Jotul F55 - needs door gasket adjustment already?

[Knots]

So far I've had the 3 break-in fires and two "real" fires in my new stove. The last fire I had, the stove top reached 625. I shut the air all the way down and then kept shutting the damper until I had that closed as much as possible. The stove happily cruised along at 625 (see pic). It felt like it was on the edge of getting away from me.

The stove is in the basement of a ranch house. Stove pipe is 6" double wall to the ceiling. Chimney is 6" Class A - approximately 25 feet. It's a straight shot from the stove to the rain cap. Draft seems excellent.

I was burning soft maple that was over a year old. It was nice and dry. Secondaries burned no problem.

I started a small fire, burned it to coals and then put two layers of average sized splits in.

The only thing I can think of is the door gasket. I remember hearing a small whistling sound when I had my face in front of the stove to watch the fire.

I just did a dollar bill test. The top and bottom hold the bill tight. Near the hinge and near the latch I was able to pull it a little. Do I need to adjust the door already?

 

[FionaD]

Hi knots,

On my F3 cb I hear a slight wind whistling sound when I have closed down the primary air control (top right on my stove) as far as it goes. I have come to think this is just a feature of Jotul stoves. If I listen close, it is clearly coming from the top front of the stove, and not around the door. Can you locate the actual source of the 'whistle' in a similar way? Of course it may be in a different place on the F55.

My door, since the stove was new last year, releases a dollar bill with just a slight tug at the top, but not at all at the sides.... So that's the opposite from your door. I checked in here about that last year and was assured it was OK, as long as the bill didn't slip out without any resistance at all.

What I'm not to clear about from your post it what was actually happening that led you to feel the fire was almost getting away from you...can you explain a little more about that?

It might also be useful to know at what temp the stove top was at when you stared to close off the air.. And, when you say "damper" do you mean a flue damper or are you referring to one of the air controls in the stove? I only ask becuase ive seen people here (including myself) use different terms for the various air controls we all use.

 

[Knots]

Can you locate the actual source of the 'whistle' in a similar way?

What I'm not to clear about from your post it what was actually happening that led you to feel the fire was almost getting away from you...can you explain a little more about that?

It might also be useful to know at what temp the stove top was at when you stared to close off the air.. And, when you say "damper" do you mean a flue damper or are you referring to one of the air controls in the stove?

I have a flue damper. The Jotul manual mentions a possible need for one, and the stove shop recommended it based on my set-up.

The fire started off a bed of coals at about 300 F. I opened it up until it was headed for 500. I then started bumping the air closed. By the time the stove was at 550, I had the air closed. As it went to 600 I started closing the flue damper. By 625, everything was as closed as I could get it and the stove was burning faster than I thought it should with everything closed down. I'd like a little more control than that.

The whistle sounded like it was near the hinge, but I can't say for sure.

I've been burning wood in four different stoves over the course of 20+ years, so I think I have a seat-of-the-pants feel for how much control you should have over the burn and this felt a little beyond my comfort level. I can not have an unsupervised fire in this stove until I figure it out.

 

[Swedishchef]

You certainly have a recipe for optimal draft!! Don't be shy to use the damper.

Sometimes in the first few fires the gasket may need adjusting. The door on my stove allows to tighten more. The rope is being compressed for the first times. A slight adjustment may be required and then you should be good to go.

How lose is the dollar bill?

Andrew

 

[FionaD]

You have way more stove experience than me... My pants-seat is still gathering experience as I enter into year two! But, for sure, I don't get any whistle sound from my stove's door.. That doesn't sound right does it? My wind-whistle is very clearly coming from around the primary air control..

All I can offer from my F3 perspective is that in certain conditions and with certain woods I would need to start shutting down around the 450 mark and be totally shut by 500.... my stove top could easily keep climbing to around 700 if I left shutdown until 550.

I have no idea why I'm saying this, cos I do have so little experience, but I do somehow feel like the Jotul is keen to race rather than walk through a cycle....and I tend to lean towards trying to slow things down in this respect, rather than feeling I ever need to encourage burns to take off..

Interesting that the manual recommends a flue damper.. I always thought that the standard line we that they were not required at all with EPA stoves.. Even though users often feel otherwise.

I'm know that there will be others here who are more qualified than me to help..

 

[Knots]

How lose is the dollar bill?

On the top it feels like if the dollar was real old, or had a small edge tear, it might tear before pulling out. It's tight.

On the sides I was able to pull the dollar, but it has a fair amount of drag.

 

[Knots]

I'm know that there will be others here who are more qualified than me to help..

Always interested in everyone's experience. Never know who has the answer or says something that leads to it.

 

[Swedishchef]

On the top it feels like if the dollar was real old, or had a small edge tear, it might tear before pulling out. It's tight.

On the sides I was able to pull the dollar, but it has a fair amount of drag.

Then I don't think that is considered a leak, but it's just my opinion. Rope compresses no matter what, especially near pressure points like the handle of the door. There won't be a total uniform pressure around the entire door: some places will be more slack than others.

IMHO, you simply have a crazy good draft. Do you have 25 feet of class A + 5-6 feet of double wall stove pipe? Or is the total stack 25 feet?

