Stove temp is funky...input needed!!!

[davenorthshorema]

I have a Regency I1200 insert in a interior chimney with a full liner, cap, the whole nine yards. Roughly about a month ago while the inlaws were in town I had a chance to fire her up on a cold close to 20's night and had the fire roaring with the secondary going and really impressed my father inlaw. I have a rutland thermo on the front door and that night i was able to get her at 450-475. this was the highest I have had her and it was perfect because the house was a consistant 78 degrees...the wife was thrilled.
After that night I was assured that the colder outside it is the better the stove would work and with milder night in the 30's I was convinced....until that last few nights.
It has been in the 20's here in massachusetts even breaking into the teens and I have had a tough time getting the stove up to the 450 mark. We have also struggled to get the stove up to 70 degrees in the home and the stove temp running at 300. It also doesn't stay consistant for long dropping to 250 and the 200 before I reload to try the whole thing again.
I have no idea if I am doing any thing wrong or the high temp that i was reading was a fluke and this is just the way this stove runs. Any imput would be helpful. Free free to ask any questions if you have any regarding this.

Thanks for reading and look forward to your responses

Dave

 

[davenorthshorema]

I wonder if my air intake is slightly clogged...any thoughts on this...if so how do I check if it is so and how would I go about clearing the intake. Just a thought.

Thanks!

 

[woodconvert]

Gotta ask...is your wood good and dry?. How long has it been stacked?. Typically the wood on the very top of a stack is dryer quicker and the wood further down. Been my sperience' that if you've got good wood it's somewhat hard to run a stove that cold. Maybe you are farther down on the pile???.

 

[davenorthshorema]

Gotta ask...is your wood good and dry?. How long has it been stacked?. Typically the wood on the very top of a stack is dryer quicker and the wood further down. Been my sperience' that if you've got good wood it's somewhat hard to run a stove that cold. Maybe you are farther down on the pile???.

The wood has seasoned for two years and ignites fairly quickly with no sizzling.

 

[matt701]

Do you think it's possible the first time you heated it up that hot, some creosote dislodged possibly into the cap and is affecting your draft? Does any smoke spill when you open the door?

 

[woodconvert]

Gotta ask...is your wood good and dry?. How long has it been stacked?. Typically the wood on the very top of a stack is dryer quicker and the wood further down. Been my sperience' that if you've got good wood it's somewhat hard to run a stove that cold. Maybe you are farther down on the pile???.

The wood has seasoned for two years and ignites fairly quickly with no sizzling.

Odd. I don't think I could get my stove to run 300 with two year seasoned.
Have you been up top to see if the cap is plugged?.
Do you have an exterior cleanout with a door?
I'm guessing that is not how your stove runs nor was it a fluke you had it running at 450+. Something changed.

 

[davenorthshorema]

Do you think it's possible the first time you heated it up that hot, some creosote dislodged possibly into the cap and is affecting your draft? Does any smoke spill when you open the door?

Hm... This is a new install so I'm not sure if cresote build up would clog the cap. Think it's still worth looking into tomorrow morning to check the cap? I have not had smoke spill into the house from the door....thanks for the help

 

[woodconvert]

Do you think it's possible the first time you heated it up that hot, some creosote dislodged possibly into the cap and is affecting your draft? Does any smoke spill when you open the door?

Hm... This is a new install so I'm not sure if cresote build up would clog the cap. Think it's still worth looking into tomorrow morning to check the cap? I have not had smoke spill into the house from the door....thanks for the help

What type of chimney is it?..masonry, class A?..interior or exterior??.

It'd be my guess that it's not drafting correctly for some reason...clooged cap, dislodged creosote, open cleanout door, etc.. Check all the easy stuff then get up on the roof and give a looksey. Though, on a new install with two year seasoned wood i'd it seems unlikely it's a creosote issue.

When you get it going as good as you can...does it make much difference when you open or crack the door???

 

[davenorthshorema]

Gotta ask...is your wood good and dry?. How long has it been stacked?. Typically the wood on the very top of a stack is dryer quicker and the wood further down. Been my sperience' that if you've got good wood it's somewhat hard to run a stove that cold. Maybe you are farther down on the pile???.

The wood has seasoned for two years and ignites fairly quickly with no sizzling.

Odd. I don't think I could get my stove to run 300 with two year seasoned.
Have you been up top to see if the cap is plugged?.
Do you have an exterior cleanout with a door?
I'm guessing that is not how your stove runs nor was it a fluke you had it running at 450+. Something changed.

