new regency f2400 operation

[steph]

getting all the info I can about operating this stove tonight... this is a new stove for us, so please excuse the cluelessness...
the stove has been broken in, now trying to get the fire going correctly!
my main question here is about the secondary burn. I got the stove up to about 600, closed the draft control most of the way, and all the flame went out. You should be able to see the secondary burn in the top of the stove right?? I know I just need to get used to the stove (first night using it tonight). But the Glass is now mostly black, not staying clean

 

[prezes13]

I would say that means your wood has to be wet. You should have some flame going. Open it up a touch more till you get some flame. Black glass is not a good sign.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Wet wood yes, happy to hear your a burner, it's just gonna take you some time to be doing it correctly, keep asking questions and learning all you can, it gets alot better down the road.....

 

[begreen]

If the wood is not well seasoned it is going to need more air. As you close down the air once the stove is burning well, try stopping when the flames start to get lazy but not out. Let it run like that for 10 minutes. If the flames pick up intensity, close it down a bit more. If not then leave it at that setting.

 

[steph]

thank you all, been trying that method. the wood has been kept in our old basement, but it was seasoned all summer... thought it would have been good? Damn, I hope it works. hope I get used to this stove quick!

 

[Grisu]

Was it split and stacked in single or double rows in a sunny and windy spot outside for seasoning before being moved to the basement? Still, one summer (especially in Maine) will not be enough to dry most hardwoods. At the beginning it is helpful to have a moisture meter to check the drying process. It will be a pain but I would move that wood back outside in the spring to give it some more seasoning time.

 

[steph]

Was it split and stacked in single or double rows in a sunny and windy spot outside for seasoning before being moved to the basement? Still, one summer (especially in Maine) will not be enough to dry most hardwoods. At the beginning it is helpful to have a moisture meter to check the drying process. It will be a pain but I would move that wood back outside in the spring to give it some more seasoning time.

love all the info im getting here! we cut the wood in spring then stacked on pallets in the middle of a field until fall, but not single stacks, they were in rows all together :-\

 

[Grisu]

That does not sound too bad. I would try single or maybe double rows and put some cover on top (old metal-roofing, tarps etc.). The wood may just need more time, especially when it is mostly oak that will need an absolute minimum of 2 years drying time. (Probably more like 3 in your location.) I would also suggest to get the wood for next year's winter (2015/16) cut, split and stacked. A 2-year rotation would be good, 3 years even better.

 

[steph]

That does not sound too bad. I would try single or maybe double rows and put some cover on top (old metal-roofing, tarps etc.). The wood may just need more time, especially when it is mostly oak that will need an absolute minimum of 2 years drying time. (Probably more like 3 in your location.) I would also suggest to get the wood for next year's winter (2015/16) cut, split and stacked. A 2-year rotation would be good, 3 years even better.

great info, thank you! ill have my fiance read all this, he does the cutting. We never had a problem doing the wood this way in the past -we used to have an old ashley console-that thing had no problem eating wood!! haha
we then got a vermont castings this year but started having other issues with that so we went with this regency because we like the much simpler operation, and use wood as our primary heat source

 

[firefighterjake]

love all the info im getting here! we cut the wood in spring then stacked on pallets in the middle of a field until fall, but not single stacks, they were in rows all together :-\

Time to change things up ... it will be a pain in the first year but when you see a secondary burn and feel the heat once that stove has some fully seasoned wood you will be blown away.

Best bet is to cut, split and stack a year before burning ... General rule of thumb ... some wood species need less time, some need more time. Two years out and you're looking at burning nirvana.

In the meantime bring the stove up to temp and then start closing off the air in steps ... say a quarter at a time. Wait and let the fire get going again. Then turn it down again. With less than optimal wood you may not be able to close the air all the way ... these stoves work great, but unlike older stoves they need very well seasoned wood ... the trade-off for a little more time drying is good heat, less wood burned and a cleaner burn with little to no smoke.

Another tip is to get some pallets, bust them up and use this generally dryer wood to help drive the moisture from your firewood in the early burning stages.

Good luck ... stick with it ... ask questions ... and welcome to hearth.com.

 

[steph]

Time to change things up ... it will be a pain in the first year but when you see a secondary burn and feel the heat once that stove has some fully seasoned wood you will be blown away.

Best bet is to cut, split and stack a year before burning ... General rule of thumb ... some wood species need less time, some need more time. Two years out and you're looking at burning nirvana.

