Jotul 550 Rockland Installation Today

[vector1701]

Well, the Jotul 550 finally was installed today and I am very happy how it went. We got the 550 with the brown mahogany enamel surround. I must say it looks sweet. The installer was very happy I purchased the liner insulation kit...said it was overkill, but the right thing to do. He said he has been doing ALOT of Jotul 550 installs this season. The install went smooth...no issues. The building inspector came in, said nice stove, signed the permit and left (what could he inspect anyway on an insert??? Nice to know my taxes will be paying his pension for the next 30 years). Below are some pics.

Here is the before photo of the fireplace

The 550 waiting to be installed....Even the dog has fallen in love with it and wants to be close to it...

Here she is installed, what a nice looking little lady..

Here she is fired up for the first time...my baby broke her cherry

I am currently breaking her in with a small fire. Little bit of an odor, not much, but that is to be expected with the burnoff. Blower just kicked on....good stuff.


Cost Breakdown:
Jotul 550 Rockland in brown-mahogany with cast iron surround - $2999 (+$400 discounted)
Stainless Steel Liner (30 ft.) - $512
Liner Insulation kit - $360
Delivery - $119
Tax - $270
Installation - $510
Permit and inspection from town - $70
Centech Wood Moisture Meter - $13 (Harbor Freight) - works on my 2 year old firewood very well
Ash Bucket - $50 (Amazon)
Kintrex IRT0421 Non-Contact Infrared Laser Thermometer - $47 (Amazon)
Rutland Metal Magnetic Wood Stove Thermometer - $15 (EBay)

Total Costs - $4965
(minus up to $1500 tax credit from Uncle Sam..on $4965 that is a $1489 rebate, but I might get some stonework done for some finish work around the install)


Since we are getting 30% back I splurged for the upgraded enamel finish and liner insulation kit.

Purchase:
I bought the stove from Preston Trading Post in Preston, CT (near the Rhode Island border).....I highly recommend them.

Install:
The installer was Joe Briggs of Briggs Family Fireplace ((broken link removed) / 401-524-8116) I highly recommend him as he was on time, on budget, took care of the stove during the install as the enamel finish chips easily. Offered some tips and was very friendly. He and his worker did alot of work outside (23 degrees today here in Rhode Island) getting the insulation kit onto the liner with the glue, tape and mesh...then worked on the 30 foot fireplace without any complaints.


Thanks to everyone for all the great advice. This board is a fantastic resource and the community is very friendly and helpful.

 

[AK13]

Nice finish. First 550 that I've seen with the brown enamel. Might get a better temp reading if you put the thermometer up into the slot where the warm air blows out so that it is on top of the stove. From what I've read, that's what most people do.

 

[bboulier]

Congratulations! You will enjoy it. Like, AK13, I have never seen one with the brown enamel finish.

 

[MagnumPI]

Nice Setup. You just convinced me to spend the extra $500.00 on the brown enamel Jotul 550. Looks Great. My dealer wants 3655.94 including tax for the insert. I think I learned a lot from this forum to install myself. Now debating to insulate chimney liner or let it go. Will install block off plates at top and bottom. Good Luck

 

[gibson]

That looks really nice with your color scheme in the room. That looks much nicer than the Hampton brown, but maybe it is the photo or my Jotul bias! Those guys in Preston are the best, glad they took good care of you. Put your therm in the blower vent, you will just need to shine a flashlight in there to read it, but it will give you a much better idea on surface temp.

 

[Brucen]

Looks very nice. Good to hear that you are happy with Joe Briggs as he is installing our Kennebec on Friday. I called Joe because the first installer we contacted was reluctant to install an insulated liner and a block out plate. Said they were both unnecessary. Good luck with your insert.

 

[gibson]

Looks very nice. Good to hear that you are happy with Joe Briggs as he is installing our Kennebec on Friday. I called Joe because the first installer we contacted was reluctant to install an insulated liner and a block out plate. Said they were both unnecessary. Good luck with your insert.

Good move on shopping installers. I didn't trust any that I talked to, so I had to overcome my fear of heights and do it myself. I need to make some changes to my block-off plate, otherwise i am good to go. Keep promoting these good installers, RI needs to hear about them.

 

[OhioBurner©]

That sure does look nice. I think I was having a bit of sticker shock when I ordered mine and went for the plain painted black. I would have atleast opted for the blue black enamel if I had to do it over again... I still had about $500 to spend to get my max rebate anyhow. Dangit! http://www.emoticonsfree.org/wp-content/uploads/mad0228.gif

+1 about the thermo, you wont get a good reading on the face of the unit there, it will have to be in the blower slot, a couple inches in atleast and towards the middle. Kind of a pain unfortunately.

