Jotul c550 Rockland tips thread

[Berl2169]

Update.......I got the 6” liner installed and stuffed some roxul up in there for a “block off plate”. Amazing results compared to the 3 previous burns w/o the liner. Can’t really give an opinion on the difference with the block plate because i didn’t burn a lot prior to its install. I trust everyone’s opinion here and makes sense so it gets a

Started off with smaller fire to check everything out.....good draw now and I can shut door and control with air intake....the way it’s supposed to work. This is a 2012 model and seems like with air all the way down it’ll choke it out so maybe no mods need to be done there. Glass was clean up until the point I loaded it up with 4 splits for the night just before 11. Left the door cracked, air wide open and it smoldered quite a bit (5-10 min) before ignition. Maybe I shouldn’t let it die down as much next time. I woke up around 4am and there was still about half of the thickest split in there with stove running around 400° fan on med and thermostat read 71 set to 67 (2800 sq ft house is well insulated with foam).

Wife thinks it was too hot (can’t sleep) but I said look at the $$$ we’re saving.

Glad I walked in that store that day and glad I ran across this forum with all the infinite wisdom you guys share!!

Thanks guys

 

[Soundchasm]

View attachment 223619
Update.......I got the 6” liner installed and stuffed some roxul up in there for a “block off plate”. Amazing results compared to the 3 previous burns w/o the liner. Can’t really give an opinion on the difference with the block plate because i didn’t burn a lot prior to its install. I trust everyone’s opinion here and makes sense so it gets a

Started off with smaller fire to check everything out.....good draw now and I can shut door and control with air intake....the way it’s supposed to work. This is a 2012 model and seems like with air all the way down it’ll choke it out so maybe no mods need to be done there. Glass was clean up until the point I loaded it up with 4 splits for the night just before 11. Left the door cracked, air wide open and it smoldered quite a bit (5-10 min) before ignition. Maybe I shouldn’t let it die down as much next time. I woke up around 4am and there was still about half of the thickest split in there with stove running around 400° fan on med and thermostat read 71 set to 67 (2800 sq ft house is well insulated with foam).

Wife thinks it was too hot (can’t sleep) but I said look at the $$$ we’re saving.

Glad I walked in that store that day and glad I ran across this forum with all the infinite wisdom you guys share!!

Thanks guys

Congrats on staying busy! If you have Roxul left I'd still suggest putting a layer in back and to the sides of the stove. That will make the stove somewhat hotter and easier to run. Another great tip I got from Jtoxico was pulling the stove out 3/8"-1/2", so there's a way for heat to come out from behind the surround. I only noticed mine standing "proud" for about two days.

Just a few thoughts-
My 550 would love to have kiln-dried wood. Standing dead two years under cover gets me an easy light and easy to manage fire. I use no kindling - only splits and a bit of fire starter. Slowly make the adjustment from any previous definition of "seasoned" to something closer to "bone-dry".

A very smart piece of advice I saw only once here concerning the 550 was to load it full, every time. That makes so much sense in that the stove will get fully up to temp, 4+ hour burn time, and a nice coal bed to re-light. And the glass should stay clean.

Your glass is a poor man's moisture meter as well. Black glass also means slow combustion and low temp, and theoretically, it never has to happen. But black glass may also mean creosote in the stack.

I choose not to run my stove correctly in the shoulder season - just 3-4 splits at a time. I know I'm building up creosote. I sweep twice a year, every year. Once in Jan, and once in the fall. That's that.

You can "clean" the glass by letting her rip with the fan off. That ought to turn it into powder. Now, I'm about to get run out of town on a rail, but I use 00 steel wool to clean my glass when it's powder. Bought the stove new and cannot see any damage. My motto is that if it looks scratchy to me, I'm not done cleaning it yet. And always best to NOT put your back into that job...

 

[Berl2169]

Sure wished it was cold in my area just so I could burn some wood. Lol. Got a General moisture meter today and split some pecan that I thought was still fairly green....to my surprise it was at 14.7%. Struck a deal with a local tree trimmer and I’ll get a mix of wood (soft & hard) that’ll probly equal to 10 cords when all said and done for $500. Just gotta go buy a bigger splitter.

Looking at the Tractor supply 25 T County Line for 1000 bones. Any experience with it? 5 yr warranty kinda hard to beat


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[begreen]

Lots of splitter info in the gear forum here.

