Jotul 118

[harryfatcat]

Hi everybody, first post for me.

I've been reading for a while but I have a question I can't find an answer to. I have a Jutul 118 B UL stove that I bought used and I'm getting it back into usable condition. I sandblasted/wire wheeled the outside and repainted it, replaced the top and door gaskets. It looks very nice now. I lit a fire in it out in the driveway to burn off the fumes and noticed smoke coming out of many of the joints. I didn't want to break the whole thing down and re seal it but I have no choice now. Anyway, It's all apart now, and I only broke one bolt! I've cleaned up all the joints and I'm ready to re assemble it which brings me to my question, it almost looks like there should be rope in the joints by the way they fit each other but there was none when I took it apart. I have plenty of cement to seal it up with but I don't want to put it back together and find out it should have had gaskets.

If anybody has had one of these apart and can shine some light on the matter, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks.

Edit, I think this stove has been apart before. It looks like someone attempted to re seal it in the past.

 

[begreen]

Cement the joints following the instructions. Replace cracked or warped burn plates and baffle if necessary.

 

[harryfatcat]

That sounds like a quote from a repair manual maybe?

 

[harryfatcat]

It's all back together now. I used plenty of cement, put one piece in place then took it back apart and saw that the cement was definitely filling the voids and bridging the gaps. Whoever did this before didn't get the joints cleaned out enough and just did a sloppy job. Lousy weather today but tomorrow I'll touch up the paint and give it another burn outside, should be good to go.

 

[begreen]

That sounds like a quote from a repair manual maybe?

Nah, this is SOP for rebuilding an old Jotul. It'll burn poorly if the baffle is warped.

 

[harryfatcat]

Thanks! I can imagine that would be an issue. My next challenge is the burn plates, they are cracked. An internet search shows that replacements are crazy expensive and poor quality. One parts dealer suggested reproducing them from plate steel, something I can do myself. We'll see how that works out.

 

[begreen]

Where did you hear the replacements are poor quality? I rebuilt our 602, replacing the burn plates and upper baffle. The difference in how the stove burned was day and night. I would get the proper plates from a reputable supplier like (broken link removed). In the 602 the side burn plates mate tightly with the upper baffle to form the combustion chamber. If there are leaks at the sides or back, the stove will perform badly and there is a high risk of cracking the outer cast iron.

 

[harryfatcat]

2 separate Jotul dealers told me the replacements are aftermarket and fit poorly requiring grinding to fit. They could have made money selling me the parts but discouraged it. The plates are $260 each from Woodmans, I'm not paying that much for poor fitting aftermarket parts.

 

[begreen]

Could be true or perhaps not. I would call Woodman's and ask.

 

[harryfatcat]

Well, being lucky to have some skills I'm going to fabricate a pair out of 1/4" steel plate and see what happens. I think it will be fine and I'll save myself a bunch of cash.

 

[begreen]

Could work out ok. Make good snug fitting templates out of cardboard first. That will save you time and hassles getting a good fit with the steel. Warning though, the steel plates will take grinding to fit as well.

 

[harryfatcat]

I'll try to document it as I go and I'll use a burning dollar bill to light my cutting torch