Love the Jotul 550 Rockland !

[adisb]

Hello everyone, I have been reading a lot on this website and learned about the different tricks about the stoves. Finally, we (my wife and I) bought the 550 Rockland for our 3200 sqft colonial. When the unit heats up it puts out some nice heat !! We like the look of it and the heat it makes. It does eat up wood fast as I am looking for heat. Now, I was wondering for the ones that have this same fireplace, how is your electric bill if you run the fan ? I looked in the manual and it is an AC blower motor but I did not find the wattage listed anywhere.

Again, great unit so far from the 3 weeks I had it and look forward to use it a lot this winter...hope to find some more wood!

 

[meathead]

It does eat up wood fast as I am looking for heat.

No it doesn't...you'll get the hang of it
Once you get that thing all figured out, it will burn 8-10 hrs on a fill up.

edit - a hint to get you started - I'm guessing you're adding a split here and two splits there and so on...don't. Once you've broken it in and run it and are confident it is all in safe working order, load it up as full as you dare and leave it be. It will be ready for a reload in about 8 hrs - rake your coals forward, load 'er back up and let it do its thing. All you need to do is shut the air down when it gets up to speed.

Now, I was wondering for the ones that have this same fireplace, how is your electric bill if you run the fan ?

A close friend ran the same insert all winter last year and said he didn't notice the impact of the fan on his electric bill...you do have to run the fan though - the stove isn't designed to heat much without the blower running

 

[gibson]

The electric fan does not use much electricity. You need to use it to get the heat out of it. You will also use much more wood starting it from scratch all of the time than if you keep it hot all of the time. It will be a learning curve the first year, make sure you have enough wood. I would not expect to heat 3200' solely with this insert, but depending on your layout, you could take a big chunk out of your heating bill.

 

[adisb]

Thanks guys for your feedback; I appreciate the good advice. I am not planning on heating the entire house just with the fireplace but to offset some of the gas cost.

 

[DAKSY]

One caution when clearing the ashes out of the Rockland...
TURN THE BLOWER OFF!
Due to the design - no ash lip - if you drop any ashes from whatever tool you're using,
they WILL get sucked into the blower cavity & spew out into the room thru the top.
Quite messy...

 

[adisb]

It does eat up wood fast as I am looking for heat.

No it doesn't...you'll get the hang of it
Once you get that thing all figured out, it will burn 8-10 hrs on a fill up.

edit - a hint to get you started - I'm guessing you're adding a split here and two splits there and so on...don't. Once you've broken it in and run it and are confident it is all in safe working order, load it up as full as you dare and leave it be. It will be ready for a reload in about 8 hrs - rake your coals forward, load 'er back up and let it do its thing. All you need to do is shut the air down when it gets up to speed.

Now, I was wondering for the ones that have this same fireplace, how is your electric bill if you run the fan ?

A close friend ran the same insert all winter last year and said he didn't notice the impact of the fan on his electric bill...you do have to run the fan though - the stove isn't designed to heat much without the blower running

Thanks for your ideas/advice. I will try to fill it up as much as I can and see if it will burn 8-10 hours. I tried a few times but I have to admit I didn't stack it up all the way....it burned for a few hours maybe 3.5 and then it needs refilling. So the trick is to get it hot first and then put as much wood in and close the damper for very little air to help the combustion...

 

[jadm]

Wondering how seasoned your wood is. It makes a big difference in how much heat you get.

Rule of thumb around here is let wood season for a least a year prior to burning. Two years for oak.

I run the blowers all the time and increase on elec. bill is minimal. Waste of wood if blowers are not used.

To get longer burn times cutting back on the primary air makes a difference. See how much you can shut it down and still have flame and no smoke from stack. This will vary depending on temps. and loads of wood.

I burn mixed hard woods and every once in awhile I get a bit of oak. I do not get 8 hour burn times even with the air shut all the way down unless it is above 40* out.

Like someone else said - it is all a learning curve and does take time. Most important thing is to simply enjoy your fire and heat and not make yourself and your family crazy in the process.... ;-)

 

[bbeals]

You will be thrilled with your choice. We put in a 550 last year and we are able to keep our 3000 sq. ft. colonial above 70. We used 200 gal of oil, but that was for hot water. I must admit that our heat pump kicks on for 15-20 min on cold mornings to get the house up so you can shower, then the stove is back online producing heat for another day. You will have to burn it fairly hard to heat that much space (we used 4.5 cord last year)

 

[leakypuppy]

Meathead what temp are you at after 8 hours before a reload? I'm assuming you have a thermometer in place...

It does eat up wood fast as I am looking for heat.

