Jotul 550 Rockland Comments

[djc550]

I could hear the whirling sound in your video. I’m not sure what that is, so I don’t want to speculate on the fix for it.
About your dollar bill test, I would get a metal straight edge and lay it across stove face to make sure that stove face has no warps in it. This is probably not the case for you but a good thing to rule out anyway.

Hi - I got the metal straight edge. Due to the half moon door shape, it was hard to determine if the top of the stove is flat. However, I can clearly see it is not a flat surface. It has warped out at the bottom where the air booster is. Suggestions?

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Hi - I got the metal straight edge. Due to the half moon door shape, it was hard to determine if the top of the stove is flat. However, I can clearly see it is not a flat surface. It has warped out at the bottom where the air booster is. Suggestions?

It sounds like you’re saying that the base of the stove near the bottom middle has bowed out a little bit. If that’s the case, I don’t have the expertise to let you know about a real fix for that. What I think would be a decent Band-Aid Right now would be to wedge some screws or appropriately sized nails into the booster air inside firebox. These air holes would be located in that area of the booster air that I pointed to in my picture above. You need to use a mirror and flashlight and to be able to clear that area of ash build up so you can have access to it to be able to put in the screws. The thought would be that by doing this, you’d be cutting down on the amount of air coming into the firebox, which at this point, sounds like it’s too much to keep temperature down and stove under. My Rockland did the same thing, and I don’t feel like I’ve been overly harsh with it in regard to over fires. Although Jotul has a great name and reputation, I wouldn’t be running out to get another one based on my experience with this particular stove. My Rockland did the same thing, and I don’t feel like I’ve been overly harsh with it in regard to over fires. Let me know if you need more assistance, as I imagine it’s probably confusing trying to locate where these air holes are exactly.
Aside from other types of solutions that others might be able to give you, yodel should sell the face of the stove as a replacement part if need be. That said, I imagine it’s quite expensive.
Provide a pic of the warp area would be helpful too.

 

[djc550]

Are you able to provide a picture (visual learner). and, yes.

I agree with you. I also feel I’m haven’t been over firing, and while I like the Rockland, not sure what to get next when that day arrives.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Are you able to provide a picture (visual learner). and, yes.

I agree with you. I also feel I’m haven’t been over firing, and while I like the Rockland, not sure what to get next when that day arrives.

No problem. I’ll be able to take some pictures in about 30 or 40 minutes when I get back home.
I’m not a professional, so perhaps it might be best to wait to see your pictures of stove and to wait on more professional advice Before you do anything.

 

[djc550]

No problem. I’ll be able to take some pictures in about 30 or 40 minutes when I get back home.
I’m not a professional, so perhaps it might be best to wait to see your pictures of stove and to wait on more professional advice Before you do anything.

No rush. Thank you & stay safe

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Here is a picture of The part of the boost air compartment that I pointed to with the poker in my picture above that faces the inside of fire box. My apologies that it seems to resemble a surprised turtle. With my stove, I have plugged up those holes with a screw. The smaller holes on the sides will probably have to be plugged up by a small nail. It’s not a airtight blocking of the air or anything, but definitely seems to help with keeping my stove under control. My stove still runs hot just just not hot to a point where I’m nervous.
Back in the day with the stove when I first noticed The problem, I replaced the door gasket and that seem to work very well, but only for about a month or so and I was back to square one. That was the point that I put in the screws. You might consider trying that out and for some reason if it doesn’t work how you want or whatever, you can just easily remove the screws (You’re not gonna be fastening them in the stove or anything . Just basically just be lightly wedged into the holes).

 

[djc550]

I’ll check it out. Thanks

i also found this thread searching on your info. Thanks !

