Jotul Firelight model 12 - Doing the repair, Just about complete

Center_Chimney · Nov 13, 2013

Figured it out! I had the damper frame mounted over top of the rear burnplate instead of underneath it. Remounted it correctly and now the damper rod locks in place when I close it then when I open it back up it catches on the little hook on the back of the damper door and pulls it back down. Simple mistake but would have made the stove unusable if the damper door wasn't working. Now to bolt the top back on, cut new stovepipes to connect to the liner pipe and fire her up.
When its all done I'll tell you all about how heinous a job this turned out to be - mainly because I live in an ancient house and every job turns into a nightmare.

begreen · Nov 13, 2013

Replace the burn plate if it's at end of life.

rothnh · Nov 13, 2013

Your email reminded me that I wanted to post some photos relating to my rebuild process. I did not go for glamour, but wanted to take care of my core needs. I've been burning wood for two weeks and all seems to be going well. My impetus to the repair was the catalytic chambers having totally fallen apart. These photos are in order. Hopefully they help someone out there.

My back plate was warped somewhat, but I also chose to keep it. I will replace it next round. At first I thought I could get the back plate off without removing the top, quickly I realized that was not possible.

Removing the cover involving unscrewing one part of the arm holding the top loader cover.

I installed a new gasket for the cover and hugged it to the edge around the top. Notice the bottom right, I brought the gasket in from the outside.

Notice the bolts and rod on top of the damper for the purpose of re-installing.

The damper came off easily. I installed a new 3/8" gasket.

The rear plate sits in a groove. It needed to be cleaned out. I put a small grinder on drill to do so. Lots of loose cement.

The catalytic chamber was a mess. It needed to go. The price of it is ridiculous.

Replacing the back plate took just over 6' of 1/2 inch gasket behind it. I used masking tape per another posting. It took some alignment as the back plate was warped a bit.

Lots of clean up.

Broken aspects of the catalytic chamber.

I am going to post a 2nd posting with more photos..... (to be continued)

rothnh · Nov 13, 2013

New catalytic chamber. My old catalytic converter was in decent shape so I used it. I did remove the band/think gasket around it per some clear advice in another posting.

Connecting the two lifts (the damper and the top cover was tricky. There is a catch to it that locks in. Notice the picture.

All-in-all, this was not a bad job. I am not experienced at doing this and feel as if I was successful. Bolts came out with remarkable ease.

Center_Chimney · Nov 14, 2013

thanks for the detailed photos rothnh - very helpful! I laughed at your cat chamber cause mine looked just as bad but I put it back in - dont have a spare $400 right now. I know I won't be burning at peak efficiency but it's got to burn better than it did before, which was pretty good! I bought this used 5 years ago - all I did was replace the cat and a couple gaskets and I've burned 5-6 cord/year for the last 5 years. Now that I know what I'm doing I can strip it down pretty quick to replace anything in the future.

Ashful · Nov 14, 2013

Hey, Center_Chimney. Have you posted photos of that big ol' fireplace anywhere, or of the rest of your house? Looks interesting.

Thanks!

rothnh · Nov 14, 2013

Yea... my thoughts exactly about keeping it going... The stove is definitely improved. I picked up mine for $200 used about five years ago. Recently I bought parts at Chelmsford (MA) Fireplace Shop for a bit less. That catalytic chamber is no bargain. Lots of dough for lots of foam! Glad I could help. Others help me in a big way. This site is great. Steve

Center_Chimney · Nov 14, 2013

Joful said:
Hey, Center_Chimney. Have you posted photos of that big ol' fireplace anywhere, or of the rest of your house? Looks interesting.
Thanks!

