Jøtul F 400 Castine
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Todd
Minister of Fire
I think all Jotul stoves are excellent quality and as long as you have a proper chimney and dry firewood you should see great results.
I think the quality of the stove is good; the issues that some have is due to draft and it isn't tolerant of wet wood. If you have a properly sized chimney and seasoned wood this stove works well; I have had no issues with the quality of mine and wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
Jim
Jim
The Castine is an excellent stove. It's castings and finish are very high quality. This is a good stove for smaller areas with tighter clearances. Visually, this is one of the most attractive stoves on the market. It's particularly handsome in blue-black enamel.
Like other shallow firebox stoves, it needs to be loaded east/west with logs parallel to the glass unless they are very short. It likes a good flue system, especially if connected via the rear exit. Top exit is a bit more forgiving and better for flue systems 14- 18ft tall, or if connected to a cold exterior flue. With the large door and narrow firebox one learns to open the door a little slowly during the shoulder seasons to avoid smoke spillage. But during the cold weather, as draft increases, this is much less of an issue. The F400 works over a fairly broad temperature range, depending on the wood. If pushed a little, it can really put out the heat. Depending on how it is run and the wood, one can expect to get 4-8hr burn times.
Like other shallow firebox stoves, it needs to be loaded east/west with logs parallel to the glass unless they are very short. It likes a good flue system, especially if connected via the rear exit. Top exit is a bit more forgiving and better for flue systems 14- 18ft tall, or if connected to a cold exterior flue. With the large door and narrow firebox one learns to open the door a little slowly during the shoulder seasons to avoid smoke spillage. But during the cold weather, as draft increases, this is much less of an issue. The F400 works over a fairly broad temperature range, depending on the wood. If pushed a little, it can really put out the heat. Depending on how it is run and the wood, one can expect to get 4-8hr burn times.
kestrel
Member
Been a Castine owner for 3 years. If I had it to do over again, I must admit that I don't think I'd buy the Castine. It is a great heater, we heat a 2300 square foot, well-insulated house with the Castine alone. It also looks great. I have two major concerns with the stove: One, the placement of the window glass makes it susceptible to breaking. Maybe we are just clumsy but we are now on our 4th glass at $150 a piece. Two, we had (have) problems with overfire. I have now replaced the door gasket and installed a key damper in the flue and for now, seem to be under control, but for a while there we had to keep a roll of aluminum tape to block the air intake as the stove would just rage with the primary air shut all the way. I do not like to go to bed with four kids sleeping in the house when I don't trust the stove to stay under control.
pmac
Member
kestrel said:
We've had a Castine for about 10 years. Been very happy with it, puts out a lot of heat, solid construction and looks nice. As others have noted, can be fussy about draft, which was an bad issue we had a first until we heightened our chimney (masonry block with round clay liner, didn't clear the roof peak originally). Even now, on a not-too-cold, moist day, it takes a bit to get the draft going in the right direction when lighting a new fire. I wish we had the overfire issues mentioned above!
We broke our glass once, but it was totally my fault, got impatient closing the door on a log that was just a hair too long to load N-S...
adrpga498
Minister of Fire
I have had my stove since 2001, Its an older 2 door model, matte black finish. As basic as it gets.Anyway if ther is a higher "quality stove out there I would like to know what it is. Maybe I'm just lucky, dry wood, 24' ss chimney, heats 2200sq ft. 23 hours of the day. Heat comes on in early am prior to 1st reload of the new day.
logger
Minister of Fire
My brother has one and loves it. He's had no issues with draft or broken glass. He has the brown enamel and it really looks sharp with all the knotty pine in the stove room.
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