First season with the Jotul C350 Wintersport

[bagpiper]

My wife and I decided to install a Jotul C350 Wintersport in our den (15.1' x 14') for our second winter in our new home. The first winter proved rather difficult to keep this room warm during extreme cold and the placement of the thermostat is on the opposite side of the house did not help either. We choose the smallest insert, the C350 Wintersport to match our expected heating needs of our den.

The home is two story colonial set on a slab foundation. The living room and den both have fireplaces, and are located on the first floor but on opposite sides of the house. Both rooms have a thermostat but only the living room thermostat controls the heat. We spend most our time in den ( where the TV is located ).

Overall we are extremely pleased with our purchase. We keep the stove burning 24 hours a day, and it provides an excellent source of heat. Our oil deliveries have been noticeably reduced since we have been using the insert. The first floor thermostat is usually turned off most of the day or kept really low on really cold days to prevent the pipes from freezing.

We had a negative experience with a free standing wood stove during a real estate open house that just made the room way to hot stay in. Our C350 has not had this effect what so ever, even considering how close it is to our seating area.

About Installation: I choose to have the insert professionally installed, which was not a difficult choice due to a bad back and neck. The two installers had a extremely difficult time getting the flue to connect to the insert. It was one of those things that was just a hair off from making the connection. It reminded me of doing something as simple as trying to unscrew four screws and the first three come right out and the fourth screw is stripped. When I saw how much trouble they had, the cursing and their frustration, I was glad I spend the extra money.

We are now looking at buying the Jotul C550 Rockland for our living room and have both stoves generate enough heat for the entire first floor and maybe the 2nd floor.

PLUSES:
Attractive Flush Design
Keeps the room about 10 degrees warmer the our living room
Ascetically Pleasing
Not guilt about keeping room warm and wasting oil
Keeps me active and moving daily
Heat is not overbearing (no need to open windows)
Being able to use the fireplace everyday
Less worries about letting the fireplace burn overnight
Very few blow back incidents - none since I got the hang of keeping the stove lit 24 hours a day

CONS:
Shorter burn times - (knew that before buying)
Expensive
Needs smaller logs to fit into firebox
Thought it would produce more heat
Stacking wood !

I hope this very short overview proves helpful to other considering purchasing an insert.

 

[BrotherBart]

It sounds like you make a good choice and are enjoying it. Keeping two stoves going can be a real pain but when you get the big one in it should cut down on the burning time needed for the WinterPort. And the Winterport will be great for the not so cold days.

 

[semipro]

Thanks for the post. Its input like yours that makes this board so valuable.

 

[bagpiper]

Thanks for the reply.

We keep the Winterport C350 running 24/7 in our den to provide a really comfortable source of heat.

I can see us running the Rockland C550 on really cold days or when we want to use our formal living room. We spend most of our time in the Den and the Winterport does a great job of keep us warm but is does not affect the thermostat which is located in the living room (opposite side of home)

We usually keep the first floor zone thermostat off on most days. Otherwise to prevent the pipes from freezing on really cold days I will turn on the heat when the thermostat in our living starts going down to the low 50's. So far so good.

Cheers

 

[bagpiper]

I made the plunge and installed our second insert, the Jotul C550 Rockland to go along with the Jotul C350 Winterport we installed last year.

The best part about the Rockland C550 vs the Winterport is that it has no problems with all the big splits I had left over from last year that the Winterport could not even handle. It's nice being able to load up the C550 and also have a longer burn time and heat output. We are now saving the smaller spits for the Winterport.

This year I found a new wood supplier who has nicely seasoned, small spits for a great price which is a welcome change from my delivery last year. For those just getting the Winterport or similar size fireplace, make sure your splits are small so they fit into the firebox without issue..

With both fireplaces going, the first floor of our home is getting excellent heating coverage. (nightly temperature in the high 30's.)

This burning season was started by setting up 2 humidifier's, one each room with the insert and by purchasing a Caliber III Digital Thermometer/Hygrometer (needed also for my bagpipe reeds). My mistake last year was not having the humidifier right away.

I have never used a Hygrometer before, but now I am using daily checking the temperature/humidity throughout the house. The cost if the Hygrometer very reasonable at $14, very compact, with 2 large digital readouts of the Temperature and Humidity.