 

[Patmosphere]

Sure wished it was cold in my area just so I could burn some wood. Lol. Got a General moisture meter today and split some pecan that I thought was still fairly green....to my surprise it was at 14.7%. Struck a deal with a local tree trimmer and I’ll get a mix of wood (soft & hard) that’ll probly equal to 10 cords when all said and done for $500. Just gotta go buy a bigger splitter.

Looking at the Tractor supply 25 T County Line for 1000 bones. Any experience with it? 5 yr warranty kinda hard to beat


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My Jotul 550 has been incredible this winter. We had sub zero temps outside for about two weeks and it was toasty inside. Barely noticed. In the northeast here, we’ve had 3 back to back to back nor’easters. Lost power for 76 hours for the 3nd and about 15 hours for the third. The stove had been a blessing. I’ve run the blower from a battery and my Tacoma outlet to keep my family warm. Love it. Hope you get to use yours again soon!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SailorAndDiver]

Hey folks!
We got our C550 Rockland installed 2 months ago and we love it. I have been going back through many of the posts in this list, to find comments about the optimal operating temp inside the burn box. I am wondering how hot we can get the box, before the fire bricks glow, and without causing a chimney fire or other damage.

We are still playing around with the size and number of the splits being burned, the speed of the fan at various damper settings and the speed of the ceiling fans to move the hot air away from the ceiling.

thanks in advance.

 

[Patmosphere]

Hey folks!
We got our C550 Rockland installed 2 months ago and we love it. I have been going back through many of the posts in this list, to find comments about the optimal operating temp inside the burn box. I am wondering how hot we can get the box, before the fire bricks glow, and without causing a chimney fire or other damage.

We are still playing around with the size and number of the splits being burned, the speed of the fan at various damper settings and the speed of the ceiling fans to move the hot air away from the ceiling.

thanks in advance.

Hi SandD

I just got a fire going in my Rockland 550 for the evening. Love it. This is our 3rd burn season with it and I am always learning.

I like to do 4 splits when reloading or 3 if I’m slowing how much wood I’d like to burn. Throw in the occasional BIG linker to slow burn.

Things I always try to do now is
Have a nice long flat log to sit with the front edge resting on the andirons. Then I use my poker to make sure there is a good clear path through the coals to get good air flow under this from log. There is usually one more log behind this bottom front one. Then 2 more on top. I leave the door open for a bit to get it burning well before closing the door and closing the vent. If the stove is good and hot, you can usually refill with wood, close door and half the vent right away.


I’ve been cutting a good amount of my own wood. Twenty-two inch wide works real well!

Smaller diameter splits get the temp up real fast and the blower on right around an hour from a cold start. Bigger diameter logs do burn quite well provided it’s good and hot in he box. If they are slow to get going or flames decrease a lot with door closed, open vent and door to get them burning and he temp back up then close ‘er up and enjoy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SailorAndDiver]

Hi SandD

I just got a fire going in my Rockland 550 for the evening. Love it. This is our 3rd burn season with it and I am always learning.

I like to do 4 splits when reloading or 3 if I’m slowing how much wood I’d like to burn. Throw in the occasional BIG linker to slow burn.

Things I always try to do now is
Have a nice long flat log to sit with the front edge resting on the andirons. Then I use my poker to make sure there is a good clear path through the coals to get good air flow under this from log. There is usually one more log behind this bottom front one. Then 2 more on top. I leave the door open for a bit to get it burning well before closing the door and closing the vent. If the stove is good and hot, you can usually refill with wood, close door and half the vent right away.


I’ve been cutting a good amount of my own wood. Twenty-two inch wide works real well!

Smaller diameter splits get the temp up real fast and the blower on right around an hour from a cold start. Bigger diameter logs do burn quite well provided it’s good and hot in he box. If they are slow to get going or flames decrease a lot with door closed, open vent and door to get them burning and he temp back up then close ‘er up and enjoy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Patmosphere.

Our Jotul is in a 400 sq ft room with 20 ft ceilings and 2 ceiling fans drawing the air upward to distribute it via a convection current. We bought it to warm that room and trying to figure out which variable(s) to address to maximize the air temp.

We had wood delivered in December and have been using it, but, as you might expect, has some water in it so it won't burn most efficiently. We have a thermometer in the middle straddling the hot air output (to the room) and can only get the air to a max of 300F (sometimes 350F). If some of the other posts are right, where they were able to get the air temp well over 500F, that the room will warm up quickly, I'd expect that our limiting factor is the wood.

