Wood not burning well

[tonch504]

Hi All,
Just bought the second load of wood for my new Jotul F500. I can't seem to get a good flame. The wood is only just burning, and there is very little flame. Not much heat either.
The wood is very heavy, dry, hard and well seasoned. I'm sure the wood is of good quality.
Can anyone suggest a reason why I can't get a good flame? Wood pieces too large, vent blocked or something else?
Appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance.

 

[DAKSY]

Hi All,
Just bought the second load of wood for my new Jotul F500. I can't seem to get a good flame. The wood is only just burning, and there is very little flame. Not much heat either.
The wood is very heavy, dry, hard and well seasoned. I'm sure the wood is of good quality.
Can anyone suggest a reason why I can't get a good flame? Wood pieces too large, vent blocked or something else?
Appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance.

Well-seasoned? How do you know? Have you checked the moisture content? Sounds like wet wood to me.

 

[webby3650]

I really think that wood isn't seasoned as well as you think. It can be very hard to tell unless you personally cut, split, and stacked it over a year ago.
My Oslo doesn't really like great big chunks unless there is a nice coal bed under it. This stove is particularly picky, it must have truly seasoned wood.

 

[northwinds]

It's the wood. "Very heavy" wood in split wood is a sign that it is retaining a lot of moisture. It isn't the moisture on the outside of the wood. It's the moisture on the inside of the wood.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

On top of that it is probably your burning practices as well.....plus what type of wood is it?
Start with a box full of kindling and thin spits, get that box good and hot before you put any bigger splits in.....
Also test you'd wood....are you using your controls properly? What temperatures are you having now? Gl

 

[begreen]

Damp wood is heavy. Resplit some of the splits and press the freshly exposed wood against your cheek. Does it feel cool and damp? If you get a moisture meter, always check moisture the same way on a freshly exposed face of the wood, never on the end grain.

 

[HotCoals]

Sounds like wet wood to me also.
Try some scraps of known old pallets or something then report back.

 

[stovelark]

Always blame the stove, ha. Yes def sounds like wet wood. Refrain from using the ash door open to get it going too. If you need a bit more air, much safer to crack open the side loading door. Stove top temps?? Chimney setup?? Try getting some kindling going good to isolate the wood. Good luck with it. You got a great stove.

 

[SteveKG]

Hi All,
Just bought the second load of wood for my new Jotul F500. I can't seem to get a good flame. The wood is only just burning, and there is very little flame. Not much heat either.
The wood is very heavy, dry, hard and well seasoned. I'm sure the wood is of good quality.
Can anyone suggest a reason why I can't get a good flame? Wood pieces too large, vent blocked or something else?
Appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance.

Tell us how you build your fires. I doubt you are putting a match to an unsplit round of firewood, but describe how you build up the wood in the stove before you light it off. And what type of wood are you burning? I see you are in Australia, most of us are not and burn oak, pine, spruce, etc. and that is where our experience lies. Some species of tree have wood that is quite dense and heavy though not "wet." It may be that you must first build up a good set of coals to get the big splits/pieces/chunks to burn efficiently. If so, it will be a matter of experimentation until you figure out how your stove works with your wood supply. Be glad to offer some ideas if you get us more information.

 

[woodsman416]

The wood is wet or your not getting enough o2. Has to be one or the other.

 

[begreen]

The chimney would be another suspect if it is affecting draft strongly. How tall is the chimney and how is the stove connected (elbows, tees, etc.)? What are the outside temps?

 

[tonch504]

Fantastic advice, thank you all.
I have it burning beautifully now. The wood is defiantly well seasoned. Just super dense. It's North Cost Iron Bark (Australian). I think I moved to large splits too soon. Now, I have worked my way up slowly and a good, red hot, coal bed has developed. The large pieces seem to burn better now.

 

[Woody Stover]

The chimney would be another suspect if it is affecting draft strongly. How tall is the chimney and how is the stove connected (elbows, tees, etc.)? What are the outside temps?

Some of the Jotuls don't like a short stack, do they?

 

[begreen]

Fantastic advice, thank you all.
I have it burning beautifully now. The wood is defiantly well seasoned. Just super dense. It's North Cost Iron Bark (Australian). I think I moved to large splits too soon. Now, I have worked my way up slowly and a good, red hot, coal bed has developed. The large pieces seem to burn better now.

