ETA delivery on Valentine's Day for a new (for us) Jotul Rangely F50 top load non cat. It's replacing a VC Flexburn that just did not perform and once overfired. Commnets on the Flexburn to come. So, anyone have this Jotul with some experience pro or con ?
Welcome to the club DBH I have no experience with that stove but am looking forward to how it works out for you!
We have sold a fair few of those and always hear good things - the top loader feature is nice if you ask me, especially with the self-closing baffle. The sales director of Jotul up your way uses one to heat his house FWIW.
Welcome DBH! We installed one to replace our old stove in 2012 I believe. It is hands down my favorite stove and we very much love it! This stove really heats well and burns extremely clean. I’ll do what I can for an explanation of how to use it for you. First and foremost if you can dry wood is a must in epa stoves. Ours is dried for 3 years minimum and it loves dry wood. Wet or fresh cut does not burn well in it. We have found that it burns very well with 16” long splits and you can stuff the stove right up North / South or East / West with good results. What I like to do is East / West on the bottom and North / South from there up it makes the stove burn longer and have a very nice coal bed that’s easy to maintain. For efficiency we have gone back to using the ash pan on the stove. It allows for much better air flow and ash control and is easy to dump when you need to. The only thing I advise you do is to move the ash around and away from the grate when you empty it or you will find that you need to clean the ash pan door out before you put it back in. Your going to find a very big argument on scoop ash vs emptying the ash pan and I am here to say on the rangley empty the pan! After going back and forth on it the stove really does burn much better when you use the pan instead of letting it fill up and forgetting it’s there. The top door is also very nice addition I do use it on occasion and find that it is a helpful addition to just drop a price inas needed. The reason is though you can pack it up tight you don’t need to most of the time. Once the house heats up we will put two or three splits in every 5 or 6 hours and that’s almost to much heat except the coldes days. The stove cruses very well at 550 to 600 top temps and will hold heat ALL NIGHT if you run it correctly. One piece of advise is to put a flu prope in 18” above the stove top itself. We run the stove from the flu probe and the stove top probes are basically there to act like a gas pedal. It tells me when to add wood and the flu allows easy air control of the stove. For example fill it and wait for the flu to read 400 then bump the air about 1/4 way down and let it rise to 600 then again bump the air down another 1/4 and let the flue go to 700 we do this until the flu hits around 900 and that’s where it runs the best. All in all 15 minutes on a hot load it’s good to walk away. That being said with this stove get double wall chimney with a stainless interior it runs hot like most epa stoves and single wall is asking for a disaster with any epa stove in my book. If it’s true solid single wall ( NOT snap together from box store ) and you install it according to code you will be ok but insulated double wall will retain heat longer, be safer to be around and if your going near studs double wall is your friend if Heaven forbid you have a chimney fire it also help the burn times too. We also like to do the ocd thing and have two stove top thermometers one left and one right on the stove. It’s nice to see the heat difference on the top sides because the design of this stove ... The steel cooktop is very hot most of the time and it’s easier to gauge the actual temp by comparison of the two side thermometers. It’s a really easy to operate don’t let the long explanation fool you I usually load it and walk away one the air is adjusted where we need it. We don’t even crack the door to light it it lights very easily with the door shut. Keep in mind you may have to play with chimney height or other little things for a while but that goes with most new installs there’s always a few quirks to get out.. Any questions fire away I’ve got a lot more I can tell you about the Rangely. My favorite feature is the cooktop hands down we cook on it with cast iron all winter and also use the grill insert. It’s one heck of a stove for sure... Here’s some stove pics to keep you dreaming! Yes that’s coffee perking away!
