Hi, I'm new here.
We had a small fire in our new Regency CI2700/HI500 insert last night. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I read the manual and found this forum and am trying to learn.
Started it with some cardboard and small sticks for kindling, with smaller logs on top. Using seasoned firewood, but I need to get a moisture meter. It took about 30 minutes to get catalytic temps past 500 degrees. I experimented here and found that even with the damper open fully it wasn't getting enough oxygen to really heat up, but with the door open an inch the kindling picked up enough to fully light the larger logs and get temps past 500, after which it was pretty much smooth sailing.
During this starting phase, at one point for a few minutes I had black smoke churning inside the insert. The cat was still bypassed. I *think* this happened when I had experimented with closing the damper, as I was worried my kindling was going to burn too fast and not spend long enough heating the wood underneath to light it. Pretty sure this was a mistake and that billowing black smoke was a sign I needed more oxygen, not less, and if I ran out of kindling then I needed more kindling, not trying to extend the time of the little kindling I put in there. The fire ran cleaner and picked up heat once I cracked the door and gave it more oxygen.
The insert has a digital temp reading of the catalytic converter, which I found very useful to watch what was happening as I adjusted the damper and bypass.
After that slowly burned the logs with damper closed and the catalytic converter enabled, temps around 600-800 and then let the coals die down into the night.
Here's two pics of the morning after:
![[Hearth.com] First fire in insert - some questions](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/img_0516-webp.268615/ "[Hearth.com] First fire in insert - some questions")
Here's a pic of the inside of the glass door. There's some sticky residue on there now, which I'm guessing is creosote from when I let smoke cloud up when I was starting the fire.
![[Hearth.com] First fire in insert - some questions](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/img_0517-webp.268616/ "[Hearth.com] First fire in insert - some questions")
I'd rather not try to clean it - Can I burn it off, and if so, how hot do I need to get the fire to burn it off?
Generally speaking, we're not trying to heat the whole house, just have a nice family fire in the evenings. If I repeat this size of fire usually (3-4 logs, temps 600f-900f) am I increasing the chances of creosote issues down the line, or (if my wood is dry enough) is it okay to run these small-medium fires usually?
And, just to confirm, it's okay to leave the catalytic converter enabled when I'm letting the fire die off and it's just coals burning?
THANKS,
Tom
PS, meta-point: I love finding this kind of expert hobby forum. They remind me of the "old web".
EDIT: Just found the long thread about this model, reading now!!
www.hearth.com
We had a small fire in our new Regency CI2700/HI500 insert last night. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I read the manual and found this forum and am trying to learn.
Started it with some cardboard and small sticks for kindling, with smaller logs on top. Using seasoned firewood, but I need to get a moisture meter. It took about 30 minutes to get catalytic temps past 500 degrees. I experimented here and found that even with the damper open fully it wasn't getting enough oxygen to really heat up, but with the door open an inch the kindling picked up enough to fully light the larger logs and get temps past 500, after which it was pretty much smooth sailing.
During this starting phase, at one point for a few minutes I had black smoke churning inside the insert. The cat was still bypassed. I *think* this happened when I had experimented with closing the damper, as I was worried my kindling was going to burn too fast and not spend long enough heating the wood underneath to light it. Pretty sure this was a mistake and that billowing black smoke was a sign I needed more oxygen, not less, and if I ran out of kindling then I needed more kindling, not trying to extend the time of the little kindling I put in there. The fire ran cleaner and picked up heat once I cracked the door and gave it more oxygen.
The insert has a digital temp reading of the catalytic converter, which I found very useful to watch what was happening as I adjusted the damper and bypass.
After that slowly burned the logs with damper closed and the catalytic converter enabled, temps around 600-800 and then let the coals die down into the night.
Here's two pics of the morning after:
Here's a pic of the inside of the glass door. There's some sticky residue on there now, which I'm guessing is creosote from when I let smoke cloud up when I was starting the fire.
I'd rather not try to clean it - Can I burn it off, and if so, how hot do I need to get the fire to burn it off?
Generally speaking, we're not trying to heat the whole house, just have a nice family fire in the evenings. If I repeat this size of fire usually (3-4 logs, temps 600f-900f) am I increasing the chances of creosote issues down the line, or (if my wood is dry enough) is it okay to run these small-medium fires usually?
And, just to confirm, it's okay to leave the catalytic converter enabled when I'm letting the fire die off and it's just coals burning?
THANKS,
Tom
PS, meta-point: I love finding this kind of expert hobby forum. They remind me of the "old web".
EDIT: Just found the long thread about this model, reading now!!
The Regency CI2600 & CI2700 operation thread
After reading through all the blogs I decide to buy the CI2600 in October. Since then I have had several fires and am pretty happy with the burn time and heat output. I am wondering about the effectiveness of the air wash as my glass gets regularly quickly dirty with buildup once I close the...
www.hearth.com
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