We had our Jotul 550 installed in late August and have been running it non-stop since mid October. Burning 2 year seasoned, mixed hardwood with the occasional chunk of 6 month old split maple (fairly dry, doesn't sizzle, although I do not have a meter). The unit is installed in an exterior masonry chimney (24'), fully lined SS. So as of late last week we now get a little smoke (more than I have ever seen and not something you would tolerate long) rolling out of the insert when you open the door to reload. This has not happened in the past and I believe that I am getting some creosote buildup in the cap. Still have a good stream of smoke coming from the stack when you reload it and it still drafts well with the door shut (burn between 500-600 degrees is easy to maintain). No smoke with the door shut and it runs as it always has. We have a sweep coming out on Monday, as the chimney cap is 40' off the ground and we have a 12 / 12 pitch roof (not as young as I used to be).
I pulled the secondary burner bars and baffles to take a peek up the stack. All I can see with a flashlight an mirror is a very light / dry dusty looking ash on the pipe. I did get up to the roof (within about 12 feet of the cap) and noticed that the cap is pretty black). Have you seen this before and do you see an issue running the unit over the weekend with this issue? We have it running now @ 563 degrees and it is performing well, only get the smoke every 3-4 hours when we go to refill.
All I can figure is; last week I had been traveling for work and the wife and kids got into a pile of wet birch that I had cut and split less than 1 month ago, I got home and it was on the porch and they had been burning it for a couple of days. Just want to keep it safe...
Thanks in advance. Brian
I pulled the secondary burner bars and baffles to take a peek up the stack. All I can see with a flashlight an mirror is a very light / dry dusty looking ash on the pipe. I did get up to the roof (within about 12 feet of the cap) and noticed that the cap is pretty black). Have you seen this before and do you see an issue running the unit over the weekend with this issue? We have it running now @ 563 degrees and it is performing well, only get the smoke every 3-4 hours when we go to refill.
All I can figure is; last week I had been traveling for work and the wife and kids got into a pile of wet birch that I had cut and split less than 1 month ago, I got home and it was on the porch and they had been burning it for a couple of days. Just want to keep it safe...
Thanks in advance. Brian