Help me not hate my Regency F3100.

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Thanks weatherguy. I hope he's got good wood!

Down to 650 now but still rolling. I'm leaving it and heading to bed! 76 in the room, 33 outside.
 
I know your wood stash sucks, and that's a s---y place to be, but running your stove up to 700+ degrees multiple times a day is going to destroy your stove. Try to fund a source for some dry untreated pallets or slab wood to mix in with your loads. Also, update your profile and signature with your location and stove model. This info helps and you might find that someone in your area is willing to help you or has some dry wood they are willing to sell you.

Could you please give us some details about your setup and install. We like details(i.e. liner, block off plates, insulation above and below block offs) and pics. More info gets better answers. You already have figured out one problem(your wood), but a 750 degree stove should be blasting in that room. I had a slightly smaller stove that ran me out of a 500 sqft. room at that temp, so something isn't right.

Good luck

Unfortunately I don't know a lot of details, and the things you mentioned as examples sound like a foreign language to me! :( I will post pictures tomorrow. I agree the stove should be blasting, totally, that is why I am here! :)

Thanks every body! Energy guy will be here at 9 am. Good night!
 
running your stove up to 700+ degrees multiple times a day is going to destroy your stove.

On that note, I have a Regency F2400 (little brother of your stove) that I just started burning this year. I was curious about what the maximum stove top temp the manufacturer recommends and they replied with "If you find the top plate, pipe glowing red then its over – fired."

So, if you were wondering why it wasn't in the manual... there it is :)
 
ok, not going to bed, updating profile instead.
Good to go, and thanks.

Don't want to keep you up, but please give us your install details tomorrow. If you don't know what a block off plate is, just do a search and you should get plenty of info. I did a pretty detailed post on my old install with pics that should give you an idea. Hope this helps.
 
On that note, I have a Regency F2400 (little brother of your stove) that I just started burning this year. I was curious about what the maximum stove top temp the manufacturer recommends and they replied with "If you find the top plate, pipe glowing red then its over – fired."

So, if you were wondering why it wasn't in the manual... there it is :)

The guy we bought it from said they get the WHOLE thing glowing orange when they test them.....his point was like it would be really hard to do it, and do any damage. Stood in my living room and told me that! Also told me to get it going and leave the door cracked a half hour to dry out my wood! (I don't do this.) I do wonder how I can get it so hot when my wood's so s****y.

p.s. How the heck did you find a way to contact the manufacturer? All I can figure out how to do is contact a dealer, and the one we got ours from isn't worth *#&*
 
The F3100 isn't an insert....wondering if that is why I don't know what that stuff is?

ok really seriously going to bed! ha!

Good to go, and thanks.

Don't want to keep you up, but please give us your install details tomorrow. If you don't know what a block off plate is, just do a search and you should get plenty of info. I did a pretty detailed post on my old install with pics that should give you an idea. Hope this helps.
 
The guy we bought it from said they get the WHOLE thing glowing orange when they test them.....his point was like it would be really hard to do it, and do any damage. Stood in my living room and told me that! Also told me to get it going and leave the door cracked a half hour to dry out my wood! (I don't do this.) I do wonder how I can get it so hot when my wood's so s****y.

p.s. How the heck did you find a way to contact the manufacturer? All I can figure out how to do is contact a dealer, and the one we got ours from isn't worth *#&*
Most manufacturers go through dealers and distributors, they don't deal directly through the customers.

You should never have to leave the door open for a half hour. The dealer is BS'ing you.
 
The F3100 isn't an insert....wondering if that is why I don't know what that stuff is?

ok really seriously going to bed! ha!
Ok, I thought you had the insert. Same principles should apply expect you probably vent into a thimble. Give us you install details tomorrow. Good night
 
I'm sorry I'm so late to this thread but just in the hope it helps let me add some additional "data". We have a Regency CS1200 which is 1/2 the size of the significantly larger 3100 but uses the same primary system and secondary system, baffle system, etc. The CS1200 will more than heat our home of approx 2000 sqft (that's including some "unconditioned" spaces that the regular furnace really doesn't do) without any worry even on coldest of days. Now we have taken extreme efforts to really tightly seal the home and to really thoroughly insulate the home and that always helps. Additionally we always run our furnace fan on fan only and we have returns and supplies on each of the three levels of our home. Lastly we happen to have cathedral ceilings leading from one level to the other levels (which typically would probably make things that much harder to heat but in our case it seems to significantly help with heating everything).

My point is that there are always differences in design and insulation and integrity etc of the structure but assuming you are not working against leaks and lack of insulation overall, I would have to add another vote to the fine folks who have already suggested above acceptable levels of moisture within the wood because that "big" 3100 should have no problem pushing heat to at least around 75 to 80 % of your home. I cannot remember the link that someone posted that sort of summarizes the science of heating with wood but basically, as others already mentioned, before you burn anything at all you dehumidify it down to nothing so more moisture is slowing the fire, cooling the fire, cooling the chimney, producing more problems with creosote, soot, smoke, etc. It sounds like you have a huge amount of wood readying itself for another winter and that is terrific but it also sound like you should probably start looking for some other source of seasoned wood so you can enjoy that excellent 3100 now. Hope that helps.

