And I thought I was a veteran....

[Soadrocks]

I had my first year of woodburning under my belt and I was thinking I became a Veteran/Pro. I always used the most seasoned wood, able to get the best fires, long overnight burns with the Jotul Castine, and everything has been "peachy" this season thus far until this afternoon.

Approximately, at 3 this afternoon, I had these really long splits, too long to put in E/S, would have to put in NW/SE to have a chance. Waiting for the coals to to burn down, I thought I would stick one in. From the angle I was looking, it looked like it fit, but when I went to close the door, slowly, at least I thought I was, glass touched wood and cracked.

I never became so infuriated with myself, i sounded like a redneck sailor. I was so pissed. I grabbed the phone, called our woodstove place to see if they were open, and lo and behold they were open. What time you close? 4 o clock. They're a good 30 minute drive. You have any spare glass for the Jotul Castine? Sorry, we do not, but did you buy it from us? Yes, I did. All right, come on in and we'll give you the floor models. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

The price of this glass, holy kazoo....Lesson learned for sure. Ego was put into check. I'm going to be so careful now, because I dont want to go through that ordeal again. I guess it takes more than one year to become a vet. Still a rookie, still learning. I'm sitting in my boxers, watching football, and loving the 80 degree living room, I guess you can't put a price on that!

Everyone out there Be careful with those splits an inch too long It ain't worth it!

 

[BrotherBart]

Heck, at least you were able to get it handled. Can happen to anybody. But it reminds me of my favorite story from our local stove shop owner.

Gets a call one afternoon from obviously a very, very young boy."Mister do you have glass for a wood stove door?" "Yes we do. What kind of stove?" "I don't know. But can you deliver one? Real fast."

 

[ikessky]

Sorry to hear about this, but glad your stove place was able to get you the glass right away. Trust me, I've had more of this kind of stuff happen than I even care to admit! Just the other day I was going to check the spark plugs, so I grabbed onto the wire and pulled the connector right out of the boot. It was 9PM, so there was literally nothing I could do until the next day.

 

[certified106]

Don't sweat it! I have burned with the same stove for years and I'm almost embarrased to admit what I did yesterday.....the day started off kind of crappy as my uncle passed away. Well that quickly entailed helping with funeral arrangements and making hundreds of phone calls to relatives that I haven't talked to in forever. While all of this is going on and the phone is ringing I go to put wood in the stove, and perform my usual ritual of cracking the primary air and give it a minute to clear out. I pop open the door and proceed to stick some wood in and less than ten seconds later I have smoke pouring out into the room. I quickly shut the door and think to myself I haven't had that happen in a long time so I must have just threw the door open a little to quickly so I wait a second or two and proceed to try again so I open the door slowly seems ok so I open the rest of the way and smoke starts pouring out into the room and I slam the door shut. This happens not once or twice but three times and all the while I'm thinking and saying to my wife who is sitting there griping about the smell in the living room, I just can't understand what's gotten into this stove what is wrong with this piece of junk.......and then it hits me, DOH I forgot to open the bypass damper!! Talk about feeling stupid! Moral of the story is Dont beat yourself up as it can very quickly happen to the best of us! Finally, I shouldn't have broke my cardinal rule....Dont mess with the stove while being distracted!

 

[firefighterjake]

Many of us have made mistakes and had those "D'oh" moments where we wonder what we were . . . or rather were not . . . thinking. Mine was several weeks back when I decided to add more wood to the firebox while the fire was in middle of the cycle with secondary burns going on.

 

[jharkin]

Last week one morning I lit a new fire with the bypass closed.

Only 2 years of this stove, but I grew up with a stove in the house that had a bypass damper. Dad taught me how to use it before I was 10. Figure that the habit would be automatic after 20+ years but apparently its not

...... Pilot's use written checklists for a reason.

 

[davegutz]

I bought mine used about 1 month ago. After about 1 week of successful burning the lower left corner of the glass broke (as viewed from the front). It turns out the glass had slipped down off the gasket. The contact with the cast nub that is only on the left caused the pane to twist and stress the lower left. When I replaced the pane I put a bit of furnace cement on the lower right to counteract the left in case it slips again. I checked the exploded parts view and saw that my stove had all the required parts. There are nubs for more clamping screws on the bottom but they are unused at present.