In the meantime bring the stove up to temp and then start closing off the air in steps ... say a quarter at a time. Wait and let the fire get going again. Then turn it down again. With less than optimal wood you may not be able to close the air all the way ... these stoves work great, but unlike older stoves they need very well seasoned wood ... the trade-off for a little more time drying is good heat, less wood burned and a cleaner burn with little to no smoke.

Another tip is to get some pallets, bust them up and use this generally dryer wood to help drive the moisture from your firewood in the early burning stages.

Good luck ... stick with it ... ask questions ... and welcome to hearth.com.

thank you, thats what I did last night. Seemed to work ok. House stayed warm, just difficult to keep the flame. in there.
Should I be worried about stove top and/or pipe temp? Everything says let it burn for 10 to15 mins before closing, but stovetop is up to 700 after probably 7 mins or so, so the wood isn't really much more than charred a little.

what I have been doing is let it go up to 700, close it (slowly like stated before) then when the flame goes out a while later I open the air again let the temp go up to that point again and close it. -and no I have not been able to close the air all the way.

 

[steph]

thank you, thats what I did last night. Seemed to work ok. House stayed warm, just difficult to keep the flame. in there.
Should I be worried about stove top and/or pipe temp? Everything says let it burn for 10 to15 mins before closing, but stovetop is up to 700 after probably 7 mins or so, so the wood isn't really much more than charred a little.

what I have been doing is let it go up to 700, close it (slowly like stated before) then when the flame goes out a while later I open the air again let the temp go up to that point again and close it. -and no I have not been able to close the air all the way.

used to keeping a close eye on temp with the vermont castings we had

 

[Grisu]

thank you, thats what I did last night. Seemed to work ok. House stayed warm, just difficult to keep the flame. in there.
Should I be worried about stove top and/or pipe temp? Everything says let it burn for 10 to15 mins before closing, but stovetop is up to 700 after probably 7 mins or so, so the wood isn't really much more than charred a little.

What is the temp before you reload? How much wood is still in there? How many splits do you load at a time?

Those new stoves are supposed to be run in cycles for the most efficient burns. I load mine 3 to 4 times a day and let it burn down to coals each time. I suspect you throw in a few splits every time the fire dies down.

 

[steph]

What is the temp before you reload? How much wood is still in there? How many splits do you load at a time?

Those new stoves are supposed to be run in cycles for the most efficient burns. I load mine 3 to 4 times a day and let it burn down to coals each time. I suspect you throw in a few splits every time the fire dies down.

yes, it gets down to big coals, then I add about 3 or 4 splits. Its just getting up to 700 real fast, then when I go to close the air the flames go out. So I have to leave the air open at least 1/4 way to keep the flame

 

[Grisu]

What is the temp at reload? Shooting up to 700 F in less than 10 min sounds odd and is not really that great for the stove.

You probably leave an even bed of coals in the stove which can lead to rapid outgassing by the fresh wood. Try raking the coals all in the front. That will help burn the coals down giving you more room for fresh wood. It will also give you more control over the fire as the wood gets gradually engaged by the flames. Fill in as much as you can fit in maybe adding some Biobricks or Ecologs with your not quite dry wood. Try also to close down the air stepwise. Once the wood has caught fire in a warm stove I would try closing it already ~1/4. Watch the flames; as long as the fire still seems to be going strong you are fine. Stop closing the air when the flames start to be slow moving ("lazy" movement). Wait a few minutes until the fire is going strong again, continue closing the air until you see lazy flames and continue until you are at your final setting.

 

[steph]

What is the temp at reload? Shooting up to 700 F in less than 10 min sounds odd and is not really that great for the stove.

You probably leave an even bed of coals in the stove which can lead to rapid outgassing by the fresh wood. Try raking the coals all in the front. That will help burn the coals down giving you more room for fresh wood. It will also give you more control over the fire as the wood gets gradually engaged by the flames. Fill in as much as you can fit in maybe adding some Biobricks or Ecologs with your not quite dry wood. Try also to close down the air stepwise. Once the wood has caught fire in a warm stove I would try closing it already ~1/4. Watch the flames; as long as the fire still seems to be going strong you are fine. Stop closing the air when the flames start to be slow moving ("lazy" movement). Wait a few minutes until the fire is going strong again, continue closing the air until you see lazy flames and continue until you are at your final setting.

