Jotul 3 (1984) Requesting Advice

[chaospandemic]

Hi All,
This is my first post on the forums, so apologies in advance if I muck up the forum etiquette.

I recently purchased a home that had an old Jotul Fireplace Stove 3 with the following markings (UL 737 NBK) and (RPT 11.01.84). I am assuming the later marking is a date of manufacture. The unit has surface rust in various locations and the glass is broken. Other than that, the unit looks ok.

Getting to the point, I'm trying to figure out what to do with this thing. I found replacement glass on woodmanspartsplus for about $100 bucks. I'm handy enough, that I could take a bit of sandpaper to the unit, knock off the rust, take some high temp paint to it, replace the glass, and call it a weekend with a cold brew and a warm fire.
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with these stoves, so I'm wondering if they are any good and if the unit is even worth spending the time and money to get it operational. Are they worth anything on the used market? Or should this thing find a new home at the local landfill. I'd really like to buy a new unit, but the pocketbook isn't ready for that yet.

Thanks in advance for any advice that may end up my way.

 

[begreen]

It's a decent old stove. If there are no cracks or warping then it's worth a cleanup and new paint. Stove Brite metallic black looks good on the old Jotuls.

 

[chaospandemic]

@begreen Thanks for the recommendation on the paint. I looked over the stove closely this evening and I'm not seeing any cracks so I think we are good on that issue. I don't see any bulges or waves either so I don't think there's any warping going on either.

Sounds like $150 bucks to get this operational is makes sense. Is there anything I should know before lighting this thing up? I'm admittedly new to traditional wood burning stoves; I always had a pellet stoves previously so I'm not really sure what to expect, except...well, fire. I can already see that this thing is gonna be a bit of a chore to keep clean.

 

[begreen]

Take a strong flashlight and with the lights off have a helper shine the flashlight along the inside seams of the stove while you look for light leaks on the outside. If none, it should be ready to burn. My guess is that the door gasket may be ready to be replaced. Do the dollar bill test to see how it is sealing all around the stove door.

For the first couple of times make small break-in fires, just kindling at first.

 

[chaospandemic]

I had to take a break on this project for a bit but I'm finally circling back to it. I spent a couple hours cleaning it out this after noon (boy was that a chore) and attempted to remove the iron plates (couldn't get the bottom one out). Took a wire brush to the inside to remove that stubborn stuff.

You are right, the rope gasket is trash, it was all really hard and crumbled in places so I removed all of it. I'm still not seeing any showstopper item, we will be performing the light test this evening and if all is well, I'm expecting to order the glass and gaskets.

Will update as this progresses.

 

[begreen]

Don't run the stove with anything but a tiny kindling load without the gaskets.

 

[chaospandemic]

Thanks for the warning, I didnt think it would be a good idea to light a fire without the glass either

Finding the correct gasket kit for this particular model seems to be a little tricky. Will part # 157050 be sufficient?
It specifically calls out:
Jotul C 350, Jotul C 450, Jotul C 550 CB, Jotul F 3 CB, Jotul F 100, Jotul F 118 CB, Jotul F 370, Jotul F 400, Jotul F 500, Jotul F 600, Jotul F 602 CB

And seems to have the most diverse selection of gasket:
17 Feet - 3⁄8" Rope Gasket (RT 323N)
6.5 Feet 1⁄4" Round Gasket (RT 311N)
7 Feet - 1⁄4" Round Gasket - Self-adhesive (RT 311A)
74" - 3⁄16" Round Gasket - Self-adhesive (RT 310A)
37" - 1⁄8" x 5⁄16 Flat Gasket - Self-adhesive (RT 350A)

*Edit* The stove passed the light test

 

[begreen]

This kit should cover it.

Jotul Cast Iron Stove Gasket Kit 157050

Jotul 157050 CastIron Stove Gasket Kit

www.rockymountainstove.com

 

[chaospandemic]

Thanks for all the help @begreen, I've ordered and received all the parts. I spent the week scraping and sanding the stove per the stovebrite instructions and just got it painted this evening. It's still wet so its too early to tell, but I think its going to turn out alright.

Glass and gaskets are going in tomorrow. I'm hoping to get around to inspecting the flue pipe and getting the first burn in tomorrow. Pics and status update to come.

 

[chaospandemic]

Update : glass and rope installed. I'm very pleased with how the paint turned out.

 

[ctyankee]

looks nice!

 

[chaospandemic]

First small fire just got lit. Newspaper, small sticks and two pieces of wood, about 1.5inch diameter. So far so good.

 

[fbelec]

nice job. looks new

 

[chaospandemic]

The stove has been running for a week and it's working great. A bit of advice for anyone trying to restore one of these, I made a mistake that I'd like to share with you all.

When I installed the new gaskets, I thought it would be a good idea to use the self adhesive flat rope on the glass facing inside the stove. I did this because I didn't like the idea of the metal clips making direct contact with the glass. To make it look decent, I ran the gasket all along the edge of the glass. When I first did it, the install looked good.

Fast forward two days of run time on the stove, the glass had turned black. No big deal, I took some Fantastik and cleaned the glass then followed that up with some Windex. Perfect, except that the rope absorbed all that spray, became soaked, and started to peel in a couple areas. At this point there wasn't much I felt like I should do, but realized that the rope probably wasn't going to be a long term solution.

