Newbie- a few questions.

[PanHandle87]

So we just had our new stove installed. A Jotul Rockwood F35. So far Im really happy, but hoping the experts can help me dial in a few things. Im keeping the stove temp cooking surface between 400-600f, with the knowledge that this is where the least creosote buildup happens (per Jotul manual). The stove is in a fairly small living room. Do I need to keep it that high? I see people turn their stove down all the way to burn longer, but then my cooktop temperature drops below the optimal burn temp.
Secondly, I have sensitive lungs... and Im noticing its harder to breath with the stove rolling. The air is super dry and its pretty darn hot in the living room. I have a large enamel cast iron pot filled with water on the stove and it is does steam quite a bit once the stove is rolling. I dont mind the heat, I grew up in Florida and now live in Wisconsin. I read something about particles in lungs from woodstoves and now im worried. Ease my mind?

Thanks.

 

[vatmark]

We have a Jotul F500 V2. We do not run it low as it blackens up the glass. We have a very open floor plan but if things get a little too toasty we open the sliding glass door to let a little bit of cold air in. As far as the dryness we run 2 humidifiers. Even with the stove not running it is too dry. I wonder if your breathing issue has to do with the stove being new?? Maybe things are still burning off? I am no expert so hopefully someone who knows more than me will answer.

 

[PanHandle87]

We have a Jotul F500 V2. We do not run it low as it blackens up the glass. We have a very open floor plan but if things get a little too toasty we open the sliding glass door to let a little bit of cold air in. As far as the dryness we run 2 humidifiers. Even with the stove not running it is too dry. I wonder if your breathing issue has to do with the stove being new?? Maybe things are still burning off? I am no expert so hopefully someone who knows more than me will answer.

The breathing issues from a new stove definitely crossed my mind. I thought after the 3 break in burns it would go away, its a lot better but still slightly present. We got it a week ago today, and been burning every day. Now it smells kinda like cast iron in a hot oven.

 

[begreen]

This is a general guideline. You may have a bit more leeway. If the flue system is straight up through the house and the chimney exposure outside is not a lot (<5'), then the flue gases will stay hotter. It looks like the stove may be connected with double-walled stove pipe. If so, a probe thermometer about 18-21" above the stove top will be much more helpful in guiding the burn. The real goal is to keep the flue gases below the condensation point in the chimney. That is around 250º at exit from the chimney cap. When the fire is at the coaling stage there is no worry about creosote.

For less heat, especially before it gets really cold outside, burn smaller loads and refresh with just a couple of splits or let the fire die out. Also, if there is an adjacent cooler room, try this. For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan in an adjacent, cooler room within sight of the stove room, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove room. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the room temp after about 30 minutes running. And the stove room temp should drop by a corresponding 5+ degrees.