Jotul 550 Primary Air Modification

First off thanks to EJL923 for the tips. Was going to put this in the 550 thread but maybe others will find something useful. The primary air slider on my stove did not travel to the end of the slot that retains the slider knob. I removed the slide and on inspection the slide hits a stop...

www.hearth.com

 

[djc550]

Here is a picture of The part of the boost air compartment that I pointed to with the poker in my picture above that faces the inside of fire box. My apologies that it seems to resemble a surprised turtle. With my stove, I have plugged up those holes with a screw. The smaller holes on the sides will probably have to be plugged up by a small nail. It’s not a airtight blocking of the air or anything, but definitely seems to help with keeping my stove under control. My stove still runs hot just just not hot to a point where I’m nervous.
Back in the day with the stove when I first noticed The problem, I replaced the door gasket and that seem to work very well, but only for about a month or so and I was back to square one. That was the point that I put in the screws. You might consider trying that out and for some reason if it doesn’t work how you want or whatever, you can just easily remove the screws (You’re not gonna be fastening them in the stove or anything . Just View attachment 265887 basically just be lightly wedged into the holes).

Hello..
I am attaching a photo of the air inlet booster. Did you block all three holes with screws, or try one at a time. I was surprised with the amount of ash that was in there.

 

[djc550]

It sounds like you’re saying that the base of the stove near the bottom middle has bowed out a little bit. If that’s the case, I don’t have the expertise to let you know about a real fix for that. What I think would be a decent Band-Aid Right now would be to wedge some screws or appropriately sized nails into the booster air inside firebox. These air holes would be located in that area of the booster air that I pointed to in my picture above. You need to use a mirror and flashlight and to be able to clear that area of ash build up so you can have access to it to be able to put in the screws. The thought would be that by doing this, you’d be cutting down on the amount of air coming into the firebox, which at this point, sounds like it’s too much to keep temperature down and stove under. My Rockland did the same thing, and I don’t feel like I’ve been overly harsh with it in regard to over fires. Although Jotul has a great name and reputation, I wouldn’t be running out to get another one based on my experience with this particular stove. My Rockland did the same thing, and I don’t feel like I’ve been overly harsh with it in regard to over fires. Let me know if you need more assistance, as I imagine it’s probably confusing trying to locate where these air holes are exactly.
Aside from other types of solutions that others might be able to give you, yodel should sell the face of the stove as a replacement part if need be. That said, I imagine it’s quite expensive.
Provide a pic of the warp area would be helpful too.

Story for the late reply. Somehow I missed the picture request. See attached

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Hello..
I am attaching a photo of the air inlet booster. Did you block all three holes with screws, or try one at a time. I was surprised with the amount of ash that was in there. View attachment 266561View attachment 266564

I put a screw in the big hole and small nails in the smaller holes. Maybe you can just put a screw in the big one and see from there?

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Story for the late reply. Somehow I missed the picture request. See attached View attachment 266566

Hard to tell but can’t see any visible warping from this picture.

 

[djc550]

Hello ctwoodtick

I threaded two screws into the two outside holes and it did nothing. The insert still ran hot. Once everything cooled yesterday, I took off the door and looking into the damper vent using a torch, I confirm the damper is sliding correctly. As a quick test, instead of a screw, I blocked the full booster air piece with fireproof insulation. The result, no more over heating. That was the cause!!
Attaching two videos. Damper open & the second is with the damper closed.
THANK YOU!!

That did the trick.

next Q
I took off the insert surround yesterday and left it off overnight. The amount of radiant heat into the room surprised me. Does the insert surround truly block that much heat? Has anyone left it off completely or, pulled out the stove one inch to let the radiant heat escape into the room.

thank you again.

 

[moresnow]

Unfortunately the 2nd vid is not working. For me at least.

 

[moresnow]

There it is.
Big change.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Hello ctwoodtick

I threaded two screws into the two outside holes and it did nothing. The insert still ran hot. Once everything cooled yesterday, I took off the door and looking into the damper vent using a torch, I confirm the damper is sliding correctly. As a quick test, instead of a screw, I blocked the full booster air piece with fireproof insulation. The result, no more over heating. That was the cause!!
Attaching two videos. Damper open & the second is with the damper closed.
THANK YOU!!

That did the trick.

next Q
I took off the insert surround yesterday and left it off overnight. The amount of radiant heat into the room surprised me. Does the insert surround truly block that much heat? Has anyone left it off completely or, pulled out the stove one inch to let the radiant heat escape into the room.

thank you again.



