jotul fb 500 oslo?

[Ambull]

Seems the blue black is the crowd favorite around here anyways, I had my sights set on the flat black one and the wife talked me into the blue black. The only issue is the ash spilling out of the front door, not that big of a deal, to me anyhow. Our Oslo definitely likes to run hot, usually the top is at atleast 500 and the house is 75-80 in all but the coldest weather, yesterday it was +5 with some breeze and the house was 78 all day with the damper at about 1/2.

You could put a flue damper on that stove to slow it down a bit. Unless you like sitting in your house in shorts and a t shirt all winter.

 

[jerryw66]

You could put a flue damper on that stove to slow it down a bit. Unless you like sitting in your house in shorts and a t shirt all winter.

no need for a flue damper, the stoves draft control does a fine job, I'm just saying it's easy for our setup to heat our house. It varies from house to house, and we pretty much burn very dry ash and locust all winter. We have 4 small children, so it's nice to have the house above 75, 80 is to warm for me but not the rest of the family.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

You could put a flue damper on that stove to slow it down a bit. Unless you like sitting in your house in shorts and a t shirt all winter.

Personally, I very seldom run my Oslo at 1/2 air. Fire it up, temp reaches anywhere from 450-550 and I turn air down to 1/2. About 15 minutes later I turn air down to about 1/4 or slightly less which controls heat output and lengthens burn time

Shari

 

[logbutcher]

I think that the Oslo is Jotul's best stove. The Firelight is slightly bigger, but the front double door is a PITA. The Oslo has that giant front door, making it easy to load and view.

You will get long burn times and plenty of heat with that stove. Every year or two I would recommend taking apart the reburn system and cleaning it, as it will work better. The first time is tough, but after that it gets much easier.

Never thought about it Ambull.....good idea !

Now, some details of how and why.

Thx.

Plain cast iron and steel stoves develop burn patterns after a season. It looks "splotchy" and uneven. We used to take stoves out in the spring for the annual tune up and hi-temp spray-----true PITA. Porcelain is baked on ( WILL CHIP !); easy damp rag to clean it off forever for company coming, or that blue/black romantic evening in front of the fire.

 

[Wood Doctor]

No side loading door on the Jotul Oslo? So, you have to load new logs by opening the big front door?

Hmmm... I'll have to think about that. My Federal Airtight 288 and the vintage Vermont Castings Defiant (if you can still find either of them) have side loading doors and handle 24" logs. In either of these stoves, you can load logs from the front as well. I tend to like that.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

No side loading door on the Jotul Oslo?

The Oslo has front and left-side door openings. Also, it takes up to 20" splits.

Shari

 

[Wood Doctor]

The Oslo has front and left-side door openings. Also, it takes up to 20" splits.

Shari

OK, Shari, I guess I missed the side loading door option. My boo boo.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Great stove.

Just a couple of minor whines:
1. Our front door is never used to load the stove. The design lacks some way to prevent accumulating ash from spilling out onto the 'lip'. It spills out even with careful brushing.
2. Like ALL non cat EPA stoves, the air control is set for EPA regs: not too open, not too shut down. You can't get the same degree of air control as with some EPA cat stoves or most of the pre-EPA wood stoves. The slider for this needs some graphite lubing from time to time.

1. True. I almost never open the front door except to clean the glass and when I'm giving the interior a good vacuuming (ash vac)

2. I drilled the holes in the intake cover one size bigger than it came with. I also took the slider out and sanded the rough cast bearing surfaces smooth. That helped a lot with the sliding. Graphite used also, but not needed so far this season.

It does a good job heating our 1700 sq ft and holds a fire pretty well. If it gets down into the teens or lower, I can't shut it down as much at night and usually refill about 3am or whenever I happen to wake and notice the temp is dropping. I will say the windows in our house, while double pane, are Lowes specials. They aren't the greatest for holding the heat. The porch door is double width, all glass, and another Lowes purchase. You can feel the cold air coming off it. The stove would do much better had the house builder not pinched every penny till he could see through it.

Ian

 

[Haywire Haywood]

The Oslo has front and left-side door openings. Also, it takes up to 20" splits.

Shari

I can get 23 in mine, wall to door, side loading. 24 will fit but only if the cuts are square on both ends. If loading through the front, 20 is about it.

Ian

 

[Wood Doctor]

HH said, "The stove would do much better had the house builder not pinched every penny till he could see through it."
-------------
In fact, the stove would probably not do any better at all. The infiltration from the rest of the house is feeding the stove air. The stove loves you for that.

The builder needed his head examined.

 

[wej52]

And I am also another happy Olso owner. We have had ours for 4 years and it easily heats our 1900 sq ft house. Right now in central Va.it is 82 inside with the wind and temperature of 22 outside. (In laws from Florida are here through Christmas). I have been heating with wood for 28 years and this is by far the best stove I have ever used. Using dry wood it will hold a fire until about 4:00 am when shut down at 9:00. It cut my wood consumption by about 25% over my previous stove. Well worth the price. willie jones

 

[Wife'nHubby]

I can get 23 in mine, wall to door, side loading. 24 will fit but only if the cuts are square on both ends. If loading through the front, 20 is about it.

Ian

Yup - correct - 20" is the front door rated length. Side door is longer splits but I never measured & will take HH's word for the 23".

Shari

 

[Haywire Haywood]

In fact, the stove would probably not do any better at all.

What I meant is that the stove would do a better job of heating the house if the house wasn't losing heat like it does. Mind you the big glass door isn't leaking air, I replaced all the seals and caulked every crack. It leaks heat right through the double pane glass, and we replaced the pane a couple years ago because my better half didn't like the fake dividers in it.

Ian

 

[Agnes]

We have the Oslo and love it! Plain black nothing fancy if I had to do it again I would go with the porcelain just for aesthetics.

You will get long burn times and plenty of heat with that stove. Every year or two I would recommend taking apart the reburn system and cleaning it, as it will work better. The first time is tough, but after that it gets much easier.

What do you clean it with? Looks like 2 bolts on each side and assume it will drop out for cleaning.

 

[Ambull]

Never thought about it Ambull.....good idea !

Now, some details of how and why.

Thx.

I didn't have the OSLO, but I had a Firelight and a Castine. When I removed the reburn system on the Firelight I found that a lot of ash had accumulated in it and on top of it. The system has a bunch of pipes with holes in them, and they are difficult to line up when putting back together. Once clean, the stove would draw better and burn better.

I am sure that the Oslo has a similar reburn system to the firelight. There are a couple of bolts holding in the brackets on each side, when those bolts are removed, the unit drops right down. There is a fiberglass mat on top, and some care needs to be taken to not tear this, as it is fairly fragile. The best move is to keep it aside, and then put it back in through the chimney hole when finished. No rocket science to cleaning it, as it mostly involves just removing the accumulated ash.

Hope this helps.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

how often did you do that?

Ian

 

[Ambull]

how often did you do that?

Ian

Once a year. I burned a lot of wood in it though. 5 cords a year or so. I sort of happened upon it, because it came loose and fell apart the second year I had it, so I was forced into the first cleaning.

Never really found a good trick for the glass. I would use 409 to clean it, first thing in the morning before adding wood. Difficult job, as the stove was usually pretty hot at that point.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I might look at that after the season is over.

I don't have a problem with the glass except early and late in the season when I'm running small fires. Now with it running full tilt, the glass is clean as a whistle.

Ian

 

[jerryw66]

I might try to blow compressed air through that system, It will certainly be dusty, I'll make sure the fire is long out and the wife is long gone away. Think that might work, sure be easier than removing those pipes.