Hi, I have a Jotul 8 AP (catalytic) I bought new 25 years ago. I just noticed that the door latch now closes a hair more than it used to. The latch itself is fine, no wear at all really, but it looks like the indented "groove" design for the latch travel on the front plate has worn from repeatedly latching the door, and there's an extra dip now that acts as a sort of detent at the end of the latch's travel. Looks like the designed groove has worn maybe 1/8" as far as I can tell, and the "new" detent is maybe another 1/4". Frankly, I don't know if that detent was designed or is just wear... it's pretty hard to tell, but I don't recall there ever being a detent.
It currently doesn't seem like a pressing issue, the door is actually a bit more securely latched, you could say, due to the detent. And I don't need to latch all the way to the detent anyway... it only detents if I add a little more force than I normally would. The door seal seems fine, gasket all good (I replace my gasket every few years as needed). But eventually it looks like I'll need to somehow repair this, or worst case replace the entire front panel (the entire front side of the stove).
My questions are:
-has anyone else experienced this, and if so how long did it go before needing full replacement of the front panel?
-Any repair ideas? I really don't see how this could be repaired... other than trying to weld it somehow with a small bead? Don't even know if you can weld cast iron? (I'm obviously not a welder!) Short of a repair, I guess I'll have to try to find a front panel, but woodman's parts doesn't seem to even have that. Might be tough to find.
About 2 years ago I did a major overhaul and replaced a bunch of parts, notably the back burn plate and inner back panel (which had melted about 50% over 25 years!), and the catalytic converter. It's a great stove, and I hope to keep it going for quite a while.
BTW, while I'm at it, does anyone have any insight on running this stove without cleaning the catalytic converter? Over the years I've experimented with not cleaning the CC, because I found that I was able to stoke it better overnight when the CC hadn't been cleaned from the previous year. Whenever I cleaned it, even with the damper and air intake closed it wouldn't have many coals the next morning. So the CC was allowing "too much" air flow, and would of course burn all the wood (I know, that's part of what it's supposed to do). By the end of the burning season the CC would become clogged, and I had no trouble stoking for overnight. I know that the CC supposedly burns more efficiently and no doubt cleaner, but frankly I haven't seen any noticeable efficiency difference. (Then again, that's not exactly a scientific measurement!) Has anyone else noticed this?
Many thanks!
It currently doesn't seem like a pressing issue, the door is actually a bit more securely latched, you could say, due to the detent. And I don't need to latch all the way to the detent anyway... it only detents if I add a little more force than I normally would. The door seal seems fine, gasket all good (I replace my gasket every few years as needed). But eventually it looks like I'll need to somehow repair this, or worst case replace the entire front panel (the entire front side of the stove).
My questions are:
-has anyone else experienced this, and if so how long did it go before needing full replacement of the front panel?
-Any repair ideas? I really don't see how this could be repaired... other than trying to weld it somehow with a small bead? Don't even know if you can weld cast iron? (I'm obviously not a welder!) Short of a repair, I guess I'll have to try to find a front panel, but woodman's parts doesn't seem to even have that. Might be tough to find.
About 2 years ago I did a major overhaul and replaced a bunch of parts, notably the back burn plate and inner back panel (which had melted about 50% over 25 years!), and the catalytic converter. It's a great stove, and I hope to keep it going for quite a while.
BTW, while I'm at it, does anyone have any insight on running this stove without cleaning the catalytic converter? Over the years I've experimented with not cleaning the CC, because I found that I was able to stoke it better overnight when the CC hadn't been cleaned from the previous year. Whenever I cleaned it, even with the damper and air intake closed it wouldn't have many coals the next morning. So the CC was allowing "too much" air flow, and would of course burn all the wood (I know, that's part of what it's supposed to do). By the end of the burning season the CC would become clogged, and I had no trouble stoking for overnight. I know that the CC supposedly burns more efficiently and no doubt cleaner, but frankly I haven't seen any noticeable efficiency difference. (Then again, that's not exactly a scientific measurement!) Has anyone else noticed this?
Many thanks!
