Jotul F400 Castine Problem

I bought my Jotul F400 Castine several years ago when I lived in Cal. It had been used sparingly by an older couple in a coastal community. I don't think it was ever over-fired. It is the older 2-door model.



The problem is the air control lever--the small chrome rod with the chrome ball on the end right below the doors. It does nothing to regulate air intake. When I moved it from Cal. I disassembled the stove, tho not completely. But I could never figure out how to get into the area right behind the lever in order to see what the problem was and how to fix the slider valve. It looks like I'd have to remove the entire upper bottom panel to get to it. When I moved this stove I had it lying on its back, and I'm thinking the adjuster rod probably fell out of the slider valve, but I can't get in there to fix it. Is anyone familiary with this stove? I've looked at on-line schematics but so far I can't see how to open that area up without pulling the entire upper bottom panel off--and that's a ton of disassembly.

 

Curious about this as well. Air lever broke and I can slide the bottom bolt and just hear it moving without closing/sliding anything.

 

Isn’t there a panel right inside the door where the primary air comes out? The current model has a removable primary air cover, 2 10mm bolts hold it on. Inside you can see the fork and the slider. It’s somewhat common for the fork to come off if the stove is moved.

 

There is a panel, with two 10mmm bolts, and also another bolt. But pulling the two 10 mm bolts does nothing to allow access to the fork and slider.
The 3rd bolt seems to do something else--as if something inside the box is suspended from that bolt. I loosened it, but since it wasn't backing out (or up, really) I didn't want to take a chance and completely unscrew it. Loosening it didn't do anything for getting into that area. My primary air intake is on the bottom, rear of the stove, and the air seems to come out above the firebox, through a couple of hundred small holes, then it washes down over the glass and then to the burning wood.

 

And THANKS for your post. If temps warm up here, and the stove cools down I'll have another look.

 

The primary comes in the bottom of the stove, correct.
It then is distributed between to the primary air, secondary air, and the air wash. The primary air cover or “doghouse” is what you are removing to gain access to the valve.

 

That makes sense. I'll keep trying. Thanks for the info.

 

My jotul f500 control lever is accessed by the 2 10mm bolts described above

 

Is your's the two door model? Or single door?

 

The 500 is a single front door, with a side door. 1 size bigger than the 400

 

Thanks for all the help! Did it and replaced the control rod in about 5 minutes. Secondary burn central!