Another Jotul F500 V3 with problems

[david_finlayson]

We installed a new Oslo F500 V3 in September 2020. We were pretty happy with the stove for the first season, but by spring of this year, we noticed the brown enamel had developed eggshell cracks all over the door area. Long story short, our dealer and Jotul agreed that the stove was defective and offered to replace it with another brown enamel (serious back-order issues) or downgrade to a painted black model with delivery in January or February. We ultimately decided to go with a painted black model. My wife is busted.

One thing that I find frustrating is that we really liked the brown enamel. The painted black stove doesn't look nearly as nice to us. However, both our chimney sweep and the dealer's installer advised against the enamel. Apparently, they have seen lots of problems with enamel stoves in general, and they believe that there are issues with recent Jotuls in particular. My stove was defective, but I will say this, the enamel on our le creuset cookware looks and feels thicker and stronger than the brown glass on our stove. I think Jotul only guarantees the enamel for 3 years which says something about the durability right there.

 

[armanidog]

Enamel is brittle, that's why you do not see much of it anymore. How about changing the color of the stove this summer? You can repaint it.

Construction Work

 

[Dave_in_ABQ]

Bummer about the stove.

 

[EbS-P]

Hope we don’t here more incidents like this. I really like my enamel F400. I think you made the right call going with black paint.

It’s not like Jotul doesn’t have practice in this finishing technique. They were backed up in getting this stove to market. Then only in black paint for a good bit. I’m starting to question if they are committing enough resources to the US wood stove market to keep up a reputation of producing a quality product. I might think different if they said we’ve sold 10k F500s. I have no idea if their sales numbers.

 

[xman23]

We have heard this issue in the last few years. Was it certain colors? Curious how this happened, they have been doing this forever. Sounds like quality issues I deal with, when products go to China. My dark green is over 20 years old and doesn't have a mark on it.

 

[david_finlayson]

We are bummed. I hear stories of old enamel stoves and people love them. I guess they don't make them like they used to. At least jotul doesn't anyway. I hope we don't run into any more problems with this model. We haven't experienced the leaky ash door or catalyst problems I've read about here.

If nothing else, I won't have to baby the thing so much

 

[vatmark]

What a shame. I wonder if Jotul changed the way they do the enamel? We have the brown enameled F500 going on 4 years. So far so good. I agree the black doesn’t look as nice but was probably the right choice. You are the second person on here recently to have chipping problems on the V3 enameled stoves.

 

[Bad LP]

My brown enamel Rockland is a bit older but it is a very fragile finish that I enjoy.
I personally would have waited longer for the brown versus the downgrade knowing it was only a appearance issue.

 

[Manly]

Sorry to hear this. Our jotul 3cb is 25 years old, heavily used and the black enamel is perfect except where I’ve messed it up. All parts, plates and baffle is original. Everything today is made cheesier except for maybe automobiles.

 

[RSNovi]

I have the blue black F500 V2. I think it is a durable finish. Would that be an option?

 

[david_finlayson]

We were offered the replacement stove back in May. Initially, my wife wanted to wait for the brown enamel to come back in stock. But, after 6 months of waiting and a lot of advise suggesting the enamel was not durable, we recently called to change the order to a matt black stove. I was worried we would be forgotten if we waited too long to execute the warrantee and also, what has Jotul really fixed with their enamel process to make it more like the older stoves? Nobody is going to come out and say that we don't make them like we used to, but, in today's economy it is easy to imagine reasons why they just can't replicate the process.

At the end of the day, this is an iron box we throw logs into and light on fire. It probably doesn't make sense to cover it in glass.

 

[Manly]

I would disagree with your iron box assessment of wood stoves. I have heated with a steel windowless black box and I presently heat with a blue black enamel iron box with a window. Both did/do the heating job admirably. The glass door is a necessity at this stage of my burning career. The look and finish of a good enamel stove adds to the beauty of a room, if you are burning in a living area. Our stove is a central focal point in our family room during the winter months. After heating our home with wood for nearly 40 years, it becomes a part of our lifestyle and adds a pleasure that central heating just can’t duplicate. It’s too bad manufactures cannot or will not maintain the standards to build a beautiful durable stove that can last a lifetime. I think my little Jotul might be one of their last to fill that role.

 

[Bad LP]

We were offered the replacement stove back in May. Initially, my wife wanted to wait for the brown enamel to come back in stock. But, after 6 months of waiting and a lot of advise suggesting the enamel was not durable, we recently called to change the order to a matt black stove. I was worried we would be forgotten if we waited too long to execute the warrantee and also, what has Jotul really fixed with their enamel process to make it more like the older stoves? Nobody is going to come out and say that we don't make them like we used to, but, in today's economy it is easy to imagine reasons why they just can't replicate the process.

At the end of the day, this is an iron box we throw logs into and light on fire. It probably doesn't make sense to cover it in glass.

I don’t agree that it’s just an iron box to throw logs into and light on fire.