Jotul F55 Tunnel of Love

[Trunkinator]

I do with my F55, if I have a good load of dense doug fir, or madrone. Fairly easy for me to get 8-10 no problem.

Hi

I'm green with wood stoves, and my wife and i just recently installed the F55. I've been reading on this forum that people fill their stoves, almost to the brim with splits in order to get an overnight burn. Could you elaborate on your 10-12 hour burns? How long do the flames/reburn last? How many of those hours are spent with the stove above 450 deg?

I'm just very hesitant to fill up my stove and let'r'rip because I'm afraid of overfiring. I put in 8 splits (6 birch and 2 ash) in a 280deg stove still with some hot coals. With air control totally open, i let it engulf all the splits and burn for about 10 min, then i close halfway for another 5 and then the stovetop temp read 500deg, so i closed the air control completely.

Had flames+reburner for 45-50 minutes, then large hit glowing coals, some relatively the shape of a couple partially remaining charred splits, and some small blue flames. At the 2 hour mark, it was just glowing coals.

Do you have any advice for me on how i could achieve that longer burn? My stovetop thermometer is a magnetic Rutland from Tractor Supply. Would you suggest investing in aprobe-style flue thermometer also? I have no damper in the flue fyi

Thanks

 

[begreen]

Burn time is relative to the stove capacity and the heat loss of the house. When people are saying they get 12 hr burns in a 3 cu ft stove that is almost certainly in milder 30-40º weather or in a well-insulated house. Our stove is on a 10-12 hr burn cycle, right now, but this is because the outside temps are about 35 at night and 45 during the day. This means that I can let the fire get down to just coals and the stovetop temp drop down to around 300º before reloading. If I were to try to keep the stovetop temp no lower than 450º I would be reloading much more frequently. Maybe only on a 6hr reload cycle. This is similar with catalytic stoves. When the demand for high heat is over an extended period of time, burn time goes down, sometimes dramatically.
To extend the burn time in the F55, pack the layers tightly using large, 4-6" thick, 18" long splits. Load all the wood parallel, don't criss-cross the log loads. Cut down the air quickly, without smoldering the fire. When the fire is down to coals but still too hot for a reload, open up the air a bit, and place a couple skinny 2" thick splits on top of the coals to continue to produce heat as the coal bed burns down.

 

[firefighterjake]

As usual BeGreen offers sage advice . . . in general with my Oslo (V2) I get anywhere from 5-9 hours typically . . . but a lot depends on the outside temps, wind, wood species, how well I pack the stove, size of the splits, etc. When it's a balmy 30-50 degrees outside I get much longer burn times vs. when it's sub-zero and the wind is howling . . . plus at that point I generally need to be a little more aware of coal control so I don't end up with a huge bed of coals.

Also . . . probe style thermometers are for double wall stove pipe. If you have single wall stove pipe a magnetic thermometer would work.