I've been using my jotul F600 for a little while now and it seems I cannot get the stove surface temp over 350* degrees? It burns nice but my burn times are a little low. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Temps while using jotul F600
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That's good, but doesn't guarantee that the wood is dry at the core. It depends on the wood species and how green it was when it was split. Some wood requires about 2 years to dry out.
How large are the splits? Is there any sizzling and bubbling on the end of the splits when they get hot?
How large are the splits? Is there any sizzling and bubbling on the end of the splits when they get hot?
Wood is oak. Checked it. Less than 20% moisture content. I just got up and looked at the stove. Last time I put a log on was 9 hrs ago. Ni still have some small coals in the stove. It was still hot. Temp in the house in the room where stove is was still 80 degrees ! I guess this is a good thing.
Try splitting an arm load down to a small size (3" splits or so?) and loading the stove alternating N/S and E/W starting N/S on the bottom row. You should be seeing 650+ out of it when you want it there no problem. Just try a couple test runs of this with the stove only half loaded if you are worried about overfireing - small splits stacked with a lot of air infiltration will burn very hot and fast
That temp does seem a bit low. Do you have any other types of wood you can burn? As suggested, maybe some smaller splits. Or you can always pick up a package of kiln dried stuff from the local gas station.
My BIL has an F600 and when I visit and such I'll tend the stove.
I can easily get her rolling 550-625 before knocking the front draft control down 75% or more.
You should be able to easily over fire that stove for any length of time with the front draft control wide open......unless...
You have poorly seasoned wood, weak draft, inadequate coal bed or inexperience operating the stove (maybe a combination of these.)
We felled a red oak back in Sept. 08, split and stacked first week of Jan 09. For the hell of it.... I busted a split open last week and no surprise here, still a scent, some color and had dampness to it.
Your fire should be Rock'in & Rolling like my F500 here:
Stove temp 600, draft control knocked down 75%, 18 month old Black Birch & Hickory
WoodButcher
I can easily get her rolling 550-625 before knocking the front draft control down 75% or more.
You should be able to easily over fire that stove for any length of time with the front draft control wide open......unless...
You have poorly seasoned wood, weak draft, inadequate coal bed or inexperience operating the stove (maybe a combination of these.)
We felled a red oak back in Sept. 08, split and stacked first week of Jan 09. For the hell of it.... I busted a split open last week and no surprise here, still a scent, some color and had dampness to it.
Your fire should be Rock'in & Rolling like my F500 here:
Stove temp 600, draft control knocked down 75%, 18 month old Black Birch & Hickory
WoodButcher
WOODBUTCHER said:
As in, knocked down so that's it's only a quarter open, or knocked down to 3/4 open? Presume the first.
As in, knocked down so that's it's only a quarter open, or knocked down to 3/4 open? Presume the first.[/quote]
1/4 open or less sometimes.
1/4 open or less sometimes.
What size splits are being burned? If the wood, when freshly resplit reads <20% on the freshly split face, then we may need to look elsewhere.
How is the temp being measured? It could be a bad thermometer or could it be in a bad location?
How is the temp being measured? It could be a bad thermometer or could it be in a bad location?
From my limited experience I would say not getting the stove top temp up past 350 degrees is either a problem with the fuel or a problem with the air (discounting of course the problem with a bad thermometer or bad positioning as mentioned by BeGreen.)
From the sounds of it, the wood source is good . . . but you can double check this by burning some dimensional lumber, pallet scraps or kiln dried firewood and seeing if this doesn't impact the stove top temp. If the temps increase (based of course on comparable fire loads since you can't burn three pallet pieces and consider that to be the same as burning three splits) I would guess the problem would be the wood not being as seasoned as it should be.
However, I personally don't think this is the issue . . . the low stove top temps coupled with the shorter than expected burn times leads me to believe that you may perhaps not be turning down the air when appropriate. Do you have a flue thermometer . . . knowing these temp readings might help us narrow down some possible issues.
Try this . . . push the air control all the way open and get the fire roaring . . . use some pallets or dimensional lumber scraps if need be . . . even better would be to have a fire already going and add the wood to the fresh coals . . . once the stove top temp is up to preferably 450 or so, start dialing down the air . . . a quarter turn at a time . . . if the fire starts to splutter out, go back to where you just had the air control. Eventually, you'll want to get the air shut down to either all the way "closed" or a quarter open . . . and if the wood is seasoned and the fire is established you should end up with some good secondary action and the stove top temp will most likely increase a bit.
Another issue . . . you mention the burns seem shorter than expected. As you may or may not know, you have to take the manufacturer burn times with a liberal dosage of salt. That said, I'm still wondering if the short burn time might be due to the air control being left open and not shut down (which would result in quicker burn times . . . and while the firebox would be full of flames would not allow the firebox to get as hot as it would if the air control was slowly dialed back.)
Finally, 80 degrees in the room with the stove is nothing to sneeze at . . .
From the sounds of it, the wood source is good . . . but you can double check this by burning some dimensional lumber, pallet scraps or kiln dried firewood and seeing if this doesn't impact the stove top temp. If the temps increase (based of course on comparable fire loads since you can't burn three pallet pieces and consider that to be the same as burning three splits) I would guess the problem would be the wood not being as seasoned as it should be.
However, I personally don't think this is the issue . . . the low stove top temps coupled with the shorter than expected burn times leads me to believe that you may perhaps not be turning down the air when appropriate. Do you have a flue thermometer . . . knowing these temp readings might help us narrow down some possible issues.
Try this . . . push the air control all the way open and get the fire roaring . . . use some pallets or dimensional lumber scraps if need be . . . even better would be to have a fire already going and add the wood to the fresh coals . . . once the stove top temp is up to preferably 450 or so, start dialing down the air . . . a quarter turn at a time . . . if the fire starts to splutter out, go back to where you just had the air control. Eventually, you'll want to get the air shut down to either all the way "closed" or a quarter open . . . and if the wood is seasoned and the fire is established you should end up with some good secondary action and the stove top temp will most likely increase a bit.
Another issue . . . you mention the burns seem shorter than expected. As you may or may not know, you have to take the manufacturer burn times with a liberal dosage of salt. That said, I'm still wondering if the short burn time might be due to the air control being left open and not shut down (which would result in quicker burn times . . . and while the firebox would be full of flames would not allow the firebox to get as hot as it would if the air control was slowly dialed back.)
Finally, 80 degrees in the room with the stove is nothing to sneeze at . . .
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