New home with Jotul F500 series stove - defective blower?

[Fizxman]

Hello! I am new here to this forum and I hope someone can help me...
We purchased a 10-yr old home in Northwest Arkansas with an existing Jotul F500 stove installed into a brick alcove. I've never owned a wood stove before, so I have a few questions...

1. The stove seems to work fairly well, except for the blower, which does not seem to function at all. I understand that there is a thermostat built in, and we did not expect the unit to click on right away, but even when the stove got hot, there was no activity from the blower at all. Is there a fuse somewhere on the unit, or is there someone who can help me troubleshoot this? Checking on the web we've found the unit is fairly expensive, and we thought to repair rather than replace it.

2. Is there anything I should do to test that the stove is functioning properly?

3. What maintenance should I do on this stove - and how often? We don't know if the chimney has ever been cleaned out - or how to check if it is needed.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[cus_deluxe]

not sure how handy you are with a multi-meter, but it should be fairly easy to check power to the blower and thermostat /switch....could be simple fix, could be cooked.
as for maintenance, it is a non-catalytic stove, and should require very little in way of maintenance. Hiring a chimneysweep is pretty cheap insurance to have it checked initially, after that it might be worth getting a set of brushes to clean it yourself. If using good dry wood, cleaning it once a year should be plenty.

 

[Del_]

That blower has nothing to do with your Jotul F500 Olso.

Someone just put that fan there. It must be broke.

 

[Chris-PA]

That blower has nothing to do with your Jotul F500 Olso.

Someone just put that fan there. It must be broke.

I'm pretty sure that's just one of those thermoelectric fans - the blower would be what that cord on the floor is attached to?

 

[Del_]

I'm pretty sure that's just one of those thermoelectric fans - the blower would be what that cord on the floor is attached to?

Oh, I see it now. I didn't know a blower was an option. The stove must have some cowling on it's back side.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Yep, blowers are an option and they mount to the cowling back there. I didn't have one though, I just pointed a normal fan at it. Don't know if it did any good or not. Since that one is sitting in an alcove, a regular fan might do a pretty good job because the alcove would funnel the air around the stove.

 

[Del_]

I don't have a cowling anywhere on my F600CB. Seems I do remember it being an option and to be used in tight installs.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

It allows it to be mounted within 9" of combustables IIRC. It also is used with the fan to funnel the air up the back and over the front.

 

[cus_deluxe]

so there, refer to post #2