am I expecting to much?

[meridian]

Hello, Newbie here. We have just purchased our first insert. We were very unsure about the size and what we really wanted out of an insert so we went with a lower budget price and size.. Regency I1200. I have been using it for about two weeks and Im less then impressed with the heat out put. the wood Im using (from what IM told seems very dry no hiss) is seasoned. The fires seem to burn well and are very hot when the door is opened. I guess the best way to describe what im not happy about is the heat output. temp reaches about 70 in a avg living room. And that is with a fire all day. I thought I might be able to warm the room up enough to let the heat wander during the evenings and nights but im not trying to heat the house. Am I expecting to much or am I doing something wrong? stats

house is tri level. 2200 sq ft
chimney liner 25ft
55000 btu

 

[R&D Guy]

Is there a fan on the unit? Inserts don't heat worth a darn without a blower. If it does, and your still not getting enough heat, then I'd put more wood in and really load it up. I'd think any woodstove could keep more than 1 average size room at 70°.

 

[Gunner]

Is there a block off plate installed?

 

[babalu87]

Floor plan please
Vaulted/cathedral ceilings?
House age (insulation/windows)

2200 feet is a pretty big house for an insert unless it is in a perfect spot, methinks you need a wood stove and a pretty big one at that.

 

[meridian]

yes I have a fan.. its always on.. don't think I have a block off plate.. House built in 60's no vaulted ceiling leaving room is closed off other then a stair way. I'm not trying to heat i the whole 2200 sq ft. Just figured Id have some heat coming out of it to the point I could hit the sack at night and keep house somewhat warm. in the mid to high 60's

 

[babalu87]

It doesnt matter if you are trying to heat the entire 2200 feet, you are going to heat the entire 2200 feet/

WHAT DID HE SAY!

The heat coming from an insert (or stove) is going to radiate in, around and through walls, ceilings doors etc. There is NO WAY to stop it from doing so, if there was we wouldnt need to have central heating systems.
Unless you have two or three different heating zones on your central system that stove is trying to heat the whole house.

Older house with big ceilings, you may need a free standing wood stove.
Floor plan?

 

[WarmGuy]

Welcome Meridian.

You are not expecting too much.

I have a Regency 2400, and it raises our high-ceilinged living room temperature from 62 to 77 degrees (outside temperature 40 degrees).

Buy a magnetic thermometer and place it above the door, as show in the attached picture. You should be able to get the temperature up to at least 450 or 500 degrees. I'm guessing that your problem is that the fire is not hot enough.

Leave the air control all the way open until you get those high temperatures. I never stop it down more that 50% or so.

I'm confident this will work for you. Let us know.

 

[Gunner]

Yes, you are expecting too much.

The root of the problem is your insert is grossly undersized...good for mabey 1000sqft in MI not 2200. The 55000 btu rating, that is the absolute maximum the unit is capable of producing and not something that is achieved during a normal burn.

A block off plate will help.

 

[ozarkjeep]

My insert is rated at max of 56000 btu.

has NO blockoff plate, and last night had the room its installed in a toasty 78 degrees

( it was 40 outside)

what surface temps are you running the stove at?

Yes, you are expecting too much.

The root of the problem is your insert is grossly undersized...good for mabey 1000sqft in MI not 2200. The 55000 btu rating, that is the absolute maximum the unit is capable of producing and not something that is achieved during a normal burn.

A block off plate will help.

 

[Henz]

also the house itself. well insulated or not really..that is the big question..dont care as much about sqfootage..I ahve a 1300sqft house and run an Avalon Olympic which is suposed to be adaquate to heat a 2500sqft home. My house is not well insulated (working on it every year) and I can heat the house up to 80degrees but unless I keep at the stove, it wont sustain that for very long

 

[meridian]

Yes, you are expecting too much.

The root of the problem is your insert is grossly undersized...good for mabey 1000sqft in MI not 2200. The 55000 btu rating, that is the absolute maximum the unit is capable of producing and not something that is achieved during a normal burn.

A block off plate will help.

I know the heat will radiate out of the room. That is what Id like it to do. the room has a normal 7.5 to 8ft ceiling. Above it is bedrooms. It is half underground and only has one NEW sliding glass door. Even if the heat is going out the window shouldn't the room still feel a good size temperature gain? 66 to 70 isn't much with an all day burn. I know the unit is small I am just trying to add an alternative heat source not a replacement of the furnace.

 

[iceman]

Yes, you are expecting too much.

The root of the problem is your insert is grossly undersized...good for mabey 1000sqft in MI not 2200. The 55000 btu rating, that is the absolute maximum the unit is capable of producing and not something that is achieved during a normal burn.

A block off plate will help.

I know the heat will radiate out of the room. That is what Id like it to do. the room has a normal 7.5 to 8ft ceiling. Above it is bedrooms. It is half underground and only has one NEW sliding glass door. Even if the heat is going out the window shouldn't the room still feel a good size temperature gain? 66 to 70 isn't much with an all day burn. I know the unit is small I am just trying to add an alternative heat source not a replacement of the furnace.

i have split level and put mine on the first floor because i thought it would be to much to ask a stove to do
i am however doing 2000+ stll and boy its great!!
PE baby!!
but you will notice a block off plate will be a big help

 

[Gunner]

Yes, you are expecting too much.

