Jotul Firelight F600 cleaning / chimney sweep?

[lawrence]

Moved into a house last year with existing Jotul Firelight F600. Works great. Finished use for the season and had a chimney sweeper come by to clean the other day, but he could not do the work because he couldnt figure out how to remove all the elements on the inside top of the stove so he could drop a line down the chimney and clean properly. Cant find any manuals, pictures, advice etc on how to do this. No stove shop in Vancouver has a clue what I'm talking about. What is proper procedure for chimney cleaning one of these stoves?
Thanks much!

 

[SPED]

If you go here and click through the selections you should be able to get the exploded view and the manual for the stove.

(broken link removed to http://www.jotul.com/en-us/wwwjotulus/Main-menu/Technical-documentation/)

Hope this helps,
Ed

 

[begreen]

I must be missing something here. Is the stove in a fireplace? What is stopping the sweep from disconnecting the flue at the collar and cleaning out the flue? As for the stove and top removal, if required, isn't this just 2 bolts?

 

[quinn]

The oval cast "lid" on the top of the 600 just lifts off (lift up on the cast seashell shaped handle at the front of the oval top). The sweep can then lay a catch cloth on the top side of the secondary burn tubes (which is what you will see when you pull off the lid) and either sweep from the bottom or go up on the roof to do it from the top.

 

[lawrence]

Thanks for feedback! The oval section of the top seemed like the natural way to access the inside top but every time I've tried lifting up the seashell shaped handle, the top doesnt budge? I've looked inside but cant see any additional hinges or bolts holding the top down. Is there some kind of safety lock or something that should release or be unscrewed so I can lift up the oval top? Thanks in advance!

 

[BotetourtSteve]

Whaaatttt? The "lid" on the newer F600s DOES NOT COME OFF, or at least it is not supposed to. If you do manage to pry it off somehow you will have to cement it back down.

Maybe older 600s come off or something, but in addition to the owners manual, my dealer confirmed the 1st time that I tried to lift up the "lid" when I was 1st looking at the stove that they did not move - just decorative.

Unless I am missing something, it seems like the sweep is making a mountain out of molehill. Why does he need to get into the stove anyway? Can't he just loosen the flue pipe or collar in the back/top (depending on your installation)?

 

[quinn]

My 600 is 4 years old and the lid easily lifts off. If yours is not moving then it must be of the generation owned by BotetourtSteve. Just disconnecting the stove pipe is surely the easiest way to tackle this.

 

[BotetourtSteve]

2jotultom:

Wonder why your's is removable? It does not access anything does it? (Assume you just see the thermal blanket on top of the firebox?) I still question if it is supposed to come off or not.

It is my understanding from researching hearth.com that the old Firelight Cat Stove was a top loader, but other than that I have seen no references to functioning top lids. But of course I am relatively new to Jotul so by no means am I an expert on their designs and models.

Potentially different designs aside, I think we all agree that we don't know why in the heck the sweep needs to "get into" the stove in the 1st place - weird.

 

[quinn]

Hey BetetourSteve,

The lid on my stove is gasketed just like the doors and I am very glad it comes off. I have the 600 hearth mounted and the fit is very tight up against the fireplace opening top and sides. Without the lid opening, cleaning the chimney would require a significant effort to disconnect and move the stove. With the open lid, I can lay a cloth on the thermal blanket and sweep the ash down onto the cloth. It also makes for easy cleaning of the ash that settles onto the thermal blanket. After four years of burning there was a 2 inch layer of ash on the thermal blanket and over time it could actually become so thick as to become an air flow obstacle. The lid does not open to the firebox as the ash blanket and secondary burn tubes are between the lid and the firebox. Have you looked up from the front doors to see if your lid is held on by small clasps or if it is cemented in place? I would bet that there are small clasps there and that it has a gasket. It would be easy enough to clean the ash from the thermal blanket from the chimney opening at the back of the stove. In my case, however, with the mount as it is, I am glad to not have to move the stove to do that. The chimney sweep might want to open the top to clean off the thermal blanket I suppose.

 

[begreen]

I read somewhere (can't find the link right now) that all Jotul stoves have removable tops. The reason being so that they can be sold in Great Britain(?) where there is a law that the top be removable for cleaning. On the F600, I believe the lid is bolted in place with two bolts. According to the stove diagram the lid is gasketed and my guess is that it is probably heavy enough to stay in place without the bolts.

