experienced "excessive draft." What are the symptoms of this? Runaway fires on a regular basis? Don't have a damper on my flue, and just wondering if I am missing out ...

 

[Knots]

I can not control the fire. I was having run-aways to 800+ every time.

 

[Creekheat]

400-700* is the optimal twmps for this stove under load. 800+ could get scary. Haven't heard of this on a regular basis. Interesting. Most people I have talked to with this stove love it's controllability as in how it burns, air control etc. I'd love to hear from some more owners on this.

 

[Creekheat]

Surprising it would run away with the air all the way down .