The Dark Side
- Thread starter FionaD
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brad wilton
Feeling the Heat
Tell you what... it would be if it had been created by the company who sold and installed my stove!
Kevin Dolan
Burning Hunk
Brad I think Scotland is still north of England but with global warming and all that stuff, who knows lol.
Do you get a lot of wood in qc or is it a bit of a challenge? We have tonnes of ash and maple but not much oak, what are you burning?
Kevin Dolan
Burning Hunk
Bryrond come up to canada and we can check out the horizon. It seems to move with Canadian club or bourbon. Our east wind brings nasty weather, most of our winds are westerly and friendly, what are yours?
Kevin
Kevin
Sorry to interrupt your conversation boys 
I'd love to get back to my topic...especially becuase I just found this -
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/jotul-f-3-cb-not-burning-evenly.997/
This is IT. This is exactly my issue,right down to the soot stains and the missing bit of gasket at the back.
I'm not mad after all...
I'd love to get back to my topic...especially becuase I just found this -https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/jotul-f-3-cb-not-burning-evenly.997/
This is IT. This is exactly my issue,right down to the soot stains and the missing bit of gasket at the back.
I'm not mad after all...
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brad wilton
Feeling the Heat
Neither did I at first... But then I re-read and took in a little more.. See Hawse's post #16.
I have PMd both Wahooad and Tutu_sue.. Hopefully one of them are still here on the forum and could let me know how things went with their identical issues.
As well as the soot stain on the rear left I am missing half of the gasket Hawse mentions. Those four bolts are missing in my stove too, as Hawse's describes. Infact, I even wondered about the general 'loosness' of all the plates, a tendency to want to fall a little into the fire box... Didn't seem right but I kept thinking, "what do I know?"... Seems as though these four bolts, holding the burn plate firmly in place in relation to the rest, has got to help with that. A few days ago, I asked other F3 folk to look in their stoves for those bolts but maybe no one here who could help saw that (would have helped if I'd given this thread a more topical title, mentioning Jotul F3!).
Oh... And I noticed yesterday that the gap between rear baffle and burn plate, where the gasket is missing, actually has a noticeable coolness coming through it!
Anyway, it seems to me I have a pretty solid lead to follow.. I will send a link to that old thread to whatever stove company I approach... Still feel pretty disinclined to go back to the installers, but they are holding the warranty with Jotul and Jotul aren't talking to me about what I can do about that if I prefer not to go back there.
I have PMd both Wahooad and Tutu_sue.. Hopefully one of them are still here on the forum and could let me know how things went with their identical issues.
As well as the soot stain on the rear left I am missing half of the gasket Hawse mentions. Those four bolts are missing in my stove too, as Hawse's describes. Infact, I even wondered about the general 'loosness' of all the plates, a tendency to want to fall a little into the fire box... Didn't seem right but I kept thinking, "what do I know?"... Seems as though these four bolts, holding the burn plate firmly in place in relation to the rest, has got to help with that. A few days ago, I asked other F3 folk to look in their stoves for those bolts but maybe no one here who could help saw that (would have helped if I'd given this thread a more topical title, mentioning Jotul F3!).
Oh... And I noticed yesterday that the gap between rear baffle and burn plate, where the gasket is missing, actually has a noticeable coolness coming through it!
Anyway, it seems to me I have a pretty solid lead to follow.. I will send a link to that old thread to whatever stove company I approach... Still feel pretty disinclined to go back to the installers, but they are holding the warranty with Jotul and Jotul aren't talking to me about what I can do about that if I prefer not to go back there.
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Yeah, Wahoowad posted last Thursday. Fiona, can you post pics? If so, take a bunch so those who have that stove can get some eyes on it. You could also pic up some gasket, either round or flat, that you think would fill the gaps you're seeing, fire it up and see if you detect any change.
Hi woody... I'm in a PM conversation with Wahoowad now, although it seems like his issue was not as pronounced as mine.
Because that old thread I found supported my sense that something seemed to be 'failing', in a minor but nevertheless ongoing way, I decided to bite the bullet and contact the (bad) installers; I seem to have to go through them because of the way Jotul handle their warranties, I had little choice as this is really a warranty issue, I think.
