Jotul 400F Ashpan Door has Big Gap; Burn Time Two Hours, Not Eight as Advertised

[WoodsWorth]

Good morning, Hearth.com. The dealer from whom we bought our Jotul 400F is very good and very busy and we live very far away from his shop. He hasn't been over to see for himself what can be done about the gap in the top of the ashpan door. Hence I reach out to you for insights and ideas.

The gap in the ashpan door sucks air (audibly) and results in a burn time of 2 hours instead of the advertised 8. If we load the stove as for an overnight burn, the stove rather soon goes into over-burn...so we load it only to keep it in the middle of the middle zone. This works more or less well as long as I am bustling about cooking on top of it, but we need a stove we can walk away from to get some sleep for 6-8 hours without having to awaken to a stone-cold stove.

At first we hoped the damper wasn't working right...we followed directions to disassemble/reassemble; ascertained it's working. ..one can hear it sliding, and one can see a slight difference in the flame between the 'open' and 'shut' positions.

We sent the dealer videos of the door sucking flame and he is certain the door has a problem...especially because one can see glow through the gap. We also sent him videos of the fire ROARING with the damper closed all the way.

Three questions for the forum: 1. Has anyone else had a defective ashpan door from Jotul? 2. Could the door just be hung wrong and, if so, is that something we, the consumer, can adjust? 3. What am I forgetting to ask you here?

The replacement gasket the dealer sent made no difference. I let the ash build up to slow the burn but that does not solve this either.

Thank you for any and all input. I went to the Jotul website before I posted here, clicked "Support." I am directed to make contact with the dealer. I have made contact with the dealer, and he is a very nice man who really does care; he is just very busy. Thank you for your ideas and insights, and God bless you all.

P.S. If you want to tell us we bought the wrong stove, we would greatly appreciate your recommendations on the right stove. I know the Jotul brochure doesn't call the 400F a "heater," but it does advertise the same burn time and the same 1500 SF coverage as those models sold as a "heater." Our house is <1000 SF, and it is insulated.

 

[DAKSY]

Good morning, Hearth.com. The dealer from whom we bought our Jotul 400F is very good and very busy and we live very far away from his shop. He hasn't been over to see for himself what can be done about the gap in the top of the ashpan door. Hence I reach out to you for insights and ideas.

The gap in the ashpan door sucks air (audibly) and results in a burn time of 2 hours instead of the advertised 8. If we load the stove as for an overnight burn, the stove rather soon goes into over-burn...so we load it only to keep it in the middle of the middle zone. This works more or less well as long as I am bustling about cooking on top of it, but we need a stove we can walk away from to get some sleep for 6-8 hours without having to awaken to a stone-cold stove.

At first we hoped the damper wasn't working right...we followed directions to disassemble/reassemble; ascertained it's working. ..one can hear it sliding, and one can see a slight difference in the flame between the 'open' and 'shut' positions.

We sent the dealer videos of the door sucking flame and he is certain the door has a problem...especially because one can see glow through the gap. We also sent him videos of the fire ROARING with the damper closed all the way.

Three questions for the forum: 1. Has anyone else had a defective ashpan door from Jotul? 2. Could the door just be hung wrong and, if so, is that something we, the consumer, can adjust? 3. What am I forgetting to ask you here?

The replacement gasket the dealer sent made no difference. I let the ash build up to slow the burn but that does not solve this either.

Thank you for any and all input. I went to the Jotul website before I posted here, clicked "Support." I am directed to make contact with the dealer. I have made contact with the dealer, and he is a very nice man who really does care; he is just very busy. Thank you for your ideas and insights, and God bless you all.

P.S. If you want to tell us we bought the wrong stove, we would greatly appreciate your recommendations on the right stove. I know the Jotul brochure doesn't call the 400F a "heater," but it does advertise the same burn time and the same 1500 SF coverage as those models sold as a "heater." Our house is <1000 SF, and it is insulated.

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If it's still under warranty, I'd say you want to ask the dealer to mail you a new door.
If that doesn't solve your problem, he can keep it a as a spare part.
If you can install it yourself, & that solves the problem,
he won't lose a service tech for a couple of hours...

