# Jotul Firelight model 12 - Doing the repair, Just about complete



## jsb (Aug 6, 2012)

its going great. Need to install gaskets for the glass and install the cat, cat cover and outer burn plate, then a couple of small fires and away we are ready for winter.
I am at the last steps, replacing the door glass gaskets in the next day or two. It went fairly smoothly. I got some good tips from "Summit' including getting enough gasket cement, Just under 4 tubes (11 oz size), close to 50 ft of 1/4" gasket rope plus about another 20 ft of 3/16 gasket rope for the glass, flue outlet and a few other places. I did not get a second stove for parts, I bought new the parts I needed and paid just about $1200.00 for parts, rope and cement.
A few things I learned or did along the way that you might benefit from.
Mark all bolts as you remove them as to what parts they attached to. This will make it much faster when putting it back together as there are about 4 different length 10 mm bolts I believe.
Clean all gaskets and cement away before starting to put it back together taking note of where and how much cement was used.
Dry fit all parts and take note of where to apply new cement.
Cut fit and replace all necessary gaskets while parts are apart, its much easier to get them to stay when they are laying flat.
Use the matching pieces to apply pressure to gaskets when "gluing".
Be sure of your assembly order, The most critical areas I found were the air draft control handle, the cover over the pedal linkage, and the Cat Chamber.
If you have any specific question let me know.
My "new" 1997 jotul firelight model 12.


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## RIDGERUNNER30 (Aug 6, 2012)

That is a great looking stove jsb, How long did it take you to rebuild it? It looks brand new something to be proud of. good job hope it serves you well


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## begreen (Aug 6, 2012)

Good tips jsb, she's looking great.

But 20 feet for the glass and 50Ft for the stove? Seems like that amount would be enough to wrap it like a mummy.


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## jsb (Aug 6, 2012)

begreen said:


> Good tips jsb, she's looking great.
> 
> But 20 feet for the glass and 50Ft for the stove? Seems like that amount would be enough to wrap it like a mummy.


its 3 ft for each glass, almost 5 ft for the ashpan housing and I believe another 6+ ft for the back plate.


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## jsb (Aug 6, 2012)

RIDGERUNNER30 said:


> That is a great looking stove jsb, How long did it take you to rebuild it? It looks brand new something to be proud of. good job hope it serves you well


The initial take down was about 2 hours, plus about 3 hours for two bolts of the 4 which attach the rear backplate to the rear backplate frame, tried wd-40 and other stuff including heat. finally snapped them off and had to center drill them and then run tap thru them to clean the threads. Another 3 hours of scrapping gaskets and and cleaning channels with a rotary drill and wire brush. Then about 1 hour for a dry assembly. next I cut, fit and cemented all the gaskets, totaled another 2 hours. Put it back together cementing wherever necessary, another 2-3 hours. Wiped it all down and sprayed it 1/2 hour. So the short answer was about 12-15 hours. It could have been alot faster but I don't think i'll need it for awhile and theres always fishing that needs to be done.


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## Ashful (Aug 6, 2012)

I'll buy you a new Jotul Firelight 600 with full warranty transfer, in trade for that old Firelight 12.

Yes... I'm serious.


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## fishingpol (Aug 6, 2012)

Nice job on the re-build.  It is a good-looking stove.


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## jsb (Aug 6, 2012)

Joful said:


> I'll buy you a new Jotul Firelight 600 with full warranty transfer, in trade for that old Firelight 12.
> 
> Yes... I'm serious.


Sorry, i'm liking my new 12 - 14 year old stove. I replaced everything that needed replacing and I expect to get another 12 - 14 years out of it. The great things about it was that there was no surface rust, and no warped pieces. Except for the parts that I had to replace, including a $110.00 door glass ( didn't replace the $25.00 andiron when I should have) all the other parts were and are in excellent condition. The other thing is that there was no enamel to chip and crack. There is a guy up around Keene NH who rebuilds and sells them. Last I spoke with him he had a stove like mine. I could dig out his info if you are interested.


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## begreen (Aug 6, 2012)

Joful, have you contacted this seller?

http://nh.craigslist.org/for/3174709723.html


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## Billybonfire (Aug 7, 2012)

Great job, looks like new


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## neumsky (Aug 7, 2012)

jsb said:


> The initial take down was about 2 hours, plus about 3 hours for two bolts of the 4 which attach the rear backplate to the rear backplate frame, tried wd-40 and other stuff including heat. finally snapped them off and had to center drill them and then run tap thru them to clean the threads. Another 3 hours of scrapping gaskets and and cleaning channels with a rotary drill and wire brush. Then about 1 hour for a dry assembly. next I cut, fit and cemented all the gaskets, totaled another 2 hours. Put it back together cementing wherever necessary, another 2-3 hours. Wiped it all down and sprayed it 1/2 hour. So the short answer was about 12-15 hours. It could have been alot faster but I don't think i'll need it for awhile and theres always fishing that needs to be done.


