Jotul c550 Rockland tips thread

[Summertime]

I have cleaned mine a few times and have only removed the baffles and tubes, I see no need to pull out the unit...

 

[labrador]

Summertime, There was a thread yesterday on cleaning out tthe Jotul 450 . I think the unists are close enough in design and can be cleaned out the dame way. Check the thread on cleaning the 450. I have a c550 also and need to clean mine, without pulling unit out of the fireplace.

 

[jadm]

Mine has been cleaned simply by removing the baffle - check the manual on how to do this. Pretty straight forward. Unit does not have to be pulled out of place to do this.

 

[woodheat]

To clean The stove I have not removed the stove. I have removed to tubes and baffel to and then closed down the air and close the door. Then from the roof pushed the rods and brush down from the top to clean the chimney. The ashes from the chimney will fall right into the firebox and then you can clean out the firebox after the dust settles. There is what they call a draw-down flue adapter that has a pin going across the flu outlet where the pipe meets the stove that prevents you from being able to push the brush up from the bottom If you remove the pin the flu will push out of the stove when you try to push the brush up from the bottom. You will need to be able to clean the chimney liner from the top. On that note, I am not sure if is is a requirement or not, but the install should have a SS liner from the stove right to the roof.

 

[MDH33]

I have had my Jotul 550 Rockland for about two months. I have been burning daily and have gone through more than a half cord of wood (dry pine). Over the past couple of weeks, the stove seems to be progressively losing draft. Smoke now pours out the door every time I open it. When we first installed the stove, this did not happen and we were able to maintain very hot fires. In addition to the smoke pouring out the door, the fire seems to be difficult to start and difficult to maintain and keep hot. It almost seems that the chimney liner may be clogged due to the lack of a good draft and the smoke rolling out the door when it's opened. I find it hard to believe that after only two months and less than a cord, my liner would already need to be cleaned... Any thoughts? I'm going to call my sweep/installer and have him inspect.

 

[Todd]

Good call on having the sweep come out to check things. Do you have a chimney cap? They are usually the first thing to clog up or your Pine may not be as dry as you think.

 

[woodheat]

We burned our stove all winter and cleaned it twice to make sure it was safe due to the fact we run it when we are not home. Each time I cleaned it I got less than a 16 oz cup of dust out of the chimney. We are burning mainly oak and run the stove between 500 and 650 degrees reading in the top center air outlet. Is your glass door getting very dirty? A good sign you are burning a clean and hot enough fire is if the glass stays clean. Wet or unseasoned wood and too low temps will give more creosote. good idea to check it to be safe

 

[MDH33]

I went onto the roof to inspect the cap that's on the liner and it was 90% clogged with light fluffy creosote about two inches thick! I banged it out and the stove is burning better. Still surprised that after only two months burning dry wood that this much buildup would occur. My fires had been consistently hot enough to keep the glass clean. I guess I might need a cap with larger holes (?)

 

[woodheat]

did you shine a flashlight down the pipe? Make sure that does not have creosote in it too. If it does not then what is happening is the pipe is hot enough so croesote does not form, but as soon as the the gasses get out of the pipe they are probably condensing on the cold cage.

 

[G Archer]

I was thinking about buying a 550.Does it put out a lot of radiant heat out the front?My wife likes to sit on the hearth next to our old wood stove.


Thanks,Glenn

 

[jadm]

I was thinking about buying a 550.Does it put out a lot of radiant heat out the front?My wife likes to sit on the hearth next to our old wood stove.


Thanks,Glenn

Yes. :coolsmile:

 

[gibson]

I have had my Jotul 550 Rockland for about two months. I have been burning daily and have gone through more than a half cord of wood (dry pine). Over the past couple of weeks, the stove seems to be progressively losing draft. Smoke now pours out the door every time I open it. When we first installed the stove, this did not happen and we were able to maintain very hot fires. In addition to the smoke pouring out the door, the fire seems to be difficult to start and difficult to maintain and keep hot. It almost seems that the chimney liner may be clogged due to the lack of a good draft and the smoke rolling out the door when it's opened. I find it hard to believe that after only two months and less than a cord, my liner would already need to be cleaned... Any thoughts? I'm going to call my sweep/installer and have him inspect.

Same thing with me, check your cap, clean with a wire brush. Problem solved.

 

[czorbach]

My 550 will be installed on Thursday.
Now I am working on securing my wood for the fall.
I have 1.5 cords of oak C/S/S and some downed trees that I need to process.
I am looking forward to some warm weather.
Now I have something to look forward to after the warm weather ends!
This site has been a great resource for me during my search for an insert.
Thanks to all for their informative posts!