Another two days go by and the glass is black again. I apply the same treatment as last time, except the black isn't coming off. Three treatments of Fantastik but nope, barely any of it is coming off. It's cold and the glass is just for anesthetics so screw it, light up the stove and just live with it til I can plan some time to pull out the glass and clean it.

So, here we are today, I pulled the glass and put it in a tray to soak. It's in its second treatment of soaking with Fantastik, it's coming clean... Slowly. The rope that was applied to the glass has been pulled off. I still don't like the idea of metal on glass contact, but I'm not sure there's much I can do about that. Maybe I can attach the gasket to the metal clips instead.

 

[el-rey]

It looks like you double dipped on the door gasket. I've never seen gasket to gasket, unless I'm viewing it wrong

 

[EbS-P]

My 2018 F400 as small pieces of gasket between the clips and the glass.

 

[begreen]

The gasket is meant to seal between the stove door and the glass to prevent air entry there. It needs to be removed and properly installed.
Use a razor blade to scrape off the worst of the black coating on the glass. Then use a glass cooktop cleaner. Fantastik is not meant for stove windows.

Other than that, the stove came out nicely. With the glass gasket properly installed it should be even better.

 

[chaospandemic]

Ok, So Fantastik hit a point of diminishing returns real quick. I upgraded to goo gone which also met the same fate. I then queried the infinite wisdom of Youtube and found that apparently a pretty common method of removing all that crud was to use a rag, water, and the ashes in the burn pot to scrub it clean (I never would have though of that). Sure enough it made short work of that. I couldnt get all of the gasket adhesive off the glass and finally gave up on it for now (you can see it pretty clearly in the picture below). I reinstalled the glass and cut small strips of the gasket I removed from the glass and wedged them between the glass clips and the glass. We'll see how annoying that gets in the coming weeks and maybe I'll adhere them onto it for something a bit more permanent.

@el-rey - You are correct that there is two gaskets being used on the door seal (one on the stove itself and one on the door). I looked this over real close when I was installing because I was also concerned about a gasket to gasket configuration. It turns out that the door gasket and stove gasket sandwich between a piece an iron lip, where it all meets up when the door closes.

@EbS-P - Good to know. Is the gasket adhered to the clips or are they loose and held in place by compression?

@begreen - I did get a gasket installed on the stove door between it and the glass. Silly me also installed another gasket on the glass itself facing inwards towards the stove firepot. I did a dumb, fortunately not a double dumb.

 

[EbS-P]

Loose. I only noticed them as it fell out. Clip was not tight enough.
Evan

 

[Seaporter]

@chaospandemic thanks for this posting it inspired me to refurbish a 1986 Jotul 3. A question for you and @begreen - is there a source you would recommend for the clips that hold the glass? One was broken and I'd like to replace it.

 

[D. Hermit]

@chaospandemic thanks for this posting it inspired me to refurbish a 1986 Jotul 3. A question for you and @begreen - is there a source you would recommend for the clips that hold the glass? One was broken and I'd like to replace it.

You can buy the clips here. Item no 27

Replacement stove parts | Woodman's Parts Plus | Stove Gas Wood Stove Parts

Woodman's Parts Plus offers over 20,000 in stock parts for your wood, coal, gas, oil or pellet unit, as well as barbecues and outdoor power equipment. Over 400 old and current manufacturers, with unique parts and patterns.

www.woodmanspartsplus.com

 

[Seaporter]

You can buy the clips here. Item no 27

Replacement stove parts | Woodman's Parts Plus | Stove Gas Wood Stove Parts

Woodman's Parts Plus offers over 20,000 in stock parts for your wood, coal, gas, oil or pellet unit, as well as barbecues and outdoor power equipment. Over 400 old and current manufacturers, with unique parts and patterns.

www.woodmanspartsplus.com

Thank you @Deranged Hermit

 

[D. Hermit]

Thank you @Deranged Hermit

No problem. If you have never used woodsmans before, here is a tip. The website shipping calculations are sometimes crazy. If it comes up as something unreasonable, then call and they can do the order over the phone and fix it. I have found multiple items that weigh very little, and the site would try to charge me like $25 to ship, and I live 3 hours from them. Call and its like $10-$12 in reality.

 

[Mattmac]

I’m also in process of refurbishing an old jotul F3 ( 1988) which I took apart ages ago when removed it from room for renovation and plan to fit new seals - I assume the 2 x side plates require rope seal and the top plate - may seem like a silly question but which channel does the sealing rope go in - I assume the channels that are a bit gunked up in pics ?

 

[D. Hermit]

I’m also in process of refurbishing an old jotul F3 ( 1988) which I took apart ages ago when removed it from room for renovation and plan to fit new seals - I assume the 2 x side plates require rope seal and the top plate - may seem like a silly question but which channel does the sealing rope go in - I assume the channels that are a bit gunked up in pics ?

The sides do not get rope in those channels. That is for cement. The top does get a gasket. Most likely 3/8in.
Also, you have just a Jotul 3, not a F3.