Review of Jotul F 500 stove
Old friend
We have had this stove for almost five years now in our roomy French farmhouse. It runs all the time during the colder months and is our main form of heating, the back up electric radiators hardly ever switched on.
Burning well seasoned 500mm oak logs put on the stove via the side door which is a great feature, this is truly a prince among wood stoves. The secondary burn tubes give the flame an almost "Northern Lights" quality dancing behind the door glass. The glass stays clean generally even overnight but needs very well seasoned wood to do this. It easy to light from the night before with the embers just needing reviving in the morning. Normally the stove is still warm due to the fact it is cast iron and very heavy. Lighting from cold is simple too. It has an ash can underneath which is superflous as it is easy to clean through the front door. Two small criticisms. Anything dropping down the flue is collected at the bottom of the flue entry rather than falling into the stove. This area is accessed by lifting out the top plate. French flues tend not to be insulated so the "crisps" or dried up creosote falling down can build up and in a worst case scenario could cause a fire in this section of the stove. Ask me how I know! Not difficult to deal with but time consuming and a potential problem if you don't know about it. Also access to the flue for brushing from the stove end is tricky due to the fact the throat plate cannot be removed and has to be re-positioned and then it is a bit of a fiddle to get the brush in from the front of the stove. That said these are minor irritations and the stove is excellent overall in every way, gives out phenomenal heat and I would have no hesitation in buying another one. It is always a pleasure lighting it up for the first time in the Autumn, just like welcoming an old friend back! We run a Jotul 602N in another part of the house, that is good too, and it's nickname of "little giant" is understandable when you fire it up!Stove expert replied: It is good practise to haev an alternative access for sweeping in a flue system rather than relying on sweeping through a stove, this may overcome the issue of residues at the base of the flue.