Hi Joful - I have pics of my house on this site. You may have to register to see them though but it's well worth it if you're an old house owner - lots of good forums and information exchange.
My fireplace is rather huge - 8x5 ft and the hearth extends out about 3 ft. The flue is massive - about 2x5 ft at the bottom and then narrows towards the top where the other 4 flues come in. It never had a chimney cap before we bought the place 5 yrs ago so for 250 yrs water ran down the flue and eroded away the hearth and caused stones to slip and buckle in the chimney base in the cellar. So one of our first jobs was get it capped, put in a liner and rebuild the hearth. The guys that installed the liner and cap did a crappy job. So the cap (3 peices of slate) leaks constantly at the joints and this year when I was cleaning the liner from the bottom the brush got stuck and as I yanked on it the bracket pulled loose at the top holding the liner in place. It was attached very loosely and the bracket had corroded - 30 ft of liner was dangling and threatening to fall down into my chimney! So I spent hours on my roof with my head and shoulders jammed under the slate cap attaching new brackets, then I climbed up the flue from the bottom and bracketed it down there. At least the liner is secure now - then I attacked the stove itself. We could not survive in this house without a big woodstove - its 3500 sf and very poorly insulated with not a level floor or square door or window in it.
http://www.myoldhouseonline.com/profile/JimFinley

Ashful · Nov 14, 2013

I just got to read all of rothnh's posts... glad it came out good! I paid only $250 for my cat chamber in early 2013. At some point, I need to replace the one in the second F12, and I'm bummed to see they're now asking $400 for that part. Crazy, for a few simple slabs of refractory, cemented together.

Center_Chimney · Nov 14, 2013

rothnh said:
Yea... my thoughts exactly about keeping it going... The stove is definitely improved. I picked up mine for $200 used about five years ago. Recently I bought parts at Chelmsford (MA) Fireplace Shop for a bit less. That catalytic chamber is no bargain. Lots of dough for lots of foam! Glad I could help. Others help me in a big way. This site is great. Steve

$200 was a great deal! My stove is a 1997 model and I paid $1000 for it 5 years ago. Replaced the cat, $150, and the inner burn plate ~$150 and 1 door glass $105, and lots of gaskets - but nothing major yet. But like I say, it now needs the cat chamber, rear burn plate, and a new inner burn plate (which has cracked very quickly). I'll try to space it out over time. We depend heavily on this stove though, so its well worth it in the long run.

Ashful · Nov 14, 2013

Center_Chimney said:
We could not survive in this house without a big woodstove - its 3500 sf and very poorly insulated with not a level floor or square door or window in it.
http://www.myoldhouseonline.com/profile/JimFinley

Cool. Thanks! I know your pain, but try 6400 sq.ft. of 1773 old drafty house, with original windows and doors throughout! !!!

edit: slight exaggeration... actually only 26 of the windows are original, and the sq.ft. is 63% 1773, 12% 1894, and 25% 1994.

Center_Chimney · Nov 14, 2013

[quote=" I paid only $250 for my cat chamber in early 2013. At some point, I need to replace the one in the second F12, and I'm bummed to see they're now asking $400 for that part. Crazy, for a few simple slabs of refractory, cemented together.[/quote]
It seems like it wouldnt be hard to make if you could get the refractory foam.....

Center_Chimney · Nov 14, 2013

[quote=" 6400 sq.ft. of 1773 old drafty house, with original windows and doors throughout! !!!

[/quote]
Wow thats huge! I'd love to see pics of it - I love those PA stone farmhouses. Are you in Bucks County? We have all 18th century windows and doors as well - another pain in the neck, but beautiful!

Ashful · Nov 14, 2013

I'm from Bucks (family has been there since 1690's, and many of the old stone farm houses in New Hope bear my family's name), but now I live in MontCo. This house was built by a Mennonite farmer and minister of the local Mennonite church. There are so many pictures of this house on this forum, that I think people are getting tired of seeing them.

Center_Chimney · Nov 15, 2013

I just fired her up this morning and she is burning very nicely - except that I hear rushing air coming from the back top right where the foot pedal linkage goes through. I replaced the gasket around the top the correct way - shouldnt that have sealed around the linkage? The sound does diminish a lot when I close the damper door - but not entirely.

