We recently purchased a Jotul Rockland 550 insert to replace a VC Intrepid 2 stove that we used for 25 years. We have a 6" SS flex liner in our 18' chimney. We never had any issues with the VC stove. With the Jotul insert it seems that it is almost impossible to reload the fire without getting some smoke or fumes in the house. It drafts great when it is fired up to temperature. When reloading, I have a window open as our house is a bit tight. I crack the door for a minute to let the draft pick up and then I open the door slowly. When putting wood in it seems that inevitably some fumes/smoke spill out of the insert. I believe that this is due to the design of the Rockland. It has a large front door, a wide but shallow chamber and a small flue opening that is less in width than the front door. It seems to me that no amount of draft can suck out the volume of fire that this unit produces. My daughter has a Hampton 300 in a similar ranch house like ours. Our friends have an Enviro Boston. They do not have problems like I do. Their units are narrower and deeper, with a large flue opening across the entire front of the door. I believe that these units contain the fire better when the door is opened and prevent the spillage of fumes. It seems that the Jotul design, when it is burning up to temperature with good secondary combustion, throws a lot of flame and heat at the front door. With the Jotul it seems like you have to be almost perfect when you reload. If you let the fire die down too much, you loose draft and when you reload smoke/fumes spill out. If you reload too early when the fire is going to strong, there is just too much heat and fumes projecting forward for it all to get sucked up the flue. The door opening is so big that all of the air rushing in creates a lot of fire that can't possibly go up a 6" pipe. Does anyone else have a similar experience with the Jotul or helpful advice? We love the looks of the unit, it burns great, the heat output is adequate for us, but we are frustrated by the reloading issue with smoke.
Jotul Rockland Insert smoke issues
- Thread starter Sure-wood
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It's lonely out here when nobody responds to your posting. I know there are a lot of Jotul Rockland 550C insert owners out there that love the unit. Does anyone have issues similar to me? It's a great looking insert that burns great, but I find it nearly impossible to reload without getting some smoke/fumes in the house. I've burned wood a long time. It shouldn't be this complicated!
We do get some smoke if we open the door when there is an active flame. Turn off fan open damper all the way wait 15 seconds and sometimes it smokes. Have not been able to figure it out and it does not happen all the time. We now wait until the coaling stage and stove is around 250 - 300* before doing a reload. If a piece goes up against the glass we move it and get some smoke. Since learning to wait before reloading we are doing better.
Are you satisfied with it? For the thousands of dollars that I spent, I have not been able to consistently eliminate the smoke to the point where I am satisfied. There are several options for cast iron inserts in this price range and after looking at some others and burning the Jotul for a month now, I am starting to believe that the Jotul design is inherently prone to this problem due to the large door and shallow firebox. It is my intent to continue to hound my vendor as this was the unit they highly recommended. Essentially, someone from the vendor or a manufacturer's rep needs to come to my house and show me how to load it without the smoke. If it can be done please show me. If it can't be done with some consistency then the unit has a problem.
rkofler
Burning Hunk
I rarely get any smoke in the house. Are you opening door when load is burned down to coals? Or are there still some smoldering logs?
I get smoke too. Wife not happy about it. I think the best advice is what hamsey said. Open the air vent all the way, wait a few seconds and try to do it when the fire is cooling. I also believe it is a design issue. One thing I liked about the Lopi was that you could fully open the air so that the smoke goes up the chimney and not in your living area. But it was very expensive so I got the Jotul (and the darn smoke).
Halligan
Feeling the Heat
Have run mine for 4 years now. What I do is crack the door open and wait 10 secs or so for the airflow to stabilize.
Then you can open the door fully with minimal smoke into the room.
If you have logs burning close to the door, then you do get smoke into the room.
Then you can open the door fully with minimal smoke into the room.
If you have logs burning close to the door, then you do get smoke into the room.
