Hampton HI200 up and running

[Andy S.]

Insert was installed yesterday in a Heatilator EC36 ZC firebox with 25' of 5.5" insulated liner to the top of the chimney. As my luck would have it, 70* temperatures accompanied the install so the initial burn to cure the paint turned the place into a sweat box.

I know from my searches that many of the threads mentioning HI200 are largely related to its big brother 300. Hopefully this one gets comments that help others down the road (and me now).

For all the research I did on small box inserts, there will still be a huge learning curve. Here is where I'm at so far:

1) Small fire with with kindling and small shorts to heat up unit slowly and get some coals. The wood I used is from a downed Bradford Pear tree that checks under 20% MC. Once it had been burning for 30 min or so I closed the door completely. I was surprised to see that the fire was quickly damped to almost nothing and that the small secondary burn there was lasted only a few seconds. That kind of bothered me but I figured it was just because it was such a small load and not hot enough. I cracked the door again, and the flames immediately came back strong. I kept the door cracked and put the old screen in front to let it go to coals. Paint smell wasn't bad. Windows were open more to cool things off than to vent fumes.

The chimney draws well and it was under bad conditions. Our prevailing breeze is out of the west. Yesterday was warm and humid with a damp breeze from the east. These conditions sometimes make it hard to even have a fire pit because the smoke just lingers.

2) I pulled the coals to the front, and planned to load three splits to try for a real fire. I immediately touched the burn tubes trying to place the first split in the back and then touched them again trying to place a split on top of it. I will be getting gloves. This is a small firebox and something those of us with no choice have to manage.

Those two burns and one minute later the load was engulfed in flames. I let it burn for 5 minutes and then shut the door.The fire disappeared. There was a very short secondary burn and then that disappeared as well. I moved the draft lever from fully open to fully closed and back with no change. I chalked it up to the fire not being hot enough, opened the door a crack and the flames jumped back into action.

After another 5 minutes the fire was roaring and I could almost watch the wood being consumed. Figuring it HAD to be hot enough now, I closed the door. The fire immediately went down but stayed lit for about 30 seconds. I played with the draft control again to no avail. I figured I'd leave the door closed with full draft air and see what happened.

3) Ran out with stove in condition above to get an IR thermometer. Returned home to find the temp rising in the house but no flames in the firebox. I slowly opened the door and the flames sprang back. The glass is now covered in creosote.I close the door again, the flames disappear again. The wall opposite the insert (15' away) is 80*. The now black glass on the insert is 560* but I'm not sure what the reading means. There is still no visible flame.

4) Closed stove back up, told wife I was letting it burn out and went to watch UFC.

Came home to a really warm to the touch stove, embers in the firebox, black glass and the glue-on "Hampton" logo off the stove from the heat. I can't imagine that I burned it too hot. There was no fire in the firebox.

5) Called dealer today to mention the draft air issue. I still believe this is operator error, but I can't for the life of me think what I'm doing wrong. More, I *think* the draft air enters the stove at a small hump in the bottom front of the firebox but when I slide the the lever I see no brightness change in the coals from closed to open. Dealer said he'd mention it to tech people and call me Tuesday.

That is all for now.

 

[velvetfoot]

Once it had been burning for 30 min or so I closed the door completely.

That seems like a long time to me with dry wood. I would keep the door opened a little while just so things get going, close the door with rod all the way out in startup mode til all the wood gets charred, then push the rod back in increments.

I was surprised to see that the fire was quickly damped to almost nothing

You did have the rod pulled out all the way? I do find that the fire is very controllable with the rod. Unless you have "open" confused with "closed", there could be something wrong with the draft control since it burns so well with the door cracked open. This is something for the dealer to check out, for sure, if that's the case (imagine trying to take the thing out and apart to see if things are working well-ugh.

I will be getting gloves

Get the welders gloves for a little more protection on the forearms.

 

[Andy S.]

This is something for the dealer to check out, for sure, if that's the case (imagine trying to take the thing out and apart to see if things are working well-ugh.

Yeah... It would be my luck, though. My draft control lever moves left (open) to right rather than in and out. I can hear it sliding and feel resistance from the mechanism so I'm really hoping it relates to the weird weather conditions I briefly described. I'm keeping an eye on this discussion for that reason: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/interesting-thermodynamics.117801/#post-1576147.

