Jotul F12 & Catalyst - Input needed

[danieltp]

We are enjoying our new Jotul F12 Firelight wood stove in the cold and wet weather in TX lately. The rear burn plate has a small crack (from the previous owners) but everything else looks good with fresh gaskets, glass windows, and etc. We're still learning how to tame this stove, for most of time, we're able to get it stay within the 350 - 550 degree (I use laser temp on the top of the stove). However, we did go over 700 twice unintentionally for a short time.

I plan to replace the rear burn plate. I checked our catalyst and couldn't decide if we need to get new one or not. I'm attaching two pictures here to see if one of you guys could give me input. Many thanks!

 

[webby3650]

I would vaccum it out real good and keep using it, unless you are seeing lots of smoke or its struggling to maintain good temps. Sounds like it's fine to me.
Hitting 700 on the top isn't a huge worry, as long as it doesn't stay there for long periods of time and is still tamable. I also wouldn't replace that plate unless the crack is substantial. It's a common problem.

 

[begreen]

Maybe drill a small 3/32" hole at the end of the crack to stop it from spreading.

 

[danieltp]

I would vaccum it out real good and keep using it, unless you are seeing lots of smoke or its struggling to maintain good temps. Sounds like it's fine to me.
Hitting 700 on the top isn't a huge worry, as long as it doesn't stay there for long periods of time and is still tamable. I also wouldn't replace that plate unless the crack is substantial. It's a common problem.

Smoke coming out the wood stove? We're not seeing that, except the smoke coming out the chimney which I think is normal ;-) I'm still trying to figure out to get a long burn with this stove. The longest one I was able was around 8 hours. Here's a picture of the rear burn plate - the crack is on the right (don't know why it's upside). Many thanks of your response and suggestions re: catalyst.

 

[danieltp]

One more thing, do you suggest me to get probe temperature for the catalyst in the back of Jotul F12. The manual book mentioned about this?

 

[webby3650]

I meant smoke coming from the chimney. After the bypass is shut and the stove is running good, the smoke should be almost non existent.
I would not replace the rear panel, it looks like most that I've seen.