Jotul Castine F400 When to open door to kill secondary

[G6 at Snook TX]

I have the center of the stove at about 700-715. The edges are 615 or so. When should I open the door and open the air vent to get the heat out? The manual recommends 600 as top end, but the stove is not glowing.

 

[begreen]

It's probably fine as long as the temp is not climbing, leave it alone and let the fire settle down. We regularly ran the stove in the 500-650F range with occasional peaks to 700F. Things won't start glowing until about 900F. The thermometer should be on the left or right edge of the griddle according to the manual.

If the temp continues to rise you can take some aluminum foil and partially block off the air intake at the bottom rear of the stove.

 

[G6 at Snook TX]

It was fine. Right after I posted it, the temperature began to come down. When I have a big, hot, coal bed, I should probably either let it burn down further or add two sticks rather than three. Also, it is amazing how much better the thing burns when you have 35 degrees versus 50.

Thanks for the remarks BeGreen.

 

[begreen]

Yes, the F400 is draft sensitive. At 50F it can be a somewhat lazy burner, but below 40F the beast starts coming out. Before reloading, rake the coals front and center, put on a single, small split, then open the air all the way and let it burn for about 30 minutes. Then you can fully reload.

 

[Catspaw]

On mine I CLOSE the air control to calm the fire down if it's getting out of control. When first closed, the secondaries usally take off like a blow torch and the temp keeps rising but after 5 minutes or so things settle down nicely.

- Rich

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I do not have the same model, I have an insert, but I let the coals burn down a lot, I try not to reload above 400 degrees, but mine can run hot without any problems 700 is not a concern. I would think opening the door would make it worse as it will cause the wood to burn even faster with more air.

 

[WellSeasoned]

I close mine down when it starts to go nuclear, temp may rise a bit more, but will eventually go down. 600 °F is certainly nothing to worry about. I have topped off at 900 for a short bit. I don't remember reading that the top temp is 600. I do remember however that the recommended magnet spot is either of the top 4 corners. I think naturally the center can be alot hotter too.

 

[southbalto]

I wouldn't make it a habit of letting the top plate get north of 700. I typically shoot for a 575-625 on each cycle.

 

[cycloxer]

Castine burns great 400-600. You can run her to 700 with no problems. If she gets north of that you probably want to back it off a bit. I have made the deflecter shield glow many times...I am not saying it is a good thing, but my stove is still tight.