Get the welders gloves for a little more protection on the forearms.

Thanks. They were on the list when I ran out for the IR but they had only one pair and they were too small.

 

[velvetfoot]

Yeah... It would be my luck, though. My draft control lever moves left (open) to right rather than in and out. I can hear it sliding and feel resistance from the mechanism so I'm really hoping it relates to the weird weather conditions I briefly described. I'm keeping an eye on this discussion for that reason: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/interesting-thermodynamics.117801/#post-1576147.

To open the draft, you pull out the rod, which is on the left side of the stove. It is pulled to the left, right?
According to your manual, http://www.regency-fire.com/Files/Manuals/HI200-918-739.aspx , page 14:

"DRAFT CONTROL
Before establishing your first fire, it is important
that you fully understand the operation of draft
control. The draft control rod is on the left side
of the Insert and it controls the intensity of the
fire by increasing or decreasing the amount
of air allowed into the firebox. To increase the
draft, slide the rod to the left and to decrease
the draft, slide the rod to the right.'

I find I can control the fire really well, to the point that if I close it too quickly, it can turn down the flames a lot. It seems more controllable than my previous Quadrafire 2700i, maybe because the Quad had more standby air.

 

[Andy S.]

It is pulled to the left, right?

Correct. I misunderstood what you meant by "pull." I've seen some inserts where the draft is controlled with pulling out and pushing in.

According to your manual

I practically committed the thing to memory in my research.

 

[velvetfoot]

Well, it'll get cool again soon and you can give it a good workout again.

 

[Andy S.]

Well, it'll get cool again soon and you can give it a good workout again.

Back at it tonight. Cool isn't cold but it is better than what we had over the weekend. I'm hoping the theory on the weird conditions is proven correct and I get a good clean fire going. The wife will probably want to call for the white coats when she sees me monitoring air flow by holding lengths of TP between the rooms. If so I'll just remind her how tired she got of my strategic use of the MC meter and IR thermometer.

 

[velvetfoot]

Well, she might also frown on the incense sticks I used, as did my wife.

 

[Andy S.]

Learned a lot tonight. It was easy to start the fire when I got home at 6:00. Let the initial fire burn for 20 minutes before adding some bigger splits (no such thing as a "big" split for a 1.4 firebox). They caught immediately. I closed the door after 10 minutes and the fire went down to almost nothing with the draft wide open. Cracked the door and let it have another five minutes. Closed the door and the fire stayed but was very sluggish. Went outside to stack some wood. Yadda, yadda, came back in,smoldering fire, black glass, draft air still wide open and I'm convinced either my MC meter is giving bad readings or Bradford Pear is actually coal. Still can't get myself to think it is the insert.

I have to admit...I am pretty angry/disappointed at this point.I decided to let it go almost to coals by tending the door so only minimal air got in. You could hear the air rushing in and the flame felt like a blow torch. Hot, hot coals now. Made a channel in the middle, piled the coals to either side so the wood I was about to load sat on top of them with air underneath and loaded the box as tight as I could. Success!

The load went up in flames almost instantly. When I closed the door after 5 minutes the fire acted like I expected it to act. After a few minutes it had recovered and the glass started to clear. A few minutes later I was able to start reducing the draft to play with the fire.

Could it be all the cast iron taking a long time to warm up? If so,I'm thinking my cold start routine will take about an hour and consume a fair amount of wood.

 

[Andy S.]

Last night's successful burn was loaded at 9:30. This morning at 5:45 the front of the stove was warm to the touch and there were coals. I pulled the coals to the sides, loaded it up and had fire at the left side of the box in a couple of minutes. There were many more useful coals to the right of the box this morning and the fire caught at the left at the door opening. I'm wondering if this insert will burn left to right because of how long I have to leave the door open to get it going?

 

[velvetfoot]

It could be the wood. As far as I know, that air control disc, or whatever, while buried inside somewhere, is pretty simple and should be hard to mess up when manufacturing. You're not blocking the air hole with wood or something like that. When you got it going well, did the air control lever have any effect at all?

It could be that the wood could be drier and only will take off when it gets lots of air.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Draft is better in colder weather. I have it's big brother- I leave the door cracked just a couple of minutes to get it ripping, close door, full open air damper, close that a little at a time as the fire gets more intense. Did you split that wood and check MC on the interior?

