Good morning everyone:
I have been a long time user of this forum but never joined. I am finally out of ideas (mostly skill) and really need a recommendation for a professional to come try to fix my stove for once and for all.
I will tell you all my story, many parts of which will sound very familiar from other threads. I have read through most of the relevant threads and although the answer is probably there, I just don't have the skill to address it myself (nor did the past two technicians who came to my house, at not-insignificant expense.) It just seems to be the kind of thing that "messing about with" will just make worse.
I have a Jotul QT gas stove which was purchased about 10 years ago.
When the stove was purchased it was installed as a direct vent through a wall. There was a double wall tube running out the back into the wall, and it worked great. After running it this way with no issues for almost six years (save for some aesthetic complaints regarding the flame size being small), we moved and the stove sat unused for about two years. The house we moved into had a standard brick fireplace (wood box?) with chimney.
Last year we wanted to run the stove in the new house, which has a regular chimney. I had the stove installed by a guy recommended by our local fireplace shop (also where the stove was purchased that 8 years ago).
The guy who came from Custom Fireside didn't want to do the job because he said the stove would look ugly sticking out of the brick surround and wanted me to buy trim piece to put around it etc. He ended up doing the install (without the shroud/trim) but I was unhappy about how far the stove stuck out of the firebox. The issue was the double wall straight tube (about 14" long) that stuck out of the back of the stove, which originally went through the wall in my old house. It was still installed on the stove and the installer from CF said it was part of the stove and couldn't come off. So essentially the stove was standing in front of the firebox with lots of black pipe visible behind. But he did the install, leaving this long pipe, installing an L-shaped pipe, then into a double wall chimney pipe through my brick chimney.
NOTE: I never ran the stove for any amount of time at this point, we just turned it on to see if it worked. It was summer.
Unhappy with the look of the install, I hired another independent installer to take a look. This guy is the one who originally plumbed in the gas line for the stove. He immediately removed the double wall pipe that was sticking out behind the stove, stating that this pipe was NOT part of the stove but a leftover part of the through-wall install, and that the new L-pipe coming out of the back now was double walled and accomplished the same thing. So this guy removed the extra length of pipe and put it back together. I much preferred the look at this point as the stove sat further back in the firebox and looked nicer.
I began to use the stove. It would run for about twenty minutes and then go out. I called yet another technician. The guy on the phone sounded very competent. The guy who showed up, however, told me he had never heard of Jotul but that "all gas stoves operate the same." I became concerned. He recommended the replacement of the "sit top mount pilot assembly" and told me I could do it myself. It was "bolt on." I did it. The stove seemed to work.
It became windy. The stove would go out when it got windy. I began to believe that I have a venting issue.
The windy weather stopped. The stove would go out when I ran it for about a half hour. I began to believe that I have a bad thermocouple again...I ran it without the door glass one day for about a half hour and it never went out. I began to believe it was the vent after all....
I ran it this morning on a perfect pleasant day. The flames got smaller and smaller (it ran for about twenty minutes to a half hour) and eventually it went out. It makes a loud click when it turns off.
OK, I apologize that was a very long winded story. I have reached the point where I really need a good technician to come and do all those multimeter tests that I am certain from my reading of this forum, need to be done. I need someone to look at the installation of the chimney and tell me if the venting is correct. I am way over my head and I don't know how to do this stuff. I hoped to lay out all the details in that long story.
Can anyone direct me to a really competent technician in the Sacramento, CA area please? And I apologize if anyone had better luck with, or works for the place I mentioned above. But my experience was very poor with them and I don't intend to call them again.
I have been a long time user of this forum but never joined. I am finally out of ideas (mostly skill) and really need a recommendation for a professional to come try to fix my stove for once and for all.
I will tell you all my story, many parts of which will sound very familiar from other threads. I have read through most of the relevant threads and although the answer is probably there, I just don't have the skill to address it myself (nor did the past two technicians who came to my house, at not-insignificant expense.) It just seems to be the kind of thing that "messing about with" will just make worse.
I have a Jotul QT gas stove which was purchased about 10 years ago.
When the stove was purchased it was installed as a direct vent through a wall. There was a double wall tube running out the back into the wall, and it worked great. After running it this way with no issues for almost six years (save for some aesthetic complaints regarding the flame size being small), we moved and the stove sat unused for about two years. The house we moved into had a standard brick fireplace (wood box?) with chimney.
Last year we wanted to run the stove in the new house, which has a regular chimney. I had the stove installed by a guy recommended by our local fireplace shop (also where the stove was purchased that 8 years ago).
The guy who came from Custom Fireside didn't want to do the job because he said the stove would look ugly sticking out of the brick surround and wanted me to buy trim piece to put around it etc. He ended up doing the install (without the shroud/trim) but I was unhappy about how far the stove stuck out of the firebox. The issue was the double wall straight tube (about 14" long) that stuck out of the back of the stove, which originally went through the wall in my old house. It was still installed on the stove and the installer from CF said it was part of the stove and couldn't come off. So essentially the stove was standing in front of the firebox with lots of black pipe visible behind. But he did the install, leaving this long pipe, installing an L-shaped pipe, then into a double wall chimney pipe through my brick chimney.
NOTE: I never ran the stove for any amount of time at this point, we just turned it on to see if it worked. It was summer.
Unhappy with the look of the install, I hired another independent installer to take a look. This guy is the one who originally plumbed in the gas line for the stove. He immediately removed the double wall pipe that was sticking out behind the stove, stating that this pipe was NOT part of the stove but a leftover part of the through-wall install, and that the new L-pipe coming out of the back now was double walled and accomplished the same thing. So this guy removed the extra length of pipe and put it back together. I much preferred the look at this point as the stove sat further back in the firebox and looked nicer.
I began to use the stove. It would run for about twenty minutes and then go out. I called yet another technician. The guy on the phone sounded very competent. The guy who showed up, however, told me he had never heard of Jotul but that "all gas stoves operate the same." I became concerned. He recommended the replacement of the "sit top mount pilot assembly" and told me I could do it myself. It was "bolt on." I did it. The stove seemed to work.
It became windy. The stove would go out when it got windy. I began to believe that I have a venting issue.
The windy weather stopped. The stove would go out when I ran it for about a half hour. I began to believe that I have a bad thermocouple again...I ran it without the door glass one day for about a half hour and it never went out. I began to believe it was the vent after all....
I ran it this morning on a perfect pleasant day. The flames got smaller and smaller (it ran for about twenty minutes to a half hour) and eventually it went out. It makes a loud click when it turns off.
OK, I apologize that was a very long winded story. I have reached the point where I really need a good technician to come and do all those multimeter tests that I am certain from my reading of this forum, need to be done. I need someone to look at the installation of the chimney and tell me if the venting is correct. I am way over my head and I don't know how to do this stuff. I hoped to lay out all the details in that long story.
Can anyone direct me to a really competent technician in the Sacramento, CA area please? And I apologize if anyone had better luck with, or works for the place I mentioned above. But my experience was very poor with them and I don't intend to call them again.
