Hampton/Regency HI300: Operation Optimization

[Googs185]

Hey all!

I'm a long time lurker here. I've been running a Hampton/Regency HI300 for the past month and a half. I moved into a home that had one installed. It is located in the main living room (not outer wall, inner wall) of a 1050 square foot ranch that is constructed of block with poor to no insulation (I'm not sure if they blew in insulation or not, I don't think so) and drafty. The windows are 15-20 years old and need to be replaced (I'm doing so next year). The chimney is fairly short, probably just enough to get enough draft). I'm not sure if there is a block-off plate and I don't think the SS liner is insulated. If you look at the stove, the bedrooms are through a doorway and down a hallway to the right and the kitchen is to the left around a partially opened wall. In the past month I've already burned through a half a cord and I only recently started running it 24 hours. I purchased 2 cords from a reputable local friend of a friend who claimed his wood is always "dry as a bone." I have found that not all of it is super dry, but I didn't have time to get my own woodpile going since I recently bought the home.

I have several questions after reading just about every thread on the stove (for such a reportedly popular stove, there aren't as many threads on it as I would expect!)

I'm having trouble getting my small one-floor home (I'm not worried about the basement) heated. I usually will start the fire with some small pieces of kindling and a torch. I'll add a few smaller splits until the fire starts roaring, then I'll add larger pieces. At this point, should I be packing the stove? I usually do and let it burn hot for 10-15 minutes then every ten minutes, I close the damper about one inch until it is closed. Throughout the whole process, I can only heat the tiny living room up to 70 degrees. The stove does get to temp, 350-400F (I have an infrared thermometer and a magnetic thermometer inside on the firebox). I usually leave the fan on high, and leave it like that all night. I've read conflicting information on this: what is the best fan speed? I've found that on low, the temperature in the room immediately starts to drop. I also have a small round fan I place in our room at the end of the hallway and point it toward the fire. I can feel the breeze in the living room and I've used toilet paper on top of the door frames to make sure the air is circulating. It warms it up a little bit in our room. I load the stove before bed, but usually don't do it tightly because I have been too lazy to make smaller splits; if it isn't packed, will it not burn as hot and long? 8/10 times when I get up, there are enough coals to throw a new load on before work. At this point, should I be packing the firebox and doing the 1 inch every ten minutes or can I just close the damper all the way rather quickly and run off to work? I usually get home and there are barely enough coals to start it up again.

Any tips here? Do you think the wood isn't seasoned enough? Is the lack of insulation the biggest issue? Why can't I get this tiny room up to 80F like some of you guys do? I see some people heating 2500 sq foot homes with multiple levels with this thing and I can't heat my tiny ranch properly. Could I be looking at 10 hour burn times with high heat output since my house is small? Where are the best places to put fans to circulate air and how big should the fans be? Is a small 8" round fan sufficient?


Another question: When using a moisture meter, as I have been, how do I know how seasoned the wood is? The meter only goes in a few millimeters!

Sorry for all the questions: this is the culmination of months of reading all the threads and trying to figure it out.

 

[begreen]

If the block walls are uninsulated up to a third of the heat produced by the insert can be heading outdoors through the walls.

To test the moisture in the wood, bring a thick split into the house to warm it up. After several hours resplit it in half. Now push the prongs of the moisture meter into the freshly exposed face of the wood and take the reading.

Exactly what is the height of the liner from the stove top to the cap? Is there an insulated block-off plate installed at the damper level?

 

[gregbesia]

Hi Googs. HI300 is one nice looking insert and a capable heater. Something tells me your wood is not that dry. You should not be able to stand in front of it with the blower on high. Can you get some pallet wood or kiln dried store bought firewood and do a test with it?

 

[Googs185]

If the block walls are uninsulated up to a third of the heat produced by the insert can be heading outdoors through the walls.

To test the moisture in the wood, bring a thick split into the house to warm it up. After several hours resplit it in half. Now push the prongs of the moisture meter into the freshly exposed face of the wood and take the reading.

Exactly what is the height of the liner from the stove top to the cap? Is there an insulated block-off plate installed at the damper level?

