Trouble slowing my Jotul Rockland C550 down

[leakypuppy]

Has anyone experienced difficulty slowing these inserts down? I've been burning mine for about 5 years now, and this season I've noticed increased air flow with the damper fully closed. I replaced my door gasket 2 years ago, and recently did the dollar bill test to check for leaks and found none. My chimney is internal for about 10' and then external for another 20'. I have a very good draft -- possibly too good, and never have difficulty starting fires. I'm burning seasoned wood as I always have, but the air control just doesn't seem to slow the burn down now like it used to. I haven't timed the burn times from load to coals, I'm basing this on how the flames behave in the firebox when the air is closed down. I can recall choking off fires when I first started using this insert, I don't think I could do that now if I tried. The coals also seem to burn a lot brighter directly in front of the air intake than they used to.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

That's a very tall chimney. Most likely the very cold weather is increasing draft. If this is a long-term problem one option would be to restrict the chimney a bit by putting a 6"x5" reducer on top and a 5" cap.

 

[hamsey]

Had the same issue with our 550. Air shut down completely and it would still climb to 700*-800*. Did not matter when it shut down the air just kept taking off. We swapped it out for a clydesdale but now we can confirm our excessive draft. Tried the reducer at the top to no avail. Maybe bigger splits. What kind of temps do you get? I would stay awake until the fire calmed down usually after the off gassing stage. Good luck, definitely not fun.

 

[benking]

I've had my 550 for five years now and can confirm the same behavior, early on I had some cause for concern. I've got a roughly 23' interior chimney. I've learned to use bigger splits when fully loading and to set an alarm to remind myself to dampen down the fire earlier when its really cold out. If you let the unit get running in sub zero temps it can get interesting. Some folks (Jotul Tips and Tricks Thread) have figured out how to restrict the secondary airflow but I haven't gone to that length. Not filling it up with small splits and walking away when its cold is the biggest tip.

 

[EJL923]

Its typical for this stove. It is not designed for a tall chimney as i also have. Over the 5 years i have owned, i have ground down the stop on the primary air for full off, as wells as made a slider the adjudt the secondary opening. Temps have stayed down even with this brutal cold

 

[leakypuppy]

Its typical for this stove. It is not designed for a tall chimney as i also have. Over the 5 years i have owned, i have ground down the stop on the primary air for full off, as wells as made a slider the adjudt the secondary opening. Temps have stayed down even with this brutal cold

Do you have any pics or instructions detailing how you made the adjustment?

 

[DougA]

Try larger splits, shutting the air down much sooner or even using slightly less seasoned wood. I've done all those and found success. I can burn wood that is 23% range and as long as I have hot fires, I seem to be good.