Jotul F600 Firelight air vent handle issue and broken bolt

[BackwoodsVT]

First of all, I have to thank all of you for the wealth of info you've been since we decided to switch to burning wood. We've got a great Jotul Firelight on a well built hearth pad, entirely up to code chimney install, smiling wife and kids, and the oil man keeps driving by with that "call me" look in his eyes. This forum is one of the best things I've had the pleasure of stumbling upon.

I just need to pick your brains about something which I'm not sure is standard customer service or not. We bought our stove from the Chimney Sweep Fireplace Shop in Shelburne, VT. Great guys over there. Very helpful, informative, and they remember you when you come in the door. The Firelight has, or had, an issue with the air vent handle getting sticky so that, when the stove heats up and you close the air vent down, it's hard to slide the handle over and open it back up again when you add some wood on the fire. I called the shop and the parts guy immediately knew what I was talking about. He said he has some replacement handles right there and would mail me one immediately. He said you take out the two screws to the inspection cover, pull out the old handle, put in the new (slightly re-shaped) handle, replace the cover, put the screws back in and you're all set. It sounded so easy, I didn't ask if this is something their people should be doing. I gave him my name and a couple days later a little box with the handle showed up in the mail.

I removed the cover, replaced the handled, sprinkled in some graphite lubricant (more helpful advice from the forum members), and replaced the cover. The first screw went in ok and the 2nd one wasn't as smooth. I even started over a couple times to make sure it was threaded just right. Just as it was almost tightened, but with another 1/4 inch to go, I was thinking, "maybe this is something the stove guys should do, I bet they use something to keep these from binding up and snapping". All of a sudden, I'm holding the head of the screw in my hand and the rest is broken off in the stove.

The parts guy at the stove shop, again, seemed to be familiar with this problem and said there's a clip they can order to clip the cover down where the screw broke off. He said he'd order the part and they'd have someone come over and put it in. It's been a couple weeks so I'll probably call today and find the clip is sitting there (which is what happened with the $15 outside air kit adapter).

Does anyone know if this is the kind of service Jotul would like their customers to have? I did call their 800 number but, once the lady heard I wasn't a dealer, she put me through to customer service with nice music and an answering machine. So I thought I'd check with some people who really know wood stoves. Any opinions?

 

[jbrown56]

Backwoods,

I had the same problem with the damper control lever in m Oslo. Snce it was a brand new stove, I had the stove shop deal with it. They came out three times before they got it right. As for the bolt, I would drill it and use a screw extractor kit to back it out. The hole may have to be rethreaded. Good luck.

Jim

 

[woodconvert]

For whatever reason Jotul's have this problem and I don't know why they have not addressed it. That said, mine did the same thing from day one. I too took the screws out, cover of, inspected everything, removed a couple of casting burrs and put it back together and it still sticks. All I do is tap it with the damper tool instead of moving it by hand.

 

[BackwoodsVT]

Thanks for your replies jbrown56 and woodconvert. When I put in the new handle, I was checking for any burrs but didn't find any. And the new handle's working pretty good so far. I didn't receive a call back from Jotul but have to assume they're busy dealing with their stove dealers. They're answering machine did say that they give priority to phone calls from dealers. I called the dealer who sold me the stove and talked with the service rep. I explained that his co-worker said there was a clip that is used to hold the shield down, the one with the snapped bolt, and that it was being ordered that day. The service rep knew a lot but didn't seem to know anything about a special clip. He checked their system and nothing had been ordered. Not cool at all. He said they'd have come out to put in the air vent handle but would have charged me $79 for the service call and I'm not very interested in having them come out to fix anything else unless it's on their dime. Something tells me they'd rather hang out in the showroom and make their money selling stoves. I guess the buyer really needs to beware, because we can really be fed a line some times. But, the stove is still a wonderful powerhouse and we haven't had that oil furnace blower come on once yet this year.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I'd be mad. I think Jotul should foot the bill for:

a. removal of snapped off bolt
b. replacement of said bolt with new one
c. re-thread if necessary.