Ashful · Nov 15, 2013

I wish I could help, but I've not opened that linkage chase myself. I thought 100% of the air was channeled between the bottom plates, the cat air coming up thru holes near the cat chamber, and the firebox air coming up thru the plenum where the air shutter is in the front below the door latch. From that shutter, the firebox air goes up behind the door hinges, and enters firebox above door glass. I did not know of any air traveling thru the linkage chase.

benc · Dec 23, 2014

Nice rebuild. I have had a Firelight 12 for 20 years and a Vermont Castings Vigilant for 17 years before. I really like the Firelight and have it cleaned and inspected annually, have replaced the catalyst once, and replaced a cracked back burn plate this season.

I have a bit of a head scratcher. I load the stove, fire it up, get the stack temp up, close the doors and damp it down and the fire drops right down. If I undamp and crack the doors, the fire comes right back. I'm guessing it's not getting enough combustion air with the doors closed. I'm thinking there's some kind of blockage in the cir intake path. What's the air intake entry point and path by the damper control and how might I clean it?

Ashful · Dec 23, 2014

If you didn't already have 20 years on this stove, I'd assume wet wood, as I have the same symptoms with poorly-seasoned oak. However, I'm sure you're already aware of that.

Jotul added an access panel to the plenum below the front doors, inside the stove, sometime in the mid-1990's. If your stove has this access panel, just get yourself some 3/16" braided rope gasket (about 2' worth) and some cement, and remove this access panel to service / vacuum the sliding air control. If your stove is older (one of mine was), then the easiest option is to cut the required hole to install an access panel in your stove. I purchased a spare panel for my 1993 vintage F12, and did just this. I used a pneumatic cutoff tool (photo below) to cut the required square hole, and drilled and tapped the two required screw holes. I even went metric to match factory screw size, rather than having an odd imperial size substitute.

That said, I wonder how that mechanism would get clogged, as there's really no path from the firebox into the air intake. All air comes thru the top front of the firebox, down across the doors. Have you checked the position of the little sliding air damn that is bolted in above the doors? I've never really understood how this should be adjusted, so I always just set mine in the middle of the range (slotted bolt holes), and tighten the screws. There is no mention of this adjustment in the manual.

benc · Dec 23, 2014

Joful said:
If you didn't already have 20 years on this stove, I'd assume wet wood, as I have the same symptoms with poorly-seasoned oak. However, I'm sure you're already aware of that.

Jotul added an access panel to the plenum below the front doors, inside the stove, sometime in the mid-1990's. If your stove has this access panel, just get yourself some 3/16" braided rope gasket (about 2' worth) and some cement, and remove this access panel to service / vacuum the sliding air control. If your stove is older (one of mine was), then the easiest option is to cut the required hole to install an access panel in your stove. I purchased a spare panel for my 1993 vintage F12, and did just this. I used a pneumatic cutoff tool (photo below) to cut the required square hole, and drilled and tapped the two required screw holes. I even went metric to match factory screw size, rather than having an odd imperial size substitute.

That said, I wonder how that mechanism would get clogged, as there's really no path from the firebox into the air intake. All air comes thru the top front of the firebox, down across the doors. Have you checked the position of the little sliding air damn that is bolted in above the doors? I've never really understood how this should be adjusted, so I always just set mine in the middle of the range (slotted bolt holes), and tighten the screws. There is no mention of this adjustment in the manual.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not happy with the wood I got this year. My usual supplier was out. I think I'll have to bite the bullet and agree with wet wood. Just have to wait for a few freeze-thaw cycles to help it dry and get my supply in earlier next year. Happy Holidays.

Ashful · Dec 23, 2014

Most people burning a catalytic stove would be getting their 2017-2018 wood stacked for seasoning, right now. I'm burning wood I split and stacked in June 2013, and it's not ideal.

Ohlson35 · Sep 8, 2016

rothnh said:
Yea... my thoughts exactly about keeping it going... The stove is definitely improved. I picked up mine for $200 used about five years ago. Recently I bought parts at Chelmsford (MA) Fireplace Shop for a bit less. That catalytic chamber is no bargain. Lots of dough for lots of foam! Glad I could help. Others help me in a big way. This site is great. Steve

how did the rebuild go/new catilic converter?

Jotul Firelight model 12 - Doing the repair, Just about complete

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