\

That takes alot less time than I would have thought. So you do not or did not have to do any painting??? Are they painted....or is cast iron naturally colored like they are? I don't know.


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## Ashful (Aug 7, 2012)

begreen said:


> Joful, have you contacted this seller?
> 
> http://nh.craigslist.org/for/3174709723.html


 
Good find!  Not wanting to drive 14+ hours to look at an unknown stove from a seller with an attitude, though.    Did you read the guy's post?  "Please research before offering no I will NOT take $500."

It looks well used / would need some way to verify condition before I made that kind of drive.  Any ideas?


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## Ashful (Aug 7, 2012)

jsb said:


> Sorry, i'm liking my new 12 - 14 year old stove.


 
It's a testiment to the work you've done, that someone's willing to pay more than the cost of a new stove to take it off your hands.


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## begreen (Aug 7, 2012)

Looks to be in decent exterior condition and in blue-black enamel. Ask for some interior pictures of the burn plates and cat. Maybe he would meet you half way at $700? Assuming you rebuild it, that would be a heckuva lot less than a new F600.


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## Ashful (Aug 7, 2012)

Oh, yes... definitely.  I already left him a voicemail.

Honestly, I'd be more interested in him meeting half way on driving distance, than on price!


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## neumsky (Aug 7, 2012)

begreen said:


> Looks to be in decent exterior condition and in blue-black enamel. Ask for some interior pictures of the burn plates and cat. Maybe he would meet you half way at $700? Assuming you rebuild it, that would be a heckuva lot less than a new F600.


 
How much is a new 600?


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## Ashful (Aug 7, 2012)

Can't remember what I was quoted, but somewhere close to $3k.

The stove posted on Craigslist will likely need a new inner burn plate, cat chamber, cat chamber cover, cat chamber floor, cat, gaskets, etc.  We're likely talking a week of evenings and a weekend of two of playing around with it, plus $700 in parts on top of the sale price.  So, we're into maybe $1500, plus a whole lot of my time, and it still won't be half as pretty as jsb's.


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## neumsky (Aug 7, 2012)

Thank...Jeff


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## rothnh (Sep 16, 2013)

Great job on the rebuild.  I am in a similar boat.  I want to rebuild behind the inner back plate.  I am looking for the best method/instructions on how to get it open.  I assume you used a wrench and tried to remove those two screws in the upper left and right on the rear inner back plate.  Any guidance would be appreciated.  THANKS  Steve






jsb said:


> The initial take down was about 2 hours, plus about 3 hours for two bolts of the 4 which attach the rear backplate to the rear backplate frame, tried wd-40 and other stuff including heat. finally snapped them off and had to center drill them and then run tap thru them to clean the threads. Another 3 hours of scrapping gaskets and and cleaning channels with a rotary drill and wire brush. Then about 1 hour for a dry assembly. next I cut, fit and cemented all the gaskets, totaled another 2 hours. Put it back together cementing wherever necessary, another 2-3 hours. Wiped it all down and sprayed it 1/2 hour. So the short answer was about 12-15 hours. It could have been alot faster but I don't think i'll need it for awhile and theres always fishing that needs to be done.


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## Ashful (Sep 16, 2013)

Pretty easy.  Rather than re-typing it all, I'll just post a link to another thread where I already described the process.

Enjoy!

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/how-to-remove-catalyst-chamber-from-jotul-firelight-12.99769/


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## rothnh (Sep 16, 2013)

THANKS for the quick response.  Got a good distance tonight.  Removed four screws behind inner back plate, yet the plate cannot quite come out - seem to be held in slightly on right side..  Conceptually I am trying to figure out if the top needs to be removed, per the thread so to be able to "lift" it out.  I will go at it again later in the week.  THANKS  Steve


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## Ashful (Sep 17, 2013)

Definitely take the top off!  I tried to do this the first time with the top on, and it was almost impossible.  Top comes off by removing the strap for the push rod on the top load door, then two bolts (one each side) under the kid inside the firebox.  Just be darn sure to not let that top load door flop open after you disconnect the push rod, or the hinges may break off.

Have a blanket or tarp ready to set the thing down on, before you pull the top.  It's not that heavy, but its a little awkward.


