Boiling a kettle on a Jotul...

Just a tip, I do quite a bit of cooking on the wood stove during the winter because it's hot enough why waste electric on the stove and often the cooking involves boiling water. Anyway I cover the area of the stove top with aluminum foil as to madison point. Good luck, hopefully you can solve the problem.

If it helps anyone, I have recently installed a Jotul F100, the new model without the waffle top and it would not boil water. When I got the stove the shop game me a 5" flue adapter which I did not need as the stove came with a 6" flue adapter that worked fine. I have had the 5" adapter turned down at an engineering company then welded an 8" dea 12mm thick steel plate to the adapter, this has then been fitted on the top of the stove instead of the flue blanker. It seems to be working pretty well, it will boil water just about and I have been thinking about ways to make it better. The back corners of the stove are obviously much hotter than my hotplate, not sure if this is because the steel I have used is too thick or because my hot plate is over the flue and there is just too much air flow under it.

I plan to experiment more to see if I can get it as hot as the back corners.

Even if I cant get it to boil water, it looks pretty good and and if you keep the kettle on a cooler part of the stove (near the front) then when placed on the hot plate its simmering within a few minutes.

Has anyone else experimented with this ?

Quaditch said:

If it helps anyone, I have recently installed a Jotul F100, the new model without the waffle top and it would not boil water. When I got the stove the shop game me a 5" flue adapter which I did not need as the stove came with a 6" flue adapter that worked fine. I have had the 5" adapter turned down at an engineering company then welded an 8" dea 12mm thick steel plate to the adapter, this has then been fitted on the top of the stove instead of the flue blanker. It seems to be working pretty well, it will boil water just about and I have been thinking about ways to make it better. The back corners of the stove are obviously much hotter than my hotplate, not sure if this is because the steel I have used is too thick or because my hot plate is over the flue and there is just too much air flow under it.

I plan to experiment more to see if I can get it as hot as the back corners.

Even if I cant get it to boil water, it looks pretty good and and if you keep the kettle on a cooler part of the stove (near the front) then when placed on the hot plate its simmering within a few minutes.

Has anyone else experimented with this ?

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Experimented, yes. simmering water can become a full boil and when the water erupts and lands on a hot stove will scare the heck out of you. That pretty pot of water can turn very nasty looking concoction after a few days of refilling. IMHO it is not worth the little humidity, and rust and stains on the stove.

madison said:

Experimented, yes. simmering water can become a full boil and when the water erupts and lands on a hot stove will scare the heck out of you. That pretty pot of water can turn very nasty looking concoction after a few days of refilling. IMHO it is not worth the little humidity, and rust and stains on the stove.

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To be honest I wasn't doing it for humidity, its the kettle I wanted for making drinks so no danger of it boiling over. I am thinking it may be the flue drawing air past the bottom of the hotplate that is keeping it cool, I might experiment with some sort of baffle on the bottom of the hotplate to stop the air from moving across it in an attempt to make trap heat and make it hotter.

I would be cognizant that the kettle left (for extended times without cleaning) sitting on the stovetop can brew some "nasty" bugs, perfect setup for bacteria - warm and humid.

Also, and others will disagree -- which is cool, IMHO putting water near steel and iron is a recipe for rust, so if you care about the appearance of the stove, the water kettles may not a good thing. From first hand experience, I have rust and corrosion from a kettle. I also cook on ours so that has done its own damage as well.

madison said:

kettle left (for extended times without cleaning) sitting on the stovetop can brew some "nasty" bugs, perfect setup for bacteria - warm and humid

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Not really that different from any form of humidifier, if uncleaned/unchanged.

My stove top has an open cast iron kettle that never actively boils, but steams off up to a few gallons a day. We periodically let it run dry on the hot stove, then let it cool before refilling, so the water is fresh. I doubt the environment is good for a bacterial stew, as it is generally hot, not warm.

We also have a standard tea kettle, which is used on our electric stove, that will come to a rolling boil on the hot wood stove without problem. No rust on the stove from either of these, but I do have a bit of rust and other spots from stovetop cooking, which for me is more of stain-maker than is warming water for either tea/coffee or humidity.