Hi All, I too purchased a Regency 5100 and am thrilled with the performance .My question is to the group, I was told and the dealer also showed me per the manual that the stove has to have 8 inch double wall and an 8 inch liner when venting into a masonry chimney. He said that running it on 6 inch would void the warranty because it would over draft the stove causing warping and or cracks. The double wall was needed because of the low flue gas temps and the high efficiency. Why is it that someone is running it on 6 inch? Is this ok? Whats the condition of the stove that's running on 6 inch and going up like 35 feet? is all good so far? I am looking to hear everyone's input and also going to email Regency to see if this was true..
Regency 5100 - the first few months
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Huntindog1
Minister of Fire
WOW, just hung up with a tech named Larry from the east coast after being transferred.I cant believe I actually got to speak to a live person,thanks for the info.Here is the deal in a nutshell 8 inch 8 inch 8 inch lol,the stove was designed to run 8 inch double wall inside and insulated pipe or liner as in my case (masonry flu) and nothing else ,he did indeed verify that anything above and beyond the manual would void the warranty. hope this helps i know it eases my mind that i didn't get suckered into buying more expensive pipe and the dealer was spot on with what he sold me. Keep praying for snow so we can burn this monster 24/7 the way she was meant to be used.......
Huntindog1
Minister of Fire
Well if the stove is that finicky then its gonna cost them some sales. They designed that stove from the ground up their designers should have built in a little flexibility as everyone has different setups.
I figure since they have a limited lifetime warranty they are going to nit pick the installs.
I figure since they have a limited lifetime warranty they are going to nit pick the installs.
From my prior wood burning experience I always had 6 inch pipe with 6 inch stoves,so this is new to me, as my dealer said it would over fire the stove if i ran it on 6 inch because of increased draft and it was way to small for the cross sectional for that size firebox and you can go up 1 pipe size but not down unless it was tested that way. The double wall isn't for clearances as i thought but to keep the draft going because of the almost 86 percent efficiency he said that the exhaust wasn't that hot like older stoves so it had to have the dbl wall pipe to keep it flowing. . I just don't want to void my warranty or burn my house down at the sake of saving a few dollars
If the stove is designed for 8" then it requires 8". This is true for almost every extra large wood stove. True for the Blaze King King, Hearthstone Equinox, Kuma Sequoia, Country ST310, etc.. No surprise here at all and certainly not the sign of a finicky stove. A big stove will move a larger volume of air through its belly to burn a larger volume of fuel. Likewise some small European stoves can get away with 4-5" flues.
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That is a discussion we need to have in a thread here sometime with participation of stove makers and maybe some of our resident engineers. I have always felt that my 5.5" liners draft harder than a 6" would due to velocity.
I will start that thread here soon.
I will start that thread here soon.
Huntindog1
Minister of Fire
Thats gonna be hard for Woodstock to beat that Regency 5100 if its 86% efficient.The 5100 stove grams emissions is 1.46.
Not sure if thats exhaust efficiency or room caloric efficiency. Caloric efficiency I think is where the calculate the expected btu's from the loaded wood and then measures how much heat gets put into a specialized test room that the can measure heat in calories or calculate it. I guess they measure stack calories or btu's also.
To add to the 8" Flue discussion, I guess if your putting out those kinds of dollars for a Regency 5100 stove the additional cost of replacing your flue system isnt a big deal. But I think most people have 6" flue systems so most people getting this stove are also in for a flue replacement. How long does it take to break even on an install like that?
Not sure if thats exhaust efficiency or room caloric efficiency. Caloric efficiency I think is where the calculate the expected btu's from the loaded wood and then measures how much heat gets put into a specialized test room that the can measure heat in calories or calculate it. I guess they measure stack calories or btu's also.
To add to the 8" Flue discussion, I guess if your putting out those kinds of dollars for a Regency 5100 stove the additional cost of replacing your flue system isnt a big deal. But I think most people have 6" flue systems so most people getting this stove are also in for a flue replacement. How long does it take to break even on an install like that?
