Question For Jotul F600 Owners

[Toploader]

I finally had a chance to see the F600 in the flesh today at my local dealer. Since it has a larger firebox than my F500 I've been curious about this stove for a long time, wondering if I could get longer burn times with it than my Oslo and maybe get down to loading 3 times a day instead of 4.
My impression of the stove was:
1: Absolutely gorgeous, the best looking stove I've ever seen. Hard not to be swayed by it's looks.
2: Not a lot bigger than the Oslo, the fire box is the same length, about 3" deeper but the height at the back is less: about 10" compared to 12" for the Oslo and where the Oslo's stays at 12" as it moves to the front, the F600's rises up to about 13". So over all the big gain with the F600 is the 3" of depth but with the firebox being lower at the back and the side load door being a little smaller than the Oslo's it seemed to me like the extra firebox size might be tricky to optimize. Even front loading N/S would be limited to that 10" height at the back.
My question for the folks who have experience with this stove is: Are you able to pack this stove to gills or is this even necessary. The burn times I've read about are better than I'm getting with my Oslo but I guess I'm curious about how convenient the F600 is to load up and whether or not it would be worth the switch. Also wondering if the F600 throws most of it's heat to the front because it has a lower clearance to wooden mantel than the Oslo.
Thanks

 

[cheechblu]

I pack it more front to back than to the top because from experience, the tubes on top for your secondaries will start to come loose very easily if you start wacking them when trying to load to the very top. Especially if side loading. You don't gotta load these babies to the teeth(tubes) to get a good burn cycle. I load mine 3x's a day and get good cruises at 500-550* for 3-4 hours. After 8 hours, stove top temperature hovers around 250-275. Low moisture wood is the key to success with these stoves. And I do load N-S and E-W. I also side load because it's more convenient for me. I notice when I have opened the front doors that some ash will fall from the bottom lip. Seldom with the side load. And I do feel that she throws most of its heat from the front. But when she's cruising, the water inside my cast iron kettle is boiling.

And you're right. They are gorgeous. But then again, so is the Oslo.

 

[fraxinus]

I remain totally happy with my F600. A couple of quick points: Front loading is not really an option because of the ash spill problem. I always load from the side and don't open the front doors at all during the burning season. The interior geometry of the firebox does limit the amount of wood that can be put into the stove all at once. With a bed of coals, the interior space is even more limited. I have never been interested in "packing to the gills" so do not find the limitations a problem. If adding lots and lots of wood for very long burn times is important to you I don't think the Firelight will be much, if any, improvement over the Oslo. I'm not sure about clearance to flammables above the stove, but I don't really see why/how they would be less than the Oslo's.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I agree with the previous comments regarding loading the F 600. I find the most efficient load starts with a slightly shorter, but wide split that I tuck into the back of the firebox to fit snugly into the smaller rear portion of the stove. That usually leaves enough space for two more splits across the bottom of the stove. Then I usually add a third split down the center of those two splits. At that point the firebox is basically full for all practical purposes. Such a load will burn all night and have enough coals in the morning for a quick start up with just reloading fresh wood.

 

[Toploader]

Thanks all for the replies, what you say generally confirms what I was thinking about the F600. The burn times are longer than I can get with what is probably the same amount of wood, I like the idea that what would be "packed to the gills" in my Oslo would be just a good load in the F600 because it seems to me that when I pack the Oslo full it burns up just as fast as when I pack it 3/4 full, I probably get more heat but not longer burn times. And since my house is 80 yrs old and draughty extending that burn time would be nice for those cold mornings when another hour of sleep seems like the best thing.
I'm sure some of the other guys here, at least a couple, were loading N/S with 16" spits which, other than the ash and smoke spillage, I think could work well. I guess the over all benefit of moving up to the F600 is not huge but there are definitely days when I could use the extra BTUs and extended burns.
I might be trying to talk myself into something.

 

[Laurent Cyr]

Same for me. I love my stove. I load east-west and use the side door. I don`t use the front doors for the same reason as the others. They sell a grill to put in front of the stove when the two doors are open, but I don`t see myself doing that. Most of the heat comes from the front. Most of the wood I burn is pine and spruce, so I don`t get the good burning times that you would normally get with hardwood. So can`t help you much with burn times. However, I do get a good burn time when I pack it before going to bed, and I have enough coals to start a fire in the morning. And if I`m away that day, when I come back to the house at 4pm, the stove is still warm to the touch. Like the others, I don`t pack it full and tight. Got it going right now. It is snowing and 15F outside, and it is a nice toasty warm 76F Inside on the main floor. My stove is in the basement. It is 79F in the basement, 20 feet from the stove.

 

[cheechblu]

Good luck either way. And if you get the F600, don't hesitate if you have any questions. Burning wood is a labor of love, but doing it properly with the F600 makes it an art.

