Running the Jotul 550 clean

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Ctwoodtick

Minister of Fire
Jun 5, 2015
2,276
Southeast CT; NW Maine
I’ve been using my Jotul 550 insert for last 10 yrs. Like it but have always had to deal with the poor design issue of no ash lip. Any ash that leaves the stove ( which is easy to happen) goes right into the blowers and broadcast into the room. Have any 550 users ever found a fix for this? You’d think I’d have figured this out in the last decade but the only thing I’ve learned is to not buy a stove without an ashlip again.
 
It's a common issue with flush inserts, not just the Rockland. Turn off the blower when loading or cleaning out ash, and vacuum up any spilt ash before turning it on.
 
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The Montpelier from VC comes to mind with this, a customer of ours spilled hot coals down and into the blower housing, that was an expensive venture.. I understand the flush design thing, but the ashlip issue, I always hated to have to do it, but I'd point that out to a customer looking at them, to let them know they had to be careful when dealing with ashes and the blower being on.
 
The Montpelier from VC comes to mind with this, a customer of ours spilled hot coals down and into the blower housing, that was an expensive venture.. I understand the flush design thing, but the ashlip issue, I always hated to have to do it, but I'd point that out to a customer looking at them, to let them know they had to be careful when dealing with ashes and the blower being on.
Good call. When I bought the stove I was pretty naive about wood heat so, if I had heard that advice, I may not have done much with it.