getting best burn from Jotul3 CB, disappointing thus far

[Englishteacher]

The consensus seems to be: Jotul F3 good stove, with a loyal, informed following, and fairly simple, not too many things to keep it from burning well. I checked out the rear air intake which I didn't even know existed, seemed fine, although I had to dig through the ashes to find the nut to reattach it all. I get that the stove is too small to adequately heat my space. It's the burn itself that has seemed wrong. I have used the same, local, wood guy for years. My old stove heated a way much smaller space and wood quality may not have mattered as much or been as obvious as it is now as I try to get more heat. I'll admit that the quality of the wood has always seemed uneven. Sometimes I'll put a piece in and it takes off with an intense,almost explosive burn, other pieces seem to just slowly melt away in a pale orange glow. As so many have said, there are only so many things that can go wrong here, and it seems that everything keeps coming back to the quality of the firewood.
I called the dealer about a service call to see if everything were everything, 150 bucks, not too much less than the price of a cord of adequately dried firewood. Tomorrow I'll go get some Home-Depot, Giant Supermarket style prepared firewood, observe its burn and I think that will tell us a lot. Thanks to all.

 

[Nic36]

I didn't go back an read all the posts, but I did see where you have the chimney cleaned and I'm not sure this has even been discussed. But, do you have a screen on the chimney cap? I know those can easily get clogged under certain conditions.

 

[gizmos]

Englishteacher,
Any update on your stove?

 

[roddy]

yes quite interested to see if you found a solution,i am considering the f3 for a small camp....

 

[Englishteacher]

I've concluded what several people have told me. It's probably the wood. The stove is simple and of good quality so only so many things could go wrong. So I bit the bullet and paid 6.99 for 4 pieces of "kiln dried" shrink wrapped firewood at our nearby Giant supermarket and must admit it burned much more intensely @ 500 degrees. 350-400 was what I was getting previously. If I can get that stove to burn at a consistent 500 degrees, the heat output is significantly more and makes a huge difference.
My 17 year old son has politely suggested that I'm too cheap to keep the stove adequately stoked and that explains the low temps. I was starting to believe that might be but see even just a couple of good, dry pieces with good coals can sustain a hot enduring fire.

What puzzles me is that my wood guy has been the same for years and assures me it is well seasoned and for the most part looks it.
It's been a wet fall and winter here and it's been hard to keep the wood dry, too. I try to keep a supply dry on my covered porch, but the dampness seems to stay with it a while, but bottom line I believe now it is the wood. I guess I'll try another wood supplier and see what happens. The thing is my current wood guy is one of the few around here who will supply smaller wood lengths for my smaller stove.

 

[ChillyGator]

You can keep your current wood supplier, just buy it now for next year, stack it where sun/wind can hit it and cover the top to keep it from getting soaked during rain. You should be good to go next fall.

 

[bogpot]

We have a Jotul F3 CB and have similar problems (Englishteacher) getting the stove hot. The stove needs really, really well
seasoned wood, split very small and lots of air. We have to open the bottom where the ash pan is to get
it going at the beginning. This can cause the stove to get very hot and needs to be watched carefully. It is a fussy stove and
we will probably replace it for next year's heating season. There are also some design problems. The
glass on the door gradually slips down because there is no "clamp" on the bottom to hold it in place. The spark
screen is cheap and poorly designed. The handle doesn't work well or doesn't work at all sometimes. We are
disappointed with this Jotul. Had another model in our previous house and liked it a lot.

 

[gizmos]

bogpot,
I wouldn't suggest you buying another EPA stove until you figure out what your problem is. Several things could be causing the problem, draft, wood, pipe, chimney, etc. But if you remove your F3 CB and replace it with another EPA stove you will most likely have the same problems. I would have someone come out to your house and help trouble shoot what the problem is before going forward. As far as the glass. The glass sits on two cast iron tabs that are apart of the door and there are two tabs on the sides that your tighten down with a screw. Not quite sure what could be wrong with yours.

I loaded one large split and two small splits of hard wood last night around 11:30 pm. Stove was running around 500 degrees when I shut her down and went to bed. This morning around 8:30 I found four silver dollar size coals for an easy restart. Threw in a few pieces of kindling and a small split. Came back about 15 minutes later to a fire. (I do not have to open the ash pan door) I have put about three and a half cords of wood through the stove this year. Much less wood used that my older stove. I ran it hard and around the clock a lot to test it out. It's a great stove, and puts out a ton of heat for it's small size.