Ok, its time for a followup.
Got the chimney cleaned over the summer. The sweep was surprised how clean the stove had burned given the volume I ran through it last year. So even with some less-ideal wood it was doing OK. Gasification + cat apparently makes for a nice clean burn
So how is this season going?
Started this season with about 5 cords (the 128 cu-ft kind) stacked, dry and ready to go. 90% red oak, a bit of poplar in there. Oak samples metered at 18-23% moisture on the ends.
The stove is burning MUCH nicer with good dry-er wood. Yes, yes, we all know that stoves burn best on dry wood, but have to re-hear it from time to time.
Reloads get back into the active-cat range very quickly. The heat output is much improved. We have been able to keep the whole house 65+ all season, even with stretches of 15-20 degree days.
Got a trailer that holds about 1/4-1/5 of a cord that the lawn mower can tow into the basement garage, and park it < 20' from the stove. Might be the best thing I've ever seen for getting wood into a house, and near a stove. Load it on the weekend, and I can generally get to the next weekend without a trip to the pile.
Now I need to figure out how to handle each piece of wood less. I think from tree to stove I handle each piece 10 times... It would help if the logs were on the same property as the stove, but that's not going to happen for a few years.
Got the chimney cleaned over the summer. The sweep was surprised how clean the stove had burned given the volume I ran through it last year. So even with some less-ideal wood it was doing OK. Gasification + cat apparently makes for a nice clean burn
So how is this season going?
Started this season with about 5 cords (the 128 cu-ft kind) stacked, dry and ready to go. 90% red oak, a bit of poplar in there. Oak samples metered at 18-23% moisture on the ends.
The stove is burning MUCH nicer with good dry-er wood. Yes, yes, we all know that stoves burn best on dry wood, but have to re-hear it from time to time.
Reloads get back into the active-cat range very quickly. The heat output is much improved. We have been able to keep the whole house 65+ all season, even with stretches of 15-20 degree days.
Got a trailer that holds about 1/4-1/5 of a cord that the lawn mower can tow into the basement garage, and park it < 20' from the stove. Might be the best thing I've ever seen for getting wood into a house, and near a stove. Load it on the weekend, and I can generally get to the next weekend without a trip to the pile.
Now I need to figure out how to handle each piece of wood less. I think from tree to stove I handle each piece 10 times... It would help if the logs were on the same property as the stove, but that's not going to happen for a few years.
G'day JJD. Thanks for the ongoing updates mate ... they are greatly appreciated! Regency released the F5100 here in Australia only a couple of months ago now (in fact the model number down here is F5102B). Anyway, I am wondering what kind of burn times you are now getting since you have sorted the wood and given that you have a better handle on the nuances of the stoves operation. Also, I would be keen to learn of what sort of wood (i.e. hardwood/softwood species) you are putting through the beasty. Cheers PT
8ball
New Member
8ball
New Member
When I'm home on the weekends and can feed it more regularly I can get 6-8 hours of solid, high heat output. During the week if we load it well, 10 hours later there are still a good amount of coals that make for a easy relight of the fresh wood.
Mostly I've been feeding it Northern Red Oak, with a small amount of pine and poplar mixed in. Generally will run the softer woods on the weekends when I can feed it more often as they don't have as long a burn as the oak.
The blower assembly has a chamber across the whole back of the stove, and it comes up to the top and turns to blow air across the top. I'm sure the airmate that covers the top would help get more heat extracted. I'll have to ask my dealer for pricing on it.
8ball
New Member
jjd, any plans to insulate the basement walls? Without insulation up to a third of the stove's heat is going out the walls and heating up the ground.
G'day JJD. Thanks again mate for the updated info. Like Webby, I am really surprised that you are only getting about 10 hours or so before a reload when Regency is clearly claiming up to 30 hour burn times (??). Whilst I appreciate this figure is at the upper end of the burn spectrum, you would still tend to expect maybe 24 hours at least. However, I have seen claims on Regency Americas website stating that the F5100 is 85% efficient but when I checked the EPA certified stove listing it states an efficiency of only 79% (that's still pretty good but a far cry from 85%). Here in Oz, I have again seen statements of 77% efficiency (against our standard) but official test data reveals that it is in fact only 73%. I don't know about others but I find this to be misleading and bordering on false advertising.
