Ok Jotul 500 Oslo owners, how many of you leave your side door cracked for 10-15 min after you load it to get it burning a little quicker....I do. It just seems to take so long for it to get going when I just load and shut the door. Thoughts?
On a cold start (or near cold) I usually do for 5 min. One trick I do to get it going a lot faster is throw a couple 12 in splits N/S and everything else E/W. Seems like it gets a lot better air circulation from the inlet that way. I only do that when there isn't a coal bed. I almost always load with side door, do most of you too?
I have a different brand of stove, but the manual says to leave the door ajar slightly during the initial firing.
Yes, Dutch I also always load from the side door. And every once in a while, I do put in a couple small splits like you. I think it just seems like it needs a few minutes with the door cracked to get the draft going a little bit. (And yes, I have great draft in my setup in case anyone was wondering)
That is an indicator of poor draft or wet wood. From a cold start leaving the door open that long should not be needed with dry wood. I know from experience with wet wood, it requires your door to be cracked open for a lot longer than dry wood.
Not specific to a Jotul or Oslo, but how old...or new....is the wood? How does the wood burn once the it catches? Any sizzling? Is the flue in a chimney or is this a freestanding stove? So many questions.
Seasoned wood is not the problem...2 1/2 years of seasoning on this current wood. And draft is not the problem...I have 14-16 feet of pipe. I have seen quite a few other Jotul 500 owners post before about needing to do the same thing. And yes, my wood will catch in less than 15 min with the door closed, it just seems to take much longer to get up to cruising temperature when I do it that way.
2 1/2 years...burns good when it catches...no sizzling...the flue is inside a double wall 8" pipe, which is inside a framed chimney. Draft is definitely not a problem.
Right, but 10-15 minutes is a bit long to keep the door cracked. Something seems to be off. I've had side loaders, top loaders, and front loaders. Once I got away from wet wood, nothing more than 5 minutes with the door cracked is needed 99% of the time.
I think I know the problem....I need to clean the ashes out completely. It just hit me - the stove has been running constantly for a week, and although I have emptied the ash tray every day and cleaned it out some, I haven't completely emptied it to make sure air can flow correctly. Thanks for your help!
No, my 6" Class A pipe for my Oslo is inside the 8" class A pipe that I already had there for my Heatilator fireplace. Sorry for the confusion.
So this thread has caught my attention. I had an Oslo up to this spring, burned in it for 6 years until the IS came into my life. This post says your running a 6" stove flue into a 8" class A? Just wondering, If Jotul calls for 6" flue, I believe it should be 6" for the entire run. The other concern I saw was the draft, you said it was ok yet you have a short stack (14-16 ft), which is a common reason for weak drafts. With this post I'm not so sure the air flow in the firebox would be affected that much unless the ash bed is above the doghouse in the front of the stoves firebox. I'd say you would have to have been burning for a solid month in order to get an ash bed that high. If you wood is 2-1/2 yrs seasoned and your taking nearly 15 minutes to have it catch off of a small coal bed theres no reason the door should stay open that long to get going. I'd still question the draft and MC of the splits
Boy, I must be unclear. The Jotul pipe is 6" FOR THE ENTIRE RUN. The 6" pipe is just inside the previous 8" pipe. My stack height is WAY above the minimum Jotul recommends. I am trying to improve my firewood moisture content every year. I have been cutting extra every summer to try to get my stacks out to 3 1/2 years of seasoning, but that is difficult with the winters we have had in Ohio, and with time constraints. I am hoping if we get a lighter winter one of these years, I will eventually get to that point. All of my firewood this winter will have been seasoned for a minimum of 18 months, stacked in single rows for seasoning, then stacked under an open air shed for additional drying and winter storage. And I know from experience that ashes that pile up do eventually cause a problem, regardless of how many days we are talking about. I have been burning wood for 14 years, and I have observed this before in my wood furnace. I just got my Oslo last fall (2013), so I am still learning the tricks of the trade with it, but I know that too many ashes eventually choke it down.
I just looked back at my original post....I probably made it sound worse than it actually is. Sorry for all the confusion I've caused. 90% of the time, my wood is burning real well after the door is cracked for 5 minutes. I am not having HUGE problems. The Jotul manual says to load and immediately shut the door. I just wanted to see if you thought it was ok to leave it open for a few (5-10 min) before shutting the door. Overall, my wood is burning great, lights quick, and burns hot. I was mostly just referring to the fact the Jotul manual says to load and immediately shut the door, which I don't think works very well, even with super seasoned wood.
My apologies for the post mishap, I didn't see your response to BB's post just in front of mine. At first it was confusing to me about the 6" into the previous 8". I also left the loading door open a crack on my Oslo for a few minutes too. My wife on the other hand used to open the ash pan door and do "turbo fire" when I wasn't around. She couldn't wait...anyways, we all know thats a no no...
