Advice on buying a used JotulF400 and signs of over-firing

[toasty5]

I'm still on my used stove search and found this Jotul F400 stove from 2006. The owner says they had it in their sun room and has been used minimally and runs well. The gaskets and glass on the door have both been replaced. Wondering about people's overall opinions about this stove and its condition. I've heard to be cautious about buying a stove that has signs of over-firing, but I'm not entirely sure what to look for. Is the fogging on the glass and/or needing to replace the glass a sign? Another thing, it seems like the fire bricks are behind a plate, so you can't really see the condition of them...

On a previous thread I posted about a Jotul F500 from the early 2000s, someone said that with that age of a stove, it may need re-sealing. Is that expensive to get professionally done? It seems a lot of people DIY that but I'm new to all of this and don't want to mess it up.

Also, is this enough stove or close to for the 1500 sq ft, 12ft. ceiling (first floor), open-layout house that I described in my first post. I know folks were recommending Jotul F 500-600, but have been finding the Jotul F500s on marketplace have been going super fast and I haven't been able to snag one. This stove is being sold for $900, so I figured it's low investment and as long as it works well enough, I can swap it out within the next year or so once I find something better- hopefully with recouping close to the $900 investment.

 

[toasty5]

I'm still on my used stove search and found this Jotul F400 stove from 2006. The owner says they had it in their sun room and has been used minimally and runs well. The gaskets and glass on the door have both been replaced. Wondering about people's overall opinions about this stove and its condition. I've heard to be cautious about buying a stove that has signs of over-firing, but I'm not entirely sure what to look for. Is the fogging on the glass and/or needing to replace the glass a sign? Another thing, it seems like the fire bricks are behind a plate, so you can't really see the condition of them...

On a previous thread I posted about a Jotul F500 from the early 2000s, someone said that with that age of a stove, it may need re-sealing. Is that expensive to get professionally done? It seems a lot of people DIY that but I'm new to all of this and don't want to mess it up.

Also, is this enough stove or close to for the 1500 sq ft, 12ft. ceiling (first floor), open-layout house that I described in my first post. I know folks were recommending Jotul F 500-600, but have been finding the Jotul F500s on marketplace have been going super fast and I haven't been able to snag one. This stove is being sold for $900, so I figured it's low investment and as long as it works well enough, I can swap it out within the next year or so once I find something better- hopefully with recouping close to the $900 investment.View attachment 349890

At the complete other end of the spectrum, I'm looking at this LOPI Cape Cod stove that was bought new for $6,500 within the last few years and only used a few times (seller says it's owned by an elderly couple and was too much stove for their set-up). It's being sold for $4,500. Has a blower too.

 

[Dieselhead]

Warped metal parts in the stove, and burnt paint on the exterior (white appearing) are signs of excessive heat.

 

[John Lehet]

As for the Jotul, the firebricks are not behind metal plates. Those are the firebricks! Those metal plates are more or less wear items, of course won’t last as long with overfiring, but probably degrade with use over years anyway. It’s a bit of a job to replace them, but when/if they wear out or warp the parts should be available. Likewise the glass. If it won’t clean up, you can replace it. So what you look for is warping, and the biggest thing to look for is a crack in the bottom of the stove. It’s a user-error achilles heel of Jotuls with an ash door. People leave the ash door open to help get the fire going and leave it open too long, destroying the bottom of the stove. Don’t use the ash door to help get the fire going, even though it sure does help sometime.

A few things about a pre EPA Jotul in general: it might have trouble holding a fire overnight, if that’s important to you. It will burn clean if you do it right with good wood — you’ll never have creosote in the chimney, just a bit of fine soot. Part of how it keeps the chimney clean though is by sending a bit more heat up the chimney than some modern stoves or catalytic stoves. Clean, but not as efficient as it might be. Better looking than most other stoves in my opinion.