Have been using this new stove for about 4 months and wanted to share a few observations with this crew:
- having switched from a big old timer which gobbled wood to the Jotul, I was dumbfounded in how different they are to operate - log size, air control and understanding or lack of , secondary combustion. It takes time and patience to get the hang of BUT this forum has been great for knowledge and concise, usually, information - thanks to all
- If there is one common thread through most of what I read it is - SEASONED Wood. It seems to be a prerequisite for burning any of these new stoves. Fortuntley I have around six years of good hardwood under cover ranging from two years to six years cut
- I have no trouble getting a good fire going with some paper and some good kindling and learned on the forum how to get an ash bed established and then add more to get the fire I want. Before we could not see the fire and had to open door to see other than hearing flames, now we can see through glass and use thermometers to track fire progress
- Burn times really interest me and I have found some great info here on the forum that has helped me. My ideal is to get the fire prepped for around 10pm then off to bed and up at 6am to a bed of coals to restart for the day. That is an 8 hour burn and according to the Jotul manual, is probably the max to expect. I had not been getting that until I realised I needed to put on some larger pieces - 8inches max diameter, then I had burn times ( bed of coals ready to restart) of 8 - 10 hours, so I am still experimenting
- I chuckle with the jargon on this site. The one term I had trouble with was splits, I at first could not grasp the term - call me stupid, but now understand the meaning. Most of my splits were for the big stove and averaged around 12 - 15 inches diameter so now am looking to split and chainsaw to lenght for the Jotul which from reading here seem to be a max of 16 inches in lenght and between 2 - 8 inches in diameter - is this best??
So to sum up my thoughts on this stove - I am very pleased with it for my situation. Have not really had a winter of really cold to test but am getting a greater understanding of how this stove works.
Appreciate any comments on above.
Kevin
- having switched from a big old timer which gobbled wood to the Jotul, I was dumbfounded in how different they are to operate - log size, air control and understanding or lack of , secondary combustion. It takes time and patience to get the hang of BUT this forum has been great for knowledge and concise, usually, information - thanks to all
- If there is one common thread through most of what I read it is - SEASONED Wood. It seems to be a prerequisite for burning any of these new stoves. Fortuntley I have around six years of good hardwood under cover ranging from two years to six years cut
- I have no trouble getting a good fire going with some paper and some good kindling and learned on the forum how to get an ash bed established and then add more to get the fire I want. Before we could not see the fire and had to open door to see other than hearing flames, now we can see through glass and use thermometers to track fire progress
- Burn times really interest me and I have found some great info here on the forum that has helped me. My ideal is to get the fire prepped for around 10pm then off to bed and up at 6am to a bed of coals to restart for the day. That is an 8 hour burn and according to the Jotul manual, is probably the max to expect. I had not been getting that until I realised I needed to put on some larger pieces - 8inches max diameter, then I had burn times ( bed of coals ready to restart) of 8 - 10 hours, so I am still experimenting
- I chuckle with the jargon on this site. The one term I had trouble with was splits, I at first could not grasp the term - call me stupid, but now understand the meaning. Most of my splits were for the big stove and averaged around 12 - 15 inches diameter so now am looking to split and chainsaw to lenght for the Jotul which from reading here seem to be a max of 16 inches in lenght and between 2 - 8 inches in diameter - is this best??
So to sum up my thoughts on this stove - I am very pleased with it for my situation. Have not really had a winter of really cold to test but am getting a greater understanding of how this stove works.
Appreciate any comments on above.
Kevin