Looking for some info from Jotul F600 owners

[firewoodjunky]

I am currently in the shopping process for a new stove and I believe that I have narrowed it down to the Jotul F600. I was wondering if current (or past) owners would be willing to provide some information on it's "real world" performance. I would be interested in usable heat burn times, decent coal retention burn times, square footage that the stove is heating, any repair/QC issues that you may have had and your overall degree of happiness with your purchase. Or if there is something else that you feel would be interesting to me, please add it. Also, if you only have one comment about something, but don't care to cover all of my questions - I'll take one answer over no answer


Here is a litle bit about my situation - currently have a VC Defiant Encore 2550 in the main living area. My VC is looking at a rebuild at the end of this season and just doesn't put out enough heat for my entire house. I am pretty sure that I would like to retire her to the pool house this spring.


My house is 2800 square feet, stove is in the living area with 20 foot cathedral ceilings and an open loft. Windows up the kazoo! Insulation is so-so, current projects are all insulation/air sealing based, but she is an old home with two additions put on over the years, so I don't think I wil ever get the house really tight. BTW - I had those MassSAVE people come in, they were great! Very professional and did a ton of work - now I am just going around trying to button up those spots that either weren't very obvious when they came in or they missed them.


Chimney is interior, insulated, 6 inch Class A, about 23 feet or so high. Excellent draft.


Wood supply is excellent - three to four years ahead right now.


So, if you would be willing to help me out, I would really appreciate it!

Thanks

 

[begreen]

Bumping to keep up attention. It's a fine heater and from the description, it would be a good choice. There are a lot of threads here on the F600. Do a search and I think you will find several answers to your questions.

 

[Ron34422]

The F600 will absolutely take care of your "urge"!..I hope you can keep up with it's ability to consume large quantities of splits, logs, trunks, etc...haha...It will pump out lots and lots of heat...easy to learn how to operate it...we haven't had much of a winter here in Central Texas so it's been a challenge to keep the beast from roasting us out of the house!...It's really too big for my needs but the price and location was so good I couldn't pass it up...I'm sure I'll enjoy the extra size on the few freezing days we have each winter here...I highly recommend it...

 

[schortie]

This is our second full season with the F600. We heat a drafty 2200sf without a problem, this thing kicks out heat! I only pack a full load when temps are in the teens. Other times we load from four (65% full) to six splits (85% full) three times a day. On full loads we get about four hours of serious heat, some heat for the next few hours and a full bed of coals after nine or ten hours. 98% of our heat is from the stove and we burned just over four cords last year - though much less this year so far. I'm not sure that there is a stove that's easier to run. The only concern we had with the stove is a small leak in one of the seems (I think I posted about it before) but I dabbed some cement in the space and haven't had a problem with it. One recommendation I would make is to get the blue/black enamel.

 

[grommal]

We had a Defiant Encore and switched recently to an F500 Oslo. The Oslo throws more heat than the Encore did, so you should expect the F600 to provide even more of a punch. Your home is larger than mine, and if you're trying to heat all of it, I think you're on the right track with the larger stove.

And definitely take a look at the blue-black enamel. Not spending the extra for that lovely finish is my only regret with the Oslo.

 

[Light in the Dark]

I am currently in the shopping process for a new stove and I believe that I have narrowed it down to the Jotul F600. I was wondering if current (or past) owners would be willing to provide some information on it's "real world" performance. I would be interested in usable heat burn times, decent coal retention burn times, square footage that the stove is heating, any repair/QC issues that you may have had and your overall degree of happiness with your purchase. Or if there is something else that you feel would be interesting to me, please add it. Also, if you only have one comment about something, but don't care to cover all of my questions - I'll take one answer over no answer


Here is a litle bit about my situation - currently have a VC Defiant Encore 2550 in the main living area. My VC is looking at a rebuild at the end of this season and just doesn't put out enough heat for my entire house. I am pretty sure that I would like to retire her to the pool house this spring.


My house is 2800 square feet, stove is in the living area with 20 foot cathedral ceilings and an open loft. Windows up the kazoo! Insulation is so-so, current projects are all insulation/air sealing based, but she is an old home with two additions put on over the years, so I don't think I wil ever get the house really tight. BTW - I had those MassSAVE people come in, they were great! Very professional and did a ton of work - now I am just going around trying to button up those spots that either weren't very obvious when they came in or they missed them.


Chimney is interior, insulated, 6 inch Class A, about 23 feet or so high. Excellent draft.


Wood supply is excellent - three to four years ahead right now.


So, if you would be willing to help me out, I would really appreciate it!

Thanks

I can't help you with the stove question, but I can reiterate that MassSave is great. They are adding 9" of insulation in the main part of my house like two weeks from now. I even secured a 0% loan through them (7 years) for a new heating system earlier this year.