I think it was probably around 350, when I was going to bed last night and wanted to add more for the night.
and yes, I have been doing that when I close it - stepwise. just cant close it completely at all even after that. Had to leave it open about 1/4 way. Ill try that with adding the bio bricks. That will probably make a difference. And try to let it get down to just a few coals before adding anything

 

[Grisu]

~350 F is also the temp I usually reload so it does not seem you are too early in your reload.
The only suggestion I can offer is to really rake all the coals to the front before the reload. Plus, what diameter have your splits? And do you pack them in tightly?

Be also careful with those biobricks, they have a really low moisture content. Start adding just one and then try if you can shut down the air more.

 

[steph]

~350 F is also the temp I usually reload so it does not seem you are too early in your reload.
The only suggestion I can offer is to really rake all the coals to the front before the reload. Plus, what diameter have your splits? And do you pack them in tightly?

Be also careful with those biobricks, they have a really low moisture content. Start adding just one and then try if you can shut down the air more.

I will definetly try all this, yes I pack them in tightly, and there are some real good size ones and a couple smaller

 

[Grisu]

I will definetly try all this, yes I pack them in tightly, and there are some real good size ones and a couple smaller

Great. Keep us posted. Some people have posted pictures here at different stages of the burn cycle.

Another probably pretty stupid question. Do you have two baffle boards laying on top of the burn tubes? Like those here:
(broken image removed)

I am just a bit surprised that someone with probably not quite dry wood gets its stove up to 700 F in less than 10 min. Maybe it is a feature of the Regency but I would have concerns once you start using properly seasoned wood.

 

[steph]

Great. Keep us posted. Some people have posted pictures here at different stages of the burn cycle.

Another probably pretty stupid question. Do you have two baffle boards laying on top of the burn tubes? Like those here:
(broken image removed)

I am just a bit surprised that someone with probably not quite dry wood gets its stove up to 700 F in less than 10 min. Maybe it is a feature of the Regency but I would have concerns once you start using properly seasoned wood.

yes, those are there, i will do that. this afternoon I let it cool to 300 and there were much fewer coals. I did what you suggested and pulled a lot of the coals to the front then loaded, It took a lot longer to get to 700, almost 25 minutes. So that made sense! lol I'm getting there! Thanks to all of your help!

 

[steph]

Great. Keep us posted. Some people have posted pictures here at different stages of the burn cycle.

Another probably pretty stupid question. Do you have two baffle boards laying on top of the burn tubes? Like those here:
(broken image removed)

I am just a bit surprised that someone with probably not quite dry wood gets its stove up to 700 F in less than 10 min. Maybe it is a feature of the Regency but I would have concerns once you start using properly seasoned wood.

so this is what iI get, you can see the air is open about half way.

 

[steph]

ok, I may be doing better now.... when it was almost to no flame like the first pic, I opened it back up got it going, then closed it in steps. So far, this is what I have and its open about half way. Is this the secondary burn like it should be when most of the flame is in the top of the stove? Also, stove top temp is at 600.

 

[bens_igloo]

Steph, I would say that looks just right for the regency. As long as you have flame, you're good. Sometimes I see both primary and secondary flames, sometimes I only have strong secondaries.

If your wood is nice and dry, you should be able to slowly close it further. I usually close mine down until it is about 1/4 open.

 

[steph]

Steph, I would say that looks just right for the regency. As long as you have flame, you're good. Sometimes I see both primary and secondary flames, sometimes I only have strong secondaries.

If your wood is nice and dry, you should be able to slowly close it further. I usually close mine down until it is about 1/4 open.

awesome! at least I know I'm improving! so excited tonight, it burned with strong secondary flames only with it open only about 1/4 of the way for a few hours til I had to add wood so I can go to bed!

 

[Grisu]

Agree, picture 2 looks great and I like that it took more time to get the stove up to temp again. At 600 F stovetop that seems like a perfect burn. For the first picture, try not to shut down the air that much. If you needed to because the temp was already so high, start dampering it down a bit earlier but just by a bit. When closing down the air, watching the fire is more important than the stovetemp (which is important if you want to know when the stove has reached peak and settled in). I suspect with better seasoned wood you can close the air even more and get more heat out of your stove. I am sure you will enjoy the next winter.

If you want to maximize your wood load, put two or three pieces of short wood sideways (E-W) in the void left by the coals in the back of the firebox (wear welding gloves!). That gives you a level surface together with the pile of coals in the front, on which you can put the splits lengthwise (N-S).