Struggling to get/keep stove hot

[ved0303]

Hey all I am new to wood stove usage. We installed a Jotul F600 this year with the hope of using it as our primary heat source. Draft doesn’t seem to be an issue. House is about 2000 sq ft built in 1900 and is not the tightest but does have mostly new windows. I have done a fair bit of reading on here and have found a lot of good info so I’m hoping to get some help on this.
I can get the stove to about 400 based on the stovetop thermometer. If I really load it up and keep the fire raging I can get it to around 550 but it will not stay there long. I have been waiting until the stove is at about 500ish to start throttling the air back and as soon as I do the temp will stabilized for 30 minutes or so before starting to drop again. No chance of overfiring which seems to be a real possibility for most people.
I have been burning mostly hackberry splits which read between 15-18% moisture. I was hoping it was a wood problem and still sort of am... today I threw in a few scrap 2x4 pieces with the hackberry to see if it made a difference. Maybe slightly better but I still think something is wrong. What am I missing??

 

[kennyp2339]

Take a room temp split and re-split it, test with your meter the fresh face piece, insert the prongs going with the grain and make sure they get imbedded in the split.

 

[KJamesJR]

Don’t you want the prongs going across the grain?

I’ve found recently that it only takes one wet piece to stunt the performance of these stoves.

Usually I start bringing the temp down at around 300-350 and the secondaries will push it up to 500-600. Maybe you’re losing too much heat/fuel before you start dialing it down. At which point you’ve exhausted all the fuel?

 

[ved0303]

Ok I will try testing a room temperature piece and see what I get. Is there anything else anyone can think of that might be wrong?

 

[PAbowhunter]

New to burning as well and I've been learning a lot from this forum. One bit of advice I took was getting an infrared thermometer and i think its helping me a lot. I find myself monitoring temperature much more efficiently. I can see as I cut it back what causes it to drop or rise in temp too much or too little. In my opinion the magnet moves to slow to show this. Try cutting it back sooner. I cut mine back at 350 a little while ago it's at 475 now at about 1/4 air.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I too have a Jotul F600 stove. First off, when you take your temperature readings are you taking them on one of the top corners as the manual directs? I ask this because the temperature readings are dramatically different at different locations on the stove, so to make sure we are all on the same page it's important to know where you are taking your readings. As KJamesJR mentioned, I regulate my primary air as he described. I keep the air wide open until my stove gets up to about 300F and then start lowering the air at the doghouse. I can usually jump right down to about half and then if the fire stays strong I lower it again to a quarter or less. This gets my stove temperature up to around 400 - 425 F recorded on my top left rear corner. At that corner reading of 400 F the top center will be showing over 600 F with my IR thermometer. That is the temperature I cruise at and the stove can maintain that temperature for several hours when the stove is loaded with well seasoned oak (3 to 4 years under shelter).

 

[moresnow]

Ok I will try testing a room temperature piece and see what I get. Is there anything else anyone can think of that might be wrong?

Unless I missed it? How are you checking moisture? KennyP outlined the correct method in post #2. What setup is your vent system? How long has your wood been CSS? Usually a pic or two of your stove/pipe setup helps get things ironed out. Welcome to Hearth. Tons of good help to be had here.

Where in Iowa?

 

[ved0303]

Nick Mystic I am taking the stove temp from the top corners as the manual suggests. 400-425 at the corners seems to be where my stove likes to sit so I’m glad to hear yours is the same.

Moresnow, I have been using a moisture meter- both with the grain and across the grain. I have not tried to split and test a room temperature piece yet though. The ones I split and checked were outside in the cold. My vent system is double wall connector pipe into class A chimney pipe- about 18 ft total rise. And I bought the wood from a supplier in town who “says” it’s been split for about a year.

I am in a small town in southwest IA a little south of Council Bluffs. You?

I definitely appreciate all the help from everyone!

 

[KJamesJR]

Load the stove up pretty good. Cut some splits smaller so you can fill in the gaps. Leave the air wide open until your stove top (corner) hits 350, then bring it to half air for about 10 minuets, then nearly closed. About a quarter.

If that doesn’t get your F600 going it’s most likely your wood. But that has never failed to get me cruising at 500-550 on good wood with the F500.