Thanks for the primer Pete...well done. The Rangely will be replacing a Flexburn that replaced a hard used ( for 24/7 heat ) 19 year old VC Encore cat. Though I rebuilt the old Encore and did the usual parts maintenance ( e.g refractory azz'y PITA ) , it was a great heater with few problems WITH proper care over the years. The second heater is a 12 year old Oslo that's also done great for heating . The Rangely has some features needed after the poor performance of the Encore Flexburn: low maintenance ( like the Oslo ), high quality build of Jotul, steel firebox, option for top load ( she wanted ), and looks not bad. The Rangely will go into a SS Selkirk vertical flue with telescoping double wall into the ceiling insulated flue. We cut our own from the woodlot, at least a year split and stacked so no problem with dry wood. Total use in 2 stoves about 5-8 cords a year since there is no central heat. Like your idea for the OCD multiple thermometers and the flue probe ( some work to do a double wall one ). As with the Oslo and that we are home much of the time, the ash pan needs emptying each morning. Right that the ash can drop behind the pan. The only potential problem is that all the splits are 17"-18" for the old Encore and Oslo. I'm not going to cut then down to 16" Great response Pete...thx.
Is that Mark L. ? BTW: it was recommended that you NOT use the "self closing feature" since it closes hard against the inside. Best he said to close the baffle with the handle first. Makes sense.
We do very well with Hearthstone, Jotul and Buck. Very few complaints about any of these that aren't related to operator error (poor fuel selection being primary). Occasionally we have finish issues related to shipping with Hearthstone. Buck tends to be popular due to being a SE brand and well-known here for years. Pretty no-nonsense welded stoves/inserts that can be had as catalytic or non-cat in the same form factors. All of the Jotul issues for us of late are user-created - knocking a baffle out or not getting a chimney cleaned properly. VC is a long-time brand of ours but we have trouble recommending it due to the changes after being purchased by HHT. High Valley's customer service has fallen after selling out to Canada, in a similar fashion. We do a few Enviro, Enerzone, and Blaze King's a year by request but don't push them a lot. We have access to Lopi and I think they are good stoves but we primarily do the pellet products with them. I've been looking at the PE line lately but really need some more long-term feedback to feel great about another brand. That's half the reason I lurk around here! The 2020 standards are making a lot of stove dealers nervous and from what reps have said the stoves that pass the testing cannot be dampered down well in order to meet the EPA's requirements Really, everyone needs to send their Congresspeople an earful or the future looks bleak for consumer choice in stoves: https://www.epa.gov/sites/productio...erview_fs_2018_wood_heaters_nsps_proposal.pdf Jotul has great service and representation and to me that's critical - we like to say that for us a stove is a 30 year relationship with a customer so I get gun shy if there are hints of a CS issue. Sorry, got long-winded there.
Will relate our experience with two VC Encore Flexburns later. The dealer was exceptional doing a swap first then taking the second Encore Flexburn back and refunding without question. Rare in these times. The "new and improved" Flexbrun was nothing like our 2 past VC Encore 2550 cats...nothing. The model for most makers in having a dealer take customer service for a heating appliance is not "customer service". It's one reason we looked at Blaze King, and Jotul since I know one of the Jotul staff in Maine.
BTW Pete, how are you using the Rangely for heat ? 24/7, 100 % heating ? Where is ovid ? Size of area heated with the Jotul ? Do you have central heating set at a moderate temp like 65 ? Curious since the stove will heat ~ 1000 ft with only a large LP space heater for supplemental heating when we're away for more than a few days. THx.
We live in Michigan. It can get down right cold but lately winters have been fairly mild. We do get cold snaps like a week ago it hit the -20’s to -40’s in some areas we where so cold our pipes froze. It said -30 but that’s not common if you don’t look at wind chills. The wind chills are a whole different story in Michigan The real reason for the Jotul, Pelpro and furnace is my wife. She battles thyroid issues and is cold when I’m warm. She likes warm so whatever that means that’s what I do. If she needs 70 or 80 that day that’s what happens. We ran the stove hard for 3 years 100% due to a dead furnace and no real desire to replace it. The stove did a fantastic job! When I say hard I mean all winter dead cold, fall and spring even a few times in the summer. It keeps up with this old drafty house fine! We purchased a pelpro pp60 as supplemental heat as well because it was one heck of a deal and it does a good job when it works correctly. The pellets don’t get used often and are probably going away soon. It was good insurance when the furnace died but it’s not necessary and I dislike storing pellets These days it’s as we want / need to use it. We stumbled on a very good furnace deal ( ding and dent ) for a high efficiency furnace that is far cheaper than the old one that died so now we mix the two. Normally it’s the stove running but we have no issues letting it cool down to clean it good once a week or so. The house is roughly 1500 sq ft 1000 downstairs and 500 upstairs. It was overkill but on purpose because the house is old and draft and you can never have to much stove in my opinion... The furnace is set at 62 but it doesn’t come on when the stove is running except when I crank it up to heat up the basement then crank it back down.
