Too much flame?

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Ctwoodtick

Minister of Fire
Jun 5, 2015
2,110
Southeast CT
trying to figure out if my Jotul Rockland is acting up on me. This is with air about 3/4 closed. Seems like the flames have been shooting up over the baffle more than I remember in the past. Do this video look like normal burning?
 

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Video won' t play for me. What happens when the air is turned all the way down?
 
Video won' t play for me. What happens when the air is turned all the way down?
When all the way down, the secondaries are pretty fierce and the stove top temp gets higher than a I remember from years past. I was going with 3/4 closed to see if more heat would go up chimney instead of overheating the stove. Stove top temp has been getting up to 750 to near 800 at peak. I do have to learn to be more patient and load only when stove has less hot coals, but still seems like stove really takes off at first.
 
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Get sound, no video. What is your moisture content?
 
Only about 14 ft.
 
Well there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with that burn but I can see why you would want to be able to burn at a lower rate. When you close fully are you getting slow, lazy (wafting) flames in the secondaries or is the primary fire too aggressive? Also where exactly are you measuring your 750-800? Is the thermometer accurate?
 
When all the way down, the secondaries are pretty fierce and the stove top temp gets higher than a I remember from years past. I was going with 3/4 closed to see if more heat would go up chimney instead of overheating the stove. Stove top temp has been getting up to 750 to near 800 at peak. I do have to learn to be more patient and load only when stove has less hot coals, but still seems like stove really takes off at first.

This is similar to the problem Im having with my Oslo.
 
Dont load on a large bed of coals, turn down quicker and use larger splits. Standard answer but if that doesnt do it you can look at other things.
 
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Too much flame?
Well there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with that burn but I can see why you would want to be able to burn at a lower rate. When you close fully are you getting slow, lazy (wafting) flames in the secondaries or is the primary fire too aggressive? Also where exactly are you measuring your 750-800? Is the thermometer accurate?
I have 2 condor magnetic therms as pictured above, which corresponds well with each other.
I can sometimes get the very lazy secondaries but feel I have to work for it more than I did before. More often, the secondaries are going really strong while the primary fire is low.
I will be replacing my door gasket tomorrow. That along with loading on cooler coals should give me better idea of what’s going on.
 
I will be replacing my door gasket tomorrow.
Where are you getting the gasket, online or your dealer? If you don't mind how much $?

If after the gasket replacement you have good secondaries but the primary fire is still burning too aggressively either pop a screw in the doghouse and see what that does for you or do "the mod" on the primary.

To my way of thinking the primary slide mod is a no-brainer. I rarely clamp it down fully and let it go but often will close fully or nearly so just to calm things down. With the extra control you're likely able to manage loads of smaller splits that want to out-gas all at once and when you have big dry splits you give more air like always.

Naturally the last couple days have been days where the fire needed to have the primary full shut so it does happen.

I have a rutland in roughly the same spot maybe an 1/2-3/4" further back and should replace it. Someone needs to invent a stove top thermo that's more easily read when in a vent.
 
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Are you getting a cold snap? A hardish to control fire now could be a real issue when you get down to single digits or below.
 
Where are you getting the gasket, online or your dealer
I bought the kind they carry at the Jotul dealer. Low density- about 8 dollars for the length needed for the door.
 
I bought the kind they carry at the Jotul dealer. Low density- about 8 dollars for the length needed for the door.
How old is the current gasket? Did they provide you with HT silicone for the gasket?
 
How old is the current gasket? Did they provide you with HT silicone for the gasket?
I bought stove new in 2013, so it’s not all that old. I bought stove and gasket cement while I was there (Preston Trading Post).
The current gasket passes the dollar bill test in most areas around door. For last few years, once I tried the dollar bill test, I noticed it failed on part of handle side of door and small section of bottom of door near the handle. The dollar is held in place but can pull out pretty easy from those areas. In yrs past I have had decent control of stove but this year is definitely different. I’m not sure if this the issue but I want to start ruling out things.
 
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It would appear that replacing the gasket has helped. Fingers crossed here but just started fire about 45 minutes ago and the fire is very under control. I feel like I’m burning wet wood here! Have to relearn the stove a bit here.
 
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It would appear that replacing the gasket has helped. Fingers crossed here but just started fire about 45 minutes ago and the fire is very under control. I feel like I’m burning wet wood here! Have to relearn the stove a bit here.
Good deal. I saw your post about the doghouse. It looks familiar but don't remember exactly what mine looks like and can't check it out with stove running.