Paint Flaking inside 2 week old Regency I3100

Did you follow the break in procedure for the insert? Sorry to hear your dissapointed, thats a butt load of cash

You're joking, right? Or are you? Do you really expect paint to survive on the interior?

This may sound like a dumb question, but are you sure it's paint and not creosote flaking off? Even if it is paint I wouldn't worry about the inside unless there is warpage. It gets damn hot inside those boxes and most end up looking pretty beat up on the inside.

As far as heat output, probably due to your less than seasoned wood you were talking about in your other thread. Many go through with this their first year and just have to deal with it til they get caught up on dry wood.

Hello Sola,

Hang in there and give Regency the opportunity to fix your issues. Don't worry about any "paint" flaking off the inside of the stove. As far as I know, there's no paint on the inside of any stove. If there was, it would burn off very soon. Any flaking you're seeing is most likely creosote, so don't worry about them saying that you have abused your stove. A burn tube should never fall out, no matter how hot you get the stove.

Get one of the Condor stove thermometers and get a definitive sense of what temperatures you're running at. A steel stove isn't going to fall apart if you "overfire" it.

It's not uncommon for new stove users to hate their new stoves while they figure out how to run it and work through the issues with moisture content in the wood. High moisture content in the wood is the #1 issue people face heating with wood, and it will steal the heat output from your stove. This issue will drive you crazy. Search these forums and you will find a wealth of info on the topic. I hated my 1401 Napoleon insert for the first year until I worked through the issues, mostly with moisture.

Sola Fide,

Dan

LLigetfa said:

You're joking, right? Or are you? Do you really expect paint to survive on the interior?

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kinda what I was thinkin. Whats the heat ratting on the paint? 1200 degrees? how hot can it get inside a firebox? Yeah, not even sure if paint is needed inside the fire box. except fer it to look purtty untill the first time she gets all heated up.

Sola,

Don't worry about anything flaking off on the inside. If you do have black paint-looking stuff flaking off on the inside, it's because you're not burning hot enough. A properly burning stove is going to be gray on the inside, covered with powdery ash on everything.

Dan

SolaGracia said:

In regards to moisture content, I purchased a moisture meter, albeit a cheap one from Harbor Freight, and it shows most of the wood I have as having reasonable moisture content, i.e. < % usually < .

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What % are you reading?

Shari

Ja, well... reading what some people post here is like reading letters to Playboy. Of course everyone thinks their wood is dry enough and there's no shortage of people offering anecdotal evidence of burning fresh cut wood and then there's the "my wood is too dry" crowd. No wonder people here have performance anxiety. You will eventually get into the groove and find your own truth.

As said many times, most times the problem is wet wood. Next is poor draft. After that, a fear of burning hot enough.

Fill that fire box up with wood, let it get good and hot and then shut the air down. It will crank out the heat.

When I first started I would throw a couple of pieces of wood on and get a bit of heat out, but as I got more and more comfortable with it I added more and more wood. At some point you get the secondaries going and the heat really starts to get produced.

I'm with the others; load it up, burn it fairly hot and shut it down to let the secondaries do their job.
That insert is not going to stay clean inside; period. Let her rip!

I have had similar frustrations and not the same stove but now feel safe in getting a good hot fire going, then letting it drop to about 350 degrees and then loading it up on hot coals and I just loaded it really up( i have never before really stuffed it) and went into the kitchen to cut some cheese up and peperoni etc and got ready to sit and watch the football game and when I went past the stove noticed the bugger was at over 700 degrees so shut down the damper and shut down the air and it is now cruising at 550 having let a little air in when I went by and it was at 450 so opened up what my stove calls a thermostat. I still have trouble getting the room to 70 degrees but still wating for the installer to come back to move the stove out of the fireplace so I am getting the heat off the sides and back as well as top and front. right now heating stones up and we do not burn 24/7 so the stones do not heat enough to throw off heat enough to heat the room up enough for me.
Do not be afraid of the stove, get a good fire going, let it heat up to about 550 or so and then let it burn down to hot coals and then load her up and control the temp with your air control. I was afraid also.

i DO NOT KNOW YOUR STOVE BUT 650 should not have anything glow red SO maybe your thermometer you are looking at is bad, I do nothave your stove so you need your friend or someone to chime in and say that glowing red is much hotter than 650. That would be when I call my stove store or manufacturer tomorrow morning with questions of should that area be red hot, and all the other questions you may have. IT is frustrating to have a new stove but it will be fine I am sure just let the stove people know your problems and it will be fine.

This is my second year with the I3100 and so far I am quite pleased. I have increased the house temp from 72ish last year to as high as 78 if I really crank the thing. There is definately a learning curve and I'm sure that you'll notice an improvement with the stove's performance as you become more familiar with its use. Did you say if there was a block plate installed, or are you losing a lot of heat up the chimney? Although it sounds like you're achieving high temps for brief periods, I think that your wood may be suspect. Maybe you could get some properly seasoned wood from your friend or try buying a package of Bio-Bricks at the local stove store to see if you can improve things with some different fuel.
Rich

SolaGracia,
Your I3100 will treat you well after some time spent together. I was always afraid to bring the stove up to temp before turning down the draft, it will become more comfortable with experience. I only use Envi8 blocks and have learned how to grab the most heat I can out of the stove.

I also had the third burn tube fall out on me one night after a cleaning... no big deal just replace it a little tighter. The paint issue happened as well, the inside of wood burners are not meant to be pretty so do not be concerned.