I'd call the dealer daily, possibly several times a day, until they agreed to do so, or agreed to give me the number to their northeast service rep.

I am one who demands service, the retail industry in this country must be held accountable for BOTH their product AND service.

The loudest squeak gets the oil!

You purchased a Jotul F600 in good faith with the expectation that the product would function as designed and advertised.

The air control lever is a known issue with the company.

They should have volunteered to do the service call right up front and did not.

I would surely let them and the northeast service rep. know of my dis-satisfaction.

I would also let them know I am NOT interested in some "clip".

Just my .02 cents.

 

[BackwoodsVT]

Just a follow-up on this Jotul Firelight issue with the air control handle and the bolt that snapped as I was replacing the handle. Ansehnlich1, I agree completely with what you wrote and actually felt the same way but was trying to go easy on the stove shop in my message. I did get a call back from Kirk Maloney over at Jotul North America in Gorham, Maine. He was very nice and said that the shop should have come out and replaced the handle themselves and not charged the $79 they quoted me because it was a warranted item. (I didn't mind doing it until that bolt snapped as I put the little shield back on. Then I was fit to be tied.) He said he was going to call the shop to make sure this got fixed and also was shipping them some clips, which he said was a valid fix. Gotta admit, it was good customer service and I could tell he wanted this done and put to rest.

I went over to the Chimney Sweep store a week later and asked to see if they got the clips and if we can schedule a time for them to come remove the snapped bolt and fix it up. The guy running the service department was acting like he just got spanked but still wasn't acting like he cared one way or the other. He said he didn't have the clips yet and wouldn't schedule a repair, even if it was 3 weeks out, until he had them in his hands. I'm hoping to never have to deal with him again. His co-workers just turned away and tried to look busy. Maybe they'd seen this all before.

Went back last Wednesday and the clips were right there and he said they just came in. I didn't want to get into it with him, I'll do that by not shopping there much, and scheduled the repair. The repairman came on Monday and quickly drilled out the bolt and put in a new one. Some folks here have said it's an easy job, which it looked like, but I couldn't try it for the first time on a $2500 stove. He said that the heating and cooling of a wood stove makes them brittle and said they snap pretty easy. He almost came out and said that I should have gotten a couple new bolts to put in instead of re-using the ones that I'd taken out, which I will do if I have to do anything like this again. I can't even say I saw a clip used anywhere and can't see one in the stove. The broken bolt was taken out and replaced and the stove's back to like it was the day I bought it.

The bottom line is Jotul gave us some good customer service and the local stove store didn't. I'm especially concerned if their customers are being charged for service calls that are covered by the warranty. With the whole sticky handle issue, I'd recommend having it replaced with the newer one and let the service reps do it. The new one works slicker than a smelt and is what you'd expect on a stove like the F600.

 

[woodconvert]

The bottom line is Jotul gave us some good customer service and the local stove store didn't. I'm especially concerned if their customers are being charged for service calls that are covered by the warranty. With the whole sticky handle issue, I'd recommend having it replaced with the newer one and let the service reps do it. The new one works slicker than a smelt and is what you'd expect on a stove like the F600.

When I got my Firelite I wasn't impressed at all with the dealer I bought it from. He was Mr Happy when I cut him the check but when I had a cat issue he was a real jerk. I found another dealer that was excellent to deal with, they gave me the exploded parts list/picture AND they gave me the name and number of an inside guy at Jotul who was awesome in his tech help.

As for the handle...there are more than a few threads here about sticky Jotul handles where the stove owners seem less than happy. Why this has not been fixed I really don't know. In my case, it didn't bother me that bad but I can understand if it did.

Glad you got it resolved.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I was at a local stove dealer just a few days ago, sells Jotul and Quadrafire. I did NOT buy my Jotul from them. Anyway, I tried the air control lever on the Oslo and it hardly would move, then I tried the lever on the F600 and it slid back and forth smooth as silk.

I did have some contact with the regional rep. regarding my Oslo a year ago or so, the service was excellent. Bought my stove from Mace Energy outside Hagerstown, Md. Good company, man named Tad runs it, he's treated me just fine!