View attachment 266857
View attachment 266858
View attachment 266860

Very glad that you’re having success. Keep me updated with how the fireproof insulation continues to work. I may try that at some point myself. Your second video looks like a good slow burn. My guess is that’s a nice slow roll of about 600 degrees stove top temp.
I’ve never run the stove without the surround. I’m surprised that the heat difference was so noticeable. I would have figured the masonry would suck up it’s normal amount of heat as usual.

 

[djc550]

Very glad that you’re having success. Keep me updated with how the fireproof insulation continues to work. I may try that at some point myself. Your second video looks like a good slow burn. My guess is that’s a nice slow roll of about 600 degrees stove top temp.
I’ve never run the stove without the surround. I’m surprised that the heat difference was so noticeable. I would have figured the masonry would suck up it’s normal amount of heat as usual.

I am attaching picture of fireproof insulation after three days of fire 24/7

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I am attaching picture of fireproof insulation after three days of fire 24/7

Looks good. What brand/type of insulation is that?

 

[djc550]

sorry, I don’t know. It’s a piece from what the guys used to block the chimney. It’s white sheets.

 

[djc550]

Fire flame last night after 1 1/2 hours from start. There was a faint glow near the vent. I will check the insulation tonight once it’s cooled down.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Fire flame last night after 1 1/2 hours from start. There was a faint glow near the vent. I will check the insulation tonight once it’s cooled down.
View attachment 267062

Yup, definitely lot of air getting in there. The screw in the hole trick may help.

 

[djc550]

Yup, definitely lot of air getting in there. The screw in the hole trick may help.

I added the third screw.
Could you send me a picture of how you load your firewood.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I can’t pull up the video you just posted.
I don’t have a fire going today, so I tried to replicate what I would do to load stove on the porch here. If you were trying to keep temperatures down and have as long of a slow burn as you can, loading the wood with as little air space between splits would be the way to go. Also, bigger splits Will keep the temperatures down a bit as well. The only thing is, if you’re fully loading stove and it happens to go nuclear on you, that’s gonna make life difficult for all while. There is a trick where if you noticed that you’re over firing, you can open the stove door wide open, which draws in a great amount of cooler room air. It sounds counterintuitive, but this does work. The only thing is that you’ll have to babysit the stove for quite a while, especially with the stove is loaded full and it goes nuclear. If you did the swinging the door wide open trick, you probably need to keep it open for several minutes close the door and briefly evaluate what you got there, and then likely repeat this procedure a number of times.Maybe you can do no more than half loads while you’re trying to dial things in.

 

[djc550]

fire on for two hours, and screws in for two weeks. Thoughts?
I bought a canard

I can’t pull up the video you just posted.
I don’t have a fire going today, so I tried to replicate what I would do to load stove on the porch here. If you were trying to keep temperatures down and have as long of a slow burn as you can, loading the wood with as little air space between splits would be the way to go. Also, bigger splits Will keep the temperatures down a bit as well. The only thing is, if you’re fully loading stove and it happens to go nuclear on you, that’s gonna make life difficult for all while. There is a trick where if you noticed that you’re over firing, you can open the stove door wide open, which draws in a great amount of cooler room air. It sounds counterintuitive, but this does work. The only thing is that you’ll have to babysit the stove for quite a while, especially with the stove is loaded full and it goes nuclear. If you did the swinging the door wide open trick, you probably need to keep it open for several minutes close the door and briefly evaluate what you got there, and then likely repeat this procedure a number of times.Maybe you can do no more than half loads while you’re trying to dial things in.View attachment 267356

 

[djc550]

fire on for two hours, and three screws in for the last two weeks. Thoughts On flame? I still think air is getting in.

I bought a Condar Thermometer, I’ll let you know the readings.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

fire on for two hours, and three screws in for the last two weeks. Thoughts On flame? I still think theirs air getting in.

I bought a Condar Thermometer, I’ll let you know the readings.
View attachment 268549

yes, I’d bu curious about the stove top temps. You don’t look out of control in the video. Coals look brighter (hotter) than I’d expect on low. I’d expect more secondary combustion, but lots of factors could impact that. I know that if air was getting in around the door area, you’d see noticeably more soot buildup on the glass in the soots that air was leaking in.