I hate to do it- but you might go buy a bundle of that super dry wood at the grocery store and try that. If it works easily, then it's likely wood MC.

 

[Andy S.]

I agree on the wood but random resplits from the same windfall tree were 18% weeks ago. There has been no hissing at all and I've tried to be careful to use known (I thought) dry wood because of all the reading I've done here and how often problems turn out to be wood. I tested a lot of wood with that meter before I started chasing the wife around the house with it. I will buy grocery store wood on the way home for tonight's ride on the learning curve. Thanks!

 

[Andy S.]

Bought the wood and mixed it in with the wood I've been using. Had a good, hot, controllable first fire and then made a rookie mistake. I wanted to go to bed and did not feel like babysitting the overnight load of wood until it could be left alone so I started loaded the firebox before it was ready. It took off like like a rocket. The firebox was full of flames within a couple of minutes. When I shut the door the secondaries were roaring, I started hearing ticking sounds from the heat, my IR was maxed out and reading "err" at my reference spot and I started wondering if I was experiencing a runaway. I moved the draft fully closed and it had no impact. I gave it a few minutes fully closed and there was no change. I very slowly cracked the door to break the secondaries. This made the regular flames roar, of course. I slowly opened the door in stages to cool things off. Anyway... lesson learned. I'll never fill the firebox before the coals are properly burned down again.

 

[velvetfoot]

I think you're worrying too much. I wouldn't mess with that door as much as you're doing. The secondaries are doing their job. The fan removes heat-the higher speed removes more.

 

[Andy S.]

I think you're worrying too much.

You are probably right. With what I described, what would you be looking for to determine if there was a problem?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I load it full to the top before I ever strike a match.

 

[velvetfoot]

I don't think there's a problem at all, although you seem to indicate that the store-bought wood might have helped. If you have a real good bed of coals or burning wood there's probably no need to crack the door. I got that a similar effect yesterday-there wasn't that much room left on top and the secondaries were humming. Closing the draft lever should have an impact, though maybe not so much on the secondary air. If the air lever is closed and the fan is on, high if you think things are real hot, I bet there woulnd't be a problem. I can look through warm air outlet and see the top of the insert. It's not supposed to glow. That happened once when I wasn't paying attention and didn't have the fan on.

 

[Andy S.]

I can look through warm air outlet and see the top of the insert.

Great tip - thanks! I will look tonight to see if I can do the same. General comment... a tip like that should be in the manual.

 

[velvetfoot]

It's in my manual so maybe you can't see the top of yours.

 

[velvetfoot]

I clicked the link above. Here's what your manual says. I'm not sure if my manual says anything about looking through those slots, but...:

7) Do not overfire your insert. If the insert or its
flue baffle begin to glow, you are overfiring.
Stop adding fuel and close the draft control.
Overfiring can cause extensive damage to
your stove including warpage and premature
steel corrosion. Overfiring will void your
warranty.

 

[Andy S.]

The flue baffle being brick I didn't think it could glow. I would think the tubes glowing is a common thing. I searched and sure enough, there are threads discussing glowing firebrick. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can see the top through the air outlet. Also... I looked at your manual. I like your draft control a lot better than mine.

 

[Andy S.]

I don't think there's a problem at all, although you seem to indicate that the store-bought wood might have helped.

I had a good burn with my own wood the night before and mixed the store-bought wood in with mine last night. Since my wood checked under 20%, I'm thinking it is more likely that it was the normal breaking-in process. If all goes well from here on out I'll assume that is the case because I'm not buying any more kiln-dried wood.

 

[Andy S.]

Only news on the HI200 is that the fan stopped working in auto mode. It was only in the 40's last night so just had a small fire. It was plenty hot, though. The fan should have kicked on. I ran it in manual on low. Will call the dealer today. It causes me to wonder how big a role the blower plays in preventing overfiring the insert?

 

[velvetfoot]

The thermo snap switch has to be in good contact with the stove body. Maybe it's bracket has to be bent or something. That's what happened with mine-they also replaced the switch while they were out here, just in case. However, it does take a little while for the area the switch is in contact with to get warm enough if the stove is started from cold. I just turn the fan on manual if I'm starting from cold, and switch it back later.