Ohh by the way to contact the manufacturer use this telephone number: (604) 946-5155. They are terrific about answering any questions. BTW, when I asked them about the max temps they also said the same thing about "not letting it get to glowing". I accidentally laughed out loud and said "seriously" and they told me "yes". After asking much more about my specific situation they told me that the 800 degrees I was running with regularly is totally acceptable and they simply suggested not running regularly above 1000 (measured from the top of our firebox not from the top of our stovetop which was separated by an airspace of 1/2 inch or so and therefore about 200 degrees cooler than top of our firebox). But to get the thing glowing you would have to have temps of almost 1200 degrees. In any case they don't seem the slightest concerned about running at 800 all the time. Ohh one other thing in the hope it helps, maybe I misunderstood what you were saying but if your stove top thermometer is off in measuring its cold temp, the hot temp is not necessarily a linear increase. It may be linear or it may not be linear but I'd softly suggest getting another accurate thermometer to help you have better results all around. Again hope all this actually helps.
 
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I know your wood stash sucks, and that's a s---y place to be, but running your stove up to 700+ degrees multiple times a day is going to destroy your stove. Try to fund a source for some dry untreated pallets or slab wood to mix in with your loads. Also, update your profile and signature with your location and stove model. This info helps and you might find that someone in your area is willing to help you or has some dry wood they are willing to sell you.

Could you please give us some details about your setup and install. We like details(i.e. liner, block off plates, insulation above and below block offs) and pics. More info gets better answers. You already have figured out one problem(your wood), but a 750 degree stove should be blasting in that room. I had a slightly smaller stove that ran me out of a 500 sqft. room at that temp, so something isn't right.

Good luck

Someone correct me if i am wrong but i don't think you will trash a stove at 700.
 
Someone correct me if i am wrong but i don't think you will trash a stove at 700.
She should be okay running a steel free standing stove at that temp.
 
She should be okay running a steel free standing stove at that temp.


Thank you i was wondering about that saying cause the mag seems to want to cruise for a bit there sometime last few days now that winter has set in more.
 
p.s. How the heck did you find a way to contact the manufacturer? All I can figure out how to do is contact a dealer, and the one we got ours from isn't worth *#&*

Used this form: http://www.regency-fire.com/Company/Contact-Us.aspx

Says its for reporting questions/concerns with the website but it made it to a tech anyways ([email protected])

I tried contacting some of the local dealers too. One got back to me about 2 months after I contacted them initially.... lol
 
Thank you i was wondering about that saying cause the mag seems to want to cruise for a bit there sometime last few days now that winter has set in more.
Personally, I wouldn't shoot for 800 every time. But, from what I can tell, that should be okay as well. I suspect she should be closing the air down sooner, though. Done properly she will be able to achieve high temps with the air nearly closed. In her specific case, the wet would will be hard to manage, but still workable.
 
54 posts in 10 hours, welcome to your new addiction;) I hope you get it figured out.
 
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800 now, just closed the air down 25%
Waiting until the stove reaches 800f before turning it down is not a good procedure. You should be gradually reducing the air when the stovetop is about450-500F.
 
Waiting until the stove reaches 800f before turning it down is not a good procedure. You should be gradually reducing the air when the stovetop is about450-500F.

With this wet wood there is no way I could do that. I have tried it. When we had the dry wood, I did turn it down much earlier (cooler) than I usually have to, basically as soon as I saw the 2ndary burn rolling, and it held with no air and then the temp did actually go up on the stove. (This never happens with our wood.) With the wet wood if I turn the air down even slightly at those lower temps the 2ndary goes right out. Even at the much higher temperatures I have to turn it down pretty slowly. I do expect with dry wood to be able to do what you are saying, I agree with you that's how it should be.

I do feel like I am in very tight spot, if I turn the air down too slowly I risk the whole thing getting too hot, but if I do it too quickly I lose the 2ndary burn. This is the wood. Of course the longer I have to wait to turn it down the more heat I lose up the pipe, however it's also actually the time I get the most heat out of the stove. Last night literally was probably my best run in terms of finding that sweet spot where I got the air really down but never lost my 2ndary burn. A lot of times I do get it down but then I lose it, and I have to open the air back up to really get it going again, before I can try to start shutting it down again.

It was 61 in the room this am (8am) without reloading it. (The energy guy is coming and we have to have it shut down.) That is a bit of an improvement, as usually it will get reloaded around 5am, and is under 60 in here at that earlier time.

More later!
 
I don't think you can heat your house with just one stove.

30% percent is very wet.

