Is My F400 Broken?

[Maciroger]

I have a Jotul F400 Castine that came with my house. This is my first experience with wood as a primary heat source.
Here is my question. I have seen a lot of people talk about controlling the temp by adjusting the air. My stove doesn’t seem to respond to this. I can have the air wide open or fully closed and nothing changes. Also, there is ZERO resistance in the air handle. You can literally bounce it back and forth. Is the stove broken? Can anyone tell me how to take it apart and check it out?

Sorry if this has been covered but I’m very concerned. I have the air fully closed right now and it’s at 700 degrees. I dont want to damage it.

 

[bholler]

I have a Jotul F400 Castine that came with my house. This is my first experience with wood as a primary heat source.
Here is my question. I have seen a lot of people talk about controlling the temp by adjusting the air. My stove doesn’t seem to respond to this. I can have the air wide open or fully closed and nothing changes. Also, there is ZERO resistance in the air handle. You can literally bounce it back and forth. Is the stove broken? Can anyone tell me how to take it apart and check it out?

Sorry if this has been covered but I’m very concerned. I have the air fully closed right now and it’s at 700 degrees. I dont want to damage it.

There is a cover inside the door on the bottom. It is held in place with 2 bolts 10mm I believe. Pull it off and you can see the mechanism

 

[webby3650]

You’d be better off opening the door wide open, it’s overfiring and will damage the stove.
The lever simply slides an iron shutter over a hole, there little resistance. There should be a removable cover just inside the door that allows access to this assembly.
Have you verified the gaskets are good? The ashpan door is very important.

 

[begreen]

700º stovetop temp is not going to damage it as long as the thermometer is accurate. Ours went up to 750º+ a few times due to my spacing out turning down the air. No harm and nothing was glowing. It's a good stove.

Pull the doghouse cover and verify the air control lever is engaged with the slider. If it is, then most likely it is the way the stove is being run that is the issue. We can help with that. It's a good and willing heater, so with a bit of change in technique you should be able to gain confidence in control.

How tall is the chimney that the stove is connected to?

 

[Maciroger]

So I took off the cover, and lo and behold the metal plate that slides back and forth was not connected and was lying on its side. I put it back in place and what a difference I have in control. Burning at 450 beautifully tonight on a full load of oak and cherry.
It’s routed into a former fireplace chimney that goes up 3 stories. The stove pipe in the room is about 8 feet before it goes into the wall.

 

[begreen]

That's great. I'm glad the fix was simple. Now you can enjoy that nice stove.

 

[Maciroger]

I’m a city boy and never thought I’d see myself heating with wood but I LOVE it. I’ve heard these Jotul stoves are decent, and the heat is very different. Warms you through. Feels more “real” if that makes sense.
Now if I could just get over my fear of running it overnight I will be fine.

 

[begreen]

I think your confidence will go up quickly now that you have fixed the issue. Experiment with full loads in the morning so that you can learn how it burns over the course of 8 hrs. during the day.