jotul f-118 not buring hot enough

[ran1234man]

I just purchased a stove that I thought was a jotul f-118 at first but turns out. I now think is a knock off of the jotul stove.
it is a nice unit, sturdy, solid stove that should be adequate to heat the space I have.

pic should be attached

My problem comes with not being able to get it burning hot enough. I have a temp guage on the stack about halfway up. I have had another wood stove connected the same way, and it was able to run plenty hot enough, but had a crack in the bottom by the air intake vent, so I decided to get a new stove. The old stove I was using would run as high as 8-900 degrees at times if I wasnt watching it enough. since there was a crack in it, seemed to much air was getting in it and not burning at a consistant rate, not airtight.

back to the new stove I bought. I have gotten it to go to about 600degrees once. It was when I first started it, it took about an hour to get there, burned hot and I got excited, thought this stove would work out great and at that temp, it threw out plenty of heat. Problem was that as the temp started to go down, I think around 400, I decided to throw another log in to get ti going to keep the temp up. The stove just slowed right down, getting to about 200degrees and just staying there. I've been trying diffrent things all weekend to see if I can get it hot again with no luck.

Since the other stove worked at higher temps, It makes me think it's not a draft problem. I think it might be an air problem. As I looked around on the net for solutions, I came across the newer model Jotul 118-black bear and it looks like the smae stove except the newer one has an air intake in the back also as opposed to mine that doesnt.

As I type this, my house is about 50 inside and outside the temps around 15. If this stove would do what it should, I think it would heat this place right up, might take some time, but it would. I am trying to run it right now with the door open a little bit and the air intake wide open, and I've been playing with the damper a bit too. Tryed it wide open for a while, tryied it half way. I am at a loss, please help.

 

[begreen]

The ideal is not to have a too hot flue pipe, but a hot stove. Normally you want the stove to be hotter than the flue temp. If you place the thermometer on the top of the stove, on the cook plate, what is the temperature reading?

 

[ran1234man]

unfortunatly I dont have the kind of guage that I can just move easy. Its the kind that goes right thru the pipe and has a wingnut on the back. So I'm not sure, but I know its not hot enough.

 

[begreen]

Best then to look for air leaks at the flue connection or possibly at the rim of the top heat exchanger on the stove. Or perhaps this batch of wood is not so dry?

 

[webbie]

Sounds like a combination problem - maybe draft, wood, operator, etc.?
Read carefully about how to burn a front to back stove.......here
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/tending_a_wood_fire

 

[cmonSTART]

And yes, FWIW your stove appears to be a knock off Jotul.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Here's a photo of the Jotul Black Bear knockoff by Scandia that I used to have. It's not the same as the OP's. I think mine was made in Taiwan and sold by Franklin Stove Works of Rhode Island. I bought it used from a neighbor for $100, never used it, and sold it on Craigslist for $100.

 

[ran1234man]

So I took the metal piece out that seperates the bottom compartment from the top compartment where the smoke comes out. Now it just has one compartment. It doesnt burn as long, but it puts out a ton more heat, like I think it should.