Got the itch again... Jotul C450 Kennebec

[mellow]

Decided to see how these cast iron stoves work, swapped out the Appalachian for the Jotul over the weekend. Not to crazy about going back to a tube burner but when I acquired this one I figured I would give it a shot. See if these Norwegian stoves are as good as I have heard.

I also took the chance to redo my insulated fireplace, put in Durock with Roxul on top and behind that to see how that helps.

On to the pictures:

I removed the Roxul that was behind the insert and replaced it with a sheet of Durock (Roxul now behind Durock):



I made a block off plate out of Durock (Roxul now on top of Durock):



Shot showing the OAK intake on Jotul spaced from Durock:

 

[mellow]

Now the insert being a 2005 model I felt needed a total disassemble and redo, so I stripped everything down to the bone and repainted and regasketed everything.

Picture of the door before (not to bad but wanted to make sure it was done right):



Baffle Before:



Inside of Baffle Before:



After:



Sealed that all up, put all new gaskets in the doors and gave it a good couple coats of Stove Bright Black Matte.

 

[mellow]

And here she is installed:

 

[mellow]

In case you have never seen it.

Pictures of the inside of the inspection cover.

Air Closed:



Air Open:



Picture of the Air Intake Lever:



Picture of the Air Intake Lever 2:



And a shot of the inside of the OAK adapter, notice the split bottom feeds front air intake and top goes to secondary air in the baffle.



Shot of the wiring layout for the blower (before I cleaned it):

 

[bhd21478]

Nice Job. That was a nice piece of work to strip it all down and paint it and reseal. I have a jotul 450 placed in 2008. Only difference is that ours is a single door design. It does a nice job but our location is not ideal. Ours sits in the dining room off to the shoulder of our house. It heat probably 1200 sq ft where it is. We decided to go much bigger towards our heating needs and placed an outdoor wood boiler. Hes both hot water heaters and all of our sq footage. So far so go but we are just two weeks in. take care

 

[mellow]

Got a question for other 450 owners, are you able to see the fire through your door latch?

 

[oconnor]

Yes. Always have seen a gap around the latch since new.

 

[Rudyjr]

Same thing here since new.

 

[MaineBurn]

I have the single-door model and I have not noticed being able to see fire through the latch.

 

[mellow]

I have sold the 450. Very nice insert, I liked the double doors more than I thought I would. This insert gets the Wife Approval for looks. It throws a ton of heat and I was impressed by it keeping the downstairs in the 70's even through the Polar Vortex we experienced, just had to keep it fed more than I liked.

Pros: Looks
Adjustable firebox can fit in smaller fireplaces
Well built, very nice air wash system that works
Very heavy cast iron firebox to hold the heat, even the cast iron surround is heavy
Heavy Duty baffle that will last for a very long time
Well thought out secondary air system
Primary air control was responsive
Blower power/controls can be left side or right
Big cast iron ash lip
Primary air dog house makes for easy restarts as it shoots the air right at the base of the fire

Cons: 2 cu ft firebox did not allow for overnight burns
Blower control - it is either whisper quiet or jet engine loud would be nice to have a medium
Had to bend the snapdisk to make sure it made contact with the bottom of the stove so the blower would come on when it should


As you can see the pro's really outnumber the con's on this insert and the cons are really not that bad, if you do not have the fireplace size for a larger insert or have a smaller amount of space to heat I would highly recommend this insert.

 

[etiger2007]

How long are you going between reloads? Are going to go back to Cat stove?

 

[mellow]

Reloads during the vortex was every 4 hours, that was with temps in the single digits not including windchill. Usual burn times were 5-6 hours.

I could load it up at 9 pm at night and still have enough hot coals in the ash in the morning at 8 am to relight a fire but the blower would be off and stove top would be at around 200.

 

[mellow]

Are going to go back to Cat stove?

Reinstalled the Appalachain.

 

[begreen]

Do you rotate stoves out for the season, having a shoulder season burner and a polar vortex heater?

 

[mellow]

Got the itch, what can I say. I like to try new inserts and Jotul was one on my list, so figured I would give it a try, it just so happened a certain cold front from up north came at the same time

My wife loved the looks of the Jotul but the long burn times of the Appalachian won out, couldn't keep both.

 

[begreen]

Word: Flea Powder.

 

[TheBaron]

Not that this is relevant anymore, but we can see the fire through the door latch, it has also been that way since new (installed Jan 2013). Double door.

 

[etiger2007]

Whats the next stove on the list? lol

 

[mellow]

Next one will be a Cat or Hybrid, keeping a close eye on that Hybrid Steel. Hoping the final production will allow for a lintel below 28" but we will see.

 

[begreen]

Think the HS will be made in an insert form? 28" would be with very short legs if any. Also remember that there is no blower on the HS and none planned.

 

[mellow]

I doubt they will do an insert, they haven't in the past. I gotta wait till I redo my hearth before I figure out which stove I will trying next anyway, if need be I will drop the hearth down to make room for the HS to fit under the lintel, but that will be a summer project and my current insert is doing its job, not to mention the wife will probably shoot me if I switch out stoves again this year and make her learn a new one.

 

[mellow]

Not that this is relevant anymore, but we can see the fire through the door latch, it has also been that way since new (installed Jan 2013). Double door.

What do you think of my pro/con list, anything I left out or you think is wrong?