 

[bigdaddybry]

Wow, That color is really nice +?? on the themo. location. It's gotta be on the top of the stove in the blower slot to get the most accurate reading.

 

[shawneyboy]

Damn that looks freaking awesome. I would love to see a pic of it blazing !!

 

[vector1701]

Damn that looks freaking awesome. I would love to see a pic of it blazing !!

Again thanks to the great members for their valuable input on this site and the comments are humbly appreciated…..I started my 3rd fire about 90 minutes ago…..Rutland Thermometer in place in the center of the blower slot on top….It is showing about 475 and most of the black creosote from the first two cooler has burned off the refractory brick (about 85%) and they are back to the factory light tan..... Senator John is right, the Rockland is a beast and I know I am only in 3rd gear… I have a few knocks/pings come from her as I assume that is the metal being seasoned being the 3rd fire and only around 500 degrees so far… I don't want to get too hot…tomorrow I will shoot for 550-600.....I have cut cut down the air to about 1/2 and the blower is on auto..no real secondary action to speak of yet, probably not hot enough...The glass had a fine white film on it from the first two fires...the large middle part of the lass sems to have burned off/cleaned itself...the sides are still somewhat cloudy, again, probably not hot enough I assume.....

Still learning, but getting there…. The pic was taken before I shut the air down to 1/2…... I have to clean up the room a little and fix those TV wires...

 

[jadm]

Nice pictures and the enamel finish is really nice too...makes mine look old....

Pings and dings are normal at higher temps the first few times.

I tend to set my blower on manual so I can turn it on when I want to - as well as off. Otherwise it takes ages to kick in.

I get secondary flames around 400* - not seeing any flames doesn't mean they aren't burning though. My usual cruising temp. is about 650*. Has no trouble maintaing that and at that temp there are great light shows to watch.

Enjoy.

 

[ncmallard78]

beautiful room and setup...

 

[Cate68]

Love that last picture, what a warm, welcoming room you have. I like your wood rack better than mine!

 

[bigdaddybry]

I tend to set my blower on manual so I can turn it on when I want to - as well as off. Otherwise it takes ages to kick in.


Enjoy.

+1...I figure why wait for the auto. to kick in when I can get decent heat much earlier.

 

[vector1701]

Nice pictures and the enamel finish is really nice too...makes mine look old....

Pings and dings are normal at higher temps the first few times.

I tend to set my blower on manual so I can turn it on when I want to - as well as off. Otherwise it takes ages to kick in.

I get secondary flames around 400* - not seeing any flames doesn't mean they aren't burning though. My usual cruising temp. is about 650*. Has no trouble maintaing that and at that temp there are great light shows to watch.

Enjoy.

Again, I humbly appreciate the comments.

@Perplexed
Thanks for the assurance on the pings and dings...there were not many, but a couple made me look up.... My blower turns on fairly quick for some reason...next time I will time it...I would guess within 30 min or so... I got some secondary flames but not the full light show yet rolling across the top..something to look forward to when I get higher temps down the road....

#Cate
The rack was a nice find at a very high end shop we have up here in Rhode Island called "Wal*Mart"..LOL Seriously, we found it last year towards the end of the winter season on clearance for $15, down from $50, as they were getting rid of the winter stuff and making room for the spring products...even at $50 as I look around on websites at other tool holders/racks it seems like a good deal...it is prob made of steel and not iron...

 

[southbalto]

Fantastic looking install.

Buy the best and cry once! You're going to get many many years out of that stove.

 

[Cate68]

#Cate
The rack was a nice find at a very high end shop we have up here in Rhode Island called "Wal*Mart"..LOL Seriously, we found it last year towards the end of the winter season on clearance for $15, down from $50, as they were getting rid of the winter stuff and making room for the spring products...even at $50 as I look around on websites at other tool holders/racks it seems like a good deal...it is prob made of steel and not iron...

HA!!

Seriously - that's a good find for $15! I'm sure our "high end shop" here in O-Hi doesn't even carry fireplace stuff...

 

[certified106]

Awesome looking stove! I really like the brown enamel it's pretty unique.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Nice, it adds to the look of the fireplace. It is great that an insert adds to the beauty instead of just being functional. My wife was against getting an insert because of the small window as compared to the open fireplace, but she cannot live without it now.

Mine will still on occasion make a few noises as it heats up, especially from a cold start, do not be concerned about that.