 

[begreen]

This could be a case of not turning down the air soon enough or far enough. The stove top will get hotter with strong secondary combustion, but that takes turning down the air enough to pull the air through the secondary manifold. Try starting to turn down the air when the stove top is at 350 or 400. Turn it down enough to start making the flames get lazier. Then wait for it to regain strength and turn it down again until the flames are lazy. By now there should be strong secondaries burning and not that much on the wood. That is where the stove will burn the hottest.

Do you have a flue thermometer? If so, what type and what does it read as you are waiting to close down the air?

PS: Looks like KJ and I are thinking alike.

 

[moresnow]

I am in a small town in southwest IA a little south of Council Bluffs. You?

I am near Waverly. Long ways NE of you. Fill us in on the MC test. Always interesting to see the results. Good luck.

 

[ved0303]

Well I still haven’t gotten around to doing the MC test on a fresh room temperature split. I will try this weekend. I have been having more success with the stove though. I may have just had unrealistic expectations for the stove. After hearing how Nick Mystic runs his F600, I have begun doing the same and have had much better performance. Still not getting the supe high temperatures, at least when measured from the corner, but it has been heating well and lasting much longer between loads. So thanks for the help and suggestions! It has been a learning curve and I’m sure I’ll get better at running it with experience. It will be interesting to experiment with different types of wood over time and see how it affects the performance.

 

[begreen]

Bring a box load of the wood indoors for a week or two to let it dry out faster. Then try a fire with that wood.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Nick Mystic I am taking the stove temp from the top corners as the manual suggests. 400-425 at the corners seems to be where my stove likes to sit so I’m glad to hear yours is the same.

Moresnow, I have been using a moisture meter- both with the grain and across the grain. I have not tried to split and test a room temperature piece yet though. The ones I split and checked were outside in the cold. My vent system is double wall connector pipe into class A chimney pipe- about 18 ft total rise. And I bought the wood from a supplier in town who “says” it’s been split for about a year.

I am in a small town in southwest IA a little south of Council Bluffs. You?

I definitely appreciate all the help from everyone!

My F600 also operates best when around 400-500 measured where the manual states.

 

[deborita3]

My quad has been getting to hot temperatures bit doesn't stay for too long before I have to reload. I put in 5 logs. Stove temp reaches 650 but doesn't stay too long. Maybe I am turning the air down too soon or not soon enough? After an hour the logs are almost all ash and stove temp is 350. At what temp do you reload and how long a burn should I be getting before needing to reload. I have read where some are getting hours of burning before reloading. I have experienced that yet but the stove is putting out hot temps and the house is warm. I would just like to get longer burning before reloading. I am using oak maple and Locust and the wood has been under 20%.

 

[deborita3]

This could be a case of not turning down the air soon enough or far enough. The stove top will get hotter with strong secondary combustion, but that takes turning down the air enough to pull the air through the secondary manifold. Try starting to turn down the air when the stove top is at 350 or 400. Turn it down enough to start making the flames get lazier. Then wait for it to regain strength and turn it down again until the flames are lazy. By now there should be strong secondaries burning and not that much on the wood. That is where the stove will burn the hottest.

Do you have a flue thermometer? If so, what type and what does it read as you are waiting to close down the air?

PS: Looks like KJ and I are thinking alike.

My quad has been getting to hot temperatures but doesn't stay for too long before I have to reload. I put in 5 logs. Stove temp reaches 650 but doesn't stay too long. Maybe I am turning the air down too soon or not soon enough? After an hour the logs are almost all ash and stove temp is 350. At what temp do you reload and how long a burn should I be getting before needing to reload. I have read where some are getting hours of burning before reloading. I have experienced that yet but the stove is putting out hot temps and the house is warm. I would just like to get longer burning before reloading. I am using oak maple and Locust and the wood has been under 20%.
Update:
I reloaded at 3:00pm and still have a fire at 4:30. Stove temp reading a little over 500. Air is shut down. I don't know if I will get 6-8 hours though like some get.

 

[Sawset]

"I have been waiting until the stove is at about 500ish to start throttling the air back and as soon as I do the temp will stabilized for 30 minutes or so before starting to drop again."

Sound mostly normal to me. About the only time I run the stove that hot is if it's very cold out (20-30below). Also 550+ temps don't usually happen here unless it's on a reload into an already hot stove. At that point an overfire is a real possibility especially with cold outside temps and a high amount of draft. The stove was designed to run between 4-600deg stovetop. So 5-600 means loaded, with an open damper, and putting in some splits every couple hours.