Jotul F118 advice

[Dug8498]

Hi everybody, my name is Doug and I recently purchased a home that has a wood stove I believe to be a jotul F118. I think this website/ forum is awesome and I've been reading quite a lot. I've included some pictures to help here, please let me know if they're not good enough. The outside of the stove looks great, no cracks that I can see. The inside plates (side and roof plates- sorry I don't know lingo yet- also look good to me, but I want to make sure before I start burning). This house was built in 1983 and the stove was put in that year. The previous owner was a real weird guy but super anal and was very meticulous about maintaining things. I'm hoping to get some feedback on how this stove looks and what I may need to do prior to the winter. Thanks!!

 

[begreen]

Yes, that looks to be in nice condition. The burn plates and baffle look good. It's a nice, strong heater. The manual is at the bottom of the page here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/jotul-stoves/

 

[Dug8498]

Ok very nice, I'm looking forward to using it more this winter. im impressed from the little bit we were able to use it this winter; has no vents to anywhere in the house, just radiates heat and can heat the whole house quite adequately.

I know the previous owner put a new chimney pipe in right before we arrived so I'm assuming I won't need to do much of a chimney sweep before I burn this year.

One last question I had- I've been seeing people saying they put a layer of sand in the bottom of their jotul. Should I do that?

 

[Dug8498]

Ahh never mind I'm reading the manual that begreen gave me the link to and it states to do put a layer of sand on the bottom

 

[begreen]

Yes, normally I put down about an 1" of sand in a cleaned out firebox. A good ash bed will also suffice.

 

[Dug8498]

Ok great thank you

 

[Dug8498]

Bringing this thread to life again. I've tried to read everything I can find that is posted on this stove (the old Jotul 118) but I'm not sure I'm finding a definitive answer on this: So the stove has the main box where I put the wood, above that is an interior metal plate (a baffle correct?), and then above that is another smaller box. What is the purpose of that upper smaller box above the baffle? I've read that maybe it's a compartment to burn off gases etc? if this is true, is there a specific way I should burn that would maximize this capability?

Additionally, do I need to clean this upper box at all? I'd really rather not take the stove apart if i can avoid it as the stove seems to burn great and I don't want to ruin a good thing.

Funny last note: I decided to make a fire two nights ago because I just couldn't wait Last winter all I was burning was wet oak (40+% because that's all I could get when we moved into the house in January and I didn't know there was anything wrong with that; also the guy told me it was seasoned.....) and it would take me hours to get that fire burning above 2-300 degrees. Now I have quite a bit of wood that is around the 20% mark and I damn near over-fired my stove! I got it going and then threw on a few more logs and when I came back 15 minutes later the stove was running around 800 degrees! Going to have to get used to being a lot more careful.

 

[begreen]

The upper chamber is a heat exchanger that the flue gases are routed through. It definitely should be cleaned. Especially if damp wood was burned.
Do you have the manual for the stove?

 

[Dug8498]

The upper chamber is a heat exchanger that the flue gases are routed through. It definitely should be cleaned. Especially if damp wood was burned.
Do you have the manual for the stove?

Begreen, you included a link to a manual for the F118B earlier in this thread. Not sure if its my exact stove model. I dont believe I have the actual manual but I can check when I get home. The stove was in the house when I bought it. Then again, the previous owner left manuals for the 34 year old garage door openers from Sears so you never know...

If I'm reading that manual correctly it's referring to that upper chamber as the "heater" and it says to remove the top lid order to clean it. Dang it. Begreen, have you ever actually taken one of these apart? are there screws or glue that need to be undone/unstuck or is this a lid that I can literally lift off and then place back down on the stove once done?

 

[begreen]

The top lid lifts off.

 

[Dug8498]

The top lid lifts off.

Thank you. Appreciate your help

 

[harryfatcat]

Yup, top lifts right off. I believe your stove has a double bottom plate and does not require sand.

 

[Dug8498]

Yup, top lifts right off. I believe your stove has a double bottom plate and does not require sand.

Thank you. Lifted it off and cleaned out creosote buildup/ ash a few hours ago. All clean and ready to burn. Way easier than I thought it would be.