 

[firewoodjunky]

BeGreen - thanks for the bump! I have run searches on the F600 and have read every post about it. I guess I just wanted to be sure before I take the plunge!


Capt Ron - thanks for the owners input. After the last two days up here in New England, I would happily trade you some of our chillier weather so you can let that bad boy run. While my VC has been a decent burner, we often have to put on an extra sweater and/or blanket while we are in the house. My wife is of Scottish descent and I am of Finnish descent, so we have a certain degree of "frugalness" in our blood lines, so we don't mind. But we have a little one on the way, so getting heated out of the house will probably not be a bad thing....


Schortie - also nice to hear from a satisfied owner. I appreciate the input on the usable heat time. Burn times are nice, but sometimes isn't reflective of what someone needs in reality. We usually burn about that much with the VC, maybe a bit less, so wood consumption should remain the same. Although I am fortunate to have a arborist friend who is happy to unload his victims into my driveway, so consumption is not much of a concern to me. I am partial to the blue/black myself, my wife is surprisingly unconcerned what it looks like - she was even unfazed by the BK King, which is a great stove but I don't find it to my liking as a centerpiece in my home. Just my opinion though.


Grommal - that is great to hear that the F500 is punching out more heat than your Defiant was. It definitely makes me feel that the investment would be worth it. It's hard to put a price on having a comfortable home. Nothing like a comfy environment to come home to!


Metalsped - MassSave is probably one of the few mandated programs in the Commonwealth that I think is a great idea!


For all of you that took the time to chime in, thank-you! You are all what make Hearth.com such an enjoyable website to read and an invaluable tool to learn from.

 

[Dexter]

Hi:

'Have been burning a Firelight cb for 11 seasons. Impressions and quirks follow:

It is very sensitive to the primary air control, particularly at less than 1/2 open setting (more so, owing to our 5350 foot elevation.) 'Takes some learning.

I DO use the ash pan, unlike most. With steady burning, it needs emptying every other day. The stove definitely prefers N/S burning, in my opinion. ('Makes secondaries kick in sooner, and no ash spillage out the front doors.). Glass stays completely cleaan that way, too. Plus, I have no problem cutting the air, so N/S does not limit the long burns, when needed.

We heat 2000 sq ft +. Lodgepole pine only. With that: primary flame = 3 to 4 hours. Useful heat after primary subsides = 3 to 4 hours. Coals stay hot enough for relight for... 3 to 4 hours after that. (I got an eleven hour relight just a few nights ago. 'Not really trying.)

Would I recommend it? Definitely! A great heater.

Regards,

 

[firewoodjunky]

Thanks Dexter. Hearing from satisfied recent owners will definitely make my future decision easier. So, you are getting around 6 to 8 hours of useful heat from lodgepole pine? That's great, I would be very satisfied if I could get somewhere around that time range on white pine during the shoulder seasons and maybe squeeze a bit more out of it when I start loading up the Honey Locust during Jan/Feb.


Also, thanks for the information on the air control lever. I would imagine that every stove line has it's share of quirks, some may have more than others Knowing about this going in should make my new stove learning curve even easier. One thing that I really like about the Jotul (and also the Hearthstone Mansfield that I looked at) is the fact that it appears to me to be about 8 factors lower in complexity than my VC. I don't mean that the VC is hard to run, because it isn't, what I mean is that the VC seems to have sooo many more components and parts than the Jotul. For me, simpler is better - less stuff that can break!


Just out of curiousity, what length are your N/S splits? It's not really a big deal, I am just wondering if I should start working on a N/S stack or if some of my shorter E/W would will squeeze in there. Of course, if I can't squeeze any of my E/W shorties in there I won't get to try out N/S hardwood burning for a few years in the future.


Finally, after burning for 11 seasons with, since you didn't mention any mechanical failures etc, no issues besides probably replacing gaskets, you heartily recommend it, well what more could I ask for?

 

[Dexter]

I cut to 16" max. My wood is anywhere from 13-16".

Lodgepole is a little denser than a lot of pine, BTW. There are some pines out there that might not "run" so long in the stove.

 

[dave360up]

I agree with everything Dexter said.

I load it N/S with up to 16" pieces and get a much better burn than E/W. If you have a mix of long and short pieces, lay a bottom layer N/S of the pieces up to 16"on the coals, then lay the long ones E/W across. like Dexter siad, you need that front to back airflow in the lower part of the stove. Like him, I also generally cut to 16" but having longer pieces is no problem if they are not at the bottom.

