Frustrated with my Regency 2400!

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Highlandwelder

New Member
Jan 23, 2010
14
Ohio
Hi Folks!

I'm spending the Xmas holidays at my cottage, and getting frustrated with the Regency 2400 I have here. We have a VC Dutchwest at our primary home, and I know there are lots of negative opinions, but it works great. The Regency seems to have an issue of leaving a large coal bed that does not burn down. It get progressively worse, until you get to the point that you have to spend a couple of hours trying to burn the coal bed off. I have also had to remove coals in order to be able to get enough room for a load to make it through the night (6 hours). With the temps here in the single digits by morning, I need a full load otherwise the wife is freezing! I don't believe that draft is an issue. It utilizes a masonry chimney that is located inside the home, and has had other stoves connected to it through the years with no issues. The chimney extends well beyond the roof line and there are no obstructions close by. I currently load the splits of dry season wood in a north/south configuration. I am going to try east/west, but not holding out much hope.

Any help that anyone might have is greatly appreciated.
 
Are you closing the primary air all the way down?
 
I'm actually surprised just how little in the way of coals we get from our Regency insert (I3100). I was having a little build up when we first started with it and when I mentioned it to our dealer he suggested I run it up a little hotter before turning the air down and that seemed to do the trick. Turns out I may not have been letting it get hot enough to really burn well. Now I let it get up to ~450-500 on the thermo on the front of the unit before turning down the air and I get 1) way better secondaries for much longer and 2) almost no coaling by the morning. I was turning it down around 400 before thinking the thermo reading on the front was "off" aqnd not being able to get a true top reading because of the insert design.
 
Coals burn down, just like wood does. While the coals are burning, they make heat. Whats your surface temp with the coals "not burning down"? With my stove, I would be down to coals in 6 hours (Not a Regency) but still have a 350-400 surface temp and enough coals to relight after 8 hours. Two hours of burning coals meant less to me than the heat the stove was putting off. You load a 2400 full of good seasoned wood on a bed of coals and 8 hours later you should have a warm (not hot) stove with enough coals to rake and relight splits with no newspaper or kindling.
 
Interesting...i have the i2400 insert and do struggle with coaling as well. I do get the stove into the burn zone on my thermometer before turning it down - i never fully close - go down about 3/4 - but maybe i still need to leave a little more open with the goal of being burned way down at the end of 8 hours - like Franks suggests....always something to learn i suppose...
 
I have similar problems with my Super 27.

Essentially the issue is created 100% by the way I burn and the length of my burn cycle. Right now we are only -5/-15*c. The stove runs 24x7 but with the draft completely turned down. (as down as an epa can get...) At least every second day I need to stir and burn the coals at a medium draft to get rid of them for a couple hours. When it gets colder the issue will be resolved by having a more open draft. This should effectivly reduce my current burn cycle from 8-10 hours to a smaller amount of time which should burn up my coal base within a cycle.

I assume this is what you are also dealing with.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, most of which I have tried. I talked to my dad (a life long woodburner) and he suggested it might be the fact that I have a bunch of hickory mixed in. He has a Jotul and says he occasionally has issues when he burns hickory. I'm going to sort through the pile and try no hickory to see if that makes a difference. Thanks for all the replies..

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a warm and toasty woodfired night!
 
I was wondering how is wood normally loaded in the 2400? Do you load it N/S or E/W usually?
 
One other suggestion is to make your first layer run N-S and subsequent layers run E-W. With my I3100 I find with this config it will light faster, burn hotter (be careful), and the wood determines how much coals are made. Like Frank, I don't mind coals because they seem to be as hot as flames when I open the air 100%. I'm mainly burning hackberry (which isn't the most ideal vs oak or apple), but it puts out a lot of heat and I will typically have a good bed of coals that last 10-12 hrs after the load. Your mileage may be different. We haven't had single digit temps yet, but have been in low teens.
 
I haven't used any other modern woodstove other than my 2400. However, my experience with burning down remaining coals before reload seems to be similar to others--a few minutes with the draft open (and the door cracked open too if want.) I often use a little technique I read on these forums--use your ash shovel upside down to push both ash & coals to the back. Then pull the big & still burning coals right up front on almost bare firebrick. Then grab some splits, make coffee, whatever, come back & reload. If I've choked it down too much on the previous load, there will be some big black unburned pieces--so I can relate to your experience.
Which get me to my next thought--the 2.3 cu. ft. firebox in that stove is about as small as you can go & still expect to get good heat for 6+ hours.
Lastly, For me, nature always calls during the night :eek:hh: & that's a good time to pull out that draft control.
 
A 6-7 hour burn is the best I've gotten with my I-2400 Insert, but I don't notice a big difference in overnight burn btwn cramming it with fresh splits on no coalbed or just adding 3-4 splits on a good coalbed. Both ussually work out to a 6 hour burn. I have come down a few times to the blower still on (low) and good coals after 8.5 hrs when I loaded a nice big chunk of oak near the back.
One other thing you could try to reduce coaling time is splitting the wood smaller. You will have to watch for overfire with smaller splits.
I'm another one that started off closing down the air too early. I now aim for 450 (thermo just above the handle) from a cold start or 400 from hot coals before closing down all the way.
 
In addition to all the other reasons posted above, I find un-burnt chunks usually are a problem when my stove is not keeping up with the cold. In an effort to get the stove hot enough, again, to keep the house warm there's a tendency to shorten the cycle and add wood before the the current load is finished burning to ash. This compounds load after load. Then, it seems that there's a problem with the wood not fully burning to ash, but in fact, it wasn't given a chance to finish burning.
 
Coals are not really an issue with my 2400 insert. I load mine n/s, e/w, then n/s on top. After it gets going, I shut the air down to 1/2 for a little while, then all the way closed when the secondary burn is visible. The stove runs around 450 (Rutland thermometer located on the stoves upper left corner). When it dies down, I open the air to full and it takes care of the large coals in front. When I reload, I take the first split and drag some coals from the back to the front and start over again. 6 hours is about the max I can get. It works for me. Although I don't burn 24 -7 because of our work schedule, I fiquire every BTU thrown into the house is a plus. Good luck with trying things with the stove, I find it to be of good quality and it haas been a great investment. Merry Christmas to you all and please remember our troops who are away from their love ones on our behalf. Jim
 
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