It is odd. I will have to let the stove cool tonight and check the cap tomorrow morning for blockage. This makes me wonder if when I add more wood i need to have the door cracked open to get the flames to fire up...then eventually close the door with the air intake fully opened. My stove is installed in an interior chimney so I do not have a clean out door to check. Looks like i have more investigating to do. thanks again

 

[woodconvert]

This makes me wonder if when I add more wood i need to have the door cracked open to get the flames to fire up...then eventually close the door with the air intake fully opened. My stove is installed in an interior chimney so I do not have a clean out door to check. Looks like i have more investigating to do. thanks again

With a good bed of coals you shouldn't need to open the front door. I just threw on three sticks of ash (aaaaaand burnt myself again right where the glove stops :sick: ) and they were on fire within literally seconds of hitting the ash bed. When you add wood it's good to let it get going again before you cut off the air...have you been doing that?. When you add wood is there a good 2-3 inch coal bed?

 

[davenorthshorema]

This makes me wonder if when I add more wood i need to have the door cracked open to get the flames to fire up...then eventually close the door with the air intake fully opened. My stove is installed in an interior chimney so I do not have a clean out door to check. Looks like i have more investigating to do. thanks again

With a good bed of coals you shouldn't need to open the front door. I just threw on three sticks of ash (aaaaaand burnt myself again right where the glove stops :sick: ) and they were on fire within literally seconds of hitting the ash bed. When you add wood it's good to let it get going again before you cut off the air...have you been doing that?. When you add wood is there a good 2-3 inch coal bed?

I do have an ash bed when I reload. I would have the air open fully for about 10 minutes before I choke her down. But usually don't choke her down until I am clear of 300 degrees. If I wait any longer half the wood has burned down...I think I am doing newbie mistakes and need to work with the stove to burn correctly...thanks again for you input. I like all your ideas.

 

[woodconvert]

I do have an ash bed when I reload. I would have the air open fully for about 10 minutes before I choke her down. But usually don't choke her down until I am clear of 300 degrees. If I wait any longer half the wood has burned down...I think I am doing newbie mistakes and need to work with the stove to burn correctly...thanks again for you input. I like all your ideas

I wouldn't choke it down until you are 350+ (minimum). I can't believe you'd burn a bunk of wood and only hit 300 with two year seasoned wood.

Are you sure you are running it like when you hit the high temp awhile back????.
Tomorrow, if you have no creosote buildup and the cap aint plugged....run it like you stole it....and it's in someone else's house. BUT ONLY after you give it the full once over. Sumthin' aint addin' up.

 

[davenorthshorema]

I do have an ash bed when I reload. I would have the air open fully for about 10 minutes before I choke her down. But usually don't choke her down until I am clear of 300 degrees. If I wait any longer half the wood has burned down...I think I am doing newbie mistakes and need to work with the stove to burn correctly...thanks again for you input. I like all your ideas

I wouldn't choke it down until you are 350+ (minimum). I can't believe you'd burn a bunk of wood and only hit 300 with two year seasoned wood.

Are you sure you are running it like when you hit the high temp awhile back????.
Tomorrow, if you have no creosote buildup and the cap aint plugged....run it like you stole it....and it's in someone else's house. BUT ONLY after you give it the full once over. Sumthin' aint addin' up.

HEHE, Woodconvert...i'm taking your advise but doing it in different order. I think I may have been acting like a skirt so...reading from the 2-3 inch coal bed i burned the first load quickly to get the stove up to 250-300 and opened her up...scattered the coals and reloaded her and she is up to 350. I damped down and got her to 375...this doesn't sound like much of a jump with this air adjustment. the time before she jumped roughly 100 degrees which is what I want...a 450 500 degree stove. I will work a deep coal bed in hopes the temps will go up. Thanks again for you added help.

 

[davenorthshorema]

I have the stove at 375 degrees with the blowers on high. I damped down to 3/4 and is staying steady. if I left the damper open fully will it continue to get hotter?....

 

[woodconvert]

I do have an ash bed when I reload. I would have the air open fully for about 10 minutes before I choke her down. But usually don't choke her down until I am clear of 300 degrees. If I wait any longer half the wood has burned down...I think I am doing newbie mistakes and need to work with the stove to burn correctly...thanks again for you input. I like all your ideas

I wouldn't choke it down until you are 350+ (minimum). I can't believe you'd burn a bunk of wood and only hit 300 with two year seasoned wood.

Are you sure you are running it like when you hit the high temp awhile back????.
Tomorrow, if you have no creosote buildup and the cap aint plugged....run it like you stole it....and it's in someone else's house. BUT ONLY after you give it the full once over. Sumthin' aint addin' up.

HEHE, Woodconvert...i'm taking your advise but doing it in different order. I think I may have been acting like a skirt so...reading from the 2-3 inch coal bed i burned the first load quickly to get the stove up to 250-300 and opened her up...scattered the coals and reloaded her and she is up to 350. I damped down and got her to 375...this doesn't sound like much of a jump with this air adjustment. the time before she jumped roughly 100 degrees which is what I want...a 450 500 degree stove. I will work a deep coal bed in hopes the temps will go up. Thanks again for you added help.

