New Jotul Oslo burner

[buffygirl]

Hello all - I posted in a panic about a month ago questions about the Oslo and received many responses. Thank you all very much - I am learning how it likes to be operated, have settled into a burning pattern and am getting used to the big fire box and all the visible flames (coming off 19 years with VC Cat with small viewing window) This forum has been a God-send--you have all answered so many questions, some even before I thought of them - look forward to reading daily the input. I especially have learned from the videos - FFJake and his fire starting procedure to name one -- How about some of you experienced burners showing us new Oslo burners how you load for the night -- step by step (I'm a slow learner and set in my ways) Thanks again for all your posts and the PMs sent to me -- encouraging and informative.

Buffygirl
New Oslo Jotul this fall
30 years of burning wood but boy do I know nothing
about this new stove--but willing to learn!

 

[mikepinto65]

Glad things are coming together for you! I cant post a step-by-step for you now but here is what my firebox looks like this time of year before I go to bed. In the next couple weeks, once the day time high drops to around 38, I will really manipulate the space in order to fill it snug (i figure I can pack about 8 splits if I really need to).

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks BuffyGirl . . . always nice to know someone appreciated the time I took to post a thread with pics . . . or a thread with lots and lots of words.

 

[buffygirl]

The pictures really help - we have such a strong draw with the new ss chimney - it's over 30' tall we are starting out slow - only about 3 good sized splits at a time -- learning how to throttle down the air intake so it doesn't run away with us - so far am comfortable with the stove around 450 during the daytime but I know I will go higher as the temp goes down. Still working on the night burns a little scared to fill it up too much -- but I'll get used to it. It's a beautiful stove and burns very clean.



Buffygirl

 

[ansehnlich1]

hey hey, good for you on burning that oslo. The new stoves take a little getting used to. I'm in year 3 with mine. When it's cold and I pack it overnight, I try to use 22 inch logs for starters, especially on the bottom, cuz that makes for the best to fill the stove ya see. I figure if I use 16 or 18 inchers, I'm not filling up all the firebox.

I always load from the side door.

I make sure I rake the coals level, so the logs/splits I'm about to put in there aren't sitting higher toward the far end of the stove, on a built up pile of coals and ash.

I always "eyeball" my woodpile, and try and burn up my shorter stuff, and the softwood, in the fall and spring. I keep the big stuff, hickory and oak and cherry, for January and February.

I always load up a big fat round when it's brutal cold, right in the back of the stove, on the bottom....first log in when loading for the night, or any long burn.

I mean, a BIG round you see, then I try and find me a big flat split that I can put up front, and if it has a bit of a bow in it, that's better, cuz I don't want to cover up those 3 little air inlet holes.

Then I pack whatever I can into the little beast, being careful to NOT jam wood into the air tubes up top.

I gotta say, our home is about 2200 sq. ft. and the oslo will heat it. Now, we have 1800 sq. ft. on ONE LEVEL, and so, the layout of the place is such that it gets cool in the master bedroom and bath on really cold and/or windy nights, cuz they are around the corner from the wood stove.

Happy burnin!

 

[firefighterjake]

I brought the camera home last night to take some pics but a) I was being lazy since I was at a meeting, b) I was more interested in watching the new Star Trek DVD that had arrived in the mail and c) when I really thought about it there isn't a whole lot to show you.

1. This is probably the most important step . . . you really should have a fire already established vs. just setting a fire and then going to bed. Having a fire established already means you will have a good bed of coals, the draft is already well established and the stove is already warm to hot. You also want to set your final overnight fire 1/2 hour to 3/4 of an hour before you want to go to bed . . . since ideally you want to set this fire a half hour or so before you go to bed AND you want the fire to be in the coaling stage sometimes to be ideal you have to set the fire a little earlier or later than you intend. Last night I stayed up late (see A. and B.) so it wasn't a big deal for me . . . when the fire I had going had burned down to low coals around 10:30 p.m. I got to work on my overnight fire.

2. First thing I do is open up the air control and level out the hot coals . . . keeping the area in front of the doghouse (where the three air holes are) relatively clear.

