Now and then folks will come on and ask if its worth insulating and putting a block off plate in their masonry chimney so I thought I would post my experience. In moderate weather the Jotul worked well but with the weather we are having now, teens and single digits, my insert performance would really suffer. I couldn't get it to burn clean and secondary combustion was weak. The bricks would darken as gases condensed on them and I could see where the secondary air entered the back of the stove as the passage would also darker instead of being clean and bright. Needless to say the heat output was marginal. Considering I'm a night/weekend burner I felt like it sometimes wasn't worth running since the first two loads went to heating everything but the living space and by that time it was time to turn in. Even after a couple loads the box would not "clean up". I was also able to measure 80 F on the exterior brick in 30 weather, major heat loss and bad for the cleanliness of the flue. Since the modifications were made the unit heats up quicker and holds its heat better. The bricks have never been cleaner and brighter, secondary combustion is improved and even though its plenty cold, the insert is able to keep the whole house comfortable. Temps taken on the outside brick are now <5 F different than the ambient temp instead of >50. All in all a major improvement.
Great pics, glad you found the problems with heat loss and made a stand on changing things in your favor. How has the Jotul been working for you?
The Jotul works nicely and is a well built tank. I have no doubt about the quality. Because of the configuration of my layout I needed a flush mount unit so it probably doesn't throw heat as well as units that extend onto the hearth. Still it throws enough heat. My only wish would be for longer burn times. I don't seem to be able to the burn times that some are able to. Load the stove and come home to a hot bed of coals or 10 hrs and wake up to a hot stove is not realistic with this insert. I modified my primary air to enable me to shut it down tighter but I stopped chasing the longest burn time in favor of clean. I can get 6 out of it pretty easy but when I hear "14 hrs later and still had coals to restart" I get jealous. Love to tell you "mine is the best" but that's about the size of it.
I'm sorry. I just let my Oslo go this summer for the same reasons you just told me about. I had a hard time controlling the air damper and I couldn't get anything more than 8 hrs of burn time. I had to move on and I'm glad I did. Good luck!
I have another fireplace in the house and one of those Woodstocks would look real good in there! I burn because I love it, not to replace all my heating needs so I'm a happy camper but I do wonder if I should reconfigure. The Osborne 2400 seems to get great reviews but I have to say the Jotul looks as good as the day I put it in 3.5 yrs ago.