I always have to turn dow the air. If I load it and leave it, it will get too hot. Something is wrong with your set up. Find the problem.
Good luck

 

[begreen]

The 3CB is a nice little stove, though the next size up has better quality latches and air control. But it seems basically this is too small a stove for the job. Is there room for a bigger stove, can the location accommodate a side loader? If so, I would recommend the F500.

 

[cycloxer]

Agreed. I have the next size up F 400 Castine and I am heating 1,100 sq. ft. with 14 ft. cathedrals. It is well sized for this application. It's not too small and yet I don't get blown out of my room. I suggest you look at an F 400 or even an F 500 if you want to heat all 1,900 sq. ft. and achieve overnight burns. The F3CB is a great stove, but it is really designed for single room or small house applications.

The good news is that you will be able to easily sell the F3CB for good money as Jotul stoves hold their value and people are familiar with this model. Now is also a good time to take a look at what some of the stove shops have on their floors and may be looking to clear out.

Finally, as you have discovered, EPA stoves prefer dry wood. You can burn less than perfectly seasoned wood, but you are going to have to keep the box temp in the 550-650 range to prevent charring and smoldering. The stove is so much easier to operate with 1 year seasoned wood (and by that I mean you stacked it, kept it dry, and watched it season for 1 year yourself). You have to be careful with how the wood guys define 'seasoned'. My wood guy is the same way. He delivers high quality wood (oak, maple), but it has usually been recently cut and split from a lot he had been clearing.

 

[bogpot]

Thank you, gizmos. You are right...we should have someone come to look at the setup.
By the way, our stove has only one cast iron tab on the bottom to hold
the glass in place. It's not adequate because the other side slips down.
We can tighten up the side screws only so much because we don't want to
break the glass. Poor design, I think.

 

[ErikMacc]

lets not forget the 3cb is only rated for 1300 sqft max heat out put and those specs are given while the stoves have the best draft, insulating properties, best windows and so on. still the stove should operate more then 350 degrees. you should check your primary air control lever to make sure its not disconnected because i had a problem with the oslos with the air control not sliding far enough and i had to actually do some grinding on the air slide plate. I would check that out and make sure you have a clean undissrupted chimney because that will cause draft issues. All in all the unit i feel is deffinatley undersized the oslo or the firelight would have been a better choice.

 

[begreen]

I'd bet dollars to donuts that englishteacher's wood is not fully seasoned. Stove sounds like it is working correctly if it burns at 500+ with store bought wood. Bogpot's problems may be the wood, or perhaps different. We need more info on that. Regardless, it seems a bigger stove would be more satisfactory for them.

 

[tutu_sue]

There should be two tabs to hold the glass up. Maybe the door has a defect? My glass retaining clip screws loosened up after a while, maybe from the heat. I was able to push the glass up too easily. There should be a strip of flat gasket under the retaining clips to help hold pressure. I gently tightened the screws a little at a time alternating between screws as to not crack the glass. But glass was still too loose. So I replaced gasket with 1 size bigger and put some tufts of fiberglass under the clips for a little more hold and worked great. The F3 is a great little stove. Do thoroughly check your venting systems for leaks and/or obstructions. If you have an uninsulated outside chimney that can make for poor performance in an EPA stove as well.

 

[begreen]

Good advice Sue. It's hard to believe that you are already a 4 yr seasoned veteran with that stove. Congratulations.

Bottom line, get dry wood now, don't wait until late summer or fall. Stack it off the ground on pallets or some sleepers. If you live in a wet area, cover the top only with a tarp, heavy landscape fabric, plastic, etc. Any modern stove, even if you upgrade to a larger size, is going to burn significantly better with dry wood. Modern stoves do not burn like the old, air-tight smoke dragons. The have a different burn cycle that depends on being able to heat up the wood and burn off it's gases efficiently with secondary combustion or a catalyst. This is why you don't see any smoke coming from the chimney top. If the stove has a defect, like missing a door glass tab, get it replaced under warranty.

 

[tutu_sue]

Yes BeGreen it's hard to believe me and my baby F3 have had that many wonderful years together. That is a great little stove. That is why it is one of the best selling stoves around the world for years and years. And your advice about the dry wood - spot on! The not quite dry enough wood would make it tough to keep the fire going without plenty of air. And no matter how small you split it, it still won't get hot enough. We know from experience. The firewood sellers definition of "seasoned" wood is not the same as Jotul's that I can assure you. So one must purchase wood as soon as possible and stack it now for next winter.