3. Next I pick out one of my larger "overnight" splits or rounds that I have purposefully left large for overnight fires. The split I used last night was rectangular in shape . . . approxmiately 10 x 7 inches. This one goes in the back of the firebox.

4. Next in are a couple of mid-sized splits. Like An1 . . . I try to keep a space between the air inlets.

5. On top of thes I place another medium to large-sized split or round. It should probably go without saying, but this wood is generally my "better" stuff . . . no poplar or softwoods here . . . I don't necessarily use oak (namely because I have no oak in this year's wood supply), but I tend to go for the elm, sugar/red maple, ash, etc.

6. Finally, what little room is left I fill in with some small rounds or thin splits . . . leaving 1-3 inches of air space between the wood and the burn tubes. In general, the amount of space between the wood and burn tubes tends to be about the same amount of space as seen in the area between the top of the bricks in the back of the firebox and the burn tubes.

7. At this point I will monitor the flue and stove top temps . . . I wait to see the flue temp get to the point where it is burning above the creosote producing stage (which means I will either keep the door open ajar -- although typically if I have been burning for awhile this is not necessary -- or I will simply keep the air open all the way until the needle shows I'm burning hot enough in the flue. I will then start checking the stove top temp with the goal of getting it hot enough in the firebox (but not so hot to prevent overfiring) to have the secondary burning action commence.

8. To get the temp in the firebox up (and prevent high temps in the flue) and get the secondary burn I begin to slowly cut back on the air. In general the stove top temp will show 450-550 . . . these temps tend to be the ideal temps for me . . . but some folks can achieve secondary burns with a little less temperature readings on the stove top and some prefer to go a little higher before they cut back the air. I should also be honest and say that after having burned all last year I've reached the point where I can roughly gauge when I need to cut back the air control based on what I'm seeing with the flue temp, the charring of the wood, and the feel of the heat, etc. . . . most of the time my "Jake Sense" works well and I get a good, sustainable secondary burn . . . sometimes I realize belatedly (when the secondary stalls out not lasting very long) that my Jake Sense has failed me and I cut back the air too much or too soon.

9. In any case, I start by cutting the air back to the 1/2 way mark . . . typically if I'm in the "zone" I start to get good secondary action. At this point since loading the firebox it has been maybe 10-15 minutes. I"ll often let the fire continue to burn and watch the temps in the firebox climb a bit more if needed and then cut back the air to the 1/4 mark. Last year, with good wood (not great wood) I pretty much had to leave the air control at the 1/4 mark or slighly more than all the way shut to keep the secondary burn going . . . this year with much better wood I can usually close the air control all the way and end up with a great, sustainable secondary burn. At this point another 5-10 minutes has passed.

10. I will monitor the temps in the flue and the stove top . . . and make sure the secondary burn will sustain itself for 5 minutes or longer . . . if everything is hunky dory the fire temps will level out and I'll either be treated to the Northern Light effect or the Bowels of Hell have been unleashed in my stove effect. If I've shut down the air too soon or the wood isn't as good as I was thinking and the secondary burn only occurs for 5 minutes or so I need to open the air a bit more . . . the goal for me is to have a sustainable secondary burn at the lowest air control setting possible . . . it's cleaner for both the chimney and stove (i.e. so you don't wake up to a blacked out glass) and it's more efficient. Sometimes I can achieve this goal in a very short time (as little as 20 minutes) and sometimes it takes up to 45 minutes before I am comfortable in leaving the stove and going to bed.

11. Last step . . . set the alarm clock to wake you up in the morning.

Incidentally, I pretty much have described to a T what I did last night. As stated, I had a later than usual night (actually ended up going to bed around 11:30 p.m. due to the very good movie) . . . fire was reloaded at 10:30. Woke up to the alarm at 5:30 a.m. Padded out to the living room and found a few small to medium glowing coals visible and the stove top was at 200 or so degrees.

 

[mikepinto65]

Well put Jake!
I was going to do the same thing last night but had the same thought of there not being much to show....Plus I was very sleepy last night....my steps are identical to yours, and anyone who is doing there overnight ritual this way should feel confident that they will achieve a nice safe and clean overnight fire.