No it doesn't...you'll get the hang of it
Once you get that thing all figured out, it will burn 8-10 hrs on a fill up.

edit - a hint to get you started - I'm guessing you're adding a split here and two splits there and so on...don't. Once you've broken it in and run it and are confident it is all in safe working order, load it up as full as you dare and leave it be. It will be ready for a reload in about 8 hrs - rake your coals forward, load 'er back up and let it do its thing. All you need to do is shut the air down when it gets up to speed.

Now, I was wondering for the ones that have this same fireplace, how is your electric bill if you run the fan ?

A close friend ran the same insert all winter last year and said he didn't notice the impact of the fan on his electric bill...you do have to run the fan though - the stove isn't designed to heat much without the blower running

 

[adisb]

good point...if the fireplace is burning 8-10 hours I wonder is there much heat being generated or just barely keeping it alive?

 

[soxfan13]

After five hours I have to reload mine. When it gets going, it throws a ton of heat though.

 

[adisb]

I tried a lot of things in the past few weeks with my new toy - the 550 but I can't seem to be able to keep it alive for more than 4.5 hours. I got it hot, and then loaded it upall the way, moved the damper on low air and it just does not last more than 4.5 hours. There are no more red ambers left after 5 hours.

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas about why it burns so fast. Some guys here say that it should stay on for about 8-10 hrs, like in the manual.

Could it possibly be due to incorrect installation; is there something the installers could mess up ....it just seems it burns too fast even when the air is turned down all the way.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[stint9]

You do not mention using a thermometer to regulate draft.

Check this thread for more info and answers to many of your concerns

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/24713/

 

[adisb]

Thanks for the link, it has provided lots of help reading throught the questions/advise/solution....

am still somewhat unclear about wheather the block off plate should have been installed at the bottm of the chimney ..the installers said it has one on top and that is good enough. Am I not loosing a lot of heat by just having the block off plate at the top of the chimney (25 foot chimney)?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[johnn]

Thanks for the link, it has provided lots of help reading throught the questions/advise/solution....

am still somewhat unclear about wheather the block off plate should have been installed at the bottm of the chimney ..the installers said it has one on top and that is good enough. Am I not loosing a lot of heat by just having the block off plate at the top of the chimney (25 foot chimney)?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I`m of the opinion,,yes to the bottom plate..Did you mention that the liner was insulated? Or if insulation was stuffed far up the liner and around it too form a soft block off? If your installer said top block off was good enough, then possibly he skipped on a few other things many here feel r improtant. Early on, finding the forum,i read a thread where wrapping the first few feet of the liner,improved the burning habits of one ladys stove. I guess i would need to know more about that soft block-off.

 

[leakypuppy]

I'm told I have a block off plate but I'm getting 4.5 hours also on most of my burns. My chimney is about 30' and the liner is not insulated and the first 10' of the exterior/back side of the chimney are inside a converted screened in porch which is now living space. I guess we should clarify at what temperature we're reloading, I'll post my burn times and temps over the next few days.

 

[johnn]

i wouldnt be able to analyize your guys burn times vs. temps like many others can,,however i feel a new thread more specific to your burn times may attract more that can help you work through it

 

[adisb]

Thanks for the link, it has provided lots of help reading throught the questions/advise/solution....

am still somewhat unclear about wheather the block off plate should have been installed at the bottm of the chimney ..the installers said it has one on top and that is good enough. Am I not loosing a lot of heat by just having the block off plate at the top of the chimney (25 foot chimney)?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I`m of the opinion,,yes to the bottom plate..Did you mention that the liner was insulated? Or if insulation was stuffed far up the liner and around it too form a soft block off? If your installer said top block off was good enough, then possibly he skipped on a few other things many here feel r improtant. Early on, finding the forum,i read a thread where wrapping the first few feet of the liner,improved the burning habits of one ladys stove. I guess i would need to know more about that soft block-off.

there is no soft block off at the top...no insulation - just the top plate.

 

[andella]

Hello everyone, I have been reading a lot on this website and learned about the different tricks about the stoves. Finally, we (my wife and I) bought the 550 Rockland for our 3200 sqft colonial. When the unit heats up it puts out some nice heat !! We like the look of it and the heat it makes. It does eat up wood fast as I am looking for heat. Now, I was wondering for the ones that have this same fireplace, how is your electric bill if you run the fan ? I looked in the manual and it is an AC blower motor but I did not find the wattage listed anywhere.

Again, great unit so far from the 3 weeks I had it and look forward to use it a lot this winter...hope to find some more wood!

Now that you mention it, I have been wondering how much power the fan on my Rockland draws as well. Just broke out the ammeter and here is what I found...

Full Throttle - 1 Amp (120 Watts)

When it is turned down as low as it will go it draws .5 amps (60 Watts)

Matt