On the plus side, the guy who came round yesterday and had a look at it seemed to think the 'cold spot' as he called it, was something that was an issue but could be fixed with a replacement gasket and the four missing nuts and bolts. I can only hope it's true.. It would be nice if the installers could redeem themselves and even nicer still if they fixed the issue.
In the meantime, given that I seem to be the fourth person to have this issue with a Jotul F3, I do wonder if it's worth highlighting here in the forum as a recurrent issue, so that others don't have to trawl around for so long before finding the answer. Of course, we still need to see if the problem DOES get fixed when the missing parts go in place... It can sure not do any harm to put them where they should have been all along.
Here are pics from Jotul's installation manual that show the bolts my stove doesn't have and that were also missing in some of the others' F3s as well... The missing gasket should be between the rear cast iron baffle and the burn plate.
I will of course conclude this thread whenever the parts (now on order from Jotul) are installed - hopefully there will be a happy ending that will also provide useful information for others in the future!
Because that old thread I found supported my sense that something seemed to be 'failing', in a minor but nevertheless ongoing way, I decided to bite the bullet and contact the (bad) installers; I seem to have to go through them because of the way Jotul handle their warranties, I had little choice as this is really a warranty issue, I think.
On the plus side, the guy who came round yesterday and had a look at it seemed to think the 'cold spot' as he called it, was something that was an issue but could be fixed with a replacement gasket and the four missing nuts and bolts. I can only hope it's true.. It would be nice if the installers could redeem themselves and even nicer still if they fixed the issue.
In the meantime, given that I seem to be the fourth person to have this issue with a Jotul F3, I do wonder if it's worth highlighting here in the forum as a recurrent issue, so that others don't have to trawl around for so long before finding the answer. Of course, we still need to see if the problem DOES get fixed when the missing parts go in place... It can sure not do any harm to put them where they should have been all along.
Here are pics from Jotul's installation manual that show the bolts my stove doesn't have and that were also missing in some of the others' F3s as well... The missing gasket should be between the rear cast iron baffle and the burn plate.
I will of course conclude this thread whenever the parts (now on order from Jotul) are installed - hopefully there will be a happy ending that will also provide useful information for others in the future!
Good information Fiona. These stoves have a well balanced and regulated airflow. If the manifold is not bolted and gasketed in place then there could be air leakage at the sides and bottom of the secondary step-plate. That would disrupt burning patterns and I would expect also reduce efficiency. The question is how did the stove make it through factory inspection without those important bolts and what else got missed?
Quite,,!
I don't think I can (as usual) blame the installers for this one... Or could I? Would they have needed to take the secondary plate out for any reason during installation... Perhaps to fit the rear heat sheild?
And if it was Jotul.. Well, my stove was apparently put together in 2009. The old thread I found was 2006. So it wasn't as though all these stoves were from a single batch.
Perhaps it will come up in conversation between the dealers and Jotul. I hope so, if only to satisfy my curiosity.
Very stormy again here tonight. The weather is really weird here this past two months....
I noticed something similar on my stove. It is the side where the air intake is, hence more air on that side than the othern.
Prichan (hi actually I got the right mixed up with the left on my first post.. My bad burn issue is on the left. The right burns perfectly... All the problems are on the left. Sorry I mixed things up in that post - I'm getting old! 
On the F3, although the control for the air intake is on the right, the air is taken in all along the top front of the stove, so I can't think that would be the issue in my case. Can't speak for a VC stove of course.
With the F3, there may be some design issue that encourages a slight under burn on the left, especially in certain conditions (under par fuel, how wood is loaded, how and when air gets shut down, etc).. I think that may be Wahooad's take on things. But I know now that in my case there are missing parts that could exacerbate this feature into a fully-fledged flaw.
My fingers are crossed...
actually I got the right mixed up with the left on my first post.. My bad burn issue is on the left. The right burns perfectly... All the problems are on the left. Sorry I mixed things up in that post - I'm getting old! On the F3, although the control for the air intake is on the right, the air is taken in all along the top front of the stove, so I can't think that would be the issue in my case. Can't speak for a VC stove of course.
With the F3, there may be some design issue that encourages a slight under burn on the left, especially in certain conditions (under par fuel, how wood is loaded, how and when air gets shut down, etc).. I think that may be Wahooad's take on things. But I know now that in my case there are missing parts that could exacerbate this feature into a fully-fledged flaw.