Anyway, I am seriously in the market for a large stove to heat approximately 450m2 (4800sq ft) with an existing ducted air transfer system to do most of the distribution. My aim is to obtain a stove that will future proof me against some of the new standards that are coming down the pipe because there is a growing level of angst by policy makers about wood heaters (unlike the US and Europe they are not readily embracing the virtues of wood heating). So this tends to narrow the field considerably.
I have read with considerable interest and thanks the insights provided by some serious blokes on Heath.com such as Webby3650, Begreen and many others who have provided a wealth of knowledge and first hand experience (particularly the thread 'Blazeking Ashford 30 vs Cape Cod'). Indeed, I was very keen on the Lopi Cape Cod and followed its development for some considerable time in anticipation of its release here in Oz, which was delayed and only introduced in mid June 2014. Unfortunately, it has been released in Oz for a unit price of $A5,399 .... yep you read it right $5,399 OUCH
I am sure there will be many sitting here reading this and saying WTF! ..... and this price does not include the blower, flue or any of the other trimmings or installation.
The Regency F5100 was released a little bit earlier as I understand and upon Googling I found that it is selling for about $A3,800 at the moment (stove only) but they do have a promo on for a free flu kit at the moment. But this is only for the stove and so the blower assembly, Airmate and ash pan are all extra.
I would have considered a number of Blazeking offerings but forum member BKVP has advised me that BK has no immediate plans to venture Down Under .... seems like you blokes are keeping them pretty busy. I would have also liked to have considered Woodstock Soapstone but their stoves have not undergone any Aussie testing and so it pretty well rules them out. Pity, they seem to have some very good offerings and they seem to be ahead of the curve on the innovation side of things, as is Blazeking and Lopi I must say.
I had also considered the Alderlea T5/T6 after reading some very good recommendations and a superb review by Begreen (i.e. for his T6). The Alderlea T6 is available in Oz for $3,500 (stove only) but upon further research it (as a non-cat) is just on the borderline of future emissions/efficiency compliance standards. Also, with an efficiency of 64% it would cost me an extra ton of wood per season to run it as compared to say the F5100 or 2 ton as against the Cape Cod (the CC has an efficiency of 83%). This is a pity as I love the way the Alderlea stove is constructed and how their cooktop works.
Anyway, sorry for me dribbling on here but I hope this gives you blokes a good insight into how things kinda stack up for us Down Under. Cheers PT
Anyway, I am seriously in the market for a large stove to heat approximately 450m2 (4800sq ft) with an existing ducted air transfer system to do most of the distribution. My aim is to obtain a stove that will future proof me against some of the new standards that are coming down the pipe because there is a growing level of angst by policy makers about wood heaters (unlike the US and Europe they are not readily embracing the virtues of wood heating). So this tends to narrow the field considerably.
I have read with considerable interest and thanks the insights provided by some serious blokes on Heath.com such as Webby3650, Begreen and many others who have provided a wealth of knowledge and first hand experience (particularly the thread 'Blazeking Ashford 30 vs Cape Cod'). Indeed, I was very keen on the Lopi Cape Cod and followed its development for some considerable time in anticipation of its release here in Oz, which was delayed and only introduced in mid June 2014. Unfortunately, it has been released in Oz for a unit price of $A5,399 .... yep you read it right $5,399 OUCH
I am sure there will be many sitting here reading this and saying WTF! ..... and this price does not include the blower, flue or any of the other trimmings or installation.The Regency F5100 was released a little bit earlier as I understand and upon Googling I found that it is selling for about $A3,800 at the moment (stove only) but they do have a promo on for a free flu kit at the moment. But this is only for the stove and so the blower assembly, Airmate and ash pan are all extra.