 

[Toploader]

Well so far only E/W loaders, anyone loading N/S care to chime in on their technic? I'm just thinking 16" splits are nice to work with and maybe 1 or 2 smaller splits could be loaded E/W in front on top of the N/S splits. There must be some way of easily dealing with the ash that spills out, this might be one of the great puzzles of mankind: how to easily clean up ash spillage when opening the front door of a F500 or 600. I recently bought a dust Buster type thing but it might not be the answer as I think the ash is too fine and clogs up the filter. Sweeping just sends the dust flying through the air.

 

[schortie]

So I suppose I am the only F600 owner who loads almost exclusively from the front. I know the common complaint about the ashes, but to tell you the truth I haven't ever had any more ash come out of the front than the side door. I just can't as much wood in through the side door as I can through the front and it always seems like a lot more hassle to cram splits through that small side door. I really thought it would be handy, but it just isn't for me.

When it's real cold - 10F or lower, we load a full load three times a day heating 2000+ square feet. Smaller fires when it's not that cold, but still usually three a day. The house hovers around the mid seventies, and the dogs are usually panting.

 

[Toploader]

So I suppose I am the only F600 owner who loads almost exclusively from the front. I know the common complaint about the ashes, but to tell you the truth I haven't ever had any more ash come out of the front than the side door. I just can't as much wood in through the side door as I can through the front and it always seems like a lot more hassle to cram splits through that small side door. I really thought it would be handy, but it just isn't for me.

When it's real cold - 10F or lower, we load a full load three times a day heating 2000+ square feet. Smaller fires when it's not that cold, but still usually three a day. The house hovers around the mid seventies, and the dogs are usually panting.

Thanks for the reply, what you say about the side door being small and a bit of a hassle confirms the feeling I had about the f600 when I looked at it the other day, I really thought N/S front loading would be the way to go even though I mostly side load the Oslo. Do you ever place a few splits E/W on top or is there not enough room?

 

[Toploader]

So I suppose I am the only F600 owner who loads almost exclusively from the front. I know the common complaint about the ashes, but to tell you the truth I haven't ever had any more ash come out of the front than the side door. I just can't as much wood in through the side door as I can through the front and it always seems like a lot more hassle to cram splits through that small side door. I really thought it would be handy, but it just isn't for me.

When it's real cold - 10F or lower, we load a full load three times a day heating 2000+ square feet. Smaller fires when it's not that cold, but still usually three a day. The house hovers around the mid seventies, and the dogs are usually panting.

I just realized that didn't say you loaded N/S, only that you load from the front.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I load my F 600 exclusively from the side door and I find it to be plenty big if you pay close attention and plan your load before you start stuffing wood in the stove. I can fit splits up to 8" on a side and I wouldn't burn wood any larger than that. You do have to have good hand and forearm strength to get a heavy oak split that could be as much as 24" long into the stove through the side door. If you are doing a hot reload you have to be particularly on guard during such times that you don't start to load a big split and then end up bulldozing it into the stove pushing a load of hot coals in front of it to the point where the split will no longer fit in the stove. It can be nerve racking to have the split bottom out with a few inches still sticking out of the side door while the rest of the log has already started burning! However, once you are aware of this type of situation you can be alert to prevent it from happening.

When I load my stove I start by using a poker to clear a channel through the ashes and coals from the dog house all the way to the back of the stove. I like to have this about 2 to 3 inches wide. If the bed is mostly soft ash I will lay down one or two small sticks (1" - 1 1/2" in diameter) N/S on either side of the dog house about a foot apart. This assures my E/W logs will stay up above the central air channel for my primary air. I then tuck a large split in the very back and can usually fit two more good size splits in front of it. Depending on the size of the splits I have on hand I then either put one more split in the middle on top of the front two splits or else I just fill the center cavity with some kindling for top down fire starting. That size load will carry me through the night, so I don't see the need to try to fill every little nook and cranny for a long burn.

 

[Toploader]

Thanks Nick, It's nice to know you don't need to stuff it full to get overnight burns, I love the Oslo but the bigger firebox of the F600 is definitely appealing. I'm still stuck on the idea of 16" wood and therefore N/S/front loading since my wood shed is designed for 16" [built when I had my VC resolute] and when I fill it with longer splits I'm reducing the air space between the rows and slowing down the drying process. Also I'd rather deal with 16" wood because it's just easier to handle in every way and like you say you need a lot of strength for those large 22" splits which I have now but I'm not getting any longer. When you tally it all up maybe a little ash clean up 3 times a day might be more than offset by the ease of 16" splits. In any case it's a virtue the F600 that it has the added versatility of accepting 16" wood N/S if the user desires.

 

[schortie]

Sorry, I thought it was implied - I load 16" splits n/s on full loads. Sometimes n/s on the bottom and longer splits e/w on top, but that's for quick heat. This is what works for us.

The variety of opinions on this and many other matters here just go to show that there's more than one way to singe your whiskers.

 

[Toploader]

Sorry, I thought it was implied - I load 16" splits n/s on full loads. Sometimes n/s on the bottom and longer splits e/w on top, but that's for quick heat. This is what works for us.

The variety of opinions on this and many other matters here just go to show that there's more than one way to singe your whiskers.

Thanks schortie I guess the F600 is particularly good at allowing these different whisker singeing technics.