JOTUL F500 v3 woes (2nd cat replacement in two years?)
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I personally would remove this refractory, leaving the combustor in its place, and the smoke will have a way out, the combustor will no longer work but without that refractory
have greater heat exchange
because if the combustor lasts a year I wouldn't want to risk finding myself in a situation of not being able to use a wood stove, which should be a source of heating without risks of this kind. By removing that piece there is a good chance of avoiding trouble
Or a much larger chance of overheating the cast iron top with the cat causing severe damage. That's the reason the panel is there.
that panel is present only in v3 with combustor, removing it the combustor does not work and therefore there is no extra heat produced in that area, theoretically there are no risks
Yes I know the panel is only present in v3s. Do you know the combustor is no longer working at all? If it does become partially active how hot will it get? How hot can that top get? I don't know these answers which is why I wouldn't ever recommend something like this that could potentially destroy the stove top.
Theoretically no risk isn't good enough for me
creating an opening, removing that panel, the smoke will not pass into the combustor, which at that point will be about a deflector. I don't recommend anything to anyone, it was just to reason
Just because smoke can go around the cat doesn't mean the cat won't work. It just won't work as well. It could certainly still become active
Absolutely but that doesn't mean we can't improve upon your performance. It really sounds like you may have excessive draft pulling ash into the cat clogging it quickly
I really do not think the issue is too much draft. and the only reason if there is extra ash flying around is because the stove is not burning well especially at the start up, and as I said even when the stove has been burning at 300 degrees (lately the stove doesnt seem to want to go over 400 for some reason, another problem) and the burning in the stove looks like "clean " burning, if I open the stove up, it might flame and smoke out door, or, if I throw a log in and the stove did not immediatey smoke out the door, if I dont shut that door in a quick second, and the new log starts to burn, the smoke will come out the door. this is a third season issue. this cat is 2 seasons old (2nd burning season still here) First cat fell apart first season. If there was too much draft, wouldnt the smoke be going up the stove not out the door?
No not with the door open especially if the cat is partially restricted. Have you tested the draft or the moisture content of your wood?
What is your typical burning procedure? Do you load the stove full burn down to coals then reload?
Re: post 40.
Not if the draft sucks ashes into the cat, clogging it. That would result in smoke coming out. Hence our questions on the other thread.
Not if the draft sucks ashes into the cat, clogging it. That would result in smoke coming out. Hence our questions on the other thread.
If good draft causes ash into the cat thus stove smoking, well doesnt that defeat purpose of the whole stove operation?
Good draft is one thing. To much draft is another. There is a specified draft measurement you should meet if you are over that you need a damper
We tested the draft from the flue in the basement, we clean our pipe from basement. draft good
my husband's hobby is wood so we have excellent dry seasoned wood.
lately typical is start the fire from cold stove (the temperature has been warm in the day so sometimes stove goes out for the most part) put in dry kindling with newspaper, used to be we were able to open the door after the kindling took hold to add more wood, now we cannot do that without the stove smoking and flames coming out.
something has changed this is our third season.
used a lighter to test draft. I could feel the draft also, good draft. cleaned front of cat with brush and shop vac few days ago. the problem issue happened immediately after cleaning
start stove with damper completely open, if didnt do that we would really have a smoke non burn issue
Ok testing with a lighter tells me nothing. We would need an actual measurement taken with the stove burning at a high rate.
Did cleaning in that way clear out any ash in the cat or is it still clogged