I would have considered a number of Blazeking offerings but forum member BKVP has advised me that BK has no immediate plans to venture Down Under .... seems like you blokes are keeping them pretty busy
. I would have also liked to have considered Woodstock Soapstone but their stoves have not undergone any Aussie testing and so it pretty well rules them out. Pity, they seem to have some very good offerings and they seem to be ahead of the curve on the innovation side of things, as is Blazeking and Lopi I must say.I had also considered the Alderlea T5/T6 after reading some very good recommendations and a superb review by Begreen (i.e. for his T6). The Alderlea T6 is available in Oz for $3,500 (stove only) but upon further research it (as a non-cat) is just on the borderline of future emissions/efficiency compliance standards. Also, with an efficiency of 64% it would cost me an extra ton of wood per season to run it as compared to say the F5100 or 2 ton as against the Cape Cod (the CC has an efficiency of 83%). This is a pity as I love the way the Alderlea stove is constructed and how their cooktop works.
Anyway, sorry for me dribbling on here but I hope this gives you blokes a good insight into how things kinda stack up for us Down Under. Cheers PT
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Sounds like the stove is being pushed pedal to the metal. The OP is heating 4500 sq ft from a "fully uninsulated" basement. I doubt other stoves would do much better under these conditions. This is more wood furnace territory. Insulating the basement could save some cords and extend burning time considerably. Having the stove on the first floor would have it idling on low burn most of the time.
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I suspect you might be right BeGreen but then to be fair to JJD I haven't seen any other commentators revealing extended burn times. I am sure we would all love to hear from them if they exist. A san aside, do you know if Pacific Energy is looking to Cat / Hybrid configs for any of their stoves in the foreseeable future? I must say I do like their styling and the cooktop config. Given that they already have a presence in OZ then any prospective development could be worth waiting for. PT
x2 BG, the guy is heating 4500 sqft. Although he is in a milder area than myself, still sounds plenty cold. 6 cords of wood to provide most of the heat doesn't sound that much out of line. Most of us with "regular" sized homes, use 2-3 cords of wood. Thanks for the info JJD, you're getting peppered pretty good with questions... all of us are looking for info on the new stove. Good luck with it, it sounds like the stove is having to work its tail off to provide heat too......
Yeah, the first year was a learning experience with semi-seasoned wood and operator. He was running the air pretty much wide open the first year. That is not how to run these stoves. Second year got better. It was a colder winter and less wood used. Insulating the basement would make another major improvement.
ok, I'll try to get to all the questions...
Yes the stove is under sized trying to heat as much space as it is. I'm hoping to move out of the current place in a year or so... therefore I'm not putting any money into improving the current situation by insulating the basement. I did have some trim work done on the outside of the house. That included replacing the weather stripping around the basement garage door, and that has made a noticeable improvement in the temp of the basement this summer. I'm hoping it will continue to make things better in the winter season.
New place I'm looking into a wood boiler + storage to be the heat source, but thats a topic for another thread.
There is no auto-draft regulation, like the BK (wanted a BK, wife DQ'd on looks). I'm burning on minimum draft setting during the day, so I don't know how to get any longer of a burn time. We've tried E-W vs N-S loadings, and that changes burn times a bit, but still no where even close to a 30 hour burn. When I get home after 10-12 hours away, the cat temp is down to about 200 degrees. There are usually 1-2 logs that are reduced to just coals in the back of the stove. I rake them forward, and get small splits to rekindle in just a few minutes with the door open. The stove will take 22" wood, but most of my wood gets cut to 18" so I'm probably losing a bit of capacity there. But we try to load to one side, and then get a few logs on the other side front-to-back to fill the hole.
The one thing I know is wrong/not ideal about my setup... I have an 8x8 clay chimney, but the stove installer had to step down to a 6" pipe to get inside the 8x8. This chimney is also very tall... 3 stories + above roof projection, and it comes through the roof peak, so its a tall as it could be. I've never measured the draft, but it may be an over drawing setup. It is 100% inside the house, except for the above the roof part.