Would you recommend blowing in insulation into the spaces in the blocks? I've heard it isn't super effective and I don't want to frame in new walls and put insulation in it because we will lose a lot of precious space in our small home (plus we just paid $5000 to paint and fix drywall and ceiling).Do you have any recommendations here?

Can I see if there is a block-off plate without removing the insert?

I'm going to have to measure the height tomorrow. I'll estimate MAYBE 20 feet or less. It's a short house. Right now, the stove is packed and has been running for a while. I packed it maybe 30 mins ago and have been slowly damping it down. When I shoot the firebox through the small crack with the infrared thermometer, I'm getting between 450 and 600 degrees depending on the area I shoot. The damper is about halfway closed and the secondaries are firing hard. The fan is on high, yet I can stand in front of it. It's hot, but I can easily stand in front of it because it isn't that hot. The thermostat on the wall, which is on the left side of the room (blower doesn't blow right at it) is at 68F. I have that 8" fan blowing a straight line diagonally from our room and our bed is 64-65F and the ceiling in there about 67. I don't know how much it's doing.

Thanks for the tip on how to measure the moisture. It's difficult because there are a variety of splits in this load...ash,locust,oak,etc. They all may be at different moisture levels...how many pieces should I check? If the moisture level is higher than 20%, should I just heat with oil and let it season?

 

[Googs185]

Hi Googs. HI300 is one nice looking insert and a capable heater. Something tells me your wood is not that dry. You should not be able to stand in front of it with the blower on high. Can you get some pallet wood or kiln dried store bought firewood and do a test with it?

I'll grab some store-bought kiln dry wood to test it. I can stand in front of the stove with it on high. IT's hot but not that hot. Right now, it is halfway tamped down, with a packed load, at 450 to 600F measured with my infrared on the firebox (through the fan crack), and the secondaries are firing hard. The thermostat in this tiny room reads 68 and will only get to maybe 70. My dad did bring over some dry wood once that he's been seasoning and I think it got a little hotter.

 

[Googs185]

Another thing: when damped down, it seems that only the wood in the middle is burning and activating the secondaries, the wood on the two sides is charred, but not red or burning.

 

[cableman]

Def take the fan off high, i like it slow and steady. Im thinking you prolly dont have a block off plate and that would def help you some.
It takes time to heat a house, i came home today and house was 66-67. Stove room is now 71, upstairs 67. Cold temps make it even harder to maintain but ive done it!
Sounds like your running it correctly and nice secondary flames. Air seal and insulate where ever you can.

 

[Googs185]

Def take the fan off high, i like it slow and steady. Im thinking you prolly dont have a block off plate and that would def help you some.
It takes time to heat a house, i came home today and house was 66-67. Stove room is now 71, upstairs 67. Cold temps make it even harder to maintain but ive done it!
Sounds like your running it correctly and nice secondary flames. Air seal and insulate where ever you can.

Does running the fan on high make the fire burn down faster?
It seems that my load has burned down more than halfway in a couple of hours, but the fan has been on high.

 

[rwhite]

Does running the fan on high make the fire burn down faster?
It seems that my load has burned down more than halfway in a couple of hours, but the fan has been on high.

It cools the stove down faster which can in turn require more air to burn and hence a faster burn.

 

[begreen]

You're right. Insulating in the block cavities is not going to be all that effective. Insulating the interior walls with a continuous barrier before the sheetrock would be the most effective.

You can see if there is a block-off plate without removing the insert. However, it will take removing the full surround. Then take a mirror and a flashlight and follow the liner from the insert's flue collar upward. If the liner goes through a sheetmetal plate in the damper area there is a blockoff plate. If it continues upward into the chimney then there is not. While investigating take a tape measure and see if there is a gap behind the stove and the back wall of the fireplace. If there is a gap, try to measure it.

The insert will want at least 15 ft of liner. It sounds like you may be in the ballpark. If you are getting good secondary burn then at least some of the wood is dry enough to burn. Where did you get the 600F reading?

With multiple species of wood it may be hard to have all the wood at the same dryness. Bring in a few thick sticks of each species to warm them up. Then resplit and check.

 

[cableman]

Sounds like he's pointing the ir gun through the top air channel and taking the reading off the flue area, i do this and read the same sometimes hotter.

Couple hours it will look like alot has burned but depending on how much you loaded it, there should be plenty of heat.