The root of the problem is your insert is grossly undersized...good for mabey 1000sqft in MI not 2200. The 55000 btu rating, that is the absolute maximum the unit is capable of producing and not something that is achieved during a normal burn.

A block off plate will help.

I know the heat will radiate out of the room. That is what Id like it to do. the room has a normal 7.5 to 8ft ceiling. Above it is bedrooms. It is half underground and only has one NEW sliding glass door. Even if the heat is going out the window shouldn't the room still feel a good size temperature gain? 66 to 70 isn't much with an all day burn. I know the unit is small I am just trying to add an alternative heat source not a replacement of the furnace.

It is really best to give all the details upfront.

Is the insert located in a walkout basement?

How well is the basement insulated?

How big is the room the insert is in?

The insert is small to begin with and if you don't have a block off plate, alot of the heat is going up the chimney. Unless well insulated a basement can be a huge heatsink

We had a member post here with a freedtanding stove 2X larger than yours in his walkout basement...could not get it above 70

 

[meridian]

Sorry about the details. Well im not sure how well its insulated. The house has been remodeled. Im assuming that they re insulated the walls. The house holds heat pretty well. It is a TRI level. 3 floors and a basement. The flrs are about 5 ft above each other. room with the insert is 15X20.

 

[caryski]

i have this same insert first thing i can tell you is dont waste your money on a magnetic thermometer there is no good place to put it i tried. my house is about 1500sf i fired up the insert about 5 hours ago when i got home from work temp was 59 now it is 74 in room with insert, around 70 in rest of the house , i have a ceiling fan in the room with the insert and one in the kitchen i run all the time moves heat around very well , i did do a block off plate, have blower on insert i run on high when i want fast heat. i also run fan that was on the zc fireplace that i put the insert in to, it pushes heat out from behind the suround. i hope that helps

 

[saichele]

It's pretty hard to say. I'm in Meridian Township, a 100 yr old house, with a 50K BTU insert, and most of the time it'll keep the furnace from kicking on - until 4am in Feb when the fire's about done and the outside temps are below zero.

A lot of it depends on the layout, the conversion from radiant to convective heat, and how you're burning it. In a reasonably insulated house I'd be surprised a unit rated at 55H btu can;t keep it nice and warm - we haven't really hit winter yet.

Steve

 

[jpl1nh]

I suspect much of your "dissapointment" comes from being really early in the learning curve. It takes a while to learn to use a new stove or insert effectively. Your wood sounds like its good. If you read around this site a bit you'll find all sorts of ways to manipulate a fire. You can stack your wood loose in the stove or tight, use small splits or big, leave air open, shut it down a bit. Your chimney set up is crucial to your sotve being effective. A block off plate helps stops heat from going up the chimney. Even if the stove doesn't heat your whole house, it will warm your room very well if its set up and operated correctly. You are NOT expecting too much.

 

[paulie]

I too have a 1200, I have a cedar home 1300ft, 21ft ceilings, open loft master bdrm. I do beleive you may be a little under sized for your 2200ft. you shouldn't have a problem with suplimental heat.as babalu 87 said, you are heating the whole house if you want to or not. your floor plan see's to that. So, a magnetic thermostate can be put on the body just above your door top corner, not much room, but it will fit. next, do stuff it !! let it climb in temp to at least 400.... and you can then close her down and get good heat out of her. let your fan work, and keep ceiling fan on, you should be alright. But back to the begining...from what I have learn here is you will heat approx 800 to 1000 sq ft per every 1cu ft of box. hope this help you...

 

[paulie]

and yes, jplnh has hit on a very important, and often over looked point, you are new....and wood burning is some what of a art. we can't just put wood into a box and set it a flame....

 

[meridian]

I too have a 1200, I have a cedar home 1300ft, 21ft ceilings, open loft master bdrm. I do beleive you may be a little under sized for your 2200ft. you shouldn't have a problem with suplimental heat.as babalu 87 said, you are heating the whole house if you want to or not. your floor plan see's to that. So, a magnetic thermostate can be put on the body just above your door top corner, not much room, but it will fit. next, do stuff it !! let it climb in temp to at least 400.... and you can then close her down and get good heat out of her. let your fan work, and keep ceiling fan on, you should be alright. But back to the begining...from what I have learn here is you will heat approx 800 to 1000 sq ft per every 1cu ft of box. hope this help you...

I bought a thermometer today and have it in the place you suggested. after 2.5 hrs of burning half full stove its near 400. I will be looking into the block off plate also... thanks alot for the help

 

[jpl1nh]

Why only half full? You want heat, don't be timid!

 

[meridian]

lol I agree. it was just how i loaded it then i have dad duties.

 

[jpl1nh]

lol I agree. it was just how i loaded it then i have dad duties.

ohhh! :red:

 

[Scrounger]

Did you install it or have it installed by someone else? If someone else, you might want to climb on the roof and check the seal of the top plate and your chimney flue. The installer that did mine did a very poor job of sealing around the top plate and chimney flue. There were huge gaps that I could stick my fingers into. The cap wasn't even close to a tight fit and he didn't seal around the perimeter of the plate either. Then there was no block off plate down in the damper area of the fireplace. With these two problems mine would barely heat the room the insert was in. All the heat was going up the chimney and outside. After sealing the plate on the chimney flue up on the roof and making a block off plate for the damper area that made a huge difference.