Locust burns the same way. I usually start the fire with doug fir then switch to locust once the fire is well established.

 

[TimfromMA]

I was just about to question why you were burning in July but then I saw you live in the land of backward seasons.....lol

 

[mass_burner]

how new? did you do the burn-in procedures?

 

[tonch504]

The stove is very new. Had it running for about 4 weeks now. I believe I followed the correct procedure with small fires, working up to larger, hotter fires with periods of cooling right down between goes.
And yep, I'm 'downunder' as you guys would say.

 

[stovelark]

Most stoves don't like a short chimney, Jotuls are no different. They suggest 11-14 feet minimum, I'd believe that's about the minimum for any stove.

 

[Woody Stover]

Most stoves don't like a short chimney, Jotuls are no different. They suggest 11-14 feet minimum, I'd believe that's about the minimum for any stove.

I've never seen one in action, but have read in quite a few posts here that the Castine and Oslo are picky about draft. The Fireview manual says 14 but my BIL's is running fine on 13...Dennis says his is fine at that height as well. Extreme case, but the Hearthstone Manchester manual says 10'. But yeah, the more stack any stove has the better they like it (to a point.)

 

[smokedragon]

And yep, I'm 'downunder' as you guys would say.

I was wondering why you were burning in July.......question answered.

If you don't have one, buy a moisture meter. Best tool I ever bought for wood burning, bar none.

 

[stovelark]

Don't recall noting many commenting on The Castine or Oslo's poor draft. As most people already know, the chimney drives the stove, not vice versa. I've heard of people having issues with their cast stoves (including Jotuls) not running well, come to find out, they just weren't letting the stove get hot enough temp wise before closing off the air. Prob have heard more Hearthstone people have that issue (the soapstone not being let get hot enough before closing off the air.) That is one reason I do like steel stoves, they heat up quick, very easy to operate. But for draft issues, almost always chimney too big and cold, stove not getting warm enough to let chimney draft and the dreaded wet wood scenario. Glad to hear the OP is getting her going good...

 

[begreen]

We've had several comments in the past. More for the Castine with the rear exit connection, but a couple that I recall with the Oslo. The shallower firebox combined with the rear vent requires a stronger draft. We had it connected to a 20' chimney and in mild (45F+) weather would still get some some spillage when the door was opened for reloads. Wood was dry, 6" straight up flue, stove and flue were warm.

The stove shop I bought it from warned me about this, but I needed to scoot the stove forward on the hearth in order to meet clearances so I opted for the rear exit with double-wall connector. Below 40F the stove worked great.

 

[stovelark]

Well, maybe I'm biased al little toward Jotul, but I know from all the stoves I've owned, installed and operated (Q-fire, Hearthstone, Lopi, VC, Enviro, Osburn, Century, Pacific Energy, Jotul, Scan, Woodstock, Country, Lennox, Liberty Bell, Heatilator Eco-choice and others), almost every time its the chimney or wood or operator error, I've never seen a stove get returned to a MFR for not operating correctly. I've changed out one stove MFR for another one and seen improvement and then the returned stove get sold to someone else and it work ok. I've seen Castines not be able to have a screen on them without spillage, usually in the lower pressure points of homes (obviously, or it wouldn't spill), its physics, not the stove.

 

[begreen]

I love Jotuls too. They are beautiful stoves. Our install is on main floor with no negative pressure issues. The T6 with it's deeper firebox does not have this issue. I can have a fire in it at 60F without spillage. It is about physics. Take a shallow firebox and ask the smoke to go horiz before going vertical and add a big door on front. You will have some smoke spillage under certain conditions like milder temps and low barometric pressure.

 

[Woody Stover]

It is about physics. Take a shallow firebox and ask the smoke to go horiz before going vertical and add a big door on front.

I guess that's why I never have a problem with the Keystone rear-vented into the fireplace, even with warm temps outside; The top of the side-load door is 3"+ below the top of the firebox. I don't know about the Oslo but the Castine doesn't have a bypass, does it? That's one case where the stove design would be a factor.