Jotul F400 air control seems ineffective

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grunyon

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Jan 25, 2013
50
Got my hand me down F400 installed... my biggest concern is that the air control doesn't seem to work. I can shut it all the way down and the stove still roars. Don't worry it only got to 750 degrees... and I'm not going to put that much wood in it again. The lever flops back and forth pretty easy. Is it possible something became dislodged during transport? I had the stove on it's back and such... I am letting the fire die down now so I can check.. I don't expect to be able to inspect until tomorrow. I was looking at the exploded diagram and it looks like I should be able to see something by pulling the ash grate and tray?
 
Pull the doghouse in the bottom front of the firebox. I think there are two 10mm bolts holding it down. Make sure the air control lever is in the air slider slot and working the slider properly.

The F400 is a willing heater. It was not uncommon for us to reach 650-700F on a full load of good dry wood. What thickness are the splits?
 
If the slider seems to be working alright, you may have uncontolled air getting into the firebox from another source. After checking the usual suspects (bad gaskets, bad seams, or cracks) I discovered the air entering the rear and flowing into the secondary tubes of my F600 was at least partly getting diverted directly into the firebox. This was giving me a blazing fire but without secondary burn.

I think I fixed it last night by sealing off the leak, and will be able to confirm that with a few more fires. Not sure if the F400 has the same design, but the airflow in my F600 is right behind a center burn plate at the rear wall of the firebox.
 
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