Help!! Jøtul 8 baffle with cat combuster

[Blueskygirl]

Have the 8 series jøtul with the catalytic combuster. The baffle was not in place when I bought it and I can’t figure out how to properly install it. If anyone can shed some light on the situation or has this stove and can send pictures I’d be so grateful.

 

[1990Jotul]

Wow, those photo's bring back memories. I am still happily burning one of these stoves, that I bought new and originally had those parts. You do NOT have a Jotul Series 8, but rather a Jotul 8 TDIC. The series 8 came after this, and had the catalyst built into the back panel. The ones we have, have the catalytic assembly bolted onto the inside of the flu opening. I see you are exausting out the back. Mine was switched around to vent through the top, so I don't have the exact experience you would have burning it with that baffle in place, but I will share my experience with you, as it is generally applicable. As I said, I bought mine new. It was my first wood stove and I really had nothing else to compare it to. I was happy with it in general, but my one complaint was that I had a hell of time getting larger logs in that should have fit into that stove. It was because of that monstrous baffle was just sitting there in the middle of the burning area. Several years after I bought this stove I was having a conversation with a Jotul USA engineer in Maine, it was about something different, but this topic came up. He said "I shouldn't tell you this, but I would remove that baffle". He went on to explain to me that they needed to very quickly design this catalyst assembly to meet new EPA emission rules, and to also pass UL safety standards, that baffle was included. He said it was only needed to meet very stringent testing that really wasn't typical of real use and he acknowedged that it really interfered with loading the stove. So he said my best bet was just to remove it. So I did, and I was very happy I did. I never had any problems without it and I could fit so much more into the stove. I did hower still have a bit of annoyance from those two oval shaped baffel mounts that you can see in your photos. They were still protruding and sometimes preventing a log from fitting in. So I ended up torching those off as well. I was then very happy. After over 25 years of heavy operation, my cataylst box did become warped to the point that the damper door would no longer operate. At that point I took off the entire catalyst assembly, put in some new parts, and am now running it as a pre-cat stove. I am again very happy with it. Would the catalyst box have warped had the baffle been left in place? Maybe not, but I am still glad I removed it. So my advice is to run it without the baffle. However, if you really want it in there... The baffle hangs on the catalyst assembly at two points- those oval shaped protruding brackets. In you photo, one has a bolt in it. You need an identical bolt for the other side. You simply bolt the baffle on, using these. It will not be a solid unmovable mount, but a rather flexible one where you can kind move the baffle up and down a bit (the bolts acting somewhat like a hinge joint). If mounted properly, the baffle will kind kind of curve up and block the opening into the flue connector. It's job is just just to prevent a heavy fire from going up into the flue pipe. Again, it was considered a clumsy add on that took a lot of workable volume out of the stove. Let me know if you have any other questions about this. It's always nice to see other people still running these stoves.

 

[LumberCity]

I just started running a jotul series 8 a little while ago and I wonder if the baffle removal would work on my stove, considering that it is designed a little different than yours. I should think I would still need something to prevent flames from directly hitting the bypass opening and warping it over time but maybe it doesn't need to be as large as the baffle.

 

[1990Jotul]

Can't really say, as I have never looked inside a Series 8 stove. While the stoves are almost identical in every other way, the catalyst configuration is completely different between a Series 8 and the 8-TDIC. Your catalyst is built into the back stove panel, while mine was just hung onto either the stop lid or back panel (depending on whether you vented out the top or from the back). I cant quite picture what the baffel inside a Series 8 looks like, or how it attaches. Any photo's?

 

[LumberCity]

Sorry it took awhile to respond. Here's the back wall of the firebox with and without baffle installed. The bypass damper opening is up top and the perforated burn plate at the bottom is the smoke flow to the cat on the back. The baffle mounts onto those 2 threaded rods under the bypass opening. The rods attach to the bypass damper hinges on the back side of the rear plate. My baffle is a little warped (it was bad enough it stretched/ruined the old bypass hinges and I had to replace) so I had to bore out the mounting holes on the baffle to make everything line up.

 

[LumberCity]

And a photo of back of stove/cat chamber. Now that I'm staring at it, I'm thinking that the main purpose of the baffle is to protect the lever assembly for the bypass. It's mostly 1/4" round stock and 1/8" steel brackets.

 

[LumberCity]

Follow up: I removed the baffle almost immediately after that last post above. Stove burns fine without it. No warping and I can load about one more medium sized split in than before. I believe it would be unwise to do this if you ran it in fireplace configuration, venting out the top/lid with the door removed because you would loose all your heat.

 

[Robhannig4]

I’m rekindling this thread because it seems to be the closest I can find to an issue I am having and you guys may have seen the things I’m talking about here.

I have what I believe is a Jøtul series 8 TDIC stove and I’m having issues with the control rod/bypass damper jamming both open and closed on different occasions and can’t figure out why. I’ve taken the stove apart several times and don’t see anything obvious. Im inclined to say something is heating up and pinching in the linkage of the control rod but can’t be sure. After I reassembled it this last time, the damper doesn’t even want to stay closed it seems like the weight of the damper makes it fall open. The only thing I see that sticks out is the bypass damper does not close all the way. It is gasketed but when I close the bypass there is still a significant gap and none of the gasketed surface contacts the other surface. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated! In the photos there are two of the bypass damper, one open and one closed, you can see the large gap even when closed.

 

[begreen]

Look carefully for warping of the bypass damper. That can cause premature wear in the damper hinges and binding.

 

[Robhannig4]

Ok will do when I get back to the house. Any idea if the damper is not supposed to fully close?

 

[begreen]

The bypass is gasketed and should fully close. In the pictures the bypass gasket has become detached which is not helping anything.

 

[Robhannig4]

Interesting, I’m not sure why this won’t fully close then, It’s a used stove, new to me so I’m wondering if someone maybe changed some parts out in the linkage at some point in time. It really only travels about .5” not even close to closing all the way. And I accidentally pulled the gasket out of the bypass damper, need to add that to the list too.

 

[Defiant 3]

The linkage rod has become twisted out of shape. The "ears" which connect to the push rod at one end and the damper itself at the other are no longer at the correct angle relative to one another, so the damper won' t close. See if Woodmans Parts Plus might have a replacement, or just try twisting it back?

 

[Sun&Snow]

There's not much clearance between the rod and the stove body, so if there's any creosote on the rod, that can cause it to jam up. A sweep applied oil to mine instead of cleaning it. It smoked to high heaven and made it jam even worse until I cleaned it all off.