 

[firefighterjake]

Well put Jake!
I was going to do the same thing last night but had the same thought of there not being much to show....Plus I was very sleepy last night....my steps are identical to yours, and anyone who is doing there overnight ritual this way should feel confident that they will achieve a nice safe and clean overnight fire.

Well you at least took the initiative to take a picture . . . I was too lazy to even do that!

 

[szmaine]

Hi Buffy. I am on the same part of the leaning curve as you and, if you don't mind, have another question on our behalf...

What is a good load/reload strategy? How often do you reload? When do you start cuttin back the air and at what temps.
I've been letting a load burn down to stove top temp = 200-250, then reload: sometimes I immediately shut the air to 1/2 and have good secondaries but the stove is only ~350, other time I let it get back up to 400 before starting to reduce air.
So I guess I'm confused on that point..should I always let it get up to a certain temp again? That takes a while unless I leave the door open a crack for a few.

Anyway, what is your load/reload strategy for cruising through the winter months?
Or is it pretty much the same as described for the overnight load?

 

[firefighterjake]

Hi Buffy. I am on the same part of the leaning curve as you and, if you don't mind, have another question on our behalf...

What is a good load/reload strategy? How often do you reload? When do you start cuttin back the air and at what temps.
I've been letting a load burn down to stove top temp = 200-250, then reload: sometimes I immediately shut the air to 1/2 and have good secondaries but the stove is only ~350, other time I let it get back up to 400 before starting to reduce air.
So I guess I'm confused on that point..should I always let it get up to a certain temp again? That takes a while unless I leave the door open a crack for a few.

Anyway, what is your load/reload strategy for cruising through the winter months?
Or is it pretty much the same as described for the overnight load?

Uh SZMaine . . . you said you had another "question" . . . looks to me like two or three questions.

Here goes . . .

When do I reload: Depends . . . on how cold it is outside or more specifically how warm I want it to be inside. This time of year once the house is up to temp I will typically reload when the wood is in the coaling stage . . . if it's not particularly cold outside I'll wait until the split or round is broken up into smaller coals with no flame before adding more wood. If it's still a bit cool and I want more heat I'll add the wood when the splits have converted to coals, but the coals are still large (sometimes still holding the rough shape of the split vs. being broken up into smaller coals . . . and sometimes I'll reload when the coals still have a little bit of flame. What I will not do is add wood to the fire when the wood is still in full flame or when the secondaries are in action . . . that could have very, very bad consequences.

The general idea is to bring the wood up to temp in the firebox and let it do its thing for several hours, let it go down to coals and then bring it back up to temp. Some folks say doing this will result in a temperature roller coaster. While it is true the firebox temp will be going up and down slightly, I find that in general the room temp stays pretty even the way I run my stove.

In general, when I'm around and reloading my stove it varies (again depending on the temp) . . . I would say a typical reload time would be 2 1/2 to 4 hours depending on my heating needs . . . of course the time between loads when I do the overnight is normally 7-8 hours . . . but there are always far fewer coals.

Air: On a reload I generally keep the air open at the halfway mark until the flue temp is past the creosote generating stage and the stove top temp is hot enough to produce good, lasting secondaries . . . while it is possible to get some secondary action at lower temps, I believe that allowing the stove top temp to reach 450+ will result in sustainable secondaries . . . generally if my stove top temp is not hot enough I will get some secondaries for a bit and then they will stop after 5-10 minutes. If the stove top temp increases they will come back . . . so generally I open up the air a bit more and get the firebox a bit hotter.

