oslo burn

[potter]

This is my second year 24/7 with the oslo. I am going through a lot of wood this falll (new baby in the house).
Just trying to tweek efficiency and time use.
Wanted to ask the oslo regulars- "How long from a cold stove to 500 deg? How about a morning start with coals at 200-adding splits?
Do you wait until it's fully hot 500+ to start backing down the air control, or start earlier and let it climb with it partially closed?

 

[ansehnlich1]

This all depends on how I build the fire and what wood I'm using. If the stuff's real dry and put in loose the temps go up pretty quick, if I'm packin' for overnight it might take a while to get up to 500. Actually, I run my stove up to 600+ once a day or so, and my guess would be that I can get up to 500 in 45 minutes from cold, maybe quicker, it all depends.

Say I put a good pile of split 2x4's on the bottom and loosely top that with small splits of cedar, or good dry locust/oak, she'll get to hoppin' pretty quick, as opposed to putting 3 inch rounds across the coals and big fat splits/rounds of cherry/oak/ash on top.

 

[grommal]

I'm a new Oslo regular, so my experience is limited. But I can tell you that I've played around with different strategies for how hot to go before throttling back, how long to wait, and how gradually to back off, and everything seems to work well as long as the secondaries are well established. So far, this has happened well before 500F stovetop on right rear corner (using a 1986 vintage thermometer, so accuracy is not guaranteed). I've had good luck throttling it back at 300F with solid secondaries on start/restart, and the temperature still climbs gradually into the 450-550 range depending on how far I turn it down. On a cold start, it's maybe 20-30 minutes until it's ready. On restart with coals from overnight, it might take 5-20 minutes depending on amount of coals and residual firebox heat.

I leave the air control fully open until I have good secondaries, and then back it down. That's pretty much all the guidance it seems to require. I've tried gradual and sudden reduction, and it does not seem to matter as long as the firebox internal temperature is hot enough to sustain secondary combustion. If the secondary combustion is cooking, my stove seems happy if I just go immediately to 25% open, or even lower. As long as the secondaries hang in there, if I'm heading for overnight burns, I go to fully "closed" after maybe 5 more minutes. So far, I'm very impressed with how forgiving the stove is. I think it can be operated very well by just paying a little attention to the visual combustion and ignoring the thermometer, except as a safety indicator to help prevent overfiring.

This is quite refreshing. Our old VC was extremely fussy about being operated exactly a certain way, and it was still a challenge after 23 years of experience with it. It was often difficult to find a spot where it would stabilize, and I usually had to carefully nurse it along during the turndown to keep it from either overfiring or losing firebox flame too early and backpuffing. The Oslo, in contrast, has a very easygoing personality. My wife is astounded at how "happy" it is.

I think the strength of draft from your chimney, as well as the usual wood variables (type, moisture content, split size), will play a role in determining your best operating strategy, though, so YMMV.

 

[potter]

This all depends on how I build the fire and what wood I'm using. If the stuff's real dry and put in loose the temps go up pretty quick, if I'm packin' for overnight it might take a while to get up to 500. Actually, I run my stove up to 600+ once a day or so, and my guess would be that I can get up to 500 in 45 minutes from cold, maybe quicker, it all depends.

Say I put a good pile of split 2x4's on the bottom and loosely top that with small splits of cedar, or good dry locust/oak, she'll get to hoppin' pretty quick, as opposed to putting 3 inch rounds across the coals and big fat splits/rounds of cherry/oak/ash on top.

I also run mine up to 600+ pretty regularly, try to avoid above 700, but it happens. I was asking about the rate of climb mostly. sometimes it seems to dog at the beginning, then takes off- just trying to perfect transferring as much heat to the house as possible. Overall does a great job. When it was just my wife and I it was easier to cycle.(actually let the house begin to feel cool, added, started a fire when we became uncomfortable). Can't do that with 1 yr. old.....

 

[Green Energy]

I am an Oslo newbie as well. The only thing I can compare it to is a large cat stove which takes an hour to get up to 500F. With the couple fires I have had, I was up to 500 F in 30 minutes, 15 - 20 minutes from coals. Very impressive as compared with my old stove. Of course I am using dry wood and starting with enough small splits, 3-5" size. It is amazing to have the secondaries rolling 30 mins after lighting the fire.

One thing I did notice is the noise the stove makes when cruising. The air rushing through the secondaries has a mild breeze sound to it.

 

[grommal]

I am an Oslo newbie as well. The only thing I can compare it to is a large cat stove which takes an hour to get up to 500F. With the couple fires I have had, I was up to 500 F in 30 minutes, 15 - 20 minutes from coals. Very impressive as compared with my old stove. Of course I am using dry wood and starting with enough small splits, 3-5" size. It is amazing to have the secondaries rolling 30 mins after lighting the fire.

One thing I did notice is the noise the stove makes when cruising. The air rushing through the secondaries has a mild breeze sound to it.

I noticed that sound, too. I kind of like it. It's a subtle indicator that the secondary combustion is going strong, without having to look at the stove (not that looking at an Oslo is hard to do!). It reminds me of the sound our VC cat used to make when the cat was really cooking.

 

[firefighterjake]

Cold to 500 degree stove top: about the same as everyone else . . . 30 minutes to 45 minutes . . . a lot depends as mentioned on the size of the wood, species and how seasoned it is

Coals to 500 degrees stove top: 15-20 minutes normally

I used to start backing down the air control around 450-500 degrees . . . now I often rely on my flue temp to give me a good indication of when to back the temps down since I've kind of got to the point when I know roughly when I can start backing down the air . . . although I usually check the stove top temp for confirmation.

 

[begreen]

Can't do that with 1 yr. old.....

I know the child is precious, but why not? Are there health issues? If not, they will adjust. I'm told that when we were babies, my mom believed fresh air was important. She left the window slightly open, even in the dead of winter. We survived and are a pretty healthy lot.

 

[potter]

Can't do that with 1 yr. old.....

I know the child is precious, but why not? Are there health issues? If not, they will adjust. I'm told that when we were babies, my mom believed fresh air was important. She left the window slightly open, even in the dead of winter
New to parenthood, and daughter is use to a semi-tropical weather. But your right and will probably relax by the end of this winter.