Try kicking your heat on just to take the chill out, then pack the stove up and run fan on low.

My liner is 16' and all drafts well.

 

[Googs185]

You're right. Insulating in the block cavities is not going to be all that effective. Insulating the interior walls with a continuous barrier before the sheetrock would be the most effective.

You can see if there is a block-off plate without removing the insert. However, it will take removing the full surround. Then take a mirror and a flashlight and follow the liner from the insert's flue collar upward. If the liner goes through a sheetmetal plate in the damper area there is a blockoff plate. If it continues upward into the chimney then there is not. While investigating take a tape measure and see if there is a gap behind the stove and the back wall of the fireplace. If there is a gap, try to measure it.

The insert will want at least 15 ft of liner. It sounds like you may be in the ballpark. If you are getting good secondary burn then at least some of the wood is dry enough to burn. Where did you get the 600F reading?

With multiple species of wood it may be hard to have all the wood at the same dryness. Bring in a few thick sticks of each species to warm them up. Then resplit and check.

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to do that this weekend. I measure the temp with the IR gun right through the top air channel, like cableman said. It seems like a lot of people leave the magnetic thermometer on top of the stove. I've since removed it from the firebox and put it there. Some people are saying readings should be at 500F when it is really cranking, even with the thermometer placed there. I've seen that in several thread. Is that right?

In terms of insulation we just paid $5k to have the ceiling and walls done and painted (they're plaster). Insulating the interior space with the thin fiberboard insulatio would really cost a lot beacause we'd have to redo the moulding and drywall right? It can't be reused?

 

[Googs185]

Sounds like he's pointing the ir gun through the top air channel and taking the reading off the flue area, i do this and read the same sometimes hotter.

Couple hours it will look like alot has burned but depending on how much you loaded it, there should be plenty of heat.

Try kicking your heat on just to take the chill out, then pack the stove up and run fan on low.

My liner is 16' and all drafts well.

That's good to know regarding the height. I"m going to measure it to make sure. IN terms of a it looking like "it's burned a alot" what are we talking in terms of appearance? I just want my house to be able to be heated.

 

[jscs.moore]

Hey all!

I'm a long time lurker here. I've been running a Hampton/Regency HI300 for the past month and a half. I moved into a home that had one installed. It is located in the main living room (not outer wall, inner wall) of a 1050 square foot ranch that is constructed of block with poor to no insulation (I'm not sure if they blew in insulation or not, I don't think so) and drafty. The windows are 15-20 years old and need to be replaced (I'm doing so next year). The chimney is fairly short, probably just enough to get enough draft). I'm not sure if there is a block-off plate and I don't think the SS liner is insulated. If you look at the stove, the bedrooms are through a doorway and down a hallway to the right and the kitchen is to the left around a partially opened wall. In the past month I've already burned through a half a cord and I only recently started running it 24 hours. I purchased 2 cords from a reputable local friend of a friend who claimed his wood is always "dry as a bone." I have found that not all of it is super dry, but I didn't have time to get my own woodpile going since I recently bought the home.

I have several questions after reading just about every thread on the stove (for such a reportedly popular stove, there aren't as many threads on it as I would expect!)

I'm having trouble getting my small one-floor home (I'm not worried about the basement) heated. I usually will start the fire with some small pieces of kindling and a torch. I'll add a few smaller splits until the fire starts roaring, then I'll add larger pieces. At this point, should I be packing the stove? I usually do and let it burn hot for 10-15 minutes then every ten minutes, I close the damper about one inch until it is closed. Throughout the whole process, I can only heat the tiny living room up to 70 degrees. The stove does get to temp, 350-400F (I have an infrared thermometer and a magnetic thermometer inside on the firebox). I usually leave the fan on high, and leave it like that all night. I've read conflicting information on this: what is the best fan speed? I've found that on low, the temperature in the room immediately starts to drop. I also have a small round fan I place in our room at the end of the hallway and point it toward the fire. I can feel the breeze in the living room and I've used toilet paper on top of the door frames to make sure the air is circulating. It warms it up a little bit in our room. I load the stove before bed, but usually don't do it tightly because I have been too lazy to make smaller splits; if it isn't packed, will it not burn as hot and long? 8/10 times when I get up, there are enough coals to throw a new load on before work. At this point, should I be packing the firebox and doing the 1 inch every ten minutes or can I just close the damper all the way rather quickly and run off to work? I usually get home and there are barely enough coals to start it up again.