Perhaps consider getting some of the compressed wood sawdust bricks and using those dry bricks mixed with your wood to get. Good continuous hot burn going. I had to do that last year when I discovered (thanks to members on hearth.com) that my wood wasn't as seasoned as i thought. We use the ENV brand briqs. The dryness helps offset the less than ideal wood.
 
With this wet wood there is no way I could do that. I have tried it. When we had the dry wood, I did turn it down much earlier (cooler) than I usually have to, basically as soon as I saw the 2ndary burn rolling, and it held with no air and then the temp did actually go up on the stove. (This never happens with our wood.) With the wet wood if I turn the air down even slightly at those lower temps the 2ndary goes right out. Even at the much higher temperatures I have to turn it down pretty slowly. I do expect with dry wood to be able to do what you are saying, I agree with you that's how it should be.

I do feel like I am in very tight spot, if I turn the air down too slowly I risk the whole thing getting too hot, but if I do it too quickly I lose the 2ndary burn. This is the wood. Of course the longer I have to wait to turn it down the more heat I lose up the pipe, however it's also actually the time I get the most heat out of the stove. Last night literally was probably my best run in terms of finding that sweet spot where I got the air really down but never lost my 2ndary burn. A lot of times I do get it down but then I lose it, and I have to open the air back up to really get it going again, before I can try to start shutting it down again.

It was 61 in the room this am (8am) without reloading it. (The energy guy is coming and we have to have it shut down.) That is a bit of an improvement, as usually it will get reloaded around 5am, and is under 60 in here at that earlier time.

More later!
I wouldn't worry so much about what the secondaries are doing. Sounds like your air is a) not being cut down quickly enough, and b) being cut down too far. So once the stove gets hot and you shut it down, it'll burn hot enough for a while, but eventually that air won't be enough to sustain it. I had this cycle on my insert when I got it and was burning sub-par wood. With wet wood, you'll need to keep your air more open in the back part of the burn to keep hot. Unfortunately, the cycle I ran into was that I would coal up, the stove would cool, I'd repack it to get it hot, and eventually end up with a firebox full of coals :confused:
 
I'm sorry I'm so late to this thread but just in the hope it helps let me add some additional "data". We have a Regency CS1200 which is 1/2 the size of the significantly larger 3100 but uses the same primary system and secondary system, baffle system, etc. The CS1200 will more than heat our home of approx 2000 sqft (that's including some "unconditioned" spaces that the regular furnace really doesn't do) without any worry even on coldest of days. Now we have taken extreme efforts to really tightly seal the home and to really thoroughly insulate the home and that always helps. Additionally we always run our furnace fan on fan only and we have returns and supplies on each of the three levels of our home. Lastly we happen to have cathedral ceilings leading from one level to the other levels (which typically would probably make things that much harder to heat but in our case it seems to significantly help with heating everything).

My point is that there are always differences in design and insulation and integrity etc of the structure but assuming you are not working against leaks and lack of insulation overall, I would have to add another vote to the fine folks who have already suggested above acceptable levels of moisture within the wood because that "big" 3100 should have no problem pushing heat to at least around 75 to 80 % of your home. I cannot remember the link that someone posted that sort of summarizes the science of heating with wood but basically, as others already mentioned, before you burn anything at all you dehumidify it down to nothing so more moisture is slowing the fire, cooling the fire, cooling the chimney, producing more problems with creosote, soot, smoke, etc. It sounds like you have a huge amount of wood readying itself for another winter and that is terrific but it also sound like you should probably start looking for some other source of seasoned wood so you can enjoy that excellent 3100 now. Hope that helps.

Ohh by the way to contact the manufacturer use this telephone number: (604) 946-5155. They are terrific about answering any questions. BTW, when I asked them about the max temps they also said the same thing about "not letting it get to glowing". I accidentally laughed out loud and said "seriously" and they told me "yes". After asking much more about my specific situation they told me that the 800 degrees I was running with regularly is totally acceptable and they simply suggested not running regularly above 1000 (measured from the top of our firebox not from the top of our stovetop which was separated by an airspace of 1/2 inch or so and therefore about 200 degrees cooler than top of our firebox). But to get the thing glowing you would have to have temps of almost 1200 degrees. In any case they don't seem the slightest concerned about running at 800 all the time. Ohh one other thing in the hope it helps, maybe I misunderstood what you were saying but if your stove top thermometer is off in measuring its cold temp, the hot temp is not necessarily a linear increase. It may be linear or it may not be linear but I'd softly suggest getting another accurate thermometer to help you have better results all around. Again hope all this actually helps.

Sorry I should have added that although the entire technical team there is much more than completely competent, a Mr. Steve McCarty in particular has really helped me several times answering things specific to the stove we selected. So what I've worked out so far is I learn approx 99% about heating with wood from the forum here and if there is something specific to the stove we selected then I call Regency's technical team, ask them if it is a good time to get a goofy question answered, and they always say sure. As far as I am concerned Regency is great people and great product. Hope that helps.
 
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