Installed a Jotul F3 CB about one month ago and although I would generally say it's going well, I do have a few questions.
First some background info that would be helpful. We're in southeast PA, in a 200 year old stone farmhouse built into the hillside (ground level in the rear is level with the second floor). There are three floors, connected by winding staircases. No significant additions to the original house, which is 20' deep and 24' wide, so 480 sq ft per floor. It previously had replacement windows installed, but otherwise the house is anything but tight. The house has walk-in fireplaces on the first and second floors that share a common internal chimney structure with individual original plaster lined flues. The first floor fireplace is actually offset to the front of the gable end of the house, while the second floor fireplace is about centered in the gable wall. Hence, the flue for the first floor fireplace has a gentle curve to it so it can join the center chimney. I would estimate the length of the first floor fireplace flue to be 25-30 ft.
When we bought the house in 2014, there was no stove installed in either fireplace but both had just been relined with 6" flexible stainless liners and a new chimney cap by the previous owners. These liners are not insulated. The original flues are roughly 18" square, now with the 6" liner running up them. Our first winter we heated the first and second floors with the oil/hot water boiler but kept the temps only about 60*. Since then, we've only heated the first floor, still at 60*. The second floor gets some heat coming up through the floors and stairway (door kept closed)... and generally sits at 54*. The third floor where the bedrooms are located has electric baseboards which we don't use except for my son's bedroom occasionally. So it gets quite cold up there... I've seen 39*. So you can imagine it's generally pretty cold in the house during the winter trying to keep the oil bills down... yet still pretty expensive. Worst of both worlds, haha.
So that sets the stage for buying a wood stove. We have about 6 wooded acres, more tulip poplar than anything, but also fair amounts of red oak and ash (which of course are all dying). A few years ago I built a nice woodshed and filled it with split cherry, oak, and ash in prep for buying a stove but didn't actually have the opportunity to buy a stove until a month ago.
The stove was new in 1999, but has been disused since 2011. It is in very nice, clean condition. Using the dollar bill trick, the door and ash pan gaskets are tight. I had the top off the stove to clean it and that gasket is also tight. I have not checked the gasket between the ashpan and stove body and I read that can be troublesome. There is a telescoping, black, single wall stove pipe from the 'T' at the rear of the stove going up about 5 feet to join the flexible stainless liner at the block off plate at the top of the fireplace. We've been using it as our only heat source for a month... once it reaches a 400*F cruise, it will keep the first floor at about 65-66*F which is better than we've ever lived! I'm planning to buy an Ecofan too, so that should help. I'd say we've been averaging outside daytime temps in the 40s and nighttime temps in the upper 20s.
Questions:
1) Looking for advice on whether or not I could benefit from installing a stove pipe damper to aid burn times. First, I know this is a small stove... still wondering if I should I upgrade to an F400/500 in the future. Being a small stove, you can't put much wood in it at one time. But if I get 3 hours burn time out of two thick 18" pieces of dry oak or ash, that's a better than typical burn. Yes, this is with the startup damper and primary damper fully closed. If I go to bed at midnight with the stove freshly loaded and cruising nicely at 350-400*F on the stovetop thermometer, by 3:30AM, it's either fully dead or so little embers remain that it takes 30+ minutes to get going again. In that scenario, I often find the thermometer reading 150-200*F. Thus in an 8 hour night, I have to get up twice for 30 minutes to keep the stove going. Would a stove pipe damper help? If so, where's the best place to put it and how should I use it to my advantage?
2) As I mentioned in Question 1, I usually put no more than 2 thick pieces of 18" oak or ash in at one time when going for maximum burn. The reason is that if I add a third piece, it has to go on top of the first two and this makes it within a few inches of the top of the firebox. In this scenario, I find the stove goes into an uncontrollable burn. If it was previously cruising steadily at 400*F and I add a third piece too close to the top of the firebox, it will jump to 600*+ even with the dampers fully closed. I've been very careful with this, by either leaving the door open for a bit till the wood burns down or trying to quickly remove the third piece... otherwise the stove would probably go beyond 600*F. Have other people found this to be true with their F3? Perhaps having the wood too close to the roof of the firebox negatively affects how airflow is designed ?
3) How often should I be getting the flue liner cleaned? I understand this depends on many variables but I'm totally new to this with no point of reference. Monthly? Once per season?
4) When I run the stove fully damped for the longest burn times at night, I assume those are the times when I'm adding the most creosote to the inside of the liner. I guess this is unavoidable but I also worry adding a stove pipe damper could make this even worse. Thoughts?
5) We haven't burned full time for the last month, I'd estimate it totals 2 weeks of continuous burning. My woodshed holds just shy of 2 cords of wood. In that two weeks, we've used nearly a quarter of that, so half a cord. Again I have no frame of reference here, but will say I'd hoped it would last longer. Does that seem normal-ish?
Thanks!
