1. Home
  2. ⚡ Welding Forums
  3. Jotul wood stove repair

Jotul wood stove repair

I have a nice large jotul model 118 box stove that recently developed a small crack on the exteriour cast top surface. This is a cast iron piece and the crack only appears when the stove is really going good. It's more of a hairline type crack that, like I said, is only visible when it's really cranking out some heat when first started, is just -barely- wide enough to see a bit of light though at the widest point on the edge and is about 3-4 inches long. Once the stove settles down to a good burn, the crack closes back up and I can't even see it. It's on the front edge and I think it happened when I spilled some water trying to fill the tea kettle that stays on top of it. Below is a link showing what this stove looks like.

formatting link

My question, how hard would this be to have welded/brazed where it would hold up and what should I expect to pay for a quality repair. A new top is about $300 so if welding this correctly is more than this, it's not worth saving. I'm not looking for a cheap patch, I want it fixed right or I'm not going to bother..

I use this to heat my house so looks aren't that important, functionality is and I don't want it to crack any worse as right now, it's still very useable. I drilled the end of the crack and it stopped spreading but I still would like to fix this if possible. It's a great stove and I want to do whatever I need to to save it.

TIA for any help or advice. BTW I'm in Atlanta if anyone has advice on who close by could do this type of repair correctly.

Reply to
Stacey
Loading thread data ...

It sounds like you want a quality repair. You would have to remove the top, take it in to a shop for repair, pay for the repair and hope the crack would not reappear. For 300 dollars I would just order a new casting. The cost of the repair would be at least an hour's labour so you are looking at a minimum cost of 100 dollars. You still have your time , transportation, and downtime of the stove. The casting is very angular which likely has some critical weak points that crack under heat stress as you have discovered. To add to your problems the colour/surface match may be a problem. Randy

Reply to
Randy Zimmerman

I could suggest what I would do to fix it but the thin cast iron make any fixes pretty dicey to do. And the high heat cycling make it very likely to recrack in the future. If you have no choice, I'd give it a go with a good weld shop. Randy's $100 estimate might be low, any shop that knew enough about what they were doing is likely to want more money than that.

But you seem to have a choice so I'd suggest a new t> I have a nice large jotul model 118 box stove that recently developed a

Reply to
RoyJ

Order a new top. Considering that this is an exterior crack, it's the better option. If you were messing about with a crack that was on one of the interior baffle plates, it might be different. For a crack on the outside of a woodstove, replacement is the better option when possible, and it's clearly possible.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

I wouldn't be in a rush to do anything. You have drilled a hole at the end of the crack, which should arrest it from progressing. You have pointed out that it closes back up when the stove temperature settles down. If it ever reaches the point where you are afraid the top is going to break apart, I would consider my next move (welding or replacing.)

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

I'd patch it. I hate working on cast iron woodstoves, because the thermal cycling is really tough on any repair. So I wouldn't even offer to weld one, it's a patch or nothing. If you don't like it, then buy the new panel (there's not many stoves where you'd have the choice).

Reply to
Andy Dingley

My concern is that it is a gas issue. Does smoke or gas come through the crack or is this only on an outside you might be ok now. If it is the main top - holding back the gases within, I'd be concerned to split longer and source CO to the room just when you are not there. e.g. after bed time.

I have a CO sensor in my front room 12' from my stove.

Martin

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

No, this stove has a very strong draft and if anything is drawing air into the crack, not the opposite. I think I'm just going to watch it and if drilling the end of the crack stops the progression, I can live with it as is. I was afraid welding/brazing something with this sort of heat cycling might be a problem. Thanx for the advice.

Reply to
Stacey

Stacey,

Amazingly I too live in Atlanta and have a Jotul 118 w/cracks :-)

I just got it and it intend to keep it but it has a crack as you describe but... on a side. The other side also has a much smaller/shorter crack.

It is also missing the side baffles, which I obviously need to get.

Please keep in touch on what you decide and do, as I've got to go down this road as well and would be happy to share any experience I have as well.

Courtney

Stacey wrote:

Reply to
Courtney Thomas

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.