Odd one? with Jotul F3 CB

[myzamboni]

New stove. I've done the 3 break-in fires per instruction. Noticed a little odor, nothing else.

Last night I go to have my first regular fire (500-600 degree). The stove really put ou the head (woohoo!). The better halk and I are sitting reading when she looks up and asks "why is it all hazy in here?!?). I look up and there is a haze along the ceiling (we have can lights so it is real obvious). Closed the air all the way down, opened all the windows and ran a fan to evacuate the haze.

What confuses me is we do not smell smoke at all, and upon inspecting the stove I cannot determine any smoke exiting into the room.

Can you get a smokey room without the smokey odor? Also, I checked all the seams of the stove and cannot detect any leaks(dollar bill test on door) and flashlight inspection around all seams while stove was running.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[BrotherBart]

The stove really put ou the head (woohoo!).

I am re-thinking bringing the F3 back in the office.

 

[KeithO]

It may have come off the stovepipe (single / double wall install ?). Since the vapors are hot and above the level of your nose, they hang around up there under the ceiling. If you stood on a ladder you might have smelt something.

Try it again. If everything is normal, consider the stove and pipe "broken in"....

 

[webbie]

Is it enamel? Black paint?

Either way, it sounds like break-in smells. Keep the windows open the next couple of fires - then give it a real hot one, maybe getting the top to 750+...that should take care of most of it.

This is very common - there are always places (heat shield, etc) where more and more oils and paint cure until the sucker gets REALLY hot.

 

[myzamboni]

KeithO: Double-wall pipe. I only had odors the first 2 fires. The 3rd break-in and this fire, not odor.

Web: Black paint.


So it is still break-in even if I don't get the odor, but get the haze? BTW, forgot to mention the haze did set off the smoke detectors.

I'll try another fire and watch closely.

 

[webbie]

Yeah, sounds very typical. When I was a dealer, I got these calls day-in and day-out.

Not even 1% of them ended up being anything buy break-in. It can take 10 fires...or even more if you are not really cranking. Since the seasoning is at different stages, it makes sense that the haze and smells would differ.

 

[KeithO]

As I suggested, get up on a ladder to get your face right up to the ceiling. Thats the only way you will know what it really is. I would also go up in the attic if posible just to be sure that everything is OK at the radiation shield / insulation interface. You have to get double wall really hot to start cooking the paint on the outside. Until you cure it all the way, it will continue outgassing. At lower temperatures, the air in the gap is a good insulator but at higher temps radiation becomes the dominant heat transfer mode and the temperature of the outer pipe will start climbing. That is why class A has compressed insulation between the inner and outer, to block the radiant heat transfer. At lower temps, class A actually conducts more heat to the outer shell than air gap due to conduction through the insulation, but once the temps go up the effectiveness of the insulation blocking radiation keeps the skin temperature much lower than with double wall.

 

[myzamboni]

I'll fire it up again tomorrow during the day, and give it another go. It's funny how you read up on things here and there is always something that causes concern when you physically experience it.

Thanks guys.

 

[myzamboni]

OK, fired it up again yesterday. Got the stovetop to ~675 and you could see the outgassing off the top of the stove. Smoke alarm went off. I closed down the air and watched the secondary burn. Let the stove cool way down and then stoked it back up to ~625 with no more smoke alarms and a dimishing outgas odor.

I think Jøtul needs to add a 4th burn to the break-in procedure with a hot burn like I did yesterday.

For the record it was 75F outside yesterday and, with all the windows in the house open, our central hallway (around a corner from the stove) was 87F with humidity below 20%. I was only burning cherry and ash chunks and a couple cedar splits and never came close to 'packing' the stove.

It is going to be a good winter.

 

[jtp10181]

For gas units to really burn all the odors off the thing you need to get it hot and sustain that temp for a period of time. I'm sure once it gets cold out you will do this anyway....

 

[BrotherBart]

For gas units to really burn all the odors off the thing you need to get it hot and sustain that temp for a period of time. I'm sure once it gets cold out you will do this anyway....

Good advice. Now if he just had a gas stove...