New Regency i2450 insert just installed - Awesome unit!

[CONick]

After 7 years in my current house in Longmont Colorado, I finally removed our old slammer stove and installed a modern wood burning insert: a Regency i2450. It’s been three days and I’m loving it! I had it professionally installed with a proper liner installation.

The old slammer:
See photos below. It was huge, and we only ran it 6 or 7 times in the 7 years we’ve lived here. It was difficult, and didn’t put out a lot of heat (not into our house at least!), so we gave up on it. I found out from the recent installers that it was kind of dangerous too. No liner, No stub from the exhaust of unit to the damper, and nothing to keep the damper from slamming shut in the wind.

Regency i2450 insert - initial use review:
I’ve been running it for three days now. I broke it in with three fires: small, medium, and medium/hot. The off-gassing was BAD. On the 2nd break in fire (medium sized), my house filled up with a haze and I got dizzy. I had several windows open initially, but I had to open EVERTYTHING. Front door, all windows, sliding glass door, etc.. The third fire had a little off-gassing, but was minimal.

I’ve had a couple of post break in fires, but have not raged it yet. Honestly, it puts out a ton of heat with what I would call medium fires. It’s in the basement of my 1900sq/ft split level house, and it keeps the whole house warm. It was 15deg F outside last night, and it was able to keep my house at 70deg F, with the electric fan on LOW. I have modern windows and a mediocre level of insulation. Early 70’s house in Colorado.

All in all, Im super impressed with the unit. Im curious to see how well it can heat my house without the fan on (in the event of a power outage). Will be testing that soon.

Im still waiting on the faceplate, and will be doing some light renovations soon to add tile, mantel, trim, cleanup, etc.

 

[CONick]

At 10pm last night, I’d been running the stove for about 3 hours (in the basement), and it was 8deg F outside. The kitchen upstairs was 68deg F, and our bedroom (farthest away from stove in house) was 66deg. Pretty good!

 

[EbS-P]

There is a product called paint and peel to clean the brick. Not sure if that’s the best option. I never got around to cleaning mine.

 

[CONick]

I’ve seen the paint and peel product! Pretty cool. Although maybe more work than I want to put into it.

I bought a basic spray cleaning product for masonry, and hope to scrub it down this weekend. Once I receive the faceplate, it will cover the old soot stains, but I’m going to try and clean it anyways.

 

[bholler]

Paint and peel is the best and easiest product I have found

 

[BigJ273]

I have the i2400. Pretty much the same stove. Yours is the newer version. Absolutely love it. Heats my entire house with no issues. 1800 square feet.

 

[Garbanzo62]

I have the I2500. (i2450 with Cat added). I'm having trouble getting heat to other parts of the house. Near the stove it's 80+. It could be my wood or the fact that I am in a center stair colonial. New to burning so I hop I'll figure it out