New Regency Hampton GCI60 not blowing hot air

[Lkb-TX]

We just installed our new Regency Hampton GCI60 pellet insert. I am absolutely in love with how it looks but not so impressed with the heat it is giving off. I'm positive we are doing something wrong. This particular unit is listed to heat up to 2300 sq ft with a 55,000 btu burn capability. The fireplace is in my living room and I was actually worried it might get too hot but last night I couldn't really feel the heat sitting 10 ft away on the sofa.

We intend to install the thermostat but hadn't yet so we ran the stove on manual last night. We set the heat setting, feed trim, and air trim to 2 and we woke up this morning and the fire had gone out. There are still plenty of pellets in the hopper. This morning we turned it back on and even at a heat setting of 5, air at 5, and feed trim at 4 the air blowing out of it wasn't incredibly hot. I was expecting to put my hand in front of the blower and not be able to withstand the heat for too long yet the heat coming out was like warm.

We did the installation ourselves. Honestly it didn't seem too difficult so I'm not sure if we don't yet understand how to operate it or if we missed something during setup. We did run across an instruction that we didn't understand. There are instructions to setup the slider/damper that requires pressure range measurements of .15-.16 inches of water column (37-42 Pa). Says this can me measured by a Magnahelic pressure gauge but we don't have one obviously.

I will call the installer here but the closest one is over an hour away and I'm guessing this might be a simple fix so thought I would start here.

 

[fireitup]

Welcome to the forum from an Eastcoast newbie! Any chance you're a Cowboy fan? I realize not ALL Texans are Dallas fans, LOL Sit tight and be patient, you'll be recieving some excellent help from the experts here at the Mill, unfortunately for you, I'm not one of them! Seriously, they'll fix you up right, just check back every once and awhile.

 

[Lkb-TX]

Yes we are Cowboys fans. It's hard not to be living just outside Dallas. Hopefully that's doesn't turn away any help from the NE folks. Anyways that you for this forum and I hope I can find some help. I used this forum for months while I was researching trying to find the perfect stove for our family. I was always blown away by the people on here offering advice and opinions.

 

[Skier76]

Here's to hoping you get it sorted out! Wish I could help you out. I have the same stove being installed this Friday. Can't wait!

Do you have any pics of the stove? We love pics!

 

[Lkb-TX]

I'm sure you will like it as much as we do. I'm positive our issues are just operator error. I do have a few pictures but I'll have to upload them tomorrow. They keep turning when I try to upload from my phone.

 

[Bill L]

I'm not sure if this is your issue, but worth a check. I believe your stove is the same as the enviro m55. I had trouble getting a good heat and flame on my M55 after install. It turned out that there is a magnet glued to the bottom of the hopper lid that was rubbing on the thermostat switch every time I openrd the lid it would drag the switch to manual, and when I closed the lid it would push it back to on/off thermostat mode, but I thought it was still in manual. With no tstat installed, it would drop to low with little heat. You can check to see if this is happening by lifting the lid a little when opening and checking the switch position. The magnahelic setting will get your draft in the sweet spot, you need to get the draft correct first then make minor adjustments with the feed and blower trim settings

 

[Peterfield]

I think the "installed it myself" is what I'd be looking at, simply meaning that there is either an installation issue(s) or a setup issue with the draft or whatever. I know my Accentra has a safety switch that shuts down the stove if the draft is impeded. Do yourself a favor and have an expert give it the once over.

 

[corkman]

do you know how to get access to the slider damper.if it is set wide open then all your heat is being lost out you chimney.if its currently open fully you will have a very low flame with decent size pieces of pellets being blown out of the fire pot.close the damper fully and you should see a noticable difference in the flame in that it will be a tall lazy fire and orange in color.now start to open it up again until you get an active flame.this will get you close on your setting.look on ebay for the dwyer draft gauges.they can be had for reasonable money and in my opinion they are a must for someone who is a DIY kind of a person.you will have peace of mind knowing the draft is in the right position.over time you will come to know what the flame should look like.and you wont need the gauge.hope this helps.Peace,Corkman

 

[Lkb-TX]

do you know how to get access to the slider damper.if it is set wide open then all your heat is being lost out you chimney.if its currently open fully you will have a very low flame with decent size pieces of pellets being blown out of the fire pot.close the damper fully and you should see a noticable difference in the flame in that it will be a tall lazy fire and orange in color.now start to open it up again until you get an active flame.this will get you close on your setting.look on ebay for the dwyer draft gauges.they can be had for reasonable money and in my opinion they are a must for someone who is a DIY kind of a person.you will have peace of mind knowing the draft is in the right position.over time you will come to know what the flame should look like.and you wont need the gauge.hope this helps.Peace,Corkman

Corkman, Thank you so much for the advice. I will get on ebay and see if I can find a guage. I'm almost positive it has something to do with the damper. The stove is on rails so we should be able to pull it out and find the damper. If not I can get to it from the back side. I'm also going to turn the combustion fan trim down too to see if that helps build the flame more. Can you help me understand the perfect flame? You said active ... what other characteristics am I looking for? Will it still be orange and tall? Thanks again

oh and someone requested a picture - we installed the insert in a double sided fireplace. We are going to make a removable tiled wall on the backside which is viewable from our sun room.