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![[Hearth.com] Questions on Running a Jotul F3 After First Month](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/286/286441-22c198f6a9f65b0cc3e88cfe27fa3a7b.jpg?hash=kgmy7u8JaW "[Hearth.com] Questions on Running a Jotul F3 After First Month")
First some background info that would be helpful. We're in southeast PA, in a 200 year old stone farmhouse built into the hillside (ground level in the rear is level with the second floor). There are three floors, connected by winding staircases. No significant additions to the original house, which is 20' deep and 24' wide, so 480 sq ft per floor. It previously had replacement windows installed, but otherwise the house is anything but tight. The house has walk-in fireplaces on the first and second floors that share a common internal chimney structure with individual original plaster lined flues. The first floor fireplace is actually offset to the front of the gable end of the house, while the second floor fireplace is about centered in the gable wall. Hence, the flue for the first floor fireplace has a gentle curve to it so it can join the center chimney. I would estimate the length of the first floor fireplace flue to be 25-30 ft.
When we bought the house in 2014, there was no stove installed in either fireplace but both had just been relined with 6" flexible stainless liners and a new chimney cap by the previous owners. These liners are not insulated. The original flues are roughly 18" square, now with the 6" liner running up them. Our first winter we heated the first and second floors with the oil/hot water boiler but kept the temps only about 60*. Since then, we've only heated the first floor, still at 60*. The second floor gets some heat coming up through the floors and stairway (door kept closed)... and generally sits at 54*. The third floor where the bedrooms are located has electric baseboards which we don't use except for my son's bedroom occasionally. So it gets quite cold up there... I've seen 39*. So you can imagine it's generally pretty cold in the house during the winter trying to keep the oil bills down... yet still pretty expensive. Worst of both worlds, haha.
So that sets the stage for buying a wood stove. We have about 6 wooded acres, more tulip poplar than anything, but also fair amounts of red oak and ash (which of course are all dying). A few years ago I built a nice woodshed and filled it with split cherry, oak, and ash in prep for buying a stove but didn't actually have the opportunity to buy a stove until a month ago.
The stove was new in 1999, but has been disused since 2011. It is in very nice, clean condition. Using the dollar bill trick, the door and ash pan gaskets are tight. I had the top off the stove to clean it and that gasket is also tight. I have not checked the gasket between the ashpan and stove body and I read that can be troublesome. There is a telescoping, black, single wall stove pipe from the 'T' at the rear of the stove going up about 5 feet to join the flexible stainless liner at the block off plate at the top of the fireplace. We've been using it as our only heat source for a month... once it reaches a 400*F cruise, it will keep the first floor at about 65-66*F which is better than we've ever lived! I'm planning to buy an Ecofan too, so that should help. I'd say we've been averaging outside daytime temps in the 40s and nighttime temps in the upper 20s.
Questions:
1) Looking for advice on whether or not I could benefit from installing a stove pipe damper to aid burn times. First, I know this is a small stove... still wondering if I should I upgrade to an F400/500 in the future. Being a small stove, you can't put much wood in it at one time. But if I get 3 hours burn time out of two thick 18" pieces of dry oak or ash, that's a better than typical burn. Yes, this is with the startup damper and primary damper fully closed. If I go to bed at midnight with the stove freshly loaded and cruising nicely at 350-400*F on the stovetop thermometer, by 3:30AM, it's either fully dead or so little embers remain that it takes 30+ minutes to get going again. In that scenario, I often find the thermometer reading 150-200*F. Thus in an 8 hour night, I have to get up twice for 30 minutes to keep the stove going. Would a stove pipe damper help? If so, where's the best place to put it and how should I use it to my advantage?
2) As I mentioned in Question 1, I usually put no more than 2 thick pieces of 18" oak or ash in at one time when going for maximum burn. The reason is that if I add a third piece, it has to go on top of the first two and this makes it within a few inches of the top of the firebox. In this scenario, I find the stove goes into an uncontrollable burn. If it was previously cruising steadily at 400*F and I add a third piece too close to the top of the firebox, it will jump to 600*+ even with the dampers fully closed. I've been very careful with this, by either leaving the door open for a bit till the wood burns down or trying to quickly remove the third piece... otherwise the stove would probably go beyond 600*F. Have other people found this to be true with their F3? Perhaps having the wood too close to the roof of the firebox negatively affects how airflow is designed ?
3) How often should I be getting the flue liner cleaned? I understand this depends on many variables but I'm totally new to this with no point of reference. Monthly? Once per season?
4) When I run the stove fully damped for the longest burn times at night, I assume those are the times when I'm adding the most creosote to the inside of the liner. I guess this is unavoidable but I also worry adding a stove pipe damper could make this even worse. Thoughts?
5) We haven't burned full time for the last month, I'd estimate it totals 2 weeks of continuous burning. My woodshed holds just shy of 2 cords of wood. In that two weeks, we've used nearly a quarter of that, so half a cord. Again I have no frame of reference here, but will say I'd hoped it would last longer. Does that seem normal-ish?
Thanks!
