No heat from Stove ( Jotul )

[Jack0]

On 25/03/2023 at 23:26, neiln said:

My logic is jotul, excellent brand, it might be a bit old and not the most efficient but it'll be built like a perverbial brick outhouse and will be an excellent heater.  At 6kW nominal it must be about  9 or more max output, that's a lot of heat.  Is that a flue thermometer I see in the second photo?  If not get one.  Put so close to the stove, safe max would be over 300C.  Can you run it at 350-400C for half an hour and does it still not get hot?  If you can't do that there's something wrong with either the stove draw or the wood, if you can and it doesn't get the stove hot then we need to work out where the heat is going.  Is there a register plate?  You might be losing heat up the chimney if not.  

The room fan idea is good for testing the 'heat trapped in the fireplace ' idea.  I doubt it's that though.

I can’t get it up to those temperatures even if I put smokeless coal in it , I’ve burnt all sorts of wood over the years , so it can’t all be bad wood . I think there is definitely a problem with the installation , but not really sure what I can do about that , to pull all the liner out would be pointless , I had it inspected with a camera last week and it’s fine . I think the joints onto the stove might not be right , plus the register plate has gaps . 

[Stubby]

3 minutes ago, Jack0 said:

I can’t get it up to those temperatures even if I put smokeless coal in it , I’ve burnt all sorts of wood over the years , so it can’t all be bad wood . I think there is definitely a problem with the installation , but not really sure what I can do about that , to pull all the liner out would be pointless , I had it inspected with a camera last week and it’s fine . I think the joints onto the stove might not be right , plus the register plate has gaps . 

I think you need to fit some vermiculite board , or bricks to reflect heat back into the fire box to raise the overall temp . 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Stubby

[Jack0]

Thanks for all the replies . I’m new to this and didn’t realise I actually had any , so I’m sorry for the lack of response . I think it’s a combination of things . Bad fitting from the stove fitter initially , probably the stove should not be in an alcove . I also think cast iron not for me because I’m an evening sat by the stove and go to bed person ….not running it all day and night as a form of heat for the house . I think I’d be better off with steel . Apparently the clean burn version which is what I have has air inlets at the back of the stove which you can’t control . This combined with excessive draught  is why I’m burning lots of fuel with little heat . Jotul have recommended that I bring it further out into the room , but this isn’t possible for me , so it looks like I’ll have to sell it and try another wood burner , or just give up on the log burner idea and keep it as a feature !!  

[Jack0]

7 minutes ago, Stubby said:

I think you need to fit some vermiculite board , or bricks to reflect heat back into the fire box to raise the overall temp . 

Hmmm well possibly , but the stove joust doesn’t get up to temperature so whilst it might help , I’m just not convinced . 

[Jack0]

On 26/03/2023 at 14:42, neiln said:

AHH I'd not seen them video.  Right. That flue thermometer might be way off, they are cheap and easy to get so might be worth trying another. It's also attached to the sweeping access which probably has a large circular 'felt' gasket behind so it'll read a bit low , try it on the side of the pipe.

Stick a few more logs in and if it doesn't get round to 'too hot' then the wood isn't dry.  It does look a nice hot burn though, hence I don't believe the thermometer.

The installation looks a frig. I can't really be sure but I think the flue pipe and the spigot on the stove have been played about with, possibly to get the sweep access where it is.  If it has been b*ggered about then I'd question what the rest of the install is like.  

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head …the installation is a frig !!! But being a 3 story town house it would mean a scaffolding job . I’ve asked various fitters and nobody can come up with a conclusive answer as to why it’s crap !! But I know this fitter had somewhat of a bad reputation . All I want to know is can it be rectified without me having to spend silly money . I can chuck as much wood as I can physically fit in that stove and it never gets up to full temperature . I think the thermometer is accurate , though see somebody’s point on here it shouldn’t be on the inspection hole I’ll try and move it but it’s a short length of pipe .

[Jack0]

On 26/03/2023 at 21:33, Mike Hill said:

Those stoves are ment to be free standing, you have a dampner top right be the looks of it.

 

Putting it inside a mansonry alcove which is a giant heat sink probably means you get about 2kw out the front of that.

 

Plus most every Jøtul has a section of pipe exposed over here, as the pipe does a 90 deg turn before it meets a chimney. You get alot of heat from that pipe section.

Probably you have a point there , but then that begs the question should any log burner be put in an alcove ? …or are you saying that Jotul is specifically designed not to ? Yes I have a dampener fitted , because the draw from the chimney was so strong . 

[GarethM]

It's not an alcove, just an old style open fireplace with a huge stove shoehorned inplace.

 

Get the behemoth removed, swept and inspected with a camera before getting a smaller stove fitted.

 

Providing your sweep thinks the chimney is in ok condition, get a reputable stove installer to drop in a full new liner and register plate and fit a small 4/5kw stove.

[Jack0]

8 minutes ago, GarethM said:

It's not an alcove, just an old style open fireplace with a huge stove shoehorned inplace.

 

Get the behemoth removed, swept and inspected with a camera before getting a smaller stove fitted.

 

Providing your sweep thinks the chimney is in ok condition, get a reputable stove installer to drop in a full new liner and register plate and fit a small 4/5kw stove.

Not quite as simple as just dropping a new liner in !! It would require scaffolding at a cost of more than £1000 …for what ? The liner is absolutely fine !! And a small 4/5 kw stove in a 26 ft long by 13 ft room with  9ft ceilings , a big triple bay window with original sash windows …no insulation at all ….is that really going to heat the room ? 

[Jack0]

On 26/03/2023 at 08:40, Squaredy said:

I think what difflock says is right.  The video seems to show a very hot fire burning well.  I suspect the chimney is not lined and that most of the heat is disappearing up it.  Which is the same problem with an open fire.  
 

And if it is a large draughty room that won’t help.  
 

Did you have the stove installed or was it in the house when you moved in?

No I had it fitted , the chimney was lined with 904l liner . Yes it’s a large draughty room 26 x 13 ft with original draughty sash windows and high ish ceilings . There is twin wall coming out of the roof because the chimney stack was removed before we bought the house . Tall 3 storey house . 

[Mike Hill]

26 minutes ago, Jack0 said:

Probably you have a point there , but then that begs the question should any log burner be put in an alcove ? …or are you saying that Jotul is specifically designed not to ? Yes I have a dampener fitted , because the draw from the chimney was so strong . 

 

I guess you could say that Jøtul is specifically designed not too. Since the heat is ment to radiate out the front/ top/ sides.

 

Putting a stove in an alcove is a peculier British thing to do.

 

Send them an Email and ask? I bet they answer quickly.

 

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I had two stoves just like yours, both were free standing. Even then I swapped one out for something bigger, the other chimney I blocked off.