I want to think that myself.... then I woke up at 4 this morning, thinking.. "But of course they had to remove the heat sheild, burn plate, etc.. in order to knock out the rear exit on the stove!!" So I'm thinking maybe it was them... Or maybe it was an issue with Jotul and the Beardless Boys are relatively innocent just this once.. (Bless them!) if all they did in this instance was not notice the absent bolts.. As long as it gets fixed I don't care too much at this stage who did it...
My fingers are crossed...
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The rear knockout "should" have been removed by removing the two allen screws that hold down the top. However, if they were inexperienced, and couldn't follow instructions, then they might have done it the hard way? That's kind of like having a proctologist do a tonsilectomy.
Thanks for checking in Wahoowad!
Missing bolts and gasket are on order. Not arrived yet. I will for sure post here when it's done and let you know the results.
in the mean time, I have learned that if I dial down the air control really really slow and gradual after a reload.. In several tiny stages over at least 20 minutes, I can often get both sides of the stove the burn at the same time.. There is still a clear bias towards the right side burning better and there are rarely many secondaries, if any, on the left, but at least there are some flames on the left too, so it doesn't look quite so surreal as just half a stove burning!
How's your stove doing.. Have I rekindled your own obsession with the Dark side?
Missing bolts and gasket are on order. Not arrived yet. I will for sure post here when it's done and let you know the results.
in the mean time, I have learned that if I dial down the air control really really slow and gradual after a reload.. In several tiny stages over at least 20 minutes, I can often get both sides of the stove the burn at the same time.. There is still a clear bias towards the right side burning better and there are rarely many secondaries, if any, on the left, but at least there are some flames on the left too, so it doesn't look quite so surreal as just half a stove burning!
How's your stove doing.. Have I rekindled your own obsession with the Dark side?
Just a wee update. Apparently my stove installers are sending the UK Jotul rep round to assess the situation with my stove. I'm told it could be about 2 weeks before he gets up to the wilds of Scotland... Guess he must be walking! 
It's a long wait, but I hope it will be worth it - I feel relieved to be getting someone who will really know this stove and hopefully fix the issue or indeed replace the stove, if that's what it takes.
I'll update after he's been... In the mean time, my surreal, law of physics-defying half-burn persists!
It's a long wait, but I hope it will be worth it - I feel relieved to be getting someone who will really know this stove and hopefully fix the issue or indeed replace the stove, if that's what it takes.
I'll update after he's been... In the mean time, my surreal, law of physics-defying half-burn persists!
Kevin Dolan
Burning Hunk
Fiona I do not have a dark side, it seems to depend on where I place the wood that I will see burning occurring. If I use small pieces and place more to the left, it burns on the left, I guess that seems obvious but I use 18-20 inch logs in my castine so it seems to burn evenly across the stove. Hope your jotul rep can help you.Thanks for checking in Wahoowad!
Missing bolts and gasket are on order. Not arrived yet. I will for sure post here when it's done and let you know the results.
in the mean time, I have learned that if I dial down the air control really really slow and gradual after a reload.. In several tiny stages over at least 20 minutes, I can often get both sides of the stove the burn at the same time.. There is still a clear bias towards the right side burning better and there are rarely many secondaries, if any, on the left, but at least there are some flames on the left too, so it doesn't look quite so surreal as just half a stove burning!
How's your stove doing.. Have I rekindled your own obsession with the Dark side?
The F3CB should burn pretty evenly too. The only time it didn't for us was when the top wasn't on right.
I'm placing a lot of hope on the issue being around the four missing bolts. The burn plate and the side baffles change position pretty easily; getting touched (not hit hard) with a log as it gets wiggled into place can be enough. Yesterday morning, when the stove was cold, I had to move the right baffle and the burn plate back into their correct position, burn plate was siting too high on one side, creating a visible space between the top of the side baffle, which was leaning in slightly, and the bottom of the plate.. That kind of thing has just got to make a difference to performance, hasn't it?
What's wierd though is that very, very occasionally it burns evenly. I just can't see what is happening when it does. Might just be that the baffles and plates (and the stars too!?) have been knocked into alignment for a while...
What's wierd though is that very, very occasionally it burns evenly. I just can't see what is happening when it does. Might just be that the baffles and plates (and the stars too!?) have been knocked into alignment for a while...
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