Jotul Castine f400

[G6 at Snook TX]

I checked the stove pipe for soot and it was nearly clean. Thanks for the advice on that previous thread. I put the stove back together because you have to take down the secondary burner rack, remove the back plate, and three fire bricks. It is a pain to put back together. The gaskets are the hardest part. Anyhow, since I did this work, it seems as if the secondary burners are not kicking in like they had prior to my tampering. They do burn, however. Also, the wood I am burning is in the 15% range and it is causing the viewing glass to "fog" up more than before. Is this all related? If you can give me some counsel, especially the Jotul owners, I would appreciate it.

The manual itself is not as helpful as I would have hoped.

 

[WellSeasoned]

Sorry,i can't help you, but let me ask... How often does these parts need to be removed, and why?

 

[Wade A.]

Yep, it is quite a job to do that. I also had a heck of a time getting the secondary chamber gaskets to stay in place while I lowered it back down. I think if I do it again I'll daub on a bit of furnace cement to stick them in place. Because a airtight seal is not all that crucial to the secondary burn, I'm doubting that it would be a problem if those aren't seated exactly right. If I'm wrong about that, somebody please let me know. The only other moveable part would be the cast iron baffle that sticks up in the secondary chamber. As I recall, you can install that turned backwards if you're not careful. Don't know if that would make a difference in secondary performance, but I've got to believe it might. OTOH, 15% moisture is pretty high for the Castine, to get optimal performance. I find that anything over 11% puts a serious dent in efficiency. I would say with some certainty that is why your glass is staying dirty. Get your hands on some really dry wood and see what results.

 

[Wade A.]

And Backwoods...I would never have disassembled the stove at all, but I have no clean out tee, and no way to disconnect the connector pipe without lifting the whole chimney, so I dismantle it when I need to sweep. It is not that hard, really, just messy as all get-out. Some don't even bolt the top plate back down, but that makes me nervous. You'll bust a few knuckles, so wear some thin gloves. If you have a family, definitely wait for a time when the wife and kids are gone.

 

[begreen]

I'm sorry you went through this. It sounds like something was not put together correctly. In the future all you need to do to clean the stove is remove the top. It unbolts from inside the stove and pops right off. No need to disassemble the stove at all.

 

[WellSeasoned]

Phewww! Thx green. Thats something I don't want to get into.

 

[G6 at Snook TX]

I assume it was put together properly, but the cleaner was the fellow who made the mistake. Me. Anyhow, as for the wood, it won't be until next year that the wood gets down to the 10% range in curing. I guess I will have to live with the foggy windows.

As has been recommended, I will clean the stove pipe, or have it cleaned, in April when things warm up around here.

 

[WellSeasoned]

I assume it was put together properly, but the cleaner was the fellow who made the mistake. Me. Anyhow, as for the wood, it won't be until next year that the wood gets down to the 10% range in curing. I guess I will have to live with the foggy windows.

As has been recommended, I will clean the stove pipe, or have it cleaned, in April when things warm up around here.

I think once your burning hot enough for a period of time the ceramic will clean itself. If your running not so good wood, might want to at least take a peek in ur chimney just to be safe. Be well.

 

[Wade A.]

As B.G. suggested, you might only need to take the top off. I can't remember why I felt the need to pull it all apart. I might just have gone overboard out of curiosity as to how it is put together, or maybe I thought the secondayr baffle was in the way of the bolts securing the top....I dunno. I have penchant for doing things the hard way, so that might have been at work here.

 

[logger]

I helped my brother clean his Castine a few times (same technique as my Oslo). Theres definately no need for all that work you mentioned doing. The pipe disconnects and can be swept top down, or bottom up. As BeGreen mentioned, to reach and clean above the baffle, just take the rectangle plate out and stick a vacuum hose in there..

 

[G6 at Snook TX]

After I made this post last night, it worked fine--minus the foggy glass. As I said earlier, I suppose that issue will resolve itself after another year of seasoning for the wood. Also, I bet I didn't get the thing hot enough at times, but last night I got a good bed of coals raked forward, three pieces of solid oak burning, and I topped out in the center of the top plate at about 600 and on the edges at 500+-. The secondaries kicked in nicely with the draft about 10-15% open. Pretty.

Also, when I reloaded for the last time I opened her up to about 40% it caught, then I shut back down (open a crack) after about 8 minutes. The fire never spiked to 600, but it cruised at about 480 with a good secondary burn. I know that is fine temperature wise, but is that a good practice for a long nighttime burn? BTW, the house was about 70 when I woke up this morning. Nice.

 

[begreen]

That's good news. If the secondary burn is fairly even across the manifold, you probably got it reassembled correctly.