Jotul F500 Air Control question

[Pannoner3]

Hey everyone,

Long time lurker, first post. I bought a used Jotul f500 back in the spring for my 1500sqft raise ranch. The stove was made in 2000 I believe based on the original purchase paperwork provided by the seller. Stove seemed to be in really good shape from what I could tell. I did replace most of the gaskets before the burning season, new baffle, new insulation blanket and a few other things. I have the stove up on the hearth of the fireplace in the basement(pics for reference).

Anyways, the point of the post is about the air control lever assembly. Being that the stove is 20+ years old, it still had the original style air control assembly which is prone to sticking/jamming I believe. In preparation for winter I installed an updated style air control assembly for the f500 which I bought online(I believe this is a known update?) Last night I noticed a spark shoot out the front of the stove even though the front, side and ash doors were all closed. When I looked at the air control lever straight on, I noticed you could see the orange of the fire(pic attached), so I think that’s where the spark came from. Has anyone else experienced this and is it normal? It just seems odd to me, especially because if I can see into the dog house through the front of the air controller, wouldn’t that allow a decent amount of air into the dog house even with the air controller shut down completely? For what it’s worth, the air controller isn’t as responsive as I would’ve expected, to the point that I can have the air shut off completely (lever all the way to the left) and the firebox remains pretty vigorous and it seems to still have a lot of air feeding the fire, from what I can tell coming from the doghouse. At the same time, I’ve never had the stove run away from me, so it is controlling airflow well enough.

I appreciate any feedback or advice. I know there’s a ton of knowledge here.

Thanks.

 

[EbS-P]

The F400 and F500 have similar Air control assemblies. I don’t see how an ember could get out if everything is installed correctly. The doghouse 24 covers the sliding control 7 plate which attaches to the air control rod handle. How are the new parts different from the old ones?

 

[Pannoner3]

Slight differences/improvements. This thread does a great job of illustrating the differences. And my install went just as described in that thread, but it just seems odd to have a spark shoot out from there.

Jotul Oslo F500 Air Valve & Handle Kit (install with pics)

This is a response to a previous thread that ended 1/1/2014 titled: Improving Sticky Oslo Air Control. At that time there were several people interested in a reported kit that was produced by Jotul to fix the "sticky air lever" problem associated with these stoves. This repair kit is available...

www.hearth.com

 

[EbS-P]

So the only way I see to get sparks out is for embers to go through the air holes in the doghouse down through the slider plate hole. Then out where the lever goes through.

Is that the way you see it too?

 

[Pannoner3]

So the only way I see to get sparks out is for embers to go through the air holes in the doghouse down through the slider plate hole. Then out where the lever goes through.

Is that the way you see it too?

That’s what I’m thinking, it that just seems odd. I previously had an f400 and never noticed this happen, and as you said it’s a similar set up.

 

[EbS-P]

That’s what I’m thinking, it that just seems odd. I previously had an f400 and never noticed this happen, and as you said it’s a similar set up.

I guess if the doghouse is installed correctly that’s the only way it could happen.

 

[Pannoner3]

Yea. I never ran the stove with the original air control equipment, so I don’t have a baseline to compare to. But, My brother has a newer Oslo, and he does not see the same orange glowing when looking at the air lever straight on from the outside. I saved all the original equipment, so perhaps when it warms up a bit here in CT I’ll inspect to make sure everything is install properly, and perhaps revert back to the original equipment. Thanks for your replies!

 

[Pannoner3]

After further research, the newer models of the Oslo have a small piece of 3/8” rope gasket packed into the opening where the air control lever enters the dog house(see pic). This is not something that shows up on the parts diagram for my version of the stove, but it does show up in the current version of the parts diagram. For what I’m experiencing, this must be an improvement Jotul made, and I see no reason to not implement it with my stove. For what it’s worth, there was no gasket present when I removed the old air assembly.

 

[EbS-P]

But they added a hole on each side of the ash pan housing. Guess they needed a quantifiable opening size.

 

[Pannoner3]

Sorry, could you elaborate? Are you saying the new stoves have holes on the side of the ash pan housing?

 

[xman23]

It sounds like thats a V1, like mine. It it has two piece cast iron burn plates. Yes the air control slide and leaver can feel like it sticks at the end of travel. But an occasional lube with graphite or dry lube spray is the fix. I lube once a year when doing the clean down. But basically it goes away if you don't use the front door in burn season. It is a non issue when you understand it. It's a simple slide plate with a lever that moves it. I don't like the fact you can see a glow from the fire box, and got an ember come through the hole. I don't have that. I haven't seen any rope gasket in there.

 

[Pannoner3]

All paperwork is from year 2000, and the manufacturer stamps in the cast iron are from 2000. Not sure if that corresponds with V1 or not. And agree, being able to see the glowing of the firebox from the outside and also having an ember shoot out have me a bit confused/concerned, not to mention the impact this might be having on my ability to control air and thus burn times and temps.

 

[thehouseisonfire]

I can tell you after rebuilding my 2007 F500 that there is a piece of rope gasket wedged in there. It installs from the front of the stove exactly as shown in the V3 diagrams.

After my rebuild I had the same issue (no sparks though) then I remembered that weird "u" shaped piece of rope gasket I had leftover. It instals between the front panel/door and bottom part.