 

[Lkb-TX]

I think the "installed it myself" is what I'd be looking at, simply meaning that there is either an installation issue(s) or a setup issue with the draft or whatever. I know my Accentra has a safety switch that shuts down the stove if the draft is impeded. Do yourself a favor and have an expert give it the once over.

I'll be calling them tomorrow when they are open. I agree it's probably a setup issue and trying to get all the settings set just right for the best heat. We are just trying to get prepared for the cold front moving in in a few days.

 

[corkman]

i have a free standing stove but the guts and operation are pretty much the same as yours.there are instructions in the manual for setting the draft.run the stove on heat level 5 for an hour with feed at 3 and air on 3.then adjust damper till you get a reading of .15 to .17 on your gauge.most people seem to settle on .16
look on ebay for a gauge that reads from 0 to .25
in the mean time i would put it on heat level 3,feed 3 and air 3 and see how it burns .flame should be a few inches above the pot,upright flame and not lazy,white to yellow in color

 

[Lkb-TX]

i have a free standing stove but the guts and operation are pretty much the same as yours.there are instructions in the manual for setting the draft.run the stove on heat level 5 for an hour with feed at 3 and air on 3.then adjust damper till you get a reading of .15 to .17 on your gauge.most people seem to settle on .16
look on ebay for a gauge that reads from 0 to .25
in the mean time i would put it on heat level 3,feed 3 and air 3 and see how it burns .flame should be a few inches above the pot,upright flame and not lazy,white to yellow in color

I just reread that section of the manual and see where I need to take the reading at. One more quick question - the manual says a negative pressure range of .15 to .17. I found two different gauges on ebay. One measures 0 to .25 and the other has .25 far left to 0 middle to .25 middle. Am I looking for an actual negative (to the left of 0 reading) or use the guage that is 0 to .25. Sorry this should be simple to understand and I'm sure I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[corkman]

0-.25 is the one i have.i got it for $32 shipped.the sooner you close off the other side of the fireplace the better.you will lose a lot of heat up the chimney.what are you burning for pellets

 

[Lkb-TX]

0-.25 is the one i have.i got it for $32 shipped.the sooner you close off the other side of the fireplace the better.you will lose a lot of heat up the chimney.what are you burning for pellets

ok thank you I will get that ordered. We did put fire retardant insulation around our stovepipe going up to the chimney hoping to reduce/eliminate heat loss from the inside out. I am burning hard wood, oak I think, pellets that I purchased from Orschlens Farm and Home. After I bought them the dealer said to buy OHP but that wasn't an option at Orschlens this year (my dad works there so I was getting a discount). I'll need to burn through my first ton but will be looking for OHP for they next purchase.

 

[Lkb-TX]

0-.25 is the one i have.i got it for $32 shipped.the sooner you close off the other side of the fireplace the better.you will lose a lot of heat up the chimney.what are you burning for pellets

The pressure gauge came today but I'm a little confused. I tried looking for a tutorial but didn't find what I was looking for. The gauge has rubber tubing and I connected that to the lower valve on the gauge. The other end of the tubing has a T shaped copper connector. The base goes in to the tubing, and I'm assuming one end goes in the hole in the front of the stove but do I cover the other part of the t with my finger or allow air to flow through?

 

[corkman]

not sure what that copper connector is but dont think that will work.an inflating needle that you would use to inflate a ball will work if you have one.if not then an auto store will have a kit that has 1/8" copper tubing and adapter that you need.i think its for testing oil pressure or something along those lines.

 

[smwilliamson]

We just installed our new Regency Hampton GCI60 pellet insert. I am absolutely in love with how it looks but not so impressed with the heat it is giving off. I'm positive we are doing something wrong. This particular unit is listed to heat up to 2300 sq ft with a 55,000 btu burn capability. The fireplace is in my living room and I was actually worried it might get too hot but last night I couldn't really feel the heat sitting 10 ft away on the sofa.

We intend to install the thermostat but hadn't yet so we ran the stove on manual last night. We set the heat setting, feed trim, and air trim to 2 and we woke up this morning and the fire had gone out. There are still plenty of pellets in the hopper. This morning we turned it back on and even at a heat setting of 5, air at 5, and feed trim at 4 the air blowing out of it wasn't incredibly hot. I was expecting to put my hand in front of the blower and not be able to withstand the heat for too long yet the heat coming out was like warm.

