trying to learn my jotul118 burning habits

[mascari5]

I now have my 1979 jotul118 in its place after the rebuild. I added cement to all the seams and put it back together. After I was done I did have a small light leak on the upper part where the prayer is inscripted. Not huge but I need to seal it.I placed a piece of pine and hardwood and started a fire to see how it burns.
Well it seems real hard to get the fire started in this stove. I know my smaller jotul 602 started real easy. I have the air flow all the way open but the fire seems to be more of smolder. I suppose the wood could be a little wet but im not 100% sure.
The second thing I notice is that when I open the door I see some smoke coming from the back of the stove in some of the seams. This area of the stove passed the light test. When I close the door no smoke comes from the seams so Im a bit confused.
Any tips on the smoke and getting a good fire going in this type of stove? My guess is that the fire is a result of sort of green wood but the smoke from the seams is weird.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like it could be a combo of damp wood and weak draft. This stove will need a bit more draft than the 602 to get going. Draft is going to be weaker during mild weather. It could be the stove will work fine once it gets cooler. Try starting it with dry 2x4 construction scraps.

Can you describe the flue setup for the stove? What size pipe, how tall, how many elbows or tee connection?

 

[mascari5]

I may have answered my own question. The wood was towards the back of the stove so it may have had an impact on the air flow on the log.I pulled the log towards the front and closed the air intake about 50% and right away the log caught. Hmmm I wonder if that means I need to be pulling wood forward all the time in this stove. A lot of my cut lengths are about 24 inches so hopefully this is not an issue. I put my 602 aside because I was sick of baby sitting it lol.

 

[mascari5]

the pipe is 6 inch double wall and goes through a single story only about 10 feet high from floor to top. It does have one tee from the side going up.

 

[begreen]

That's pretty short. The tee adds resistance so this is more like a 6' or 7' chimney. Is there enough chimney out the roof to meet the 10-3-2 requirement?

 

[mascari5]

yeah its meets all requirements because its a flat roof ( not great for new England winters). the main roof is about 15 feet away before it pitches up. The 602 had a top exit with no tee and drafted like crazy. As a matter of fact I had to keep the air inlet closed because it had a tendancy to run hot with little to almost closed flue. The fire just ent out and is smoldering again. Maybe I will buy another 3 foot section of pipe.

 

[begreen]

What are the outside temps? Do you have some 2x4 scrap wood to burn?
Top exit will vent the best. If the chimney is extended it will need a brace at 5 ft above the roof penetration.

 

[mascari5]

What are the outside temps? Do you have some 2x4 scrap wood to burn?
Top exit will vent the best. If the chimney is extended it will need a brace at 5 ft above the roof penetration.

The temp yesterday was around 70 or so. I fired it becuase I need to make sure everything is working well before the cold weather hits us. I plan on cutting up a pallet at work today and bringing it home to burn. My wife also reminded me that we had a couple birds come down the chimney and end up in the wood stove early summer. I guess there is a chance that they may have nested in there late spring. I cleaned the chimney in March when things started to warm up a little.It is only one year old and little to no build up. To be honest I`d hate to extend the chimney because it`s already 4 feet above the roof and the roof is flat. If I go up any higher it may look sort of strange having 7 feet above a flat to almost no pitch roof.

 

[begreen]

Draft will improve significantly with outside temps below 40F. Checking for any blockage is a good idea. Be careful if you see a lot of wasp activity there.

If extending the chimney is out, would switching the flue connection to a top exit be an option for this install?

 

[mascari5]

Draft will improve significantly with outside temps below 40F. Checking for any blockage is a good idea. Be careful if you see a lot of wasp activity there.

If extending the chimney is out, would switching the flue connection to a top exit be an option for this install?

Thanks BEGREEN, Im not sure a top exit could be done with out a ton of mods to my stove. This model has a side exit(left or right) and a rear exit. I did not have any time yesterday to look at my chimney. Hopefully I can get away with what I have but I guess I need to wait till october to see how it drafts in colder weather. I wish I planned a little better because I cut all my wood 18-20" this year so even going back to my 602 would be difficult unless I want to re-cut everything.

 

[mascari5]

BTW do you think this old of a stove will have any problem heating my 1100sf house ? I have tried to find some sort of documents that state how many sf it can handle. I have to assume that it will do fine. I plan on running it at about 450~550f. I live in New Hampshire so we do get some real cold days here.

 

[begreen]

The 118 is a serious heater. Unless the house is a leaky barn it should easily heat all 1100 sq ft.

 

[mascari5]

thats good news. The house is well insulated and even on the coldest days the 602 did a decent job. We had a couple days where the temp was about minus 10f here and the 602 kept the house in the upper 60`s to 70. The only thing is that I had to run the 602 hot to keep up. I had to keep it at about 600f (measured on the top near the burn plate). Im hoping that the 118 can run a little lower and produce the same or more heat. Its a much biiger stove so another hope is for longer burns. My only complaint with the 602 was loading every 3-4 hours.

 

[begreen]

That is pretty much the way we ran the 602 when it was in the house. The F118 should be able to run at about 450-500F for notably longer periods of time.