The issue with the stove glowing red has not occurred with me however. The best I can claim is the third burn tube glowing and that was when I was still a rookie. Perhaps the thermostat for the fan needs to be replaced. Mine kicks on at about 250 stove face temperature. I bring the stove to about 425 measured with a IR gun just above the crown in the door and throttle it down. She will burn for almost 2 hours above 460-475 and my first floor reaches almost 76 and its been cold!

Give it time, dont be afraid to experiment and use well seasoned wood. You have a good stove. Good Luck and dont give up, it just takes practice. Don't be afraid to ask questions, that why we are all here.

John

Sola,
From what you stated about getting the top of your I3100L red hot and the statement out an air tube falling out, I've got to ask two questions ..... 1) Are the two clay baffels in place above the air tubes and spread left-right as far as possible? 2) Are the 4 air tubes in their proper places? The front 3 are 3/4"D and the back one 1"D. They should be tight when installed properly; in fact a pair of vice-grips and a mallet (to hit the vice-grips) are normally required to install/remove the air tubes.

What you see that looks like paint is most likely creosote as others have mentioned. I run my I3100 around 500-550 on the top which is about 450-475 on the front face above the door inbetween the L-R air outlets. (Its not actually separate outlets, it just has the appearance as you are aware). I use a high quality IR Therm, not an "el-cheapo", but everyone has their favorite therms and/or comfortable price range. Like others have said also - the wood moisture is highly suspect if you're having difficulty regulating the temp with this insert. 20% or less moisture content should let you establish a good burn, close the air off to 1/2 and maintain 475 degrees on the front for 3/4 of the burn. (3/4 full box)

The size of the splits will also dictate how quickly cruise temp is established also. I try using 4" splits or smaller to get up to temp and achieve "Houston, we have a go" within 20 minutes. If some larger and/or wood exceeding 23% moisture content is used, it takes about 40 minutes to achieve blast off. For some reason 23% seems to be the "burn/no burn" point with my setup.

The I3100L is a hoss and heats my entire 2600 sq ft house - which means absolutely nothing due to variations in floorplans, insulation factors, windows, ceiling heights, etc. My house happens to be single story ranch with the ceiling being 14" cathedral in the room with the fireplace, fan from the ceiling running, R45 attic insulation throughout, etc etc.

Hope this helps just a tad. Like everyone else said - it takes a while to learn the I3100L. Just like my 1962 Homelite Zip chainsaw - IT tells ME how it wants to run and try to learn.
RK

Hmmm...... you must have had a "grand" fire going to turn the top plate red with the baffles in place and spread. If they are not spread the flames will "wrap around" and transfer more heat in localized area of the steel, which is what I would expect with the redness you described. Of course that's in a peak fire. I actually let one burn get away from me - due to non-attention and got temps up around 800 before my brain kicked in and realized I actually wasn't welding anything at the moment. duhhhh......
The holes in the air tubes may not line up from tube to tube. Just be sure they are fully set in their slot and you'll be fine. I'm not really surprised when someone questions the accuracy of their spring-type high-temp therm. With each heat/cool cycle they change ever so slightly most of the time. Sometimes they are just inaccurate to start with for one reason or another - just like anything else that is manufactured.
I am burning mostly Hackberry that has not been "dried" a full 12 months and find that at 1/2 throttle it gives a cleaner burn. I can go down to 1/4, but have plenty wood and prefer to keep everything as clean as possible. I have burned some good pine and it burned best at 1/4 open. Like yours, my fan is usually on low because of exactly what you stated. I'm burning 24/7 now also, so there isn't much of a wait to get temps up. I put 6 splits in last night about 10:30PM, charred them well, put the air throttle at just below 1/2 and at 5:30AM this morning the house was 65 degrees. Outside temp was 14.
Hang in there with the I3100L - you'll both level out together and it'll be just about the same time !
Just curiosity - you mentioned $4300 - was that the price of unit with insulated SS flue and installation? (just trying to keep a level base in relation to prices around here)
RK

LLigetfa said:

Ja, well... reading what some people post here is like reading letters to Playboy. Of course everyone thinks their wood is dry enough and there's no shortage of people offering anecdotal evidence of burning fresh cut wood and then there's the "my wood is too dry" crowd. No wonder people here have performance anxiety. You will eventually get into the groove and find your own truth.

As said many times, most times the problem is wet wood. Next is poor draft. After that, a fear of burning hot enough.

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Lord forgive me for this one . . .

Dear Hearth.com:

Long time subscriber, I mean reader, first time (well maybe not the first time) poster. I never thought anything like this would happen to me . . . I mean I've often read posts from other members and thought this stuff was made up. I mean the stuff I read is the stuff of fantasies . . . people talking about burning pine in their woodstoves, ordinary men and women talking about wild and crazy times with just them and their Fiskars and of course the stories where guys have actually had not one, but two woodstoves, running hot at the same time.

In any case, you're never going to believe this, but the other day I burned some seasoned pine in my Jotul Oslo and it was amazing . . . not only did it not burn down my house and block off the chimney with creosote, but it actually produced meaningful heat. In fact, at one point it was so hot in the room that my wife came in wearing nothing but a slinky negligee and a come-hither look in her eyes . . . however, I was so entranced by the dancing flames of the secondary combustion that I just couldn't tear myself away from the stove and for over a half hour I just sat in front of the Oslo with tears streaming down my eyes . . . I never thought that I would live out such a fantasy . . . a day when I could burn pine in my woodstove.

Thanks again Hearth.com.

Firefighterjake

P.S. I really liked last month's centerfold . . . that Woodstock Fireview was soooooo hot with the stacked stone hearth. I tore this page out and now have it hanging in my garage next to the 55-gallon drum stove that I'm stuck with for now.