Better to be cautious than over aggressive.

Well, you are making progress. Just for giggles, tomorrow give it the once over for saftey sake. If it's all good run it up to 400+ before you dampen it down. If you need to add wood before you dampen it down then do it (on a fresh start on my stove I run just about 2 bunks of wood wide open before I throttle back...easily an hour but i've got an all masonry chimney...which takes more to heat up). See from there if you can achive the 450+ you are looking for (I think you will).

One more question... when you first fire it up, how long does it take for you to get to 300F or to the 350F you just got to?

 

[davenorthshorema]

I do have an ash bed when I reload. I would have the air open fully for about 10 minutes before I choke her down. But usually don't choke her down until I am clear of 300 degrees. If I wait any longer half the wood has burned down...I think I am doing newbie mistakes and need to work with the stove to burn correctly...thanks again for you input. I like all your ideas

I wouldn't choke it down until you are 350+ (minimum). I can't believe you'd burn a bunk of wood and only hit 300 with two year seasoned wood.

Are you sure you are running it like when you hit the high temp awhile back????.
Tomorrow, if you have no creosote buildup and the cap aint plugged....run it like you stole it....and it's in someone else's house. BUT ONLY after you give it the full once over. Sumthin' aint addin' up.

HEHE, Woodconvert...i'm taking your advise but doing it in different order. I think I may have been acting like a skirt so...reading from the 2-3 inch coal bed i burned the first load quickly to get the stove up to 250-300 and opened her up...scattered the coals and reloaded her and she is up to 350. I damped down and got her to 375...this doesn't sound like much of a jump with this air adjustment. the time before she jumped roughly 100 degrees which is what I want...a 450 500 degree stove. I will work a deep coal bed in hopes the temps will go up. Thanks again for you added help.

So I think that i was a bit timid while working the stove. I usually tend to it to closely and remember that I let the stove be with the damper open for a while and this is what i just did. I have the stove at 400 right know and it is warm in the house. It usually takes me about an hour or so to get to 300 degress on a cold start. I have not gotten the stove to 500 yet but i will do the safety thinks you indicated during the day tomorrow and shoot for the 500 degree mark. Thanks again for you help

Better to be cautious than over aggressive.

Well, you are making progress. Just for giggles, tomorrow give it the once over for saftey sake. If it's all good run it up to 400+ before you dampen it down. If you need to add wood before you dampen it down then do it (on a fresh start on my stove I run just about 2 bunks of wood wide open before I throttle back...easily an hour but i've got an all masonry chimney...which takes more to heat up). See from there if you can achive the 450+ you are looking for (I think you will).

One more question... when you first fire it up, how long does it take for you to get to 300F or to the 350F you just got to?

 

[woodconvert]

Post an update tomorrow if you would.

 

[mikepinto65]

I have a Regency I1200 insert in a interior chimney with a full liner, cap, the whole nine yards. Roughly about a month ago while the inlaws were in town I had a chance to fire her up on a cold close to 20's night and had the fire roaring with the secondary going and really impressed my father inlaw. I have a rutland thermo on the front door and that night i was able to get her at 450-475. this was the highest I have had her and it was perfect because the house was a consistant 78 degrees...the wife was thrilled.
After that night I was assured that the colder outside it is the better the stove would work and with milder night in the 30's I was convinced....until that last few nights.
It has been in the 20's here in massachusetts even breaking into the teens and I have had a tough time getting the stove up to the 450 mark. We have also struggled to get the stove up to 70 degrees in the home and the stove temp running at 300. It also doesn't stay consistant for long dropping to 250 and the 200 before I reload to try the whole thing again.
I have no idea if I am doing any thing wrong or the high temp that i was reading was a fluke and this is just the way this stove runs. Any imput would be helpful. Free free to ask any questions if you have any regarding this.

Thanks for reading and look forward to your responses

Dave

Dave, Im in Central Ma, and, after reading your post Im left a little puzzled myself. I have had the exact same problem with heating temp as you for the past three-four days. Two weeks ago my stove was running a smooth 500-550 for a few hours, now i bring to temp, damper down, and watch my thermo drop 2-3 hundred degrees. I thought it was the wood, bought kiln dried at the grocery store just to test out and had the same result! I thought the same....maybe my stove was clogged somewhere (still think it might be..) but after seeing your problem i wonder if it could be anything else? maybe we have some funky barometric pressure that could be affecting the performance? It is definitely frustrating, especially with this cold weather so i am curious to how you make out. Im playing with my stove some more to night but if i cant get better results im thinking i might do a real good cleaning tomorrow to try and solve the problem.

 

[woodconvert]

If you don't know it's clean top to bottom make sure it is so tomorow.