Anybody else have this problem? Anybody else using the extra lugs?

 

[BrowningBAR]

I snapped the door hinge on the Vigilant about three hours ago. It happens.

 

[thewoodlands]

I had my first year of woodburning under my belt and I was thinking I became a Veteran/Pro. I always used the most seasoned wood, able to get the best fires, long overnight burns with the Jotul Castine, and everything has been "peachy" this season thus far until this afternoon.

Approximately, at 3 this afternoon, I had these really long splits, too long to put in E/S, would have to put in NW/SE to have a chance. Waiting for the coals to to burn down, I thought I would stick one in. From the angle I was looking, it looked like it fit, but when I went to close the door, slowly, at least I thought I was, glass touched wood and cracked.

I never became so infuriated with myself, i sounded like a redneck sailor. I was so pissed. I grabbed the phone, called our woodstove place to see if they were open, and lo and behold they were open. What time you close? 4 o clock. They're a good 30 minute drive. You have any spare glass for the Jotul Castine? Sorry, we do not, but did you buy it from us? Yes, I did. All right, come on in and we'll give you the floor models. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

The price of this glass, holy kazoo....Lesson learned for sure. Ego was put into check. I'm going to be so careful now, because I dont want to go through that ordeal again. I guess it takes more than one year to become a vet. Still a rookie, still learning. I'm sitting in my boxers, watching football, and loving the 80 degree living room, I guess you can't put a price on that!

Everyone out there Be careful with those splits an inch too long It ain't worth it!

Our Lopi Liberty takes 16 inch splits N/S loading, this site has me so anal I cut all our wood 14.75. hh:

GIBIR

 

[remkel]

The only issues I have had this year involved not using the stove gloves I have hanging on a nail next to the stove. The scarring is beginning to look like I got into a knife fight.

 

[Todd]

I've had a bad run lately. I left the door latch unhitched a couple nights a go before I went to bed and last night I had a long round that was just a smidgeon too long and smoked up the house as I ran out the door with it smouldering. Now I have a tape measure in my woodshed to double check lengths.

 

[burleymike]

I've had a bad run lately. I left the door latch unhitched a couple nights a go before I went to bed and last night I had a long round that was just a smidgeon too long and smoked up the house as I ran out the door with it smouldering. Now I have a tape measure in my woodshed to double check lengths.

Reminds me of the time I went over to my buddies house and saw a huge charred log sitting in the flower bed. I had to ask him about that one.

He had a large bed of coals and the door would not close. The stove kept getting hotter and hotter so after a couple minuets he decides it has to go. I could just picture him in his underwear barely holding onto a flaming log with fireplace tongs running out the front door.

 

[katwillny]

At least you got it fixed bud. Its all part of learning. If it looks too long, it is.

 

[ecocavalier02]

I've had a bad run lately. I left the door latch unhitched a couple nights a go before I went to bed and last night I had a long round that was just a smidgeon too long and smoked up the house as I ran out the door with it smouldering. Now I have a tape measure in my woodshed to double check lengths.

Reminds me of the time I went over to my buddies house and saw a huge charred log sitting in the flower bed. I had to ask him about that one.

He had a large bed of coals and the door would not close. The stove kept getting hotter and hotter so after a couple minuets he decides it has to go. I could just picture him in his underwear barely holding onto a flaming log with fireplace tongs running out the front door.

haha. yeah i can see myself being that guy in the underwear.

 

[FWWARDEN]

After my first year I started cutting my wood about 4 inches shorter than the depth of the stove, found myself unable to load full length wood after building up an ash bed.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hehheh . . . still a relevant and great thread . . . but I was reading my comment from "today" and thinking to myself that I didn't remember writing it . . . when I realized it was because it was a year ago to the day that I wrote the comment . . . written not on December 13, 2011, but December 13, 2010.