Morso 5660 Questions

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DWIGHTTBP

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Nov 3, 2012
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I'm wondering if other Morso 5660 insert owners can help answer a few questions for me.

1. Hot coals falling out of the stove: The fire box is pretty shallow and the front lip is fairly low so as a result it's very common for hunks of hot coals to try and often succeed falling out of the stove when the door is opened no matter how carefully. Has anyone figured out how to manage firing the stove to avoid this issue? Or has anyone tried retrofitting anything into the front of the fire box to prevent coals from falling out? I've been using wood stoves and inserts nearly all my life and this is the first stove I've had this experience with. We really like the insert and can live with the hassle if no one has any suggestions.

2. Blower: This is the third season we've run this insert with its blower (it's Morso's detachable, magnet-secured blower that fits in the space under the fire box which came with the insert). At this point the blower, which once enabled us to dial the blower speed from low to high, is limited to a single speed no matter where we set the dial. I don't know switches, but could it be that the switch is just worn out? I took everything out and cleaned it all up thinking that microparticles of ash had maybe built up in the electrical components to reduce function or that the squirrel cage fan was simple weighted down with built up ash. But that made no difference. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to make the blower speed switch functional again?

3. Burn time: As mentioned, we love this insert but sometimes I wish the Morso 5660 fire box was just maybe 10% or so larger to enable us to load it a little more so our unattended burn times would be longer. Seems like the max we get is around 6 hours damped down loaded with high quality hardwood (wax myrtle). We heat our house almost exclusively with this insert so long burn times are important (as someone else said in this forum somewhere, home heating efficiency is only gained when you keep the fire going 24/7). Do any of you 5660 users have any tips for extending burn times? Or does anyone happen to know if Morso is planning to make a slightly larger insert (we really like it's clean look)?

I know there a lot of questions here so my apologies for the that and thanks for any advice you can offer!
 
Hello Dwight, I don't have much to offer help-wise, but I wanted to at least respond to a fellow 5660 owner.

1. I've had some burning chunks fall out, too. My way of handling this problem was to get some welding gloves, so I can pick up the coals and toss them back in. Once, a small one got past the hearth, and onto the floor, and I didn't notice it right away and now I have a black mark on my hardwood floors. So, it's probably not a great solution.

2. I didn't get the blower.

3. The only thing I've learned about extending burn time is that I've found that the fire stays burning better than I expected with the damper all the way down. I don't think that's an efficient way to burn, and it doesn't heat the house very well at that level, but if I were trying to burn overnight, I might try turning it all the way down. During last year's power outage, I turned it down, but not all the way down. But I didn't need longer burn times, since I stay up late and my wife gets up early, we were able to make it work without too much trouble.
 
Thanks for the response, GIW. Funny, I also have a welding glove and use it when loading wood and keeping logs from falling out of the stove. And I've also been pleased with how the insert performs damped all the way down- just wish we got more than 6 hr unattended burn times! Thanks again fort the input.
 
1. hot coals do fall out if I load too close to the glass or a log falls against the glass, but I've learned not to reload until only red coals are left but some still get on the hearth, I use a glove & throw it back in. I also keep a ceramic pot to put any coals in if needed + matches etc...

2. Blower, I'm having a bit of trouble with my rheostat. Prolly needs cleaning.

3. 24/7 burn? When I want to go overnight, I load heavy with locust damp about 50% and reload when I get up & pee. However, it's not the stove I would get if I needed 24/7 burn times. I usually only burn overnight on the weekends.
 
I have been heating my 2100sqft colonial with the 5660 for 4 years.

1.. I use welding gloves and throw chunks back in if they fall out. I load it hard at night, but I generally have the logs sloping towards the rear to get the pile further back.

2.. The morso blower is a heap of crap. There is a rubber coupler that connects the squirrel cage to the motor. It slips. You have to turn the rheostat all the way up to get any movement out of the blower. I threw mine in the trash after repairing it a few times. I am now on a mission to buy a better generic blower.

3.. I cut my logs to exactly 20". I use a measuring tape and a small can of marker paint to mark the felled trees every 20". This has made a big difference on burn time. 16" or 18" logs leave a lot of unused volume in the burn box.

But, the biggest improvement to burn time was when I added the outside air intake kit. I ran 4" aluminum dryer duct from outside the house at the ledger board height, into the basement, up through the clean out below my fireplace, and finally into a 90 degree coupler to the back of the stove. I used stove cement to glue the outside diameter of the coupler to the inside diameter of the intake manifold. It was about $200 to do the project. Wow is the house way more comfortable, better humidity, warmer, and the stove burns longer. The stove burns longer because you can reduce the air setting now that your not fighting the vacuum you were previously creating in the house. The dryer duct actually moves visibly when the stove is turned way up. There is ALOT of air going through there.


After 4 years I will say it is a great stove because:

Awesome view of the flame, clean burning, great heat output even without a blower, availability of the outside air kit.

On the bad side:

The blower is terrible. After 3.5 seasons, my synthetic fire bricks are totally worn out.



I use about 4 cords and 300 gallons of oil per year. My house is 20 years old, my windows are terrible, but I have R75 in the attic.

I hope this helps someone.
 
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