oslo top question

[phatdonkey]

I am just about out of seasoned wood and will be getting ready to do a spring cleaning soon.

I came across a thread here about taking the top oval off to clean under it and leaving the bolts off to ease future cleaning. Then saw one person who remove the 3 bolts that hold the whole top on to make cleaning even easier. It was an old post so I dont have permission to reply to it. Here is the post.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/f500-install-question-leave-oval-plate-unscrewed.38884/

It is mentioned by quite a few individuals that the manual says to remove the bolts that hold the oval on, but i cant, for the life of me, find that statement in my manual. My manual version is P17. Im sure the weight of the top will keep it in place, but now that i dont see the statement in my manual, im curious if Jotul ommited it for a reason.

Any feed back would be appreciated.

Donkey

 

[webby3650]

The manual used to say that the bolts were to be removed after installation. It no longer says that, I have no idea why. All you need is a 10mm wrench, just loosen the bolts and turn the little metal retainers to the side. The gasket will not be glued to the oval, so you might get some glue on hand, it'll make it a lot easier to line it all back up.

 

[phatdonkey]

Thanks Webby. I was just curious if there was a bad side effect and that's why it doesn't say it anymore.

 

[webby3650]

Thanks Webby. I was just curious if there was a bad side effect and that's why it doesn't say it anymore.

Not to my knowledge. Both of my Oslo's had the oval unbolted while I had them, never any issues.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

We got our Oslo used, oval has never been bolted. Still isn't.

With the two piece steel baffle you can access the Oval bolts from below, but with the single piece vermiculite baffle (the one we just put in) I'm not even sure how you would access the bolts for the oval.

If I recall correctly. With the one piece baffle you either need to leave the oval loose or the top loose. If there's a way around this I'd be interested in hearing it.

 

[firefighterjake]

2008 Oslo with the one piece baffle ... it's tight but I was able to get a wrench (might have been a socket wrench even) to loosen up the nut way back when. Since then I have just hand tightened the nut ... as mentioned no nut is required ... but I like the idea of the nut staying on.

 

[CincyBurner]

Leave 3 bolts off top, but leave 2 bolts on oval plate.

It didn't take too long to unbolt top using 10 mm socket wrench (back bolt is a tight squeeze for fingers) but it was easier than I thought it would be from reading previous threads. It really makes it easy to inspect and clean blanket and tubes and access flue. Had a thick layer of very fine ash on top of blanket after 5 burning seasons. Jotul manual has scant maintenance info.
I've burned with top unbolted for first season with no problem. Top has a lot of weight to hold gasket in place. No need however to remove bolts from oval plate (If it ain't broke ...) - since top comes off anyway to access, the oval plate gasket slides around and is tough to set back in place, and there is not much weight to hold plate in place.

My brother burns 24/7 has had his Jotul #8 for over 20 years (similar look to Oslo, a bit smaller, cat stove w/o ash drawer an no oval plate). He said he bought floor model and top has never been bolted. As he showed me "Just lift it off". I wouldn't of thought to do that (it's not in Jotul manual). It's good to have a brother who's practical and a machinist.