Jotul C450 install and questions!---Pictures added

[Jags]

Looks great Rudy. Looks like it belongs. Oh - you can still get black powder loads for that double barrel. I have a 10 ga. with the fine twist barrel ~1895.

 

[Rudyjr]

Neighbors a great guy we help each other out all the time. We have discussed doing something to add a fireplace or stove in his house before. We both are pretty amazed that they would have built a four bedroom three bath all brick ranch with a huge family room and living room and no fireplace. My three bedroom 2 bath brick ranch next door has two masonry fireplaces,as do the majority of the ranches, more the norm for this area.

 

[Rudyjr]

Thanks for all of the positive feedback everyone. Now if I can just learn how to use this stove! First attempts have been real hit or miss. I can go from a roaring start up fire to smoldering wood like nothing I have ever seen. Pretty different learning curve than my old Garrison II I burned in the 80's. I think I may not be building the fire gradually enough. Thought I was on top of things last night, never adjusted the air from full open, threw on a decent size split and kaput! Wood is all hardwood undercover and end cracking appears to be seasoned, sounds like it when you bang two pieces together like my grandad showed me. Any thoughts? Looking forward to trying to learn something when I'm off for the holidays.

 

[boostnut]

"appears to be seasoned" Hmmmm, heard this story before. The wood is probably the issue here.

My 450 did the same thing from time to time my first couple years with it. I was buying wood that was "seasoned". Later found out it was split 4 or 5 months before I started burning it. The term "seasoned" has a variety of definitions I guess.

Thats a good looking install, nice work. If I could make a suggestion, get a stovetop magnetic thermometer. Generally they're not the most accurate but they do provide a reference for the user. Oh, another suggestion, buy or start processing your wood for next year. You won't have to post this problem again if you do.

 

[Rudyjr]

Tried building a better and more substantial base fire worked up more gradually and what a difference. This thing has been going gangbusters since 1:30 this afternoon. Primary cut back to less than 1/4 and just keeps cranking out the heat. No visible smoke from the chimney.I suspect that you are right about the seasoning thing to some degree in this case. The old wood stoves were a lot less picky about moisture. And thank you to Brent for all of the tips.

 

[Rudyjr]

Update: Put three decent size splits (not real big) on the fire about 7-7:30 last night, cut the air back and figured it would burn out about 1 or 2 in the morning. When we went to bed the stat was set at 63 and the temp upstairs was 69. I was getting ready to leave at 5 a.m. and went down to see if there was any unburnt wood. The fan on the insert was still running and I could feel some heat coming out of it still a nice bed of coals under some ash. Checked the temp upstairs and was 65, outside temp in mid to low 20's. I was pretty impressed with the amount of heat considering that this stove is in the basement rec-room (open stairwell at end of house) and the small amount of wood used.