We did the installation ourselves. Honestly it didn't seem too difficult so I'm not sure if we don't yet understand how to operate it or if we missed something during setup. We did run across an instruction that we didn't understand. There are instructions to setup the slider/damper that requires pressure range measurements of .15-.16 inches of water column (37-42 Pa). Says this can me measured by a Magnahelic pressure gauge but we don't have one obviously.

I will call the installer here but the closest one is over an hour away and I'm guessing this might be a simple fix so thought I would start here.

If you close the damper so that you have about 1" of opening you'll be pretty close to in range and honestly the .15-.17 they ask for is a bit restrictive and your glass get kinda cloudy. I usually install to .18-.2 and a lot of times I cannot get the stove to drop lower than .18.

Pellets? Tell me your burning infernos or nations choice and we will all give you a finger wag

 

[corkman]

If you close the damper so that you have about 1" of opening you'll be pretty close to in range

im at the factory setting right now with the damper and my gauge reads .17
im burning maine woods and great flame and clean pot.
somersets need a bit more air and the trim settings don"t seem to get me to where i need to be so i open the damper a bit more and burn with the gauge reading .18-.19
dont be afraid to play with your stove

 

[jmdeng13]

I just joined this forum and came across this post on the GCI60. I installed the insert back in January in a zero clearance enclosure and have been fighting with it ever since. The dealer has been no help other than throwing a new control board in it just because. The factory is baffled. I cannot seem to achieve a good pressure balance in the stove. Using a magnehelic gauge the only way I can hit the upper end of the .15 to .17 range is to have the damper all the way shut. I set the flame by eye, which is about 1-1/4" out on the damper. I am still getting a lot of soot both in the burn chamber and outside on the side of my house. I have an outside air kit installed. The weird thing that nobody can figure out is why the vacuum in the combustion chamber actually increases when I lower the heat level. This should decrease proportionally with the lower heat level, which decreases the voltage applied to the exhaust blower. I had a pedestal fan in the room within 2 feet of the unit and it made the flame dance around to where it wouldn't sustain itself. This fan creates a large draw of air, so I'm thinking a leaky door seal or something. I am buring American Wood Fibers Ultra White Pines and barely getting the benefit of a hotter pellet. On heat level 3 with a thermostat on High/Low I am going through 2 bags of pellets per day. This is with feed trim at 1 and combustion trim at 4. The GCI60 also has a gate inside the hopper to limit the amount of pellets fed into the auger. I have that 1/4" from the lowest setting. The down side is it leaves about 2.5 lbs of pellets in the hopper that it can't feed, triggering an error code 3.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Lake Girl]

OP never came back to let us know what was going on or if they found a solution?

jmdeng13 Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear you are having issues. Besides the fan, what other air handling units (or appliances that will effect air pressure) do you have in your home near your stove room? Dryer, bathroom or kitchen fans, cold air return?

Has the company provided you with new gasket for the door so you can at least try that?

 

[jmdeng13]

OP never came back to let us know what was going on or if they found a solution?

jmdeng13 Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear you are having issues. Besides the fan, what other air handling units (or appliances that will effect air pressure) do you have in your home near your stove room? Dryer, bathroom or kitchen fans, cold air return?

Has the company provided you with new gasket for the door so you can at least try that?

Lake Girl...thanks for the response. The fan is the only appliance within 20 feet of the stove.
The company has not provided anything. My dealer has ignored the over 12 requests I have made to come out and the factory refuses to deal with me directly. This is a nightmare situation and the worst customer service I have ever experienced.
The door gasket seems like a likely possibility for the leak.

 

[Lake Girl]

What is your exhaust set-up?

 

[jmdeng13]

What is your exhaust set-up?

It's an insert so straight out the back to a tee and then up about 3 feet and a 90 deg elbow out through the wall. I tried adding 2 more vertical feet outside but it had zero effect on the pressure balance, which doesn't make sense.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

It's an insert so straight out the back to a tee and then up about 3 feet and a 90 deg elbow out through the wall. I tried adding 2 more vertical feet outside but it had zero effect on the pressure balance, which doesn't make sense.

You might want to check the damper, slide plate, whatever in that stove isn't blocked from freely moving and that the control rod or other linkage is solidly attached to the device. Further the entire assembly must ride in any channel if there is one.

Otherwise every setting you make is subject to change by any vibrations in the area, also it isn't unknown for slide plate type dampers to pop out of their channels or to be blocked by crud or to rub against other parts such that you think there is no adjustment left. Then control linkages have been known to come loose.

A bit of time looking the damper area over really well can stop a lot of issues.

 

[jmdeng13]

Smokey,
I checked the slider damper on the left side of the unit and it moves freely. There is no blockage at all. It is a very basic setup essentially opening a gate to the exhaust channel. The position I set by eye has not moved.
I hate having to troubleshoot the unit myself due to a nonresponsve dealer and a manufacturer that won't stand behind their product.

What else could cause an increase in vacuum in the combustion chamber when the heat level is lowered?