I also use the ash pan and think that it works great! THe space between the grates above the ash pan is just the right size to leave most of the coals in the stove and let the ash fall through. My only gripe is that I wish the ash pan was about twice as deep so that it could go more than a day or two between emptyings.

I installed the blower this year and it helps to get air moving across the top of the stove and carrying the heat away. I like that it is fully adjustable for speed (which means you can make it quieter if you want). You can also set it on auto (comes on at maybe 450, goes off at maybe 150) or manual (turn it on or off as you want).

I have a 2200 sq ft old farmhouse and it does heat the house. I burned no oil last year but 5 1/2 cords of hard maple. I think of days as 1-burn days, 2-burn days, etc. Very cold temps (highs in the single digits and lows well below zero) can cause some struggle to get rid of the coals in time for the next burn, but keeping the primary air wider open than usual on each burn cycle can help keep the coal buildup down.

 

[Dexter]

I should mention that my Firelight is a very old one -- An F-12cb. At that time, the top baffle burn-plates (immediately over the burn tubes) would tend to warp -- very gradually -- over two or three seasons. I replaced them once, and the same thing happened again. This was running the stove 525 to 625 during the primary portion of fires, 24/7, as our sole heat. Rather than changing the burn plates a second time, I cut some split-firebrick to fit over the burn tubes instead. (They are held off the tubes with 3/16th steel dowls.) I kept using the thermal blanket over the bricks. 'No change in the burn characteristics that I have seen, and it's been 5 or 6 years now.

Furthermore, I have never heard of the F-600 cb (newer version) having a similar problem. I think they modified the design enough that there is no such issue. In any case, I envision keeping this stove about forever. It is great!

Best Regards,

 

[moody]

i have been using one for 3 seasons now . i have about 2" of red hot coals after 12 hours with shagbark hickory the stove top is around 275 to 300,with whiteoak an beech i get about 10 hours with 2" of hot coals with stove top around 250, an for red maple i get about 6 hours with a few hot coals stove top is a little under 250,wood is east/west an 22" long 3 to 4 splits fills the firebox. the stove is in the center basement its heating around 2300 sq ft,the coolest part of the house is in the kitchen it stays around 68 to 70,the rest of the house stays in the mid 70s, when burning 24/7 like we did the last years it burned 2.5 cords from the first part of November to last part of Febuary , with the weather this year i have only used a half a cord its been to warm outside to build a big fire.

 

[BucksCounty]

This is my first year with the f600 and it is awesome. We have had a mild winter so far, but just had a few really cold days and she was awesome! I load at night before bed around 9/10 and reload at 6 am with no problem and enough coals to get her fired up in no time. Very pleased overall.

Our house is 3300, with one addition....stove in there too. The house is 35 years old...similar set I would say. no cathedrals.

Keeps the house 73. Trying to move the heat with a couple added vents, fans, etc. Still learning.

 

[firewoodjunky]

Awesome input from everyone! That seals the deal for me, with the burn times and heat output that you guys are all getting I am almost certain that this stove will be the perfect fit for my house. I really, really appreciate all of the detailed responses - thank-you!


I have been researching stoves for the last couple of months and I find it amazing the amount of quality products that are out there. On one hand it is great, better products/multiple price points/more competition, but on the other hand it made it incredibly hard for me to decide which stove to go with! And I had it kind of easy because we eliminated all soapstone stoves after looking at the Mansfield - this was simply based on them not fitting the style of our home, not any reflection on quality, heat output, etc. And while my wife was OK with the steel stoves, I didn't think that they would fit that well in our colonial era house, so I bumped those off our list also.

That only left cast iron and cast iron wrapped stoves - and I STILL had a hard time narrowing it down Long story short, in my opinion, there are a ton of quality products out there that would fit a million different situations. I would have to say that this is a pretty good time to be a consumer of wood stoves.

Thanks again for all of the input. I'll give you an update when I make the purchase and get her installed - I don't plan on doing anything during this burning season as I just assume not deal with newbie issues in the middle of Jan/Feb. So maybe a May/June install - then I can just stare it at all summer long - ugh!

 

[Dexter]

Aw, Heck, Firewoodjunky...

If you find a good deal -- which might be worth a look a month or two closer to the end of the season -- go ahead and put the stove in You'll love having it!

 

[Laurent Cyr]

I installed the blower this year and it helps to get air moving across the top of the stove and carrying the heat away. I like that it is fully adjustable for speed (which means you can make it quieter if you want). You can also set it on auto (comes on at maybe 450, goes off at maybe 150) or manual (turn it on or off as you want).

I

Hello Dave.

I have a F-600 as well installed in my basement, and was thinking of buying a blower for it. Was it difficult to install? Do you still have an installation manual ? I`m not much of a manual person, and I was wondering if I could install something like that.

Thanks.

Laurent