# Jotul C450 install and questions!---Pictures added



## Rudyjr (Dec 12, 2008)

Liner arrived from Chimney Liner Depot yesterday. Two days from the call to delivery great service. Coal and Woodburner Shop in Toledo called and said they had recieved my insert from their distributor and were shipping it out. Insert arrived less than 24 hours later, what stellar service. Now the ball is in my court, hope to be up and running by this time tomorrow evening. Wish me luck! Thanks for everyones help and input.


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## Jags (Dec 12, 2008)

Good luck on the install Dude.  Make it safe and sound and it should serve you well for years to come.


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## Rudyjr (Dec 13, 2008)

I will try to get some pics of the install.


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## Dix (Dec 13, 2008)

Rudy, ya gotta get pics !!

 ;-)


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## bren582 (Dec 13, 2008)

Hey rudyjr, 

As a rookie who just did a DIY install I live to see others efforts in this forum.. Please post away along with verbose descriptions of you project.. 

I also went with Chimney Liner Depot, Nice folks and when I had an issue with the chimney cap they shipped with the liner kit they made it right. Initial 
ship on the kit was lightning fast, took some time to get the replacement cap but it was worth it. Nice place to deal with overall.

Thanks


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## Rudyjr (Dec 14, 2008)

Started at 9 this morning, first fire this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. Pictures and story to follow.


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## Pagey (Dec 14, 2008)

Yes, pics!


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## Rudyjr (Dec 14, 2008)

Started about 9 a.m. Saturday morning. Went to the local HVAC distributor and bought a piece of galvanized pan material and some high temp silicone. I took the material to the shop where I work and cut it down and used a brake to form the sides. This is pretty light gauge and you could easily do it by hand with a block of wood and hammer. I was back home and setting up the ladder by 10:30 to line the chimney. My next door neighbor heard me setting up the ladder and offered to help. What timing!! By about 12 noon we had the liner in place. I had to cut away part of the damper throat for the liner to pass, not a big deal with a 4 inch grinder and cut off wheel. This chimney has not had a damper plate for over 25 years and had a Lemance damper that the chimney sweep removed for me. I packed rock wool around the pipe and installed the block off plate with tap cons, and siliconed the outside perimeter. We removed the brick, doors, and outside shroud from the stove and decided it was still too heavy to move down the stairs. We went to the local Home Depot and rented an appliance dolly.By 1:30 we were ready to move the stove. If I was doing this again I would use a heavy duty dolly from work because we had to use a ratchet binder instead of the strap on the dolly because it is too high up to use. I think the bigger air filled tires on a heavy duty dolly would work better. We used 2 pieces of scrap sheet metal on the hearth under the stove to keep from marking the brick and make it easier to slide into place. The pipe with the appliance connector lined up perfectly, I was pretty sure it would be close from my initial measurements. One man pushing up on the pipe the other pushing in the stove, both of us to pull the pipe back down into the collar. Three stainless steel screws in place I went back outside to terminate the other end of the pipe. My neighbor ran the dolly back to Home Depot while I packed rock wool around the top of the pipe and finished the top off. I spent about an hour and a half carrying parts downstairs and installing the blower and surround. One tip that worked for me: remove the extra bolts on the back of the surround that are supplied for the extensions. They can get in the way and hang up on mortar joints during installation. I had a small fire going by 4:30 and was cleaning up tools.This stove really puts out some heat even with a relatively small fire going. We turned down the thermostat to 63 at 7 pm and it was 67 when we went to bed at 11, which is where we had the stat set. It is sure nice to have a fire in the fireplace and not have the furnace running non stop to keep up! The blower was set on low and worked perfectly. This seems to be a really well built unit, everything lines upand works well .This is wordy but some of you asked for it, thanks for everyones help.


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## Rudyjr (Dec 14, 2008)

Trying to post pics, see if these work.(yes I know the firewood carrier is too close need to find a new spot for it)


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## begreen (Dec 14, 2008)

She's awesome Rudy! I love the look of that stove. That's a very nice clean installation. Thanks for posting the pics.


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## Rudyjr (Dec 14, 2008)

Thanks, we tried to do it right the first time. Our rec room is pretty rustic and we thought it fit in well. It is probably one of the very few that my wife and I thought looked like it fit in.


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## Chief Ryan (Dec 14, 2008)

Nice old school look. Love the side by side above. Great Job!


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## fossil (Dec 14, 2008)

Don't _ever_ forget and hang that beautiful old double barrel back up there loaded!  The insert installation looks terrific, I love it.  Rick


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## Rudyjr (Dec 14, 2008)

That old double barrel is just that "a wall hanger". It is so old it has damascus barrels, made from welded wire. If you tried to shoot it it would be far more dangerous than hanging it up loaded. It would be a double barrel grenade.


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## fossil (Dec 14, 2008)

Understood, rudy, I figgered it was a museum piece.  Right purdy, though!  Rick


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## Rudyjr (Dec 14, 2008)

Thanks for the positive responses and help.


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## myzamboni (Dec 14, 2008)

You might want to rethink the silicone after reading this thread: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31027/


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## Rudyjr (Dec 14, 2008)

Hi temp silicone around the perimeter of the block off plate not around the liner, see pictures,and read all of your quote.