I also use an IR temp gun and estimate that the surface of the wood is around 500F (don't know if the glass skews the IR measurement). We also keep the fan on max (per the user guide) when the damper is fully open, and set them to min it when the damper is nearly closed. After a few hours we can feel the radiant heat up to 15' away.

Thoughts?

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I have a couple of stove top thermometers on my Rockland in area shown in pick. With wood between 20 and 22% moisture content or so, this thermometer will get to 600 easily and around 700 when full of wood turned down to lower setting. With wet wood, I would imagine struggling to see 400 or so.This is only my experience-cannot say if I doing this totally correctly or not. Nothing on the outside glows with these temps. That said, I will not be looking to get my stove hotter, so as to avoid any overfiring.
I have a IR thermometer and I think it’s tricky with this flush unit to know where to get good readings. I don’t buy that pointing into the area between stovetop and metal outer layer (for lack of better term) gets a legit temp.

 

[SailorAndDiver]

View attachment 224914 I have a couple of stove top thermometers on my Rockland in area shown in pick. With wood between 20 and 22% moisture content or so, this thermometer will get to 600 easily and around 700 when full of wood turned down to lower setting. With wet wood, I would imagine struggling to see 400 or so.This is only my experience-cannot say if I doing this totally correctly or not. Nothing on the outside glows with these temps. That said, I will not be looking to get my stove hotter, so as to avoid any overfiring.
I have a IR thermometer and I think it’s tricky with this flush unit to know where to get good readings. I don’t buy that pointing into the area between stovetop and metal outer layer (for lack of better term) gets a legit temp.

Thanks for feedback Ctwoodtick!
I'm going to place my thermometer there and check it out.

When you say "turned down to lower setting" are you referring to the damper on the upper-right of the unit, and/or the fans? I understand that there is an opening in the back to let air in, and am wondering if having the fans on high will cause more air to enter the box. This in turn would reduce the temp of the box as the energy is going to heating air alone and not the metal casing.

thanks again!

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I’m referring to the lever on top right of face of insert. That controls the primary air going into stove. I don’t know how much the blowers impact air going into stove.
Given that your wood is probably fairly wet, I would be thinking more about getting a clean burn rather that air settings and so on. Check for visible smoke coming out chimney. If none, than you can try turning primary air (the lever) down a bit (to the left) to see if you can gain some efficiency. If you see smoke out of chimney, give her a little more primary air. If possible check top of liner to make sure you don’t have excessive buildup. Take a pic of it, people on here love giving feedback on buildup questions.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

You can disregard the duplicate picture in above message.

 

[SailorAndDiver]

You can disregard the duplicate picture in above message.

Thanks for the suggestions! I am glad that I joined this list.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Thanks for feedback Ctwoodtick!
I'm going to place my thermometer there and check it out.

When you say "turned down to lower setting" are you referring to the damper on the upper-right of the unit, and/or the fans? I understand that there is an opening in the back to let air in, and am wondering if having the fans on high will cause more air to enter the box. This in turn would reduce the temp of the box as the energy is going to heating air alone and not the metal casing.

thanks again!

Also, for what it’s worth, I always keep the blower on high once stove comes up to temp.

 

[SailorAndDiver]

Also, for what it’s worth, I always keep the blower on high once stove comes up to temp.

All - We had our unit professionally installed, but I noticed one difference in the photos that you have posted versus the unit I have. Most of the photos show a full opening at the top, whereas I have a metal "roof" that comes out of the unit at the top where the air blows out into the room. Is this supposed to be there?

Looking inside, I saw several sheet metal screws holding this piece in place (along the sides and 1 in the middle just in front of the chimney exhaust). In the image, you can see the metal just above the thermometer. Should this have been removed during the install?

thanks again for your input!

 

[Ctwoodtick]

If possible, use a flashlight and get a closer pic- hard to make out what’s going on there. I doubt it’s something that needs removal, but probably something that needs a minor adjustment.

 

[Perruz]

If possible, use a flashlight and get a closer pic- hard to make out what’s going on there. I doubt it’s something that needs removal, but probably something that needs a minor adjustment.

We just had our stove installed last week and also have that piece of metal where the air comes out. I was told the newer stoves have that which allows the minimum clearance from the hearth to the mantel to be reduced a few inches. Stoves with serial #s after 11902 have this shield.

I see 1 sheet metal screw on each side and a welded L bracket in the middle.