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 13, 2013)

Hi all - I'm just about finished doing a partial rebuild of my Firelight 12 (all new gaskets and cement) - many thanks to all for the useful instructions and pics above. A couple issues: my cat chamber was pretty worn out but still intact, so I stuck it back in and hope to get at least another year out of it, also the rear burn plate was warped and cracked - so again, being the cheapskate that I am I bolted it back in place and sealed the heck out of it with cement. My problem now is that when I mounted the rear damper assembly back on (with replaced gasket) and I lock it shut then pop the lock bar back open the damper door doesn't fall open. Its almost like it should be sitting at a bit tilted upwards so that the weight of the damper door causes it to fall open when the lock is disengaged - but mine isn't doing it. This is going to be a problem when burning because the damper will be shut when I open the topload door - and I'll set all my smoke alarms off and annoy the dogs. Anyone run into this issue and have a fix? 
I gotta get burning, it's gettin cold out!


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## jsb (Nov 13, 2013)

a couple of things come to mind. Just things to check out. As I remember the damper is held in by a bolt and clamp on each side, is it possible that you tightened then to much or they are out of alignment. This might cause the damper to not pivot freely and therefore not open and close properly. Another thing I found is that the left to right alignment of the damper might be off, which might cause the damper to hang, ans lastly is the linkage installed properly, as I remember it gets covered by a plate with a bolt and is cemented all around, I would make sure that it works freely.


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 13, 2013)

thanks jsb. Good to see a fellow Connecticutter on here - you know all too well how fast winter is approaching! I'm checking those things right now. The hinges are fine and the damper swings open and shut freely, its just not sitting at the right angle to make it fall open when its unlocked. I think the problem is with my cracked rear burnplate - when the damper assembly bolts over top of it it pulls in too far since the burn plate is warped and cracked - thats all I can think of so far. I'm going to try and tape an extra piece of thick gasket over the top of the burnplate to make the damper sit out a little farther - I'll let you know if it works. Meanwhile if you or anyone else thinks of anything else please let me know.


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 13, 2013)

Figured it out! I had the damper frame mounted over_ top_ of the rear burnplate instead of underneath it. Remounted it correctly and now the damper rod locks in place when I close it then when I open it back up it catches on the little hook on the back of the damper door and pulls it back down. Simple mistake but would have made the stove unusable if the damper door wasn't working. Now to bolt the top back on, cut new stovepipes to connect to the liner pipe and fire her up.
When its all done I'll tell you all about how heinous a job this turned out to be - mainly because I live in an ancient house and every job turns into a nightmare.


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## begreen (Nov 13, 2013)

Replace the burn plate if it's at end of life.


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## rothnh (Nov 13, 2013)

Your email reminded me that I wanted to post some photos relating to my rebuild process.  I did not go for glamour, but wanted to take care of my core needs.  I've been burning wood for two weeks and all seems to be going well.  My impetus to the repair was the catalytic chambers having totally fallen apart.  These photos are in order.  Hopefully they help someone out there.

My back plate was warped somewhat, but I also chose to keep it.  I will replace it next round.  At first I thought I could get the back plate off without removing the top, quickly I realized that was not possible.




Removing the cover involving unscrewing one part of the arm holding the top loader cover.








I installed a new gasket for the cover and hugged it to the edge around the top.  Notice the bottom right, I brought the gasket in from the outside.



Notice the bolts and rod on top of the damper for the purpose of re-installing.



The damper came off easily.  I installed a new 3/8" gasket.






The rear plate sits in a groove. It needed to be cleaned out.  I put a small grinder on drill to do so.  Lots of loose cement.




The catalytic chamber was a mess.  It needed to go.  The price of it is ridiculous.




Replacing the back plate took just over 6' of 1/2 inch gasket behind it.  I used masking tape per another posting.  It took some alignment as the back plate was warped a bit.




	

		
			
		

		
	
 Lots of clean up.
	

		
			
		

		
	




Broken aspects of the catalytic chamber.

I am going to post a 2nd posting with more photos..... (to be continued)


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## rothnh (Nov 13, 2013)

New catalytic chamber.  My old catalytic converter was in decent shape so I used it.  I did remove the band/think gasket around it per some clear advice in another posting. 



Connecting the two lifts (the damper and the top cover was tricky.  There is a catch to it that locks in.  Notice the picture.

All-in-all, this was not a bad job.  I am not experienced at doing this and feel as if I was successful.  Bolts came out with remarkable ease.