If you run it hard you will probably find you will go through a fair amount of wood. Also you will find it is best to start cutting your splits larger. The Rockland likes 20 inch splits, and it is more effecient that way since it uses up more of the box. Do not turn the air down too quick, wait to the wood gets charred. I have found you can often shut it down the whole way, but do not let creosote form with unseasoned wood or shutting the air down too soon. You get the secondaries when the air is shut down.

I find as it starts cooling it is often a good idea to open the air up to burn up the coals. Do not reload until the temp is down to atleast 400 or you can easily get the temp to fire up to 800 or 900.

I would be curious how long of a burn most Rockland members get. It depends alot on the wood but with cherry it will go through a load in about 4 hours or less. Oak, Hickory or Locust you can get a longer burn. I usually mix.

 

[Cal-MI]

Install yourself? Do you know how many hundreds of pounds the insert weighs? How much you can lift? The installers of my 450 had a powered truck that climbed up my front steps, moved the insert through my house, and raised it to the exact height to slide it into my fireplace.

Nice Setup. You just convinced me to spend the extra $500.00 on the brown enamel Jotul 550. Looks Great. My dealer wants 3655.94 including tax for the insert. I think I learned a lot from this forum to install myself. Now debating to insulate chimney liner or let it go. Will install block off plates at top and bottom. Good Luck

 

[bigdaddybry]

I would be curious how long of a burn most Rockland members get. It depends alot on the wood but with cherry it will go through a load in about 4 hours or less. Oak, Hickory or Locust you can get a longer burn. I usually mix.

I'm burning 100% red oak. I usually load her up at about 1am. I'm up at 8am to a nice bed of coals, throw about 4 splits in 'til I get home at about 3pm to another nice bed of coals. Keeps the house from getting to chilly while I'm at work. I hate having it going while I'm out(feels like a waste of wood), but I don't like coming home to a cold house.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

yea, the oak burns alot longer, especially the split in the back. Sometimes concerned that it is smoldering when it is going for so long on that last log.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Seriously - that's a good find for $15! I'm sure our "high end shop" here in O-Hi doesn't even carry fireplace stuff...

Your not to far from Lehmans Hardware in Kidron but 'cheap' isnt in there dictionary if you havent been there.

If you run it hard you will probably find you will go through a fair amount of wood. Also you will find it is best to start cutting your splits larger. The Rockland likes 20 inch splits, and it is more effecient that way since it uses up more of the box...

...I find as it starts cooling it is often a good idea to open the air up to burn up the coals. Do not reload until the temp is down to atleast 400 or you can easily get the temp to fire up to 800 or 900.

I would be curious how long of a burn most Rockland members get. It depends alot on the wood but with cherry it will go through a load in about 4 hours or less. Oak, Hickory or Locust you can get a longer burn. I usually mix.

I thought the Rockland was a tad hungry, but I'm for the most part feeding it small splits. I have some well seasoned oak and ash from a neighbor, he cuts it pretty small like 16" and maybe 4x4 sized. 2-3 splits will be toast in less than 2 hrs it seems. I often mix in one piece of my almost seasoned cherry which I cut longer 20-22" and split bigger. The combo of one big cherry and a few smaller splits of ash and oak and as full as I can get it typically gives me maybe 6hrs. I have a big pile of locust that I cut late in summer but it was standing dead and mostly around 20% MC so I have a seperate pile I was waiting until jan to get into, we'll see how that does.

I wondered if others opened the air back up when your down to coals. On the longer overnight burns with the air shut down when I get up in the morning there is a lot of gravel-sized black chunks left (after it has gone completely out I mean). It doesnt seem to want to burn down the coals all the way when the air is shut down. Of course on those burns I'm not awake to open the air back up. But during the day I've started to do that - especially with smaller shorter fires it seems to build coals up more unless I let them really burn down before reloading (and raking em up front helps burn them too).

 

[MagnumPI]

Install yourself? Do you know how many hundreds of pounds the insert weighs? How much you can lift? The installers of my 450 had a powered truck that climbed up my front steps, moved the insert through my house, and raised it to the exact height to slide it into my fireplace.

Nice Setup. You just convinced me to spend the extra $500.00 on the brown enamel Jotul 550. Looks Great. My dealer wants 3655.94 including tax for the insert. I think I learned a lot from this forum to install myself. Now debating to insulate chimney liner or let it go. Will install block off plates at top and bottom. Good Luck

The shipping weight is 550 pounds. You have to remove the surrounds, firebricks, baffalls etc to reduce the weight. A simple hand truck or dolly will do the rest. Many guys here have installed the inserts without professionals.