Need advice on how to operate Jotul F400

[kurimski]

My wife an I just moved into a house with a Jotul F400. I've never used a wood stove until now and am having a tough time to get the temp up to 400. I've had the chimney inspected and cleaned before I even operated and the inspector complimented on the set up and said I would have no problem getting it going and would need to just learn how to operate efficiently. I just need help on how to get it going efficiently. I have no problem getting the Fire going, but can't get the temperature to get up to 400. I've been packing the wood in there tight and leaving it alone once it is going. After about 15 minutes I've closed the air intake to under 50% and after a little longer I close it to about 25% open. I have only run it 3 times now and am just looking for help with my learning curve. Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[Simonkenton]

I will bet that your wood is not dry enough.

 

[rijim]

Fill it up with dry wood (under 20% moisture), they need well seasoned wood. I keep door open for 10min or so to get it going; close door & keep damper full open until stovetop temp is around 300 deg f, then to 3/4 open until 400 deg, then to 1/2 open for 5 min then 1/4 open. Secondaries should look like my avitar, temp will climb to 500-600 until all off gassed you'll cruise at 400 for 3hrs or so then start to drop.

 

[claydogg84]

Don't close the air off until the temp hits 500, then start knocking it down it stages. If you do it too fast, or in too big of increments, it will snuff out the fire.

 

[barnuba]

Get your fire started, as others mentioned, dry wood is key. Keep air control level all the way open until temp hits 500-600 and then throttle back to 1/4 open.

What kind of wood do you have? What is the MC?

Are you using the Euro air plate or US air plate?

This is a very easy stove to operate provided you have good/dry wood.

 

[rsw49]

As others have mentioned dry wood is key to getting the stove to operate properly. Many on this site recommend getting a moisture meter to check the dryness of your firewood supply. Lowes has one for about $20-$25. Resplit a piece of firewood and check the moisture level in the freshly split face. A room temperature piece of wood gives the most accurate reading from what I have read here. Levels less than 20% are recommended. I am in my first year of operating the same stove and have no problem getting my stove to 400 to 500 degrees within 15 minutes with dry wood. You may want to try some of the packaged dry wood from places like Lowes or Home Depot. A quick easy test to see if you get normal stove temps.

 

[kurimski]

I split some of the wood that was left with the house today and put that in. Not for sure the type. Before I was putting in small logs, I'm sure a rookie mistake. Now that I split it, my temp got up to 500. How am I able to sustain that temp for extended periods? Just being sure the moisture of the wood is below 20%? Thanks to everyone that has chimed in with advice and tips. You all are helping my learning curve tremendously!

 

[Simonkenton]

Yes, the split wood lights up a lot faster than the round pieces.

 

[begreen]

Don't close the air off until the temp hits 500, then start knocking it down it stages. If you do it too fast, or in too big of increments, it will snuff out the fire.

If you have truly seasoned and dry wood you can start closing this stove down much sooner. I have had secondary light off as low as 300F stove top with the Castine. The problem here most likely is partially seasoned wood.

 

[claydogg84]

If you have truly seasoned and dry wood you can start closing this stove down much sooner. I have had secondary light off as low as 300F stove top with the Castine. The problem here most likely is partially seasoned wood.

He's complaining about not reaching temps above 400. My suggestion to wait to shut down the air should easily resolve that problem, regardless of the quality of wood.

 

[begreen]

When I had some wet wood it was a struggle to reach 500F period. Dry wood, piece of cake.

 

[rijim]

Keep in mind that the advise is based on start up not on reload; if you put dry wood on a hot bed of coals it can take off on you. For reload, I like to be at 1/4 open between 300 and 350 and can still hit 600-700 with dry wood and good draft. Those secondaries are amazing when you get above 500, at 600+ it will scare the heck out of you the first time. Get a good stove top and I like the flue temp sensor so you can monitor things.

 

[begreen]

Keep in mind that the advise is based on start up not on reload; if you put dry wood on a hot bed of coals it can take off on you. For reload, I like to be at 1/4 open between 300 and 350 and can still hit 600-700 with dry wood and good draft. Those secondaries are amazing when you get above 500, at 600+ it will scare the heck out of you the first time. Get a good stove top and I like the flue temp sensor so you can monitor things.

Good advice. I usually reloaded between 250F and 300F for a more controlled relaunch. With dry wood it would take right off and get back up over 500F quickly. But my outdoor temps were probably milder so I could let the stove burn down a little longer.

 

[kurimski]

Thanks for all the advice from everyone! I split a lot of wood yesterday and this morning and it doesn't seem to be as dry as it should. It's most likely not seasoned well. I went and picked up a few bundles of seasoned wood from a hardware store and it's going good now. I haven't had any issues with the temp or getting it going. About how long should it be able to go on a single burn? Will I be loading it every 2-3 hours or should it burn and maintain heat longer?

 

[begreen]

Your reload cycle is going to depend on the house heat loss, the wood and outdoor temps. I found myself reloading every 3 hrs or so when it was in the teens, but our normal reload in our milder climate weather was more like 6 hrs.

 

[rijim]

You should go 5-6 hours or so; reload too often and the fire box will fill up with coals and you can't get a good full load of wood in. Like begreen noted, if pushing it hard you will load quicker.