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## stejus (Dec 14, 2008)

Looks great!  I almost went with the Jotul but decided to go with the Hampton HI300.  Mine's going in Dec 26th!  Good luck and be safe during the break in!


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## LeonMSPT (Dec 14, 2008)

Nice looking job, and I bet it's going to be a heck of a heater for you. I usually put the wood staging to burn right about where your firewood carrier is...  use your best judgement once you see how hot that area gets...    Advantage of an insert that lives inside the fireplace is the disadvantage. It's inside the fireplace, and the heat mostly stays there unless you turn on the blower. I have an old VC insert, looks vaguely like the one you've got if you apply some imagination. When the blower is running and the thing is nearly 600 degrees per a magnetic thermometer stuck on the bar in the middle of the door, you can literally hold your hand on most of what you can touch, except the doors. A child would recoil from it, but so long as no contact is made with the door, it's not too hot. 

With the blower off, it'll boil water on top in the front...  brick surround gets hot and radiates heat for hours after it goes out.


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## myzamboni (Dec 15, 2008)

Rudyjr said:
			
		

> Hi temp silicone around the perimeter of the block off plate not around the liner, see pictures,and read all of your quote.



Yep, read through your post too quickly.  Good on ya.


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## gibson (Dec 15, 2008)

Looks nice!  I just installed my Jotul 550 myself last month.  It took my father in law and I about the same amount of time as yours.  I couldn't be happier with the stove, the whole family loves it.  There was definitely a little extra satisfaction in installing it myself.  Good luck.


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## 67ref (Dec 15, 2008)

nice job on the self install.

Enjoy with great warmth!


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## oconnor (Dec 15, 2008)

Looks great Rudyjr! I love the way the stove blends with the rustic look of the wood.  You may want to keep the stock of that shotgun well oiled to keep it from drying out. Mine puts out a lot of heat on our mantle at what looks like the same height. (our mantle is concrete).  Clearance specs on the Kennebec are really tough, but I don't see a mantle causing a fire before you see the problem on the surface first - but I wouldn't want that gun to split.

Break it in, burn it hot (mine runs 750F on the top in front of the flue outlet) and enjoy the heat and light!


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## drdoct (Dec 15, 2008)

Looks great!  I put my blockoff plate in pretty much the same spot.  I really had some trouble getting my liner and connector into the stove.  Glad to see it all worked out.  Not only that but you got help from your neighbor too.  Maybe even opened his eyes and taught him how to do a good install if he decides he likes your setup.


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## Jags (Dec 15, 2008)

Looks great Rudy.  Looks like it belongs.  Oh - you can still get black powder loads for that double barrel.  I have a 10 ga. with the fine twist barrel ~1895.


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## Rudyjr (Dec 15, 2008)

Neighbors a great guy we help each other out all the time. We have discussed doing something to add a fireplace or stove in his house before. We both are pretty amazed that they would have built a four bedroom three bath all brick ranch with a huge family room and living room and no fireplace. My three bedroom 2 bath brick ranch next door has two masonry fireplaces,as do the majority of the ranches, more the norm for this area.


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## Rudyjr (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanks for all of the positive feedback everyone. Now if I can just learn how to use this stove! First attempts have been real hit or miss. I can go from a roaring start up fire to smoldering wood like nothing I have ever seen. Pretty different learning curve than my old Garrison II I burned in the 80's. I think I may not be building the fire gradually enough. Thought I was on top of things last night, never adjusted the air from full open, threw on a decent size split and kaput! Wood is all hardwood undercover and end cracking appears to be seasoned, sounds like it when you bang two pieces together like my grandad showed me. Any thoughts? Looking forward to trying to learn something when I'm off for the holidays.


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## boostnut (Dec 17, 2008)

"appears to be seasoned"    Hmmmm, heard this story before. The wood is probably the issue here. 

My 450 did the same thing from time to time my first couple years with it. I was buying wood that was "seasoned". Later found out it was split 4 or 5 months before I started burning it. The term "seasoned" has a variety of definitions I guess.

Thats a good looking install, nice work. If I could make a suggestion, get a stovetop magnetic thermometer. Generally they're not the most accurate but they do provide a reference for the user. Oh, another suggestion, buy or start processing your wood for next year. You won't have to post this problem again if you do.


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## Rudyjr (Dec 17, 2008)

Tried building a better and more substantial base fire worked up more gradually and what a difference. This thing has been going gangbusters since 1:30 this afternoon. Primary cut back to less than 1/4 and just keeps cranking out the heat. No visible smoke from the chimney.I suspect that you are right about the seasoning thing to some degree in this case. The old wood stoves were a lot less picky about moisture. And thank you to Brent for all of the tips.


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## Rudyjr (Dec 18, 2008)

Update: Put three decent size splits (not real big) on the fire about 7-7:30 last night, cut the air back and figured it would burn out about 1 or 2 in the morning. When we went to bed the stat was set at 63 and the temp upstairs was  69. I was getting ready to leave at 5 a.m. and went down to see if there was any unburnt wood. The fan on the insert was still running and I could feel some heat coming out of it still a nice bed of coals under some ash. Checked the temp upstairs and was 65, outside temp in mid to low 20's. I was pretty impressed with the amount of heat considering that this stove is in the basement rec-room (open stairwell at end of house) and the small amount of wood used.


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