Any tips here? Do you think the wood isn't seasoned enough? Is the lack of insulation the biggest issue? Why can't I get this tiny room up to 80F like some of you guys do? I see some people heating 2500 sq foot homes with multiple levels with this thing and I can't heat my tiny ranch properly. Could I be looking at 10 hour burn times with high heat output since my house is small? Where are the best places to put fans to circulate air and how big should the fans be? Is a small 8" round fan sufficient?


Another question: When using a moisture meter, as I have been, how do I know how seasoned the wood is? The meter only goes in a few millimeters!

Sorry for all the questions: this is the culmination of months of reading all the threads and trying to figure it out.

Hey fellow HI300 burner I'm only in my second season of burning so no expert for sure...but this is what I've learned with this insert. Get a block off plate installed if you don't have one. I was told by the dealer it wasn't needed and I went the first season without it. Everything was great with mild outside temps (low 40's to high 30's)...I could heat my 2000sq ft Center Hall Colonial no problem. Then when temps got down into the teens it had a hard time keeping up. I really felt like I was losing a lot of heat up 28ft of exterior masonry. So I insisted on the BOP this season and had the dealer install one and the difference is significant. It's about 28 degrees outside tonight and my whole downstairs is about 73 degrees and upstairs about 70.

Bone dry wood is also key...the HI300 will burn beautifully with dry wood! Not only will you get great secondaries coming off the tubes with a lot of heat, it will be awesome thing to watch through the glass!

Now some reality...even with an insulated liner, block of plate and bone dry wood, I'm not sure the HI300 can efficiently heat my 2000sq ft home when outside temps get into the teens or single digits...especially with strong wind chills. My guess is I will definitely need to supplement with my heat pump. However, I'd rather have the heat pump kicking on occasionally to help the insert keep up than running a heat pump continually in really frigid temps. I think it's a great insert...a real workhorse. Good luck with it!

 

[Googs185]

Hey fellow HI300 burner I'm only in my second season of burning so no expert for sure...but this is what I've learned with this insert. Get a block off plate installed if you don't have one. I was told by the dealer it wasn't needed and I went the first season without it. Everything was great with mild outside temps (low 40's to high 30's)...I could heat my 2000sq ft Center Hall Colonial no problem. Then when temps got down into the teens it had a hard time keeping up. I really felt like I was losing a lot of heat up 28ft of exterior masonry. So I insisted on the BOP this season and had the dealer install one and the difference is significant. It's about 28 degrees outside tonight and my whole downstairs is about 73 degrees and upstairs about 70.

Bone dry wood is also key...the HI300 will burn beautifully with dry wood! Not only will you get great secondaries coming off the tubes with a lot of heat, it will be awesome thing to watch through the glass!

Now some reality...even with an insulated liner, block of plate and bone dry wood, I'm not sure the HI300 can efficiently heat my 2000sq ft home when outside temps get into the teens or single digits...especially with strong wind chills. My guess is I will definitely need to supplement with my heat pump. However, I'd rather have the heat pump kicking on occasionally to help the insert keep up than running a heat pump continually in really frigid temps. I think it's a great insert...a real workhorse. Good luck with it!

Awesome, thanks for the tips! I'm going to look for the BOP this weekend and get one if there isn't one. My house is small, a little larger than half the size of yours, not including the finished basement. Is your colonial insulated or is it old and barely insulated? I'm hoping even down into the teens and single digits, this thing can heat my house but with horrible insulation, I don't know.

 

[Googs185]

You're right. Insulating in the block cavities is not going to be all that effective. Insulating the interior walls with a continuous barrier before the sheetrock would be the most effective.

You can see if there is a block-off plate without removing the insert. However, it will take removing the full surround. Then take a mirror and a flashlight and follow the liner from the insert's flue collar upward. If the liner goes through a sheetmetal plate in the damper area there is a blockoff plate. If it continues upward into the chimney then there is not. While investigating take a tape measure and see if there is a gap behind the stove and the back wall of the fireplace. If there is a gap, try to measure it.