Once you are sure it's clean, burn good wood down until you get a good deep ash bed. Keep adding wood till you get to 400+ then fill er' up, let it get going and dampen down. It would take one hell of a pressure change to change the operation of your stove.....winds would probably have a more dramatic effect on it.

 

[Hogwildz]

Cutting that things air back at 300 or 350 is your problem. Let it get up to 450 or 500 then cut the air back.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Also, you don't want an ash bed for your reload, you want a really hot bright coal bed. You may be waiting a little too long to reload. I have a totally different set-up and stove, but I've found I have to catch the coal bed between 350 and 400 stovetop to get a good re-ignite. If I miss that spot, I only put a couple small splits in first with a full-open primary and wait until they're good and roaring and have brought the temp back up a bit before I load up completely. If you fill a stove with new (and therefore cold) wood when its temperature is on the way down, you're going to bring the temp down even further and it will be hard to get it really going again. My stove is a soapstone, which means the thermo on top is on a 15 or 20-minute delay from what's going on inside, but after a while, you get a sense of what it should look like when it's ready for another load-up.

 

[VanLandry]

--"Cutting that things air back at 300 or 350 is your problem. Let it get up to 450 or 500 then cut the air back. "

I agree with this. I put 10 bio-bricks on a decent bed of coals last night and since it was the 1st I've had so many in the stove at once and my worries that it would burn out of control I dampered down way too early and believe I could've had 10 bio-bricks smoldering at 250 degrees for hours. This morning, I started with just 3 bricks and got them going, added 6 more after a while and left the air intake opened until it hit 450 and I'm now cruising at 500. Obviously check your stack/stove for any problems but I'm guessing it's temp control more than anything.

 

[davenorthshorema]

--"Cutting that things air back at 300 or 350 is your problem. Let it get up to 450 or 500 then cut the air back. "

I agree with this. I put 10 bio-bricks on a decent bed of coals last night and since it was the 1st I've had so many in the stove at once and my worries that it would burn out of control I dampered down way too early and believe I could've had 10 bio-bricks smoldering at 250 degrees for hours. This morning, I started with just 3 bricks and got them going, added 6 more after a while and left the air intake opened until it hit 450 and I'm now cruising at 500. Obviously check your stack/stove for any problems but I'm guessing it's temp control more than anything.

i have the stove at 350 and it took aprox 2 hours to do so. i am on my second load and the primary is open full and has been from the beginning. I'm still having trouble getting it above 400 but i am hoping more time will bump the temp up. i am concerned about the coals that are building up. i guess smaller splits or softwood would be in order.

 

[gyrfalcon]

--"Cutting that things air back at 300 or 350 is your problem. Let it get up to 450 or 500 then cut the air back. "

I agree with this. I put 10 bio-bricks on a decent bed of coals last night and since it was the 1st I've had so many in the stove at once and my worries that it would burn out of control I dampered down way too early and believe I could've had 10 bio-bricks smoldering at 250 degrees for hours. This morning, I started with just 3 bricks and got them going, added 6 more after a while and left the air intake opened until it hit 450 and I'm now cruising at 500. Obviously check your stack/stove for any problems but I'm guessing it's temp control more than anything.

i have the stove at 350 and it took aprox 2 hours to do so. i am on my second load and the primary is open full and has been from the beginning. I'm still having trouble getting it above 400 but i am hoping more time will bump the temp up. i am concerned about the coals that are building up. i guess smaller splits or softwood would be in order.

I find that cutting back the primary about a quarter when the stove is at 350 is what bumps it up to 400. Seems counterintuitive, but there's a point when the primary air actually cools the fire, I guess, and it can draw the air it needs from the heated secondaries instead.

 

[davenorthshorema]

--"Cutting that things air back at 300 or 350 is your problem. Let it get up to 450 or 500 then cut the air back. "

I agree with this. I put 10 bio-bricks on a decent bed of coals last night and since it was the 1st I've had so many in the stove at once and my worries that it would burn out of control I dampered down way too early and believe I could've had 10 bio-bricks smoldering at 250 degrees for hours. This morning, I started with just 3 bricks and got them going, added 6 more after a while and left the air intake opened until it hit 450 and I'm now cruising at 500. Obviously check your stack/stove for any problems but I'm guessing it's temp control more than anything.

i have the stove at 350 and it took aprox 2 hours to do so. i am on my second load and the primary is open full and has been from the beginning. I'm still having trouble getting it above 400 but i am hoping more time will bump the temp up. i am concerned about the coals that are building up. i guess smaller splits or softwood would be in order.

I find that cutting back the primary about a quarter when the stove is at 350 is what bumps it up to 400. Seems counterintuitive, but there's a point when the primary air actually cools the fire, I guess, and it can draw the air it needs from the heated secondaries instead.

Well,

I turned the primary down a quarter at 350 and the stove temp went down to 300. what a learning curve this is. not sure where to go from here.