So it's been a long time since i've had a wood stove and I just lit my first break in fire in my new Jotul F602 V2. The specs call first 200, 300 and 400 maximum surface temps for the first three fires, respectively. Well, let's just say the combination of being overly ambitious with my loading of kindling and not being very familiar with the "action" of the damper of this stove the temperature went up to 350F +/- for my first fire. The Jotul manul says to "keep the stove under 400F during any break-in fire" so I don't think I did any damage but my question is how would I know if I did? Sorry to ask such a basic question.
Break in question
- Thread starter bhutchison
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Poindexter
Minister of Fire
Did the paint peel off or discolor? The Jotuls I have seen are pretty stoves, but I have never owned or operated one.
Caw
Minister of Fire
Those directions are typically to keep the finish safe and let it cure. If that still looks good I wouldn't worry!
It should be fine. I had the same problem on my first break in fire too, sailed right past the target temp up to 400 before I even noticed.
If the stove was freshly assembled, there may be water still in the stove cement which can crack if it boils. But if the cement has had a while to dry and you didn't hear any hissing/bubbling from the seams, I wouldn't worry about it.
If the stove was freshly assembled, there may be water still in the stove cement which can crack if it boils. But if the cement has had a while to dry and you didn't hear any hissing/bubbling from the seams, I wouldn't worry about it.
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
Thanks for the replies, everyone. The paint still looks OK to me. The stove was assembled in Nov. 22, 2020 and was delivered here about a month ago and had been in a heated space. However, I did hear some hissing from the Stove at one point. I wasn't sure if this was normal. I'll try another break in fire sometime in the next day or so and report back.
An update: so, I bought an infrared thermometer - something I really should have had on hand from the beginning. The Jotul 602 has both top and rear ports and my set-up is rear-exit. I had originally placed my stove-top thermometer on the block-off plate for the top port, mistakenly thinking the temperatures there would be similar or higher (thinner material) to the rest of the stove. However, after shooting various places with the infrared thermometer I can see that the block off plate is around 80 degrees cooler than the stove top just to the front of it. So my initial fires were probably WAY too hot. On the other hand, I chatted with the dealer that sold me the stove and she confided that they sometimes don’t even bother to break in their floor models and have never had a problem. She also thought that Jotuls, in general, weren’t that”sensitive” to break-in. Based on replies in this thread, it seems like the worst case scenario is that I over-fired the furnace cement sealant too quickly. Perhaps that will lead to leaks but it also seems like that is fixable with furnace cement. Anyway, hopefully others can learn from my mistakes. Now I’m just trying to burn the stink out of this stove and it is slow-going.
The 602 is on back order and I have been waiting for months. Get yourself a stove pipe thermometer too,. Sometimes stove pipe can take several weeks and smell again when you go over your last temp limit.
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