Jotul F500 just doesn't heat much of anything

[rw02kr43]

I think that might be something. I ran it last night and thermometer was up above 600. My wife and I stood next to it almost touching and weren't hot at all. It is sitting right in the middle. I'll move it tonight and see if that makes any difference.

Another thing, how do I unlock the side door? It has plenty of room around it but it won't open.

On the pics I uploaded:
What is that piece?

thermometer

Temp in dining room

Temp right beside stove.

 

[logger]

Wheres your wood from and how long has it been split and stacked?

 

[Toploader]

It looks like an older stove, so maybe your baffles are warped, if so it won't push the heat out to the front of the stove very well. Also put the thermometer on the corner of the top and when the stove top gets up to 500 F start easing the air back so you get secondary flames, on my Oslo I close the air all the way and that's when it really starts to give off a lot of heat.

 

[rw02kr43]

How open should I have the chimney? I usually have it open all the way.

 

[Sunfish]

How open should I have the chimney? I usually have it open all the way.

You have a flue damper? It should stay open with this type of stove.

Something truly doesn't add up with this situation?

 

[teutonicking]

I can have it burning right along and the thermometer on top shows 600 or so in the red. I stand right by it and don't feel any heat. I've read many people saying that their wood stove will heat their whole house. Mine doesn't even heat 2 feet away. What am I doing wrong? Little to no smoke out our chimney so it seems to be burning very efficient. Just doesn't make any heat.

Thanks
Jason

I think your thermometer must be measuring temperature in Kelvin.

 

[begreen]

The thermometer could be wildly off. It should be placed per the manual at one of the top corners.

 

[rw02kr43]

We bought a house and it had this stove in it. I don't think we have the manual for it. But I found one online yesterday. When we moved in the thermometer was on the pipe leading to the chimney. I would think that temp would be even less accurate.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

others may disagree but i say 2 things:

buy a laser thermo ( can be had very cheap from HD, Lowes, HF)

or

try boiling water and test the thermo just as the water starts a rolling boil and dip it, not set it in as it will read the burner temp. I did this and found my thermo's one accurate enough and the other 75+ degrees off. I compared these with a Fluke and then my Ryobi form HD.

But like begreen says, that thermo must be wildly off like several hundred degrees to not feel the heat...

 

[rw02kr43]

I'm back after the weekend. I moved the thermometer to the upper right corner of the stove. When it got to 600 degrees there it was quite warm. I ran it most of yesterday afternoon and had my house up to 70 degrees without the furnace running. So, it seems to be working okay. I just had the thermometer in the wrong location. It sure does go through the wood though. I had it choked down a bit with the air inlet. Probably about a quarter open and I was putting in another log about every 15 min. But anyway, it seems to be working fine. Thanks for all the help.

Jason

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm back after the weekend. I moved the thermometer to the upper right corner of the stove. When it got to 600 degrees there it was quite warm. I ran it most of yesterday afternoon and had my house up to 70 degrees without the furnace running. So, it seems to be working okay. I just had the thermometer in the wrong location. It sure does go through the wood though. I had it choked down a bit with the air inlet. Probably about a quarter open and I was putting in another log about every 15 min. But anyway, it seems to be working fine. Thanks for all the help.

Jason

Once loaded you shouldn't have to feed it every 15 minutes . . . this could be part of the reason you're going through so much wood.

Once loaded and going full bore you should have secondaries firing off for 1-3 hours and then a nice pile of coals giving off heat for several hours.

 

[ColdNH]

I guess its true that the center of the stove where the OP originally had the thermometer gets much hotter then the corners where the thermometer is supposed to go. He was probably only burning the stove at 300 ish.

As for the stove going through wood really fast this could have to with a combination of too wet wood and the air being open too much. with dryer wood you can close down the air more and the fire will burn longer.

 

[Sunfish]

Once loaded you shouldn't have to feed it every 15 minutes . . . this could be part of the reason you're going through so much wood.

Once loaded and going full bore you should have secondaries firing off for 1-3 hours and then a nice pile of coals giving off heat for several hours.

Yes this. Load that sucker up!

 

[branchburner]

I was putting in another log about every 15 min. But anyway, it seems to be working fine.

Another log about every 15 min. is not working fine.

Since the stove came with the house, I am wondering about the condition of its gaskets, etc., as far as possible air leaks. Also wondering about the pipe-to-chimney set up -- no smoke means yes, you are burning hot and fast, but maybe that heat is being sucked up a fireplace opening as well as up the flue. Can you describe your flue setup?

 

[branchburner]

When we moved in the thermometer was on the pipe leading to the chimney. I would think that temp would be even less accurate.

You should get to know the running temps of both stove AND flue -- see what your pipe temps are running, and as already suggested, I would invest $25 in an IR thermometer.