Jøtul F 400 doesn’t get hot. Help!

[Iamklink]

All,

I have a F 400 purchased new from the dealer and it just won’t get up to temp. I am burning very seasoned firewood of all types I have cut and split myself. (We used to have a Vermont castings and never had a problem using all the same firewood ext). The wood is 3 years in a woodshed, I know that’s not the issue


The thermometer never gets out of the creosote range 300ish degrees even though we burn with the damper wide open.

We have also extended the pipe another 10-15 ft (total of 20ish ft out of the stovetop). It should be plenty of pipe

Very frustrating considering the money we invested into a new stove.
Any ideas? Thanks

 

[NCPT]

Where is the stove located and did you have another stove in that location prior to the new installation? You might need to introduce fresh air if this stove is inherently air tight.

 

[Iamklink]

Where is the stove located and did you have another stove in that location prior to the new installation? You might need to introduce fresh air if this stove is inherently air tight.

Yes, our old stove was in the same spot, it’s in an open area between kitchen/living room

How would you recommend going about this?
Thanks for the quick response

 

[homemade]

Try cracking a window to see if the stove is being starved of air for combustion. They do make outside air kits for that stove.
https://www.rockymountainstove.com/jotul-154335-outside-air-adapter/

Did you instal it yourself? Or have a the store you purchased it from instal it?

You could walk get a barometric damper garage to see if your getting draft.

 

[moresnow]

Are you following the manual directions for getting the stove going? I wonder if you need to try cutting the air down in increments (possibly 25% decreases) after getting a good established fire going for 10-15 minutes (maybe longer)? This will usually excite the secondary burn system into action. Temps go up. I don't have that stove so I may be way off! Worth a try if its a standard 2ndary burn tube/baffle stove.

Did you have your connector pipe replaced with the new stove? Any chance its double wall now?

 

[Iamklink]

Are you following the manual directions for getting the stove going? I wonder if you need to try cutting the air down in increments (possibly 25% decreases) after getting a good established fire going for 10-15 minutes (maybe longer)? This will usually excite the secondary burn system into action. Temps go up. I don't have that stove so I may be way off! Worth a try if its a standard 2ndary burn tube/baffle stove.

Did you have your connector pipe replaced with the new stove? Any chance its double wall now?

I will try cracking a window. Thanks for the suggestion

We have single walled pipe in the house and the double walled chrome looking pipe on the exterior

 

[Del_]

The thermometer never gets out of the creosote range 300ish degrees even though we burn with the damper wide open.

Do you mean 'the inlet air control'?

Jotul doesn't suggest the use of stove pipe dampers.

Here is our 15 year old Jotul F600CB running showing high levels of secondary combustion. Your Jotul F400Cb is still a fairly small wood stove.

 

[Iamklink]

Do you mean 'the inlet air control'?

Jotul doesn't suggest the use of stove pipe dampers.

Here is our 15 year old Jotul F600CB running showing high levels of secondary combustion. Your Jotul F400Cb is still a fairly small wood stove.

View attachment 689398

Yes. The inlet air control is wide open. And the stove doesn’t get out of the creosote range on the thermometer. Even if I have the firebox full of wood..

 

[moresnow]

Yes. The inlet air control is wide open. And the stove doesn’t get out of the creosote range on the thermometer. Even if I have the firebox full of wood..

Soooo? After the fire is raging wide open on a full load for a bit (getting a decent char on the splits perhaps) start shutting down the primary air in increments. Try going down to 50%. Let the fire recover a bit(may take 10 minutes or more). Drop down to 25%. Let the secondaries roll. In theory this should work! What are you experiencing if trying this method? Curious.

 

[sunfish]

We have a Jotul 400 & it gets too hot most of the time. It needs a good bed of coals and smallish splits. It will not get as hot with the air wide open. Like others said, close it down a little every 5-10 minutes to get the secondary burn going. I use big splits when we don't need the high heat. And smaller splits when more heat needed. There is a learning curve with these.

 

[sunfish]

There is also a smaller second baffle that sets on top of the primary baffle that has to be installed when you put the stove in. If it's not in place the stove puts out less heat.

 

[GVS]

Are you following the manual directions for getting the stove going? I wonder if you need to try cutting the air down in increments (possibly 25% decreases) after getting a good established fire going for 10-15 minutes (maybe longer)? This will usually excite the secondary burn system into action. Temps go up. I don't have that stove so I may be way off! Worth a try if its a standard 2ndary burn tube/baffle stove.

Did you have your connector pipe replaced with the new stove? Any chance its double wall now?

I would definitely try closing the draft down,not all the way just enough to slow down the fire.Too much air flow into the stove will send heat straight up the stack fast.You may need a damper in the stovepipe.

 

[sunfish]

I would definitely try closing the draft down,not all the way just enough to slow down the fire.Too much air flow into the stove will send heat straight up the stack fast.You may need a damper in the stovepipe.

This type stove will not work right with a flue damper. It needs a strong draft for the secondary burn.

 

[jonsereds 621]

I'm having great success with mine, however to get it to really run as intended did take a fair bit of experimentation.
It requires a modification of light up method used on all my previous stoves. Not all may agree, but this is my method :- Use a small section of firefighter to start up, unlike previous stoves, have this about 2-3 ins from backplate of stove in the centre (so, to the rear not the front as before) get a good pile of kindling or whatever you use and smaller bits on top of this so it will produce plenty of initial heat quickly. without obstructing air path from doghouse to rear of stove, place a larger split a couple of inches in from door, either hold one end of this up off base with a fragment, or use a lump that has a natural bend in it to achieve this, use more smaller pieces (perhaps 2x2x18") on top of now blazing startup at rear, attempting to allow plenty of air path through these. Close door but do not latch, watch fire pickup v quickly (less than 1min) and latch door first ensuring that air slider is full open.
When you have full fire up, close damper to a little over midway, and a watch . Air and flame should now be rolling under main fire, up back and forward again under reburn plate. Allow it to stabilise at this level for perhaps a further five mins or so until whole of contents is well alight (you would have closed down last stove well before this) then close air slider to perhaps 1/4 open. at this point, the reburner will light up if it isn't all ready, and main fire will gradually die down, stovetop thermometer will be coming up well by now, and any stove top fan or gismo will be considering running. If you close down too far at this point, it is still possible to extinguish fire.....so don't. add any further splits without inhibiting air path too much.
It all sounds a lot of fiddling about, but it really isn't. Added bonus is (if it bothers you) you will not be producing any smoke inside 15mins, because you are using this as fuel. Watch the colour of the flame at reburner, with a little care this can be nearly blue/white, and is adjustable (after short delay) with air slider.
This works well for me, I suggest your fire is just burning up the front. Try it.
Do not use timber with creosote or large amount of paint etc, as this burns at reburner and under stove top VERY vigorously and WILL scare the horses.

 

[bigealta]

Top down starts work best in this stove.