 

[rwh63]

go directly to the manufacturer. i believe USA hq is in gorham maine.

 

[EbS-P]

I would not burn it anymore as you can crack the stove base, until it is fixed. The latch can be adjusted. It has a positive “latched “ feel when adjusted properly. Check the hinge pin is it bent. The door does hang loose in the pin. Make sure the pan is not preventing the door from closing all the way.
Hope that helps.
Evan

 

[WoodsWorth]

If it's still under warranty, I'd say you want to ask the dealer to mail you a new door.
If that doesn't solve your problem, he can keep it a as a spare part.
If you can install it yourself, & that solves the problem,
he won't lose a service tech for a couple of hours...

Many thanks, DAKSY. I appreciate your seeing both sides.

 

[WoodsWorth]

I would not burn it anymore as you can crack the stove base, until it is fixed. The latch can be adjusted. It has a positive “latched “ feel when adjusted properly. Check the hinge pin is it bent. The door does hang loose in the pin. Make sure the pan is not preventing the door from closing all the way.
Hope that helps.
Evan

Thank you, Evan. I've long wondered if that latch is working. It's way too easy to think it's latched but then one can pull it open. Do you happen to know where I can see directions on how to adjust it? Hello from the NC mountains.

 

[WoodsWorth]

go directly to the manufacturer. i believe USA hq is in gorham maine.

RWH63, what is the secret to doing that? On their website, when one clicks "Support," nothing like a "Contact Us" link shows. Maybe I didn't look well enough? Thank you for your encouragement.

 

[EbS-P]

The nut on the inside of the ash pan Door handle sets the tension on the spring. The latch tab is has flats that matches the flats on the threaded interior part of the handle. My spring was completely compressed when I got it and that was too tight. Through Trial and error was able to back the nut out enough that i was able rotate the handle further and get that detent latched feel.

 

[xman23]

The latch, if it's the same as my Oslo has flag that's spring loaded. Here's how mine works. When you close the door, lift it a bit, it sags. Then as you rotate, the flag will engage and suck the door closed, compressing the spring. Actually it gets hard to rotate as the spring is compressed. I don't know if there's any adjustment, but I haven't touched mine in 20 years. As said the ash pan sticking out can prevent this from working. Do it without the pan. I guess those few parts on the latch could be assembled in the wrong order.

Many years ago I went up one size in the gasket diameter. The hinge side was a bit loose.

 

[WoodsWorth]

The nut on the inside of the ash pan Door handle sets the tension on the spring. The latch tab is has flats that matches the flats on the threaded interior part of the handle. My spring was completely compressed when I got it and that was too tight. Through Trial and error was able to back the nut out enough that i was able rotate the handle further and get that detent latched feel.

Thank you VERY much, EbS-P. Husband said, when I read him this, "That makes a lot of sense! The non-engineer intuitively tightens the nut, but that only makes it worse!" We look forward to trying your suggestion.

 

[WoodsWorth]

The nut on the inside of the ash pan Door handle sets the tension on the spring. The latch tab is has flats that matches the flats on the threaded interior part of the handle. My spring was completely compressed when I got it and that was too tight. Through Trial and error was able to back the nut out enough that i was able rotate the handle further and get that detent latched feel.

Thank you so much,

The latch, if it's the same as my Oslo has flag that's spring loaded. Here's how mine works. When you close the door, lift it a bit, it sags. Then as you rotate, the flag will engage and suck the door closed, compressing the spring. Actually it gets hard to rotate as the spring is compressed. I don't know if there's any adjustment, but I haven't touched mine in 20 years. As said the ash pan sticking out can prevent this from working. Do it without the pan. I guess those few parts on the latch could be assembled in the wrong order.

Many years ago I went up one size in the gasket diameter. The hinge side was a bit loose.

Thank you so much, xman23, especially for the description of how the door is supposed to feel when it's adjusted correctly. We are looking forward to trying your suggestion. More and more, we think this has to be what is wrong here. VERY grateful for this forum and for the time you took to explain this.