 

[labrador]

charlz. Welcome to the web and congratulations on the purchase of your 550 Rockland. I'm sure you will be pleased with it. I recommend a full length chimney liner. Also a block off plate. If you are splitting your own wood check out this site about the Fiskars 7054 spllitting axe. This beats all other hands down. I bought mine from Ebay.

 

[czorbach]

labrador - thanks for the warm welcome.
I am getting a full SS liner with block off plate.
Was using my new Fiskars from ebay today.
Yes, I have learned well from this site.

 

[FrankMA]

Has anybody been able to clean the pipe from the bottom (inside of the stove) up to the cap? I'm getting ready to do my 1st cleaning and would prefer to clean it that way instead of from the top - down. Woodheat mentioned on a previous post on this thread that their is a pin that runs across the flue preventing the bottom - up method. Anybody been successful cleaning from the bottom - up?

 

[FrankMA]

Has anybody been able to clean the pipe from the bottom (inside of the stove) up to the cap? I'm getting ready to do my 1st cleaning and would prefer to clean it that way instead of from the top - down. "Woodheat" mentioned on a previous post on this thread that there is a pin that runs across the flue preventing the bottom - up method. Anybody been successful cleaning from the bottom - up?

 

[Wazel]

wow...I definitely do not have an air sealing/blower problem with my unit. It seems very airtight and easily adjustable using the airflow slider control.

I am learning that keeping my half-seasoned wood away from the glass helps a great deal in keeping it clear. What really seems to cloud the glass is turning the air control down all the way when I go to bed. I want to try some Liberty or Bio Bricks to see if dry fuel helps in this regard, but I called a place today that would deliver to Stamford one ton for $370 total... I don't think that makes economic sense.

Right now it is dropping to 40f tonight and the house temp is 70f using only the Jotul. Bear in mind this is a 2600sf house or so. I'm very happy to not be using any Oil fuel at all so far. Hopefully I can get away with not using any oil at all until the dregs of winter set in late December or January.

Can you comment on the thread I just posted? here it is:

I have a lifetime of experience with fires in a fireplace. The Jotul Rockland that I just had installed is my first wood stove since I was a wee lad. I started a very small kindling fire to begin “breaking it in”. As some smoke started coming out of the blower (especially for several minutes after briefly opening the door), I called the person who sold it to me. After telling him about building a small fire he said: “Oh, Don’t do that! You’ll smoke your house out” “60 degree weather is not cold enough to give you a proper draft”. Fair enough, makes sense. Today the temp was right around 50 degrees and I build my second fire with the same result.

Question, what should I expect from smoke coming out of the blower hole in normal winter use of this?

Any other tips on the use of this stove?

Thanks!

 

[labrador]

Wazel, Welcome to the forum. You will find a lot of useful information here, In regards to your c550 rockland I have never had any smoke coming out of the blower unit. It might be chimney related, height, etc, If you are turning on the fan and you get smoke coming out it may not be connercted correctly to the stainless steel pipe. You should be able to have a fire in that unit in the middle of July if you want. Labrador

 

[Summertime]

I had my first fire in warmer weather so if there was some "break-in smoke" I could open windows, does the smoke smell like burning paint or is it from what you are burning?

 

[Wazel]

I had my first fire in warmer weather so if there was some "break-in smoke" I could open windows, does the smoke smell like burning paint or is it from what you are burning?

It was wood smoke.

 

[Summertime]

If it was wood smoke I would definitly check out the chimney unless you were trying to start your previous fire on a low pressure/rainy day which is always a hard situation to start a fire and will be hard to get a good draft in the chimney.

 

[Wazel]

If it was wood smoke I would definitly check out the chimney unless you were trying to start your previous fire on a low pressure/rainy day which is always a hard situation to start a fire and will be hard to get a good draft in the chimney.

It was a rainy day around 50 degrees. So far, I'm leaning towards this not being a problem when I build a hot fire on a colder day.

 

[MikeC]

Has anybody been able to clean the pipe from the bottom (inside of the stove) up to the cap? I'm getting ready to do my 1st cleaning and would prefer to clean it that way instead of from the top - down. "Woodheat" mentioned on a previous post on this thread that there is a pin that runs across the flue preventing the bottom - up method. Anybody been successful cleaning from the bottom - up?

I would like to know myself. This is will be my first cleaning too.

 

[HopWallop]

I just had it cleaned and the sweep went from the bottom up. He removed the secondary air tubes, the baffles and then a plate.