Jotul F600 with no baffle and no blanket

[akom]

Hi all, I'm pretty new to woodstoves so this may be a dumb question.

I inherited an F600 and it operates erratically (sometimes it won't get hot unless the ash drawer door is cracked, sometimes it burns great without). It could be the wood I'm using (mixture of oak and cherry, age varies but feels light/dry). Rear top corner temps struggle to get past 400F, usually 200F-300F. It really only gets hot if it's fully loaded with fairly small split wood with lots of spacing in the stack. Every once in a while it'll suddenly get going and I can close everything and even turn the main down, and it will stay happy and hot. I still don't know what's different those times. I cleaned out the stovepipe and it's vented more or less straight up through the roof.

In an effort to figure out if it needs any repair, I noticed that the secondary manifold looked crooked, so I pulled it out. Looking at the diagrams, I appear to be missing the baffles and the thermal blanket. Instead, I have a layer of light-colored fire bricks on top of the secondary manifold perforated tubes.

Is this healthy? I'm fairly confident that the stove has been used this way for years. Do I need the baffle and blanket? Are they mutually exclusive with the bricks?

Photo is with the bricks removed and manifold reinstalled. It still seems to be a bit crooked, though not as bad.



Another question is: Are there any guides on repairing this stove? For example, do I need to use cement on the manifold assembly? I seem to have some old cement along the mating surfaces of the upper and lower halves, and it's breaking off in large pieces.

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

The stove is going to run like crap without the baffle and insulation blanket. All the heat and wood gases are going straight up the flue.

@D. Hermit and @paredown have done rebuilds. Search on F600 rebuild in this forum for past threads. It's not a trivial process.

 

[akom]

Thanks @begreen . Any thoughts on bricks vs baffles+blanket? Maybe I can throw a blanket on top of the bricks?

I went through the rebuild threads and performed a flashlight test. I didn't find any leaks that way.

 

[EbS-P]

The wasn’t there a change of the baffle material on some revision of the F600? Did that change anything else?

 

[akom]

One additional note is that the bricks fit on top of the manifold perfectly (4 rows of bricks plus 1 row of half-width bricks), with maybe 1/8 inch of wiggle room. Their length is also perfect to allow them to join each other perfectly on one of the pipes. Thus I am wondering if they were meant for this stove.

 

[Todd]

I don’t think I’d lay fire bricks on top of those secondary air tubes, it may warp them. I’d either go to a local Jotul dealer and see if they can get you the correct parts or try Woodsman Parts Plus and see if they have the parts.

 

[Todd]

Baffle Plate | Cast Iron | Jotul Stoves | Firelight F600CB

Replacement Baffle Plate made of Cast Iron for the Jotul wood and coal Stoves model Firelight F600CB and may be compatible with other manufacturers

www.woodmanspartsplus.com

 

[Todd]

Insulation Blanket | Jotul Wood and Coal Stove Parts

This is the replacement of the baffle insulating blanket for the Jotul wood and coal models

www.woodmanspartsplus.com

 

[akom]

Thanks @Todd for the links.

Before I start replacing things, I'd like to understand the current configuration, the reasoning behind it, and whether replacement is a substantial improvement.

 

[EbS-P]

Thanks @Todd for the links.

Before I start replacing things, I'd like to understand the current configuration, the reasoning behind it, and whether replacement is a substantial improvement.

It absolutely needs a baffle. The F600 was problematic from the beginning. If I were heating 24-7 with it I would probably not put any money into it. Ok that’s not true is see if I could get a piece of vermiculite and make my own baffle. But that’s as far as id go.

You would be much happier running a New Drolet than a leaky F600.

 

[begreen]

Thanks @Todd for the links.

Before I start replacing things, I'd like to understand the current configuration, the reasoning behind it, and whether replacement is a substantial improvement.

Without the baffle there is no residence time for the wood gases. The unburnt and smoky gases are heading straightup the chimney. Even the original, pre EPA Jotuls had a basic baffle system to improve combustion. Adding the proper baffle and insulation blanket will make a huge, day vs night difference. The stove will burn much hotter and cleaner while consuming less fuel. This will be notable in a dramatic decrease of smoke coming from the chimney and a reduction in creosote accumulation.

After putting in the proper baffle and insulation blanket, the stove will run quite differently. Read up on past thread about proper burning in an EPA stove.

 

[akom]

Makes sense that without a baffle there is no residence time, I'll check EPA threads.

I am wondering whether the bricks serve the same purpose and whether baffles+blanket will be a substanial improvement over the bricks.

Here is a photo with the bricks installed. Note that these have been in use in this configuration for 6-8 years.

 

[EbS-P]

I’d burn it like that. Blanket might help some. I’d try to find a cheap piece of ceramic wool insulation but wouldn’t spend more than 35$. You have run it longer than most have run the F600. Save for a replacement.

 

[stovelark]

The F600 had cast iron baffles and top blanket on top of the cast baffles. I'm thinking you have cooked the top of that stove pretty good, seeing as air flow should be up and around baffles and secondary burn chamber (which needs to be cemented into manifold at back and air tight as possible) to keep the heat in the stove longer and actually garnish the heat of the fire chamber into sides and rear of stove along with top of stove. For best results, the air chamber/tubes, baffles and blanket should be installed, a close inspection of top cover to check its integrity and cement top corners of stove, replace top cover gasket too. The F600 secondary burntube stove was a great heater, long pieces of wood, big firebox (when compared to its predecessor the F12 cat model). Putting bricks on top of the tubes definitely not a good idea. Look in F600 manual for the cast baffles PN's, you'll probably have to get them from a Jotul dealer or Woodman's Parts plus. Good luck with her.

 

[akom]

Thanks for that explanation.

On the parts diagram I see some kind of a frame (part 71) above the blanket... maybe it's a top seal? Trying to figure out if I'll need anything besides the baffles and the blanket.

 

[EbS-P]

Part 71 looks like the top gasket.