 

[begreen]

I should note that when we had the F400 we were burning mostly softwood and lower btu wood like soft maple and alder. Hardwood times should be better.

 

[Oakwood5]

Just starting to get the hang of my F400. Finished up the install in the middle of November of this past year. Dry wood and learning when to cut the air down will make all the difference. Good kindling and fat wood has helped us get a good coal bed started. Drop the air to half around 500, let secondaries kick in and then cut it down to 25% then adjust to final setting from there. Reload around 250 and have fun. We are very pleased good luck with yours.

 

[clj8810]

Hi, I am also new this year to burning with the Jotul F500. I have learned a lot and getting the hang of it as I'll get it up to about 500 or so with door just cracked and then close the door and cut the air to about 3/4 , then down to a 1/2 and it seems to cruise along between 400-450 for an hour then slowly drops. When this happens I'll open the air back up, but it doesn't seem to ever rise again and heads to 300. However, I have not figured out how to get extended burn times of beyond 3-4 hours. Does 'wet' wood burn faster than dry wood under 20%? I don't have a moisture meter now but believe my wood may be a little wet and could use more seasoning (I was told it was 11 month seasoned when delivered in September but don't believe it). I haven't fully stuffed the box either as the most I pack in is 4 logs, usually a large one, couple medium, and one smaller. Simply learning the stove. Any advice on getting longer overnight burns is appreciated.

 

[claydogg84]

Hi, I am also new this year to burning with the Jotul F500. I have learned a lot and getting the hang of it as I'll get it up to about 500 or so with door just cracked and then close the door and cut the air to about 3/4 , then down to a 1/2 and it seems to cruise along between 400-450 for an hour then slowly drops. When this happens I'll open the air back up, but it doesn't seem to ever rise again and heads to 300. However, I have not figured out how to get extended burn times of beyond 3-4 hours. Does 'wet' wood burn faster than dry wood under 20%? I don't have a moisture meter now but believe my wood may be a little wet and could use more seasoning (I was told it was 11 month seasoned when delivered in September but don't believe it). I haven't fully stuffed the box either as the most I pack in is 4 logs, usually a large one, couple medium, and one smaller. Simply learning the stove. Any advice on getting longer overnight burns is appreciated.

The Oslo will give you 5-6 hours of useable heat, with good hardwood. After the 6 hour mark, stovetop temps dip below 300 which barely makes a difference. Load the firebox full, try to pack it tight. 11 month seasoned doesn't mean the wood is actually dry. He could he telling the truth, but some hardwood takes 24-36 months to actually get below 20% MC.

 

[Oakwood5]

I've had mixed hardwood split, stacked and covered for two plus years and my MM is reading 19.9% for some of the pieces. I'm a newbie by all rights but if the bark is still on or doesn't fall off with little effort that wood isn't ready. It will burn but not that long and not that hot. May want to try stacking front to back instead of left to right if you haven't already in your stove if the wood will fit. Our F400 will still have coals and a stove temp of 250 in the am after I pack it at night. Your 500 should be able to do the same and more with the right wood. The wood makes all the difference. See if any custom wood working/cabinet/wood mill by you are selling/giving away their cut offs to mix in for this year.

 

[michoujordan76]

I fulfilled a dream and just bought a secondhand Jotul F400 in blue/black enamel. We drove 4 hours on Sunday to pick it up. We were two and really struggled to move that thing around -- it is heavy! The flue outlet barely fit out the fireplace opening, after I had an inch cut off the short legs. It's got about 1/4 inch gap now between the bottom and the hearth which is solid concrete covered in stone. I made my first fire in it last night. There were enough coals this morning to restart it easily. In previous years with my other stove(s), I always got maple. This year I've got a mix, some species I don't recognise and a little maple, yellow birch. When I get a piece of maple in there it burns really well, a big improvement over the Intrepid in terms of heat output. The other type of wood smolders a lot, it's not seasoned enough. Next year I'll get my wood earlier from a more reliable source. So far, this stove is great. One question: I've heard some people will open the ash door to get the fire going, others shriek at the thought. Opinions from owners welcome.

 

[Grisu]

One question: I've heard some people will open the ash door to get the fire going, others shriek at the thought. Opinions from owners welcome.

That's generally not a good idea. Do it just a bit too long and you may overfire the stove. With good, dry wood and proper draft, starting a fire should not be a problem. Using the ash pan is just a "band-aid" to fix one of those issues.

 

[begreen]

Once or twice a year we have a report here of a cracked base on a stove that the owner thought it was all right to use the ash pan door as an air feed to start a fire. It isn’t and the manual warns of this. Using the ash pan door for an air supply creates forge-like temperatures in a concentrated area around the grate. In a cold stove this creates stress as the base metal tries to rapidly expand, while the surrounding metal remains cool. This stress causes cracking, usually at the base corners around the grate. Is it worth taking such an expensive risk for such a simple thing as starting a fire? You be the judge. But note that for the $1000 repair you could buy a lifetime supply of SuperCedars.

 

[michoujordan76]

Thanks for the advice. The ash pan door will staying shut!