Jotul 550c Burn Times

[bbeals]

Hello,

We had a jotul 550 rockland installed a few weeks back and given the cooler weather as of late, we have certainly enjoyed the unit late in the evening and at night. No smoke, high heat, easy to light, etc... The manufacturer and dealer both boasted about the 10 hour burn time, I however; am curious as to how they achieved this. I can understand a little salesmanship, although, I would be happy if I could get 7 hours of life out of a good filling at night. Any help / advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Did they check the door gasket to make sure that it was sealing tightly? It might be worth checking doing the dollar bill test. The bill should come out firmly (with some drag) when the door is closed on it. Check all the way around the door.

I'm also wondering about strong draft. How tall is the flue on the stove?

 

[bbeals]

The dollar bill test seemed to prove the seal was good. I couldn't pull the bill anywhere along the seal without ripping it. We had the installers run a 6" SS liner the full length of the chimney (24'). I am still baffled. I filled the unit at 12:22 this morning, closed the damper and at 7:00 I couldn't dig up enough embers to restart the fire. We are burning 2 year old (well seasoned) oak and maple. At night I have been throwing in some larger maple that I cut and split this summer in an attempt of extending the burn time. Do the manufacturers typically over state the burn times in this fashion or are am I doing something wrong?

 

[begreen]

Perhaps it's a softer maple that may be burning faster? The oak might be better for overnight burns? What size are the splits? I get better overnight burns with bigger, 6-8" splits.

 

[Jags]

Why doesn't Jotul give the cu. ft of the firebox??? Irritating.

Anyhow, how big of a firebox does this thing have? Being their largest insert I would have to venture it ~3 cu. ft. That SHOULD give a pretty easy 8 hr fire.

What kind of temps is the stove holding after you throttle it down for the long haul?

 

[bbeals]

Average splits are 6". I always keep the large oak logs for the night burns. I would be interested in hearing from other Jotul 550 users on their experience. We went with the larger unit to prevent getting up in the middle of the night and right now, I am beginning to believe that I will need to drag myself out of bed to add more fuel to the fire. ugh...

 

[Hogwildz]

Fill that thing with LARGE splits or whole rounds at the bottom, then fill it tight above those with mediums & smalls for any small gaps, get her going good, then cut the air back and you should not have any problems with 8 hrs and plenty of coals in the morning. What temp is she burning at?
My search does not seem to be working with Firefox. I will suggest to you to search he forums for a post by Roospike referring to "cigar" style burning. Which is pulling the coals all up front loading your wood in tight and with the coals up front, the burns happens from front to back like a cigar burns.

Stuf a couple 8" rounds in there and fill the rest with what ya can and try that. You should be able to get 8hrs no problem with that.

 

[bbeals]

Unfortunately, I do not have a thermometer on it, as there is no place to put one. I need to buy an IR thermometer soon. I will try stuffing the heck out of it on the next cold night. I thought I had been filling it well, although, I suppose there is always room for another stick or two. I really appreciate the assistance and knowledge offered here. We went with Jotul after seeing some rave reviews on this site (also liked the looks)

 

[begreen]

How does the stove respond to air control settings? Do you notice a difference in burning between different settings like between 1/4 open and all the way closed?

 

[boostnut]

I'm really suprised to hear this. My 450 puts out good heat all night, no problem. The firebox in the 550 looks like its plenty capable. Are you burning soft maple? If so, I would guess that the fuel is the problem.

 

[bbeals]

The burn slows up real good when you shut the air down. I have been shutting the air right off at night. I was happy to hear that boostnut's Jotul 450 Kennebec is running all night. Given the larger fire box, I should be able to achieve the same result with a little more practice. I believe that you have answered my question; at least I now believe it is possible to achieve an overnight burn, I will just have to keep working on it. Thanks again for all of your support.

 

[woodheat]

I have a 550 as well. I have not yet burned it this fall yet, but had installed last Feb. and burned it for a month or so in March / April. The best burn time I could get out of it was 5 hours. I tried all different configurations. I was expecting to at least get it to go overnight, but the majority of the time it would be waning after only 4 hours. Something is definitely is not right. I checked my seals as well and they are good. My chimney is also a 6 inch flex going up about 24 feet.

I noticed that when the blower is running the flames in the top area of the stove secondary burn area go crazy. There is a significant difference in the burning between the fan being on or off. I think that air from the blowers is being forced into the secondary burn tubes causing the wood to burn faster and the heat to go up the chimney. This is only a theory at this point. Are you burning with your blowers on high? Try getting a fire going well the turn the fan on and see if you see the flames on the top pieces of wood start to dance like crazy.

Over the weekend I cleaned the chimney and stove out, there was very little creosote, maybe a keg cup full in the whole chimney and stove. I removed the surround and pulled out the fans and in the back of the thin metal shroud that the blower air travels around the stove there are large air gaps in the metal that open to behind the stove, this is right where the secondary air intake is. I took some High temp caulk and sealed them up so hopefully the blowers will not effect the secondary air. I have not burned it yet since I did this, but I will let you know if it increases the burn time.