 

[BotetourtSteve]

Well shoot fire and save matches, I learn something every day at hearth.com!

 

[SPED]

Steve, I can't seem to find it in the manual right now, but I thought on one of the sheets with the stove it mentioned taking those two bolts out to allow for cleaning. I didn't take them out yet, but I'll look through the rest of the paperwork again and see if I can find it.

 

[quinn]

Page 28 of the 600 manual: "Sweeping of flue pipes to chimney: Sweeping of the flue pipes is carried out by lifting the loose oval top plate. This gives easy access for sweeping. It is possible to sweep through the sweeping hatch in the flue pipe or through the product door opening. In that case the baffle plate has to be removed first."

So, I guess, according to Jotul, the oval plate on top is meant to be kept loose and not bolted down, interesting.

I guess that chimney sweep in Vancouver was on the right track.

 

[Hanko]

Moved into a house last year with existing Jotul Firelight F600. Works great. Finished use for the season and had a chimney sweeper come by to clean the other day, but he could not do the work because he couldnt figure out how to remove all the elements on the inside top of the stove so he could drop a line down the chimney and clean properly. Cant find any manuals, pictures, advice etc on how to do this. No stove shop in Vancouver has a clue what I'm talking about. What is proper procedure for chimney cleaning one of these stoves?
Thanks much!

I think the manual is available at jotul's website

 

[koavt]

For the F600 there are 2 bolts which attach the top. One in the front and one in the back. From what I was told by my dealer they are only there for shipping purposes. I removed the bolts and am now able to remove the top of the stove. The weight of the top is what creates the seal. Once you lift the top off, you can then easily vacuum any soot or creosote. You must take care not to rip up the fiberglass blanket on top of the baffles. When getting my chimney cleaned the flue at the collar is disconnected and any piping is cleaned in addition to the chimney. Then the top of the blanket is vacuumed. In order to remove the back bolt for the top you need to unbolt the plate which connects to the flue. Make sure that you have the proper gasket material. It is very thin and has an adhesive which lets you place it correctly. Any Jotul dealer can get it for you .

Rgards

KOAVT

 

[BotetourtSteve]

I dunno, I'm all confused over nothing really - does it really matter if the top comes off or not?

But, for the sake of continued argument (just kidding - discussion), the page 28 of the manual you refer to is for the ENGLISH version of the stove, as in country, not language. Pages 2-19 are for USA/Canada stoves, and again, there is no mention of removing the top. On page 11, under the "gaskets" section there is no mention of a gasket for the top oval either, although the exploded schematic does show a gasket, along with 2 bolts. The long and the short of it is I suspicion that it is made to be removed in some countries for whatever reason (cleaning?), and bolted shut in others like the USA. Not sure how 2jotultom ended up with an English version stove in Canada, but that is my best guess as to why yours comes off.

How is your new stove doing SPED? I have had to do some caulking of mine to seal some leaks, and had to return a blower, and fighting the sticking air control handle (although mine can be moved if you jiggle it back and forth). She cranks a lot of heat out, though. At first I was saving a lot of wood versus my old steel dragon, but now I am using about the same amount of wood as the old stove, but providing a lot more heat. I babied it at first, but have gotten comfortable letting her cruise around 450-500. I've tried to push it out of curiosity and the hottest I have gotten it is 550, and that's all I can get it to, not that I need any more cause that is cranking in my book. Still don't know where people get those 600-800 temps I read about.

 

[SPED]

Steve, new stove is great, what a difference from the old franklin, now the heat goes in the house and not out the chimney!! Other than the sticky handle it's been burning great. My season is just about over since I'm almost out of wood and it's gettin warm, but man next year is gonna be a good year for burning. I've had no problem at all having a warm house in the morning and enough coals to restart, which was one of my main reasons for upgrading, so happy customer here.

 

[begreen]

SPED are you on the old chimney still or on a new installation?

 

[Valhalla]

If anyone is interested, On my Jotul Oslo 500 I clean the entire 23' flue from the bottom up using a SootEater. I first remove the secondary air tubes, tray and blanket, all from below. My Jotul dealer showed me how to do it. Easy to accomplish, any weather.

 

[moody]

ive never took the the top plate off , there is very little fly ash on top of the ceramic insulation, ive sweep the flue an had only handfull crap from the flue. i relined the flue an i hope i have less.