I picked up a nice used Oslo this week and so far have had 5 fires in it. As we all know, each stove (and installation) has its own quirks and tricks that make it burn best. So far, I'm happy with the stove, but I'm definitely NOT dialed in yet, so I have some questions for you experienced Oslo users!
Getting the fire going is no problem--paper, kindling, small dry splits and she takes off very nicely. I usually leave the front or side door cracked a 1/2" or so to get it going. Problem is that (from a cold start) I've been having to wait about 30 minutes or so before I can close the door without the fire really struggling. It won't go out, but it goes from a fully engaged firebox/inferno to red coals and smallish flames once I shut the doors. For the heck of it, I left the side door open tonight for 30 mins using some of my best wood--2 year old Doug Fir that's about 13-15% moisture. I got the pipe thermometer (18" up from stove outlet) up to about 480 and the middle of the stove top plate up to 480 or so, and then shut the doors leaving the primary air all the way open. The fire is still going, but within 15-20 mins stove pipe temp has dropped to 325 or so, and middle of the top plate is 450. Again, this is super dry wood with the primary air open all the way---all the other stoves that I have installed here using the same pipe and chimney would be raging under those conditions. In fact, one of the reasons we sold our VC Defiant/Encore was that it has a tendency to want to run away, and I felt like I always had to monitor it.......
So, wood is good and dry, 15' of pipe and I think the draft is plenty strong--I never get any back-puffing or smoke coming in the room, even when first lighting the fire when the pipe is cold and the front door wide open and it drafts just fine, it just feels like the firebox is starving for air once I close the doors.
I took off the "dog house" cover and everything is nice and clean and ash-free by the primary air intake, so I'm kind of stumped!
Also, in the manual (and in reading other threads about the Oslo here) it says to measure temp in one of the four corners when deciding to start shutting down the primary air to light the secondaries. Well, checking with both my IR and magnetic thermometers the corners will be about 300-350 while the middle of the top plate is 500-550 at least for the first hour or so when starting from a cold start. Even loading up the firebox last night with super dry wood and cracking one of the doors, I was only able to get the corners up to about 450-475 with the center of the top plate around 550 or so--again wide open on the primary air and the side door cracked open!!
I'm glad the Oslo won't be a runaway, but something doesn't seem right--it feels starved for air.
Lastly, I did load the box up last night on top of a good bed of coals about 12pm and incrementally closed the primary air down to about 25%, and the secondaries were doing just great. Still, this was 3 year old well seasoned Cherry (and two BIG chunks) and about 4am or so the wood was mostly gone--just a very thick bed of coals. I'd been hoping for at least 6-7 hour burns, any advice on how to increase burn times??
Thanks so much for any helpful suggestions!!
NP
Getting the fire going is no problem--paper, kindling, small dry splits and she takes off very nicely. I usually leave the front or side door cracked a 1/2" or so to get it going. Problem is that (from a cold start) I've been having to wait about 30 minutes or so before I can close the door without the fire really struggling. It won't go out, but it goes from a fully engaged firebox/inferno to red coals and smallish flames once I shut the doors. For the heck of it, I left the side door open tonight for 30 mins using some of my best wood--2 year old Doug Fir that's about 13-15% moisture. I got the pipe thermometer (18" up from stove outlet) up to about 480 and the middle of the stove top plate up to 480 or so, and then shut the doors leaving the primary air all the way open. The fire is still going, but within 15-20 mins stove pipe temp has dropped to 325 or so, and middle of the top plate is 450. Again, this is super dry wood with the primary air open all the way---all the other stoves that I have installed here using the same pipe and chimney would be raging under those conditions. In fact, one of the reasons we sold our VC Defiant/Encore was that it has a tendency to want to run away, and I felt like I always had to monitor it.......
So, wood is good and dry, 15' of pipe and I think the draft is plenty strong--I never get any back-puffing or smoke coming in the room, even when first lighting the fire when the pipe is cold and the front door wide open and it drafts just fine, it just feels like the firebox is starving for air once I close the doors.
I took off the "dog house" cover and everything is nice and clean and ash-free by the primary air intake, so I'm kind of stumped!
Also, in the manual (and in reading other threads about the Oslo here) it says to measure temp in one of the four corners when deciding to start shutting down the primary air to light the secondaries. Well, checking with both my IR and magnetic thermometers the corners will be about 300-350 while the middle of the top plate is 500-550 at least for the first hour or so when starting from a cold start. Even loading up the firebox last night with super dry wood and cracking one of the doors, I was only able to get the corners up to about 450-475 with the center of the top plate around 550 or so--again wide open on the primary air and the side door cracked open!!
I'm glad the Oslo won't be a runaway, but something doesn't seem right--it feels starved for air.
Lastly, I did load the box up last night on top of a good bed of coals about 12pm and incrementally closed the primary air down to about 25%, and the secondaries were doing just great. Still, this was 3 year old well seasoned Cherry (and two BIG chunks) and about 4am or so the wood was mostly gone--just a very thick bed of coals. I'd been hoping for at least 6-7 hour burns, any advice on how to increase burn times??
Thanks so much for any helpful suggestions!!
NP