Homework time for you . . . and tonight will be a good time to try this as tonight is supposed to be a mite bit chilly. Tonight once you have a good bed of coals and you're ready for a reload put your wood on and let the flue temp climb past 400 or so . . . and then ease the air control to the halfway mark. Now wait until the stove top temp is at 450-500 and then begin to ease back the air control to the quarter mark . . . assuming you have a good draft and good wood I will guess what you will see are some incredible secondaries that will be sustainable and last a long, long time . . . oh yeah, also you should end up with some good heat. If you do this with a loaded firebox you may want a floor fan pushing the air fom the nearby room towards the stove to circulate the heated air through your house . . . otherwise you will get very warm in that one room. And yes . . . getting the stove up to temp and then backing it down to the point where you are giving it a minimal amount of air and still getting strong secondaries will take time . . . this isn't an oil furnace, pellet stove or your father's old smoke belching, smoldering Ashley! And remember . . . all good things come to those who wait. If you happen to have some very well-seasoned wood you may even be able to close the air control all the way to the left and still have sustainable secondaries.

Same strategy for winter: Yes . . . the only two exceptions for the winter are . . . 1) I tend to put wood on the coals at an earlier stage (i.e. when the coals are still large) as the winter cold and winds means you will want more heat out of your stove and 2) occasionally I will wake up on the overnight fires to reload to keep up the higher heat level . . . however, if I don't wake up typically the house will retain enough heat to keep things above 60 degrees . . . or worse case scenario the oil boiler kicks on for the last hour or so before I wake up.

I'm not really sure if I answered your questions . . . but you've got your homework assignment for tonight. Be sure to report in tomorrow with your results. And oh yeah, don't worry . . . if things go as expected it should look like you've opened a portal to Hell in your Oslo.

 

[szmaine]

Uh SZMaine . . . you said you had another "question" . . . looks to me like two or three questions.

Yup, because I knew you'd be right there to answer every single one of them in graphic technicolor detail. ;-P

I'm not really sure if I answered your questions . . . but you've got your homework assignment for tonight. Be sure to report in tomorrow with your results. And oh yeah, don't worry . . . if things go as expected it should look like you've opened a portal to Hell in your Oslo.

[/quote]

Ok, will do. Thanks for the excellent, as usual, guidance.

 

[firefighterjake]

Uh SZMaine . . . you said you had another "question" . . . looks to me like two or three questions.

Yup, because I knew you'd be right there to answer every single one of them in graphic technicolor detail. ;-P

I'm not really sure if I answered your questions . . . but you've got your homework assignment for tonight. Be sure to report in tomorrow with your results. And oh yeah, don't worry . . . if things go as expected it should look like you've opened a portal to Hell in your Oslo.

Ok, will do. Thanks for the excellent, as usual, guidance.[/quote]

HehHeh . . . would you believe I'm really shy and quiet in real life?

Glad to have hopefully helped . . . now don't forget to do your homework assignment tonight . . . folks will be waiting to hear the outcome.

 

[logger]

I know a friend who always splits small. I keep telling him to leave some larger rounds for overnighters, but he doesn't like to listen. Big splits and rounds are ideal for overnight burns. I keep a whole pile of large stuff just for this reason. Nothing burns longer than a big round of hardwood.

 

[mikepinto65]

I know a friend who always splits small. I keep telling him to leave some larger rounds for overnighters, but he doesn't like to listen. Big splits and rounds are ideal for overnight burns. I keep a whole pile of large stuff just for this reason. Nothing burns longer than a big round of hardwood.

This is true however I find for this time of year, with warmer outside temps, small to medium spits work well in achieving nice coals in the morning.

 

[firefighterjake]

I know a friend who always splits small. I keep telling him to leave some larger rounds for overnighters, but he doesn't like to listen. Big splits and rounds are ideal for overnight burns. I keep a whole pile of large stuff just for this reason. Nothing burns longer than a big round of hardwood.

Variety is the spice of life . . . and what makes this woodburner most happy.

Small splits = good for restarting the fire or getting the fire going

Medium splits = good for once you have a fire established

Large splits and rounds = good for those overnight burns


It truly is good to have a variety of sizes . . . although I find that when I'm up and about I tend to use more of the medium- to small-sized splits since they catch faster and are easier to handle and load up the stove . . . but those larger rounds and splits are very useful for the overnights.

 

[Green Energy]

Excellent posts, FFJake et al. I am also on the learning curve with my Olso and getting ready to move to the 24/7 mode. So mastering overnight burning is my next step. So I really appreciate the above advice and will be trying it out.