Soundchasm
Minister of Fire
Surewood, I think you've made a good analysis. My old smoke breather downstairs rarely dreams of letting smoke escape with the door open, but I've got to finesses the Rockland like crazy. I have a small metal desktop adjustable mic stand by the door. I turn off the blower, open the door, turn the handle down, gently slide the door "closed" but with the gap, block the handle with the mic stand, lay out all the wood I intend to load on the hearth, and as soon as I can see the smoke getting organized, then I try to quickly and smartly reload the stove. I then sit right in front of it since the door is still cracked, and as soon as it catches, close the door and open the air. in another 5-10 minutes (egg timer) I cut the air.
With lots of strategy and finesse I've gotten down to very small amounts of smoke, but always a whiff or more. It'll wake me up and get me out of bed when my wife reloads. She opens it full while she loads. Acrid stuff.
I probably have 15' of pipe and the least acceptable amount of draft, hoping to extend the stack 3' someday. Sounds like draft will get better but opening the door will always be an issue.
With lots of strategy and finesse I've gotten down to very small amounts of smoke, but always a whiff or more. It'll wake me up and get me out of bed when my wife reloads. She opens it full while she loads. Acrid stuff.
I probably have 15' of pipe and the least acceptable amount of draft, hoping to extend the stack 3' someday. Sounds like draft will get better but opening the door will always be an issue.
I do sometimes get wisps of smoke out of the door. But I never bother shutting off the blower and am not too careful about it. If I get any smoke I just close the door to a crack. Its only an issue when the stove is smoldering and I go to poke at it. Never a problem when its humming around and I am reloading on a nice bed of coals.
I'm in the same boat unfortunately. We really love the LOOK of this insert but I have found it FAR too fussy about opening the door without smoke. I too think it's a design problem ... I've had two other wood stoves in my life (a Vermont Castings and a Regency) and there was never any problems with them smoking when you opened the door. My wood is well seasoned (I've measured moisture content with a moisture meter). I find that SOMETIMES I can add a log without smoke when the fire is extremely hot ... but how do you get to that point without adding fuel to the fire?! At this point I'm quite disappointed.
Is your fireplace interior or on an exterior wall? Is there an insulated block-off plate in place?
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
I can't say I never get any smoke spill but it's rare enough and minor. I have the habit of opening the door slow and giving a quick chance to get the air going in the right direction. If the problem is excessive you may want to look into making a few changes.
Thanks for the reply. The masonry chimney is "on" an exterior wall ... more specifically it is part of the exterior wall with wood frame walls built to either side. I don't know what a "block off plate" is ... please advise.
Thanks
The reason I asked is that with an outside wall chimney a lot of heat can get pulled away from the insert to heat up outdoors through the brick. A good portion is through the chimney as the heat rises. Many folks have installed an insulated block-off plate at the damper level to reduce the heat loss. They often report a notable gain in heat output coming from the insert after installing one. There are many threads on this topic here. This article links to several of them:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/make-a-damper-sealing-block-off-plate/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/make-a-damper-sealing-block-off-plate/
Can the heat loss associated with not having a block off plate cause the smoking problems I'm experiencing?
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
Burn hotter w/ more air to keep the flue at a higher temp and search the forum
Anything that contributes to a cool flue would slow draft.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
Sorry, meant to say search the forum for block-off plate for purpose and installation.
With the Rockland design for a top connection to the chimney and the setback not matching our masonry chimney, the installer had to use an offset connection. Could this be (part of) the problem?
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
Was it installed with an offset box or an angled pc of stove pipe? Also, what happens if the fire is burning briskly and you slowly open the door? A wisp or two of smoke escaping may happen but is it rolling into the house?
Wet or marginal wood can contribute too when the draft is a bit iffy since it tends to smoke more and being laden w/ more water it's cooler and less likely to rise up and out.
Here is a thread I made a while back detailing a DIY block off plate I made FWIW
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-diy-block-off-plate-installation.61183/#post-780309
This is an old thread, but in regards to the smoke spillage I've never really had an issue with my Rockland doing that, unless it's cold or really smoldering. On a normal reload on hot coals it's never been an issue. But I have a pretty strong draft, 22' (I think) duraliner 0" clearance insulated liner. It isn't offset much but does have a flexi lower section to angle though the smoke shelf area and is a bit of a bend going through there. Often times once the load gets involved it will suck the door shut even, if I have left it cracked open.
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