We have a three year old Jotul F500 v3 and have been through TWO warped grates…don’t over burn…replaced ash pan gasket and get good resistance with dollar bill…we vacuum the catalytic converter once a week and have the stove professionally cleaned and maintained annually…either a stove design flaw or something substandard with the cast iron used for the grate…that’s my 2 cents worth …. Other than that we love it! Hope that if it’s a design flaw it doesn’t cut the life of the stove short or cause otherwise unnecessary repairs over its lifetime….that would irritate me greatly!
Warped F500 v3 ash grate
- Thread starter lmcl2726
- Start date
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IIRC @webby3650 noted that some early F500v3s had an issue with the ashpan door gasket seal. I will see if I can find that thread.
Vacuum out the stove completely, including the ashpan housing. Use a poker to scrape out any impacted ash at the back and vacuum that out. Wipe down the base around the grate and look for any hairline cracks. In the ashpan housing, look for telltale creosote accumulations that might indicate a gasket leak.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
well, lemme tell ya something... my replacement is warped as well.
and i looked, smelled, poked around high, low and in between and found absolutely no cracks, leaks or anything outta the ordinary that would/could contribute to such a phenomenon.
and you know what else? i don't care.
cuz it don't bother the function of the stove, it don't limit my area inside the firebox and i'm gonna live with it. it don't bother me.
i kept the original grate, warped and all and some day i'll seriously try straightening the dang thing.
right now, it's displayed in my garage and when someone sees it, the first question asked is, "how on Earth did you do that??!"
and i looked, smelled, poked around high, low and in between and found absolutely no cracks, leaks or anything outta the ordinary that would/could contribute to such a phenomenon.
and you know what else? i don't care.
cuz it don't bother the function of the stove, it don't limit my area inside the firebox and i'm gonna live with it. it don't bother me.
i kept the original grate, warped and all and some day i'll seriously try straightening the dang thing.
right now, it's displayed in my garage and when someone sees it, the first question asked is, "how on Earth did you do that??!"
Have you tried letting the ashpan fill up with ash right up to covering the grate? I found our F400 performed notably better by doing that. This was with a new stove second season. I am not sure if this is because the ash was acting like an insulation bed under the fire or if it was sealing off minor ashpan leaks., or both. The improvement was notable in longer burns and faster startups.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
my ashpan is filled from the start of the burn season to the end.
i open the pan door once a year, to empty in late may or june or whenever i get around to cleaning it out..
In that case, it's hard to understand why the grate would warp.
Maybe the stove design requires the ash pan to be emptied? Could it be that the ash pan housing hole’s actually helps keep the grate from warping by providing cooler air from below?
My sauna stove has an ash pan under the cast grate and while it is by no means air tight the manual states not to let it fill up with ash or it may cause warping.
What about removing the grate and filling the ash pan housing with fire bricks? Probably void the warranty but you wouldn’t have a warped grate.
My sauna stove has an ash pan under the cast grate and while it is by no means air tight the manual states not to let it fill up with ash or it may cause warping.
What about removing the grate and filling the ash pan housing with fire bricks? Probably void the warranty but you wouldn’t have a warped grate.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
the floor grate is warped.
the stove works fine, no issues regarding the warped grate.
no one sees it except me and, in the words of U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard, I Don't Care.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
![[Hearth.com] Warped F500 v3 ash grate](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/312/312291-8dd7ae68dc3e8ee44300f9d07e98561e.jpg?hash=qGQ_q5yQfA "[Hearth.com] Warped F500 v3 ash grate")
That's quite a hump. It's almost like there was no room allowed for expansion when it heated up.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
the 1st (original grate) is exactly the same.... side by side, the same degree of curvature./warpness.
almost like it was s'posta bend up and stop.
but like i said before, it causes no problems so i live with it.
This is the first time I have seen this on a Jotul. I wonder if the grate's well is just a tad too tight.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
if i didn't have it fired up now, i'd show you the amount of play/slide after the warpage.
not much.
however, i do not remember the grate fitting tight when new or when i replaced the original grate with the new one.
i kinda remember it just fell into place.
I'd have the dealer get in touch with Jotul. If there is a design defect, it should be noted. And if they had a run of bad castings, this too should be noted and remedied.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
One thing that could be done to minimize the warping is to flip the warped grate upside down and put it back in. Then, when it warps in the opposite direction it may naturally flatten out (or at least reduce the original amount of warpage).
If I had a severely warped grate, I would go to a machine shop and have them make me a new grate out of 1/8" rolled stainless steel, and mill a bunch of grooves through the plate. The thinner plate will have much lower thermal stresses across the front-to-back, and the higher yield strength of rolled stainless steel will make it much less likely to have permanent deformation (i.e., warpage).
If I had a severely warped grate, I would go to a machine shop and have them make me a new grate out of 1/8" rolled stainless steel, and mill a bunch of grooves through the plate. The thinner plate will have much lower thermal stresses across the front-to-back, and the higher yield strength of rolled stainless steel will make it much less likely to have permanent deformation (i.e., warpage).
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
like i said above, it causes no problems so i live with it.
it's no big deal.
D. Hermit
Feeling the Heat
Ill bet almost anything that there is a significant failure somewhere in the actual ash housing gasket.
I read already that you dont even use the ash door but twice a year, so that means your not burning with the ash door open which is what I would normally say caused this.
Try this, vacuum and clean out the whole ash pan as good as you can. Then turn off the lights and flash a flashlight on the outside>in around the edge of the actual ash housing on the bottom, and look inside the housing while you do this. I bet the gasket is failed somewhere. There should be zero light coming through. A pin hole of light isnt a big deal, but a pinhole or two of light wouldn't cause that grate to warp.
I read already that you dont even use the ash door but twice a year, so that means your not burning with the ash door open which is what I would normally say caused this.
Try this, vacuum and clean out the whole ash pan as good as you can. Then turn off the lights and flash a flashlight on the outside>in around the edge of the actual ash housing on the bottom, and look inside the housing while you do this. I bet the gasket is failed somewhere. There should be zero light coming through. A pin hole of light isnt a big deal, but a pinhole or two of light wouldn't cause that grate to warp.
D. Hermit
Feeling the Heat
Yea but if there is an actual leak there, you are losing a lot of efficiency and burning more wood than needed.
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
that doesn't seem to be the case.
i've been burning for 30+ years and the only reason i seem to burn more wood nowadays is cause i'm home 24 hours a day every day of the week. i am happy with the performance of this unit and if i could change anything, it would be to have someone load it light it and clean while i simply enjoy it.
and bring me a cold beer every now and then.
D. Hermit
Feeling the Heat
check my first comment above that one. Im invested and want to know if thats the root cause. It has to be. Id be willing to bet on it. Haha
JamesGuido
Feeling the Heat
D. Hermit
Feeling the Heat
I was just thinking that! Haha I was going to say if you were in New England that the next time I was in your area I would come and check it and fix it, and if I came and I was wrong, obviously wouldn't charge a penny in this case.
But really, if you do check it, and thats the cause, send me the tag information in a picture, as well as a picture of the light coming through on the test. And I can actually pass that information along to someone much higher up the Jotul food chain then even the dealers can talk too, and he can look into making adjustments in assembly if needed. Or more checks at least if this is happening to more people.
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