Jotul f500 cracked bottom plate part #8

[trevarthan]

I've only been wood burning since 2010. I bought this stove in 2011. I was doing my pre-season inspection today and noticed this crack in the bottom plate in the left rear corner:

(broken image removed)

Is this a common crack location for this stove? What causes it? Running the stove with the ash pan door open?

I think I may have bought the stove this way, but it's possible I caused it doing something stupid. I've made a lot of mistakes along the way. The silver lining is that I always learn something.

Anyway, I priced out a replacement part from an online dealer. (broken link removed) Who knows if that's the lowest price I can get, but it ain't cheap. Insult to injury means I have to strip down the stove and reassemble too. Bound to be a long and painful operation.

So... what if I just slather some furnace cement on that thing and run it that way? Would that be a problem?

Possible creative repair alternatives?

- Dis-assembly and an attempted weld repair with a pre and post heat (no, I'm not confident enough in my welding skills to attempt this unless I have no other options).
- Casting a new part, using the old part as a mold. I actually have a crap ton of oil based casting sand, though I haven't used it yet because I couldn't think of a reason to. This might be a fun experiment. I've always wanted to try casting cast iron.

 

[webbie]

Hmm, I would rule out casting some iron! That's a real specialty....

The price is too high for a replacement......that's not worthwhile.

I would clean it out and use furnace cement and keep an eye on it. It may never go any further.

Loot at it from the bottom also. If it ends up going all the way through, you can put a mending plate on the bottom and drill and tap into both sides of the crack. BUT, cracks such as this are rarely structural...that is, the casting is unlikely to fail, IMHO.

 

[trevarthan]

Yeah, you're right. I hadn't thought of a mending plate. That's a good compromise.

 

[stoveguy13]

I think I may have bought the stove this way, but it's possible I caused it doing something stupid. I've made a lot of mistakes along the way. The silver lining is that I always learn something. Anyway, I priced out a replacement part from an online dealer. Looks like... $1024. Who knows if that's the lowest price I can get, but it ain't cheap. Insult to injury means I have to strip down the stove and reassemble too. Bound to be a long and painful operation.

the most likely cause for the crack is that the ash pan door was used to start a fire f500 crack like this all the time if you use the ash pan door when you start or reload the stove the part should not be that much it is more likely $ 500 part try calling around.

 

[begreen]

Yes, unfortunately that is a familiar sight. It is almost always caused by using the ash pan door as an air supply.

 

[stovelark]

Trevar- 1024?? sounds high. I'll check on it today at work and let you know... Is the base plate an enamel color?? If its blue majolica or green majolica it will be higher- if matte black, should be a couple hundred. I'll get back to you later today. It is a job to replace, jotul says do it from the bottom (turning the stove on its head). The ones I've done, I've broken the stove down into a pile and cleaned/recemented the plates back together. You'll prob find it difficult for anyone to want to do that job for you now, into the season, from May to July, would be different. If the stove is ok otherwise, def worth fixing...

 

[stovelark]

Hi Trevar- looked up that part (bubble 8) its looks like that is what is cracked. If so, the part number is 103840(32). The last two correspond to the color ordered, 32 denotes matte black. If matte black, its 344.00 if Blue black, 672.00, the other colors are 869.00. I'd ensure it was cracked all the way through, it prob is, normally caused by the ash door being open. Its still worth fixing it tho, if the rest of the stove is ok. Good luck with it.

 

[trevarthan]

Thanks for checking. I think it's just matte black. The rest of the stove is matte black anyway. $344 isn't bad. I probably won't fix it this season, but maybe next.