The insert will want at least 15 ft of liner. It sounds like you may be in the ballpark. If you are getting good secondary burn then at least some of the wood is dry enough to burn. Where did you get the 600F reading?

With multiple species of wood it may be hard to have all the wood at the same dryness. Bring in a few thick sticks of each species to warm them up. Then resplit and check.

One other question on fan speed: should it not be run at all when its damped down completely?

 

[begreen]

I wait until the stove body has warmed up before turning on the fan.

 

[rwhite]

One other question on fan speed: should it not be run at all when its damped down completely?

I always ran mine. Pretty hard to get heat out of the jacket without it but low speed was plenty

 

[jophysx]

Greetings fellow HI300 owner! You've gotten good answers for most of your questions from the great folks here at heath.com. So I will just comment on the fan speed question.

Fan speed works pretty much like you would expect. The key thing is to keep the firebox hot enough to sustain efficient burning (secondaries). It's all about the balance between the rate of heat generation (controlled by the size of load and air supply) and the rate of heat loss (controlled by fan speed). You need to reach a firebox temperature where you are getting efficient burning (good secondaries), then adjust the air supply so that the temperature stabilizes. If you run the fan on high, you will be pulling heat from the firebox into your house at a faster rate than at low. You will need to run with with the damper a little more open to supply more oxygen and keep up the burn rate, otherwise the firebox temperature can drop to the point where the secondaries are extinguished, which is not what you want. Running with the damper more open, your burn times will go down and your rate of wood consumption will go up. But if you need more heat, that's the way to get it.

Personally I run my HI300 on low 99% of the time. It doesn't get very cold here in the Pacific NW. I'm focused on getting long burn times for a flexible reloading schedule.

If you do pull your insert out to put in a block-off plate you might consider lining the fireplace firebox with Roxul insulation. I did that a couple of years ago and I think it helps prevent loss of heat into the masonry, just like a block-off plate helps prevent heat loss up into the chimney space. This is all about decreasing the rate of heat loss to places you don't want to heat. The block-off plate and insulation will make a noticeable improvement, but will not work miracles. Dry wood is more important in my experience.

Good luck.

-Jim

p.s. Regarding temperature measurements: I don't think you can reach 500F on the shelf above the firebox (where you would put a small teakettle). I think the hottest you can reach there is around 300-350. I have my magnetic thermometer mounted directly on the firebox. It's hard to see there, but that's the temperature that counts. I use the temperature of the glass door, measured by an infrared thermometer, as my primary temperature reading for routine operation. It's easy to get the reading there, better than the shelf, and very repeatable. Shooting the temperature with the IR thermo in the narrow space between the firebox and the shelf is very sensitive to exactly how you have it aimed due to the oblique angle. I don't waste my time with that. The glass is opaque in the infrared, so an infrared thermometer works fine on it. I cruise with glass temperatures of 500-700 depending on how much heat I want.

 

[jscs.moore]

Awesome, thanks for the tips! I'm going to look for the BOP this weekend and get one if there isn't one. My house is small, a little larger than half the size of yours, not including the finished basement. Is your colonial insulated or is it old and barely insulated? I'm hoping even down into the teens and single digits, this thing can heat my house but with horrible insulation, I don't know.

My Colonial is well insulated and the previous owner had brand new high efficiency windows installed a few years ago. My attic is very well insulated as well. Bottom line is...for your size home, the HI300 should be able to heat the living space nicely. However, what helps significantly with my house is the open floor plan/open stair well in the center. The heat easily moves through the house and into the upstairs bedrooms without a problem. I do keep a ceiling fan on low in the living room where the insert is to keep the warm air moving throughout the house but that's it. I also always keep the insert fan on low almost all the time. I think slow and steady burns are the way to go and will give you more consistent heating. If you run the insert fan on high all the time you're just cooling down the firebox more quickly. The only time I will run the insert fan on high is if I have over fired the insert and really need to cool it down fast. I also don't running the insert fan on high because it's loud...on low setting you can barely hear it. Again, you have a very capable heater that is rated up to 2000sq ft so I would focus on improving your set up and you should be fine.

 

[velvetfoot]

Cold out today. Fan is on high now. Really kicking out the heat. Not sure if more wood is consumed or not.