The stove dealer said this was a 6" stove, and there was no limited details on Regencies web site, and the dealer didn't have literature when I ordered the stove. It wasn't until it was home, and unpacked that I learned the stove had an 8" flue on it. Stove installer assured me it would be ok, to reduce to 6" to make the transition into the clay flue. The chimney sweep has had good things to say about the relative cleanliness of the stove pipe & flue vs the wood volume we are burning, so thats a good indicator.
I think I was coming up to speed on how to burn a gasifying cat stove by the end of season 1, but the wife... well thats been a sore spot even on year 2. The number of times that I come down and find the stove in bypass mode, or recently reloaded and not hot enough to gas/cat, and choked off to minimum air, just watching the smoke coat the glass. We had some weekend 'how to run this stove' sessions, and by the end of season 2 we had no more of the burned a full load in bypass or 'smoking the pig' incidents. She grew up with an old non-air tight stove, and is used to adjusting the stove every 30 minutes. Its taken a lot of effort to get her acclimated to batch burning.
Setting up for year 3 - I've got 6 cords cut/stacked and ready to go at the house and another 3 at the farm, most of its been cut for > 1 year and the moisture meter says some of it is already < 20%. The 'fresher, wet' end of the stack is at 25%, so we should be in good shape for this coming season.
Yes the stove is under sized trying to heat as much space as it is. I'm hoping to move out of the current place in a year or so... therefore I'm not putting any money into improving the current situation by insulating the basement. I did have some trim work done on the outside of the house. That included replacing the weather stripping around the basement garage door, and that has made a noticeable improvement in the temp of the basement this summer. I'm hoping it will continue to make things better in the winter season.
New place I'm looking into a wood boiler + storage to be the heat source, but thats a topic for another thread.
There is no auto-draft regulation, like the BK (wanted a BK, wife DQ'd on looks). I'm burning on minimum draft setting during the day, so I don't know how to get any longer of a burn time. We've tried E-W vs N-S loadings, and that changes burn times a bit, but still no where even close to a 30 hour burn. When I get home after 10-12 hours away, the cat temp is down to about 200 degrees. There are usually 1-2 logs that are reduced to just coals in the back of the stove. I rake them forward, and get small splits to rekindle in just a few minutes with the door open. The stove will take 22" wood, but most of my wood gets cut to 18" so I'm probably losing a bit of capacity there. But we try to load to one side, and then get a few logs on the other side front-to-back to fill the hole.
The one thing I know is wrong/not ideal about my setup... I have an 8x8 clay chimney, but the stove installer had to step down to a 6" pipe to get inside the 8x8. This chimney is also very tall... 3 stories + above roof projection, and it comes through the roof peak, so its a tall as it could be. I've never measured the draft, but it may be an over drawing setup. It is 100% inside the house, except for the above the roof part.
The stove dealer said this was a 6" stove, and there was no limited details on Regencies web site, and the dealer didn't have literature when I ordered the stove. It wasn't until it was home, and unpacked that I learned the stove had an 8" flue on it. Stove installer assured me it would be ok, to reduce to 6" to make the transition into the clay flue. The chimney sweep has had good things to say about the relative cleanliness of the stove pipe & flue vs the wood volume we are burning, so thats a good indicator.
I think I was coming up to speed on how to burn a gasifying cat stove by the end of season 1, but the wife... well thats been a sore spot even on year 2. The number of times that I come down and find the stove in bypass mode, or recently reloaded and not hot enough to gas/cat, and choked off to minimum air, just watching the smoke coat the glass. We had some weekend 'how to run this stove' sessions, and by the end of season 2 we had no more of the burned a full load in bypass or 'smoking the pig' incidents. She grew up with an old non-air tight stove, and is used to adjusting the stove every 30 minutes. Its taken a lot of effort to get her acclimated to batch burning.
Setting up for year 3 - I've got 6 cords cut/stacked and ready to go at the house and another 3 at the farm, most of its been cut for > 1 year and the moisture meter says some of it is already < 20%. The 'fresher, wet' end of the stack is at 25%, so we should be in good shape for this coming season.
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