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 14, 2013)

thanks for the detailed photos rothnh - very helpful! I laughed at your cat chamber cause mine looked just as bad but I put it back in - dont have a spare $400 right now. I know I won't be burning at peak efficiency but it's got to burn better than it did before, which was pretty good! I bought this used 5 years ago  - all I did was replace the cat and a couple gaskets and I've burned 5-6 cord/year for the last 5 years. Now that I know what I'm doing I can strip it down pretty quick to replace anything in the future.


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## Ashful (Nov 14, 2013)

Hey, Center_Chimney.  Have you posted photos of that big ol' fireplace anywhere, or of the rest of your house?  Looks interesting.

Thanks!


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## rothnh (Nov 14, 2013)

Yea... my thoughts exactly about keeping it going... The stove is definitely improved.  I picked up mine for $200 used about five years ago.  Recently I bought parts at Chelmsford (MA) Fireplace Shop for a bit less.  That catalytic chamber is no bargain.  Lots of dough for lots of foam!  Glad I could help.  Others help me in a big way.  This site is great.  Steve


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 14, 2013)

Joful said:


> Hey, Center_Chimney.  Have you posted photos of that big ol' fireplace anywhere, or of the rest of your house?  Looks interesting.
> Thanks!


Hi Joful - I have pics of my house on this site. You may have to register to see them though but it's well worth it if you're an old house owner - lots of good forums and information exchange.
My fireplace is rather huge - 8x5 ft and the hearth extends out about 3 ft. The flue is massive - about 2x5 ft at the bottom and then narrows towards the top where the other 4 flues come in. It never had a chimney cap before we bought the place 5 yrs ago so for 250 yrs water ran down the flue and eroded away the hearth and caused stones to slip and buckle in the chimney base in the cellar. So one of our first jobs was get it capped, put in a liner and rebuild the hearth. The guys that installed the liner and cap did a crappy job. So the cap (3 peices of slate) leaks constantly at the joints and this year when I was cleaning the liner from the bottom the brush got stuck and as I yanked on it the bracket pulled loose at the top holding the liner in place. It was attached very loosely and the bracket had corroded - 30 ft of liner was dangling and threatening to fall down into my chimney! So I spent hours on my roof with my head and shoulders jammed under the slate cap attaching new brackets, then I climbed up the flue from the bottom and bracketed it down there. At least the liner is secure now - then I attacked the stove itself. We could not survive in this house without a big woodstove - its 3500 sf and very poorly insulated with not a level floor or square door or window in it. 
http://www.myoldhouseonline.com/profile/JimFinley


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## Ashful (Nov 14, 2013)

I just got to read all of rothnh's posts... glad it came out good!  I paid only $250 for my cat chamber in early 2013.  At some point, I need to replace the one in the second F12, and I'm bummed to see they're now asking $400 for that part.  Crazy, for a few simple slabs of refractory, cemented together.


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 14, 2013)

rothnh said:


> Yea... my thoughts exactly about keeping it going... The stove is definitely improved.  I picked up mine for $200 used about five years ago.  Recently I bought parts at Chelmsford (MA) Fireplace Shop for a bit less.  That catalytic chamber is no bargain.  Lots of dough for lots of foam!  Glad I could help.  Others help me in a big way.  This site is great.  Steve



$200 was a great deal! My stove is a 1997 model and I paid $1000 for it 5 years ago. Replaced the cat, $150, and the inner burn plate ~$150 and 1 door glass $105, and lots of gaskets - but nothing major yet. But like I say, it now needs the cat chamber, rear burn plate, and a new inner burn plate (which has cracked very quickly). I'll try to space it out over time. We depend heavily on this stove though, so its well worth it in the long run.


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## Ashful (Nov 14, 2013)

Center_Chimney said:


> We could not survive in this house without a big woodstove - its 3500 sf and very poorly insulated with not a level floor or square door or window in it.
> http://www.myoldhouseonline.com/profile/JimFinley



Cool.  Thanks!  I know your pain, but try 6400 sq.ft. of 1773 old drafty house, with original windows and doors throughout!  

_edit:  slight exaggeration... actually only 26 of the windows are original, and the sq.ft. is 63% 1773, 12% 1894, and 25% 1994._


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 14, 2013)

[quote="  I paid only $250 for my cat chamber in early 2013.  At some point, I need to replace the one in the second F12, and I'm bummed to see they're now asking $400 for that part.  Crazy, for a few simple slabs of refractory, cemented together.[/quote]
It seems like it wouldnt be hard to make if you could get the refractory foam.....


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 14, 2013)

[quote=" 6400 sq.ft. of 1773 old drafty house, with original windows and doors throughout!  [/quote]
Wow thats huge! I'd love to see pics of it - I love those PA stone farmhouses.  Are you in Bucks County? We have all 18th century windows and doors as well - another pain in the neck, but beautiful!