Andrew

 

[brad wilton]

the same sound comes from mine it's the air coming in through damper.for door leak try incense stick ,if smoke from stick gets sucked in it needs adjustment if not probably good draft.

 

[Knots]

Do you have 25 feet of class A + 5-6 feet of double wall stove pipe? Or is the total stack 25 feet?

Lessee - I've got 53" stove top to chimney bottom, about 12" to get through the floor, 8 feet on the main floor, maybe 10" to get through the ceiling, maybe another 9 feet to get through the 7:12 attic near the peak, and then another 3 feet to meet code.

So: 53 + 12 + 96 + 10 + 108 + 36 = 315

315/12 = 26.25 feet total.

 

[Knots]

the same sound comes from mine it's the air coming in through damper.for door leak try incense stick ,if smoke from stick gets sucked in it needs adjustment if not probably good draft.

That's a good trick. I'll try that.

 

[Knots]

I had another fire today. It's 40 degrees out.

Put some wood on at 350, started cutting it back around 400, shut the damper and the air all the way (see 2nd pic), and it went just over 600, stayed there for about an hour and a half, and then slowly came down as it went to coals.

It's burning beautifully, however it's bothering me that it's doing it with the air and the damper "shut" and a 40 degree day with no wind.

 

[Swedishchef]

You have a very efficient stack. And you also tossed in those pieces of wood to give it the best chance at going nuclear. Personally I always put wood in at 200 or so. If I reload at higher temperatures I don't space the wood as your did, I pack it tighter as the more surface area open, the more off gassing going on at once,

Try packing the wood a little tighter, more in the north south ...without any criss crossing.

Andrew

 

[brad wilton]

try to light a fire from scratch,one time i put some wood on some already lit splits, turned into an inferno had to open door to tame it might be happening to you.it will give you more control when you start shutting down air.now when i light it's on coals ,i leave the door open for about 30 sec then start putting wood. seems to be working.am not by any means an expert just my experiences

 

[Grisu]

I had another fire today. It's 40 degrees out.

Put some wood on at 350, started cutting it back around 400, shut the damper and the air all the way (see 2nd pic), and it went just over 600, stayed there for about an hour and a half, and then slowly came down as it went to coals.

It's burning beautifully, however it's bothering me that it's doing it with the air and the damper "shut" and a 40 degree day with no wind.

The stove is doing what it is designed for. You cannot shut it down to burn it on "low". You will need a cat stove for that.

One possible improvement you can do is loading the wood differently. That "tunnel" you have under the wood in the center will give you a hot fire with rapid outgassing. Try raking all the coals forward towards the door. Drop some shorter splits E-W behind. Load then more splits N-S on top of them and the coals. Wait until the wood has ignited with the door open, then close it. When the stove is already at 300 F you can probably reduce the air some right away until the flames become slow-moving. Wait for the fire to pick up again, close again some more and so on. Use the appearance of the fire and the secondaries as gauge on how much to close the air. The thermometer will lag the actual temp in the firebox.

More dense firewood than silver maple may also help.

 

[Knots]

You have a very efficient stack. And you also tossed in those pieces of wood to give it the best chance at going nuclear. Personally I always put wood in at 200 or so. If I reload at higher temperatures I don't space the wood as your did, I pack it tighter as the more surface area open, the more off gassing going on at once,

Try packing the wood a little tighter, more in the north south ...without any criss crossing.

Andrew

OK - good suggestions. I'll try that next time. Thanks...

 

[Knots]

More dense firewood than silver maple may also help.

The densest stuff I have right now is black birch. All of my oak is too new. I threw three pieces of birch on at 200. They were a lot more controllable (cruised along at 525), but I still had the damper and air all the way closed.

 

[Knots]

Yikes! Well - it was zero when I woke up today so I thought I'd have another try with the stove.

I had a small fire (4 small splits) that I let go to coals. Stove went to 550 (surface) during this burn.

I waited until it cooled back to 200. Raked coals forward. Packed the box tightly N-S with a mix of black birch, beech, and red maple. Closed the door immediately and left the air and damper open. Fire jumped up nicely and I cut the air back to 1/2 and closed the damper.

Fire seemed happy at this point (actually a little on the slow side) and gradually rose to 550. I slowly eased the air back to closed during this time.

Fire slowly continued to rise. At 650 I put something on the damper to hold at a true 90 degrees to the stack. At 700 I placed a fan blowing at the stove, and put a large pot of water on top to give it something to work against. At 750 I took my good thermometer off the top so I wouldn't ruin it. I also went and got a 2nd fire extinguisher. I'll bet the stove went to 800 before finally turning the corner to come back down.

I dunno - it seems like I should have more control with the air at zero (I understand that there's unregulated secondary air) and the damper closed as much as possible. I guess I'll talk to the stove shop and Jotul and see what they say.

On the plus side - the house is nice and warm. So is the basement. And the garage too....

 

[Swedishchef]

800 seems a little hot for any cast iron components of your cast iron/steel stove.

Have you tried contacting JOtul?

Andrew

 

[Knots]

That's the next step. I read threads on here of people with 55s that fill them full of wood and leave the air at 30% open and go to bed. Either my draft is just too good, or there's something wrong with my air intake. That's all I got...