New HI300, need advice

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.

Colleen and Jeff

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 30, 2010
4
South Jersey
We had an HI300 installed on Dec 15. We're not getting the heat we expected. We can get the room temp up to 73 ish, but that's as hot as it gets, and it doesn't stay there. We're still getting the curing-enamel smell when it gets all the way hot, after 2 weeks of use. We have a 2000 sq ft colonial, and we have a curtain hung to block the upstairs and also keep the door to our back room closed. Our home isn't tight, but we have draft blockers in the doors and windows, and the temps haven't been below the 20s.

Our dealer/installer is saying it's our wood, but we believe our wood is good, and we burned a day's worth of kiln-dried prepackaged wood from Lowes without any improvement.

A full load is lasting about 3 hours, and everything is embers by then. We can't get it to stay hot all night, although there are enough embers to restart in the morning. But then it takes a couple of hours to get the house back up to 70 (we have our furnace set to come on at 60 overnight.) We're also producing a lot of ash; it needs to be emptied ever couple of days. We've followed instructions here about how to load, slowly closing off the damper, etc.

I read a great thread here, and suspect our trouble is that there is no insulation on our liner. We have a 25+, external chimney. Our dealer/installer said that the install kit came with an insulated blanket that they didn't use. The front of the stove is also off-kilter. One of the side pieces is crooked, and the hinge-side of the door rubs enough that the enamel is scraped off. They are willing to come back to straighten the front and lay on the blanket, but that's it.

I called another Hampton dealer in our area to ask if they'd insulate the liner for us and install a block plate. They said they'll need to replace the cap, and will install insulation at the top of the chimney only, for just under $400. They said they install about 100 of these per year with this method, and the only complaints they get are that it's too hot!

Thanks for reading. I want to be nice and toasty. We'd appreciate any advice:)
 
Sounds like it may have too much draft if your only getting 3 hour burns, is this at the lowest air setting? Maybe too much heat is going up the chimney with higher air settings? A block off plate or even stuffing insulation up in the old fireplace damper area will also help keep some heat from rising up the chimney.Does your insert have a blower? If so what setting do you normally run it at? Sometimes a higher blower setting can effect the burn by cooling the fire box, try leaving it at low and see if it blows hotter air.
 
We leave the damper wide open until all the wood is burning well, then close it a small amount every 10-15 minutes. If I close it too quickly, we get black smoke out the chimney and the fire starts to smolder rather than burn, so we open it up a bit again.

The insert does have a blower, and it's on auto. We turn it to the high setting when it's really hot.

We generally do not close it all the way down and almost always have the fan on (except when starting up each AM). When all the way closed and/or the fan is off, we don't get much heat output. Sitting 3 feet in front of the stove you can feel heat. Six feet across the room, not so much. So we use the fan for heat output, and since the fan is on, the damper is open at least a little.
 
The wood may be semi-dry which is not helping heat output. Unfortunately, some store bought wood is no better. Dry wood gives off the most heat. But for a first step, I suspect a portion of the heat from the insert is getting sucked out by the cold exterior fireplace masonry. Have a damper-seal, block off plate installed and there should be a nice improvement in heat output.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Why_damper_seal_is_needed/

Additionally, it sounds like there is a fair amount of heat loss judging by the house description. Addressing the heat loss is going to provide you with the best long term gains, year round. A cheap first step is caulking and using foam strips or Mortite to seal up all cracks. Doors should be tightly weatherstripped. This doesn't cost much and can make a big difference. A 1/16" gap around a single door is like having a 7" hole in the door.

PS: Most of us here now get our wood stacked and drying in early springtime. If you purchase wood, plan on getting it in April or May and stacking it then, covered on the top only.
 
Sounds like the wood is not seasoned enough. I have the same stove and have seen the same problem when I had a few pieces of unseasoned oak mixed in with one of my stacks (my fault). I saw the exact thing you are describing. It would just ruin the entire burn cycle. I do have a block-off plate installed. Not sure if it helps or not, but the concept did make sense. This stove does like to run hot. Once you get the fire really going and the stove is nice and hot you will see the secondaries kick-in and the air blowing out from the top will warm up your room to temps higher than 73 degrees.

My liner is at least 25' long and is not insulated. No glazing or nasty stuff like that. My first fires were terrible. It did take several burns before the stove "cured" and started to burn well.
 
These units do like to run hot! Any unseasoned wood will rear its ugly head.

There can be upwards between 5 and 10 pounds of water in the firebrick and baffles that will have to cure and burn off, as well as oils and paints.

When i do test fires for new installs, water runs everywhere. It can be unbelieveable at times.

Wet wood on a virgin stove will make it hard to get any heat!
 
Do not get discouraged. This stove will heat your 2000 sq ft home. My stove heats our 2000 sq ft home. As others mentioned, find your heat loss spots. If you have any bathroom vents, shut the doors to these rooms when not in use. If you have a attic entry way in your ceiling, make sure it's buttoned up tight.

Use a candle or incents to find where your heat is moving. Go to doorways or entry ways into other rooms. This will tell you where you heat moves naturally. How well is your home insulated? If it's 20 degrees out, you should be able to keep you home warm. Obviously, the further away from the stove, the cooler it gets. Stoves have a high and low point; you can't expect to maintain a constant temp like central heat.

I'm in my third burn season and still finding ways to keep the heat in the rooms that I want. Good luck and keep using this forum, it's loaded with answers.
 
I too just had the same insert installed on Dec. 30. along with an uninsulated liner due to the size/shape of our flue cap.
The first few fires were hard to get going, but I have burned the three to five small fires they recommend and now it works great. My ranch house is about 1800 sq. ft. and not a open plan by any means. In the living room I am getting temps of 81-82 at times. I usually turn our furnace fan on to circulate the hot air for about a half hour and cool the living room. By the way, I am new to a wood insert so I am experimenting. This site has alot of knowlegable people with very good input.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.