Jotul C550 Wood Insert Overview

[@woolval52]

Bummer, I thought I was going to see the actual installation! Beautiful job though, it looks fantastic.

[@sevenexes7778]

Absolutely avoid buying this insert if you want to heat anything larger than a small room. The air intake is undersized and will not feed enough air to burn anything with a tight grain such as red oak, white oak or cherry. You will be forced to leave the door cracked open for any kind of hardwood burn.

[@TrueGorge]

Sorry you had such issues with your unit. The client that we installed this for is pretty happy it. Oak and fir are the common firewood in this region. Have you spoken with your Jotul dealer about your unit?

[@sevenexes7778]

@@TrueGorge thank you for your question. I did speak to the Jotul dealer that sold and installed the Kennebec. Their suggestion was to mix more, less dense grained wood in with my hardwood selection. I had already been doing this by adding well seasoned, smaller pieces of split red maple and some cedar. Unfortunately the small air intake design located directly in the center concentrates the burn to the lower middle of the stove. This would be a much better product if it directed more air over a wider area. This would give you the option of dampering down for control instead having to open the door to let enough air in to encourage the burn.

[@quietpro]

I'm fairly inexperienced with wood stoves but the feedback here matches my experience. I don't know the types of wood I'm burning (whatever is native to MD) but have had similar struggles with getting enough air to the fire without resorting to venting through the door. As I've improved, I usually only need to do this while initially starting the fire but, nonetheless, still need to do it. It's a delicate balance between letting air in while keeping the smoke in as well.