Jotul Rockland 550
Connecticut

 

[woodheat]

one more note - I have an ir thermometer and the temps on this stove are all over the place when you try to read them. The only place you can put a thermometer on it to get a good reading is on the top inside where the air comes out. The only spot on the front is not accurate because that is where the air intake manifold is for the primary air, the temps there are significantly lower. On the top center of the stove inside the blower vent outlet I usually got it running between 450 and 550. The highest I ever read was a little over 600.


Jotul Rockland 550
Connecticut

 

[bbeals]

5 hours, ugh...I thought I had it bad. I can get 6.5 out of it, but would like 8. I have played with the fan both off and on high with no noticeable change in the fire. The fan has been on low for the few burns we've had this season due to fairly mild (40's) night weather. Please let me know if you notice a difference after you sealed the back of your unit. Seems to me that Jotul should be onto something like that though? I am going to try to really pile the wood in on the next night burn, shut of the air (as usual) and pray.

Outside of the lack luster burn times we have seen, we absolutely love the Jotul 550. Do you have a recommendation for a good / cheap IR thermometer?

 

[soxfan13]

I also have only 5 hours of burn time. I haven't made an attempt at an over night burn. I also installed the stove last February so I haven't had a ton of experience with it. I was hoping that more seasoned wood would help this year.

I have a metallic rutland thermometer that I put inside the blower vent outlet. I regularly get temps in the 700 to 800 range. It likes to burn hot and seriously throws some heat. I would like a longer burn though.

 

[Todd]

This has come up before with other inserts. I believe one of the problems with noncat insert burn times are the fact that you can't shut the primary air down far enough since there is usually some kind of stop on the air control. The EPA forced this to make sure of a clean burn but didn't figure in for taller chimneys. Most stoves are tested at 13-16'. Another 10' or more can really increase that draft and shorten the burn. If it were a freestanding stove you could use a pipe damper to slow it down, but for an insert your kind of screwed, unless you could access the air slide control and grind off the stop, but I'd never recommend this. ;-)

 

[bbeals]

I'll buy into that logic. I know of the stop on the primary control that you speak of. It has been perplexing, as it appears you should be able to move the slide over another quarter inch, however; they have a stop there to prevent a complete shut down. I have received some good feedback and will be trying the more conventional approaches before reaching for the tool belt and the dremel.

 

[johnnywarm]

I'll buy into that logic. I know of the stop on the primary control that you speak of. It has been perplexing, as it appears you should be able to move the slide over another quarter inch, however; they have a stop there to prevent a complete shut down. I have received some good feedback and will be trying the more conventional approaches before reaching for the tool belt and the dremel.

If something happens and the insurance investigator finds it was tampered with :gulp:

 

[Jags]

Can anybody answer this question?:
How big of a firebox does the 550 have???

I have not found it in any specs or in the manual.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bbeals]

Another poster claimed it is 2.9 cubic feet. There is a fire in mine, so I don't dare to measure it now. ;-) 7 hour burn last night with a real hot coal bed this morning that did not require kindling, just dropped a log on and it was burning in minutes.

 

[begreen]

I believe you're correct. It's just about 3 cu ft.

Way to go BI. With every new stove there is a learning curve. It sounds like you are picking it up pretty quickly. I'll be curious to see how Woodheat's sealing works out this season and whether it affects secondary burning in the insert. Do you see any difference in how the fire burns with the blower running vs not?

 

[soxfan13]

BI,

7 hour burn!! How much wood? What kind? Size? etc. Still haven't lit the stove this year but that will probably be ending with the weekend we're having. Too bad the Pats aren't on.

 

[bbeals]

I cannot see a difference in the burn with the blower on high or in the off position. At first you will believe something is happening, however; after 20 minutes of messing with it, it would seem that the noise of the blower leads you to believe that something is happening. I can honestly say that the blower produces no visible effect on the burn in my stove.

The 7 hour burn was an accident, it's not too cold so I nursed a couple of logs along in the evening and then added two 3" splits of dry oak and a handful of really short and not too dry chunks of birch. The firebox was only half full of wood. I let it all catch fire and then cut the air intake back as far as it would let me and the stove was hot and the coals were extensive in the morning. By mid-season, I am hopeful that I will be able to achieve consistent 8 hour burns.

 

[woodheat]

I can't wait for the first fire to see if the sealing helped. I too notice the stop and that the air does not close off all the way, I guess the figure it will smolder and no be clean burning with the air shut down to far. Maybe it will be cool enough tonight to try it out temp in the house right now at 5pm is 67 degrees. I also added an in wall fan on the stairway landing of our 1900 sq. ft raised ranch, Should circulate the air between downstairs and up well.

It is difficult to determine the firebox size due to the angled side, you can't just use the L*W*H and come up with an accurate measure.

The Ir thermometer I have is a MT-PRO: -76° to 932°F. I bought it at Cabela's. It had decent reviews and I had a gift card to the place.

 

[bbeals]

57 degrees and raining all day. Have been putting a small chunk on about every 2-3 hours with the air shut down and the blower on low. 3000 sq. ft. is a comfortable 73 degrees top to bottom... What did you pay for the IR thermometer?