Love the stove so far, still experimenting with stove temperature, blower speed and damper openings.

 

[Toomb]

My stove is the same. That is the jacket or slevve, if you will, that the heated air is blown out of...........

 

[SailorAndDiver]

My stove is the same. That is the jacket or slevve, if you will, that the heated air is blown out of...........

Thanks folks.

I'm still experimenting....to get the output to 400F I have to use 5 splits. This seems like overkill. I hope, come November, our wood will be dry enough to get it to 600F.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

The first year is always tough, we’ve all been through it. It gets better.

 

[malibru]

I'm on about year 10 with my Rockland 550. I too run blowers full speed through the night. It has been a great stove for me. It is also in about 350 ft room, 20' slope ceiling, one fan that I run in reverse, low speed. I only run this as reqired if room gets too hot.

My wood is all oak and maple which I tend to always "split once more" as it makes hauling easier for wife and kids (me too!). Also, I really cram it full at night, usually 11pm.totally load the firebox. In the a.m 6-7 am, I stoke the ash and coals, put some bark or small stuff in, and run air control far right. Once it's rolling again I can add wood, then almost full left on control.

My main complaint on this stove is on blowers. I've replaced them once with factory ($$$$) but also removed, cleaned with compressed air, and oiled bronze end bushing. I've found a high heat thin gun oil from Lucas works best. This last time the squealing began I tried some Amazon motors; however they turned a slower rpm. Housing was a bit larger but still fit. In the end, the motor side has a pressed bearing. I fully disassembled and used a syringe to inject high temp grease into bearing. Also lubed bronze bushing per usual. Works well enough.

I've fried the rheostat speed control(square box) by crossing wires one time, then it also burned out on it's own. This part is exact replacement on Amazon, it's been working fine.

Last trick is the snapstat. If blower comes on too slowly on auto mode you can reach under, push sheet metal housing closer to floor of firebox. Of course the ash in firebox also seems to delay the on function just by insulating it imho.

Overall I love my stove. I do keep up the maintenance on it though. If the wood is wet, keep your air control full open. Once you establish bed of coals maybe halfway position. Be careful not to over fire. Also with wet wood I do notlatch my door when starting, i let some room air in to help out. Crack a nearby window on cold start to facilitate a good draft, you can shut it as soon as you get a warm updraft.

 

[upstateNY_Dave]

Anyone in here bothered by the high pitch whine of the blowers on the 550? Ours are very annoying - not loud, but high frequency. It sounds like it's just a problem of the air being forced though the blower. I've uploaded a sound recording of the blowers on high at about 1 foot in front of the stove - does this sound normal?

 

[EJL923]

well its hard to tell from your recording what it actually sounds like, but if i had to say, mine doesnt sound like that and it doesnt bother me. Check that the blowers spin free, no bearing issues, and oil the bronze bearing on the end with turbine oil or similar.

I will say, if you were expecting the low hum of a box fan, youre not going to get it, these are small diameter high rpm blowers. I usually keep my speed about 3/4, good compromise between heat and noise.

 

[upstateNY_Dave]

well its hard to tell from your recording what it actually sounds like, but if i had to say, mine doesnt sound like that and it doesnt bother me. Check that the blowers spin free, no bearing issues, and oil the bronze bearing on the end with turbine oil or similar.

I will say, if you were expecting the low hum of a box fan, youre not going to get it, these are small diameter high rpm blowers. I usually keep my speed about 3/4, good compromise between heat and noise.

Thanks so much. I've heard the blowers of other manufacturers and they seem much lower in frequency.
Do you need to take off the surround to get the blowers out? Seems to be a tight squeeze otherwise. Where exactly should I oil?

 

[EJL923]

Take all this with a grain of salt, mine stove is 10 years old so i dont know what changed.

There are bearings around the motor on one side, and a bronze bushing holding the fan on the other. Mine is encapsulated by a red rubber plug in the end of the cage. The bearings are not serviceable, dont oil those they will just collect dust. For the bushing, I use Zoom turbine oil, i get mine at ace hardware. You could prob use 3 in 1 motor oil. I think bronze bushings are impregnated with 30 weight oil, i forgot if detergent or non detergent.

You can check the fans just by opening the front door and lifting up/removing the cast iron grate thats in front of them. Spin by hand and see if theyre smooth. I forgot if you can remove them at that point, i always remove the surround and the bottom piece of cast iron across the bottom of the stove for easy access to slide them out. Refer to the manual.