We bought a Harmon TL300 with a downdraft catalyst honeycome and it was NOT a good stove for us. It’s similar in operation to the encore I believe. It needed a good 4” coal bed to operate correctly and was a complete pain to get the catalyst to light or keep lit. When it did work man did it work talking 18 hr burns before loading on a coal bed again but getting it to work was the problem. My guess is draft issues downdraft is a bit finicky to get the kinks out of sometimes. I think the only stove we would switch to at this point would be the Woodstock progress hybrid or the Blaze King Ashford. The reason I like Jotul is the features and cast wrap. The design is very well thought out!
Thx Pete...appreciate the update. At least now I know Ovid. It's raining now, also 37 F ! The hard used VC Encore was the second cat 2550 we installed that did the job when we built in 2000. Other than a "thru-the-wall" LP heater for supplement there was/is no other heat. With #@$%&% intense maintenance ( e.g. refractory assembly ), the former VC cat was excellent. So, because she (SWMBO ) like the use of top load, the porcelain finish ( red) , and the looks we thought that the so called "new and improved" Flexburn now in enamel black ( "Twilight" ) would be similar to the old Encore. Not so by a loooong shot. 1. The primary air control did not function. The STT ( stove top temp) wouldn't go under 500 F in cat mode with the air supposedly all the way off. No "long slow burns". 2. I discovered that there is a secondary air opening just below the primary air flap ( The Encore 2550 had a thermostatic secondary air for the cat ). Nothing in the manual about this. Assume that that air was to keep the Flexburn burning clean. However, it seemed to be too much to control total air. 3. The replacement Encore Flexburn then had an overfire well over 750 F. I had to grab the 3 burning splits to throw out on the snow. We never could load the stove full for heat. The Flexburn did have some improved engineering: no more soft refractory, 'roller' latches for the front and ash doors, built -in heat shields, included cat probe, better warranty for more parts including the cat. Unfortunately this product is not ready. For example: the front door gaskets and the griddle gaskets did not pass the dollar test. I had to replace them with slightly larger ones ~1/8" up. Not good QC from the assembly plant in Halifax, PA. The included warranty return card had a return address in Bethel, VT that is not VC or HHT. That's the brief. The dealer was excellent in replacing and taking back the stove with a full refund .....exceptional. Ex Navy guy. The Woodstock Progress and Blaze King were in the replacement mix. The Woodstock had only side load and a 'funny' look to her, the Blaze King wouldn't fit in the flue and hearth and was much more $$$$$. Since we had NO problems with the Jotul Oslo over about 14 years ( K.I.S.S. easy ) to heat the second wing, we thought another Jotul would do. BTW: both Woodstock and Blaze King have fine, approachable customer service. VC/HHT push you off to a dealer who often know little about the Flexburns. Pellet stoves have their own problems. Power. Grandma lifting a 40 lb bag into the hopper. Maintenance of parts. Noise. Pellet cost and supply and quality. Rangely comes on Valentines' Day . If the roof is clear of snow and ice, the flue will be cleaned.
Update: lately in the singles here. The Rangely does take some getting used to. Like Pete says it is a lovely heater so far. We only have to load much less splits for the same heat than with the original VC Encore cat. The Rangely is a big, heavy beast ( ~ 550 lbs ! ) The ash pan also takes some care since it's a tight fit unlike the old Encore and present Jotul Oslo. Not a big deal. You get some kind of metal for your pitch Pete....thx.