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## Ashful (Nov 14, 2013)

I'm from Bucks (family has been there since 1690's, and many of the old stone farm houses in New Hope bear my family's name), but now I live in MontCo.  This house was built by a Mennonite farmer and minister of the local Mennonite church.  There are so many pictures of this house on this forum, that I think people are getting tired of seeing them.


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## Center_Chimney (Nov 15, 2013)

I just fired her up this morning and she is burning very nicely - except that I hear rushing air coming from the back top right where the foot pedal linkage goes through. I replaced the gasket around the top the correct way - shouldnt that have sealed around the linkage? The sound does diminish a lot when I close the damper door - but not entirely.


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## Ashful (Nov 15, 2013)

I wish I could help, but I've not opened that linkage chase myself.  I thought 100% of the air was channeled between the bottom plates, the cat air coming up thru holes near the cat chamber, and the firebox air coming up thru the plenum where the air shutter is in the front below the door latch.  From that shutter, the firebox air goes up behind the door hinges, and enters firebox above door glass.  I did not know of any air traveling thru the linkage chase.


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## benc (Dec 23, 2014)

Nice rebuild. I have had a Firelight 12 for 20 years and a Vermont Castings Vigilant for 17 years before. I really like the Firelight and have it cleaned and inspected annually, have replaced the catalyst once, and replaced a cracked back burn plate this season.

I have a bit of a head scratcher. I load the stove, fire it up, get the stack temp up, close the doors and damp it down and the fire drops right down. If I undamp and crack the doors, the fire comes right back. I'm guessing it's not getting enough combustion air with the doors closed. I'm thinking there's some kind of blockage in the cir intake path. What's the air intake entry point and path by the damper control and how might I clean it?


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## Ashful (Dec 23, 2014)

If you didn't already have 20 years on this stove, I'd assume wet wood, as I have the same symptoms with poorly-seasoned oak.  However, I'm sure you're already aware of that.

Jotul added an access panel to the plenum below the front doors, inside the stove, sometime in the mid-1990's.  If your stove has this access panel, just get yourself some 3/16" braided rope gasket (about 2' worth) and some cement, and remove this access panel to service / vacuum the sliding air control.  If your stove is older (one of mine was), then the easiest option is to cut the required hole to install an access panel in your stove.  I purchased a spare panel for my 1993 vintage F12, and did just this.  I used a pneumatic cutoff tool (photo below) to cut the required square hole, and drilled and tapped the two required screw holes.  I even went metric to match factory screw size, rather than having an odd imperial size substitute.

That said, I wonder how that mechanism would get clogged, as there's really no path from the firebox into the air intake.  All air comes thru the top front of the firebox, down across the doors.  Have you checked the position of the little sliding air damn that is bolted in above the doors?  I've never really understood how this should be adjusted, so I always just set mine in the middle of the range (slotted bolt holes), and tighten the screws.  There is no mention of this adjustment in the manual.


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## benc (Dec 23, 2014)

Joful said:


> If you didn't already have 20 years on this stove, I'd assume wet wood, as I have the same symptoms with poorly-seasoned oak.  However, I'm sure you're already aware of that.
> 
> Jotul added an access panel to the plenum below the front doors, inside the stove, sometime in the mid-1990's.  If your stove has this access panel, just get yourself some 3/16" braided rope gasket (about 2' worth) and some cement, and remove this access panel to service / vacuum the sliding air control.  If your stove is older (one of mine was), then the easiest option is to cut the required hole to install an access panel in your stove.  I purchased a spare panel for my 1993 vintage F12, and did just this.  I used a pneumatic cutoff tool (photo below) to cut the required square hole, and drilled and tapped the two required screw holes.  I even went metric to match factory screw size, rather than having an odd imperial size substitute.
> 
> ...


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## Ashful (Dec 23, 2014)

Most people burning a catalytic stove would be getting their 2017-2018 wood stacked for seasoning, right now.  I'm burning wood I split and stacked in June 2013, and it's not ideal.


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## Ohlson35 (Sep 8, 2016)

rothnh said:


> Yea... my thoughts exactly about keeping it going... The stove is definitely improved.  I picked up mine for $200 used about five years ago.  Recently I bought parts at Chelmsford (MA) Fireplace Shop for a bit less.  That catalytic chamber is no bargain.  Lots of dough for lots of foam!  Glad I could help.  Others help me in a big way.  This site is great.  Steve


how did the rebuild go/new catilic converter?


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