Jotul f500 oslo questions

[whtoak]

Hello all,

I started a thread a couple of months ago looking for advice on wood stoves for my new house. The blaze king was at the top of my list due to the 30 hour burn time. I have now looked into the Jotul f500 oslo. I really like this stove and I am starting to lean toward it from the blaze king.

Are there any current Jotul f500 oslo owners on here who can provide any feedback on the stove? I do realize this stove will not have a 30 hour burn time but will it get me through to the morning so all I have to do is reload without starting a whole new fire? Can I get at least 8 hours of burn time out of this stove? I had a small Jotul stove in a little farm house I used to live in. It was a real nice stove but had a very short burn time (4 hours).

This is a really big and expensive decision and I want to make the right choice. I really like the Jotul and how it is built. I also like the side loading door. I just want to have hot coals in the morning so all I need to do is put more wood in without having to start the fire again from scratch.

 

[semipro]

We regularly get 12 hr. burn times out of our Oslo without much additional effort (e..g. finishing the night with large hardwood splits).
The coals that are left in the morning I rake over in behind the doghouse, add some wood, and open the air inlet lever.

 

[begreen]

The F500 heats many member's homes. It's a good strong heater. Note however that the 2020 F500v3 is different in design than the F500 from the prior 20 yrs. We have no long term operation or repair history for the new version yet.

 

[semipro]

We regularly get 12 hr. burn times out of our Oslo without much additional effort (e..g. finishing the night with large hardwood splits).
The coals that are left in the morning I rake over in behind the doghouse, add some wood, and open the air inlet lever.

Our Oslo was purchased and installed 11 years ago.

 

[PASmoker]

Last year was my first year burning ever, so still learning, installed a new F500 Oslo (non cat) , with seasoned oak was getting 5-6 hr burn times ,just enough coals left in the morning to get it started again.
Mine drafts very well and very easy to start again. To increase the times I'm hoping a secondary damper will slow the burn during the really cold nights.
Longer and bigger pieces of wood, wood I used was around 18-20" and you can fit up to 23"+ so I started cutting at 22-23"and larger diameter for night burns.
I would assume a lot of factors come into play to determine burn times, I wouldn't go by manufactures burn times as they are probably best case scenarios.
Love the stove, side door is awesome, only issue was the burn times which I hope to increase to 8 hrs.

 

[begreen]

Bigger splits and tighter, full packing will help. Try cutting down the air much sooner and as aggressively as possible without smoldering the fire.

 

[bunfoolio]

The Oslo is a beautiful store and remember you need to look at it all year round. It does good overnight for coaling with hardwoods but not on soft. I get about 6hr burn times. It heats 3200 soft well. The stove has worked great for us. I give it a big thumbs up!

 

[whtoak]

I visited the Jotul dealer again today and I am now an owner of a Jotul F500 Oslo. I won't be installing it until my house is complete in late October/early November. I will try and remember to give some feedback after using it for a couple of months. I really appreciate all the advice that was given.

It was a very tough and hard decision for me between this stove and the Blaze King Sirocco 30. I liked the aspect of the long burn time with the Blaze King. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on the Blaze King but decided to look at the Jotul's before I made a final decision. I just kept going back to the Jotul 500. I originally had a smaller Jotul that did not hold a lot of wood, however it was a very good heater while it was burning and easy to operate. This new Jotul is twice the size and it has a side load door. I know I will be sacrificing the burn time of the Blaze King but just felt like the Jotul will be a better stove for me. The quality of the cast iron build is what really drew me to this stove.

Thanks again for all comments on stoves in general (including the other thread I had going asking about Blaze King). I am really glad I found this site that allowed me to get good feedback on both stoves I was looking at.

 

[bunfoolio]

I visited the Jotul dealer again today and I am now an owner of a Jotul F500 Oslo. I won't be installing it until my house is complete in late October/early November. I will try and remember to give some feedback after using it for a couple of months. I really appreciate all the advice that was given.

It was a very tough and hard decision for me between this stove and the Blaze King Sirocco 30. I liked the aspect of the long burn time with the Blaze King. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on the Blaze King but decided to look at the Jotul's before I made a final decision. I just kept going back to the Jotul 500. I originally had a smaller Jotul that did not hold a lot of wood, however it was a very good heater while it was burning and easy to operate. This new Jotul is twice the size and it has a side load door. I know I will be sacrificing the burn time of the Blaze King but just felt like the Jotul will be a better stove for me. The quality of the cast iron build is what really drew me to this stove.

Thanks again for all comments on stoves in general (including the other thread I had going asking about Blaze King). I am really glad I found this site that allowed me to get good feedback on both stoves I was looking at.

Congrats on the Oslo.
Maybe i missed this but is the house a new construction home and how many square feet?

 

[whtoak]

Congrats on the Oslo.
Maybe i missed this but is the house a new construction home and how many square feet?

New construction. It is a 1500 square foot ranch house

 

[bunfoolio]

New construction. It is a 1500 square foot ranch house

I live in Massachusetts on the NH border and have 9ft ceilings with 3200 square feet. The house was built 7 years ago and is very well insulated. When it gets below 15 degrees the stove cannot keep up. My only concern for you is that the oslo might be to much heat. How open is you floor plan and how much open space do you have? Did you talk to the dealer about stove size? I hope other members can chime in because i am not an expert.

 

[whtoak]

It is an open floor plan and the stove is in the center of the house between the kitchen and living room. 9 ft ceilings. I lived in an 1100 square foot house with a smaller Jotul stove and wished I had bought one with a bigger box. I don't think the stove is to big and talked with the dealer about this as well. I did not want to go down the road again with a small fire box and wish I had a bigger box.

 

[bunfoolio]

That sounds like you should be OK seeing that the floor plan is open and the stove is in the center of the house. I would suggest having a supply of soft woods to help regulate temperature. My Oslo loves white pine! These new homes are very well insulated. My intention when I bought my Oslo was for it to heat just the first floor. I was pleasantly surprised when it did the whole house. I only use hard woods December through March because It would just get too hot. Good luck. My Oslo has been great!

 

[xman23]

My Oslo has been heating our cabin for 20 winters. Nice well built stove.

 

[Game warden]

Hello all,

I started a thread a couple of months ago looking for advice on wood stoves for my new house. The blaze king was at the top of my list due to the 30 hour burn time. I have now looked into the Jotul f500 oslo. I really like this stove and I am starting to lean toward it from the blaze king.

Are there any current Jotul f500 oslo owners on here who can provide any feedback on the stove? I do realize this stove will not have a 30 hour burn time but will it get me through to the morning so all I have to do is reload without starting a whole new fire? Can I get at least 8 hours of burn time out of this stove? I had a small Jotul stove in a little farm house I used to live in. It was a real nice stove but had a very short burn time (4 hours).

This is a really big and expensive decision and I want to make the right choice. I really like the Jotul and how it is built. I also like the side loading door. I just want to have hot coals in the morning so all I need to do is put more wood in without having to start the fire again from scratch.

8 hours is reachable...but not always in my opinion. It's going to depend on how deep your coals are with a good bed of ashes. Load it up real good as late as possible....let it get going real good with a couple large splits of oak/hickory as well...then shut it way down and you should be ok. I find many mornings I have to restart the stove....many times I do not need a full restart. I can often get it going with a few small kindling pieces or smaller pieces of firewood and a piece of paper or so...still...the stove is awesome. Best style yet...nothing touches it's ambiance.

 

[Game warden]

New construction. It is a 1500 square foot ranch house

Sq. footage sounds a bit small for the Oslo...but I hate to just tag it as "too big a stove" for you. Older construction home....windows....ceilings....forced air system to assist in moving the heat around if needed....etc. There are many factors that can make or break performance.....plus you can adjust your burning style as well. I simply like the Oslo for the size of the fire box. Fits good size splits for over night burns. I also have a small F3 in the basement for use in my workshop.....it is a battle to fit logs into it. I used to use the F3 to heat my house....3100 sq. feet. The F3 struggled. The Oslo does much better. I believe the paperwork states it's rated for 2K Sq. ft? I'd say that's a pretty good rating. My 3100 sq. ft. is heated well with the Oslo.....excellent insulation with new Andersen windows. When it drops into the single digits or lower....I would have to get up at 0200 and chock it full to keep it heating well. But I let the geothermal heating system kick in until I can get my lazy ass feeding the stove again. In the teens and 20's however, it does well. 30's and 40's can cause windows to open to ventilate.

 

[darklocket]

Does anyone have the viewing glass measurements for height and width in inches? Would love to know how the viewing glass size compares to Vermont Casting Encore, Blaze King Ashford 25, Regency HI500 and Lopi Large Hybrid Arch.

Thanks so much.

 

[whtoak]

Hello everyone. I have been in my new house now for a month and just had the Jotul installed yesterday. I have been breaking it it. So far, I am very happy. Once I start doing some serious burning I will try to let folks know how long my burn times are. I am currently burning white oak that is 1 and half years old. My meter says 15% moisture and it seems to be burning really well with this stove. The stove pipe goes straight up around 19 to 20 ft at the top. It draws nicely.

Thanks again for everyone who responded to my posts when I was looking for advice.

 

[Zoso2385]

Quick tip to extend burn times. I am in my 2nd season with my Oslo. I have a about 28 ft of insulated chimney in the center of my house so I have quite a large draft. I have noticed through trial and error that my stove will hold coals for anywhere from 8-10 hours if I never empty the ash pan. I let the ash pan fill up at the beginning of the heating season and don't empty it till the spring. Every 2 days in the morning before I load the stove I take 2 or 3 scoops of ash out of the firebox. This keeps a good amount of ash in the stove at all times. When the overnight wood burns down to coals the ash in the box keeps it insulated slightly sheltered from the incoming air. If I empty the ash pan and do an overnight burn, in the morning I will have nothing in the stove.

 

[Slimjim]

I second Keep the ash pan full, makes a difference on overnight burns. Our Oslo Heats 1800 square feet with a 25 ft side chimney . I mix in pine on mild days to keep house from getting to hot. Usually 8-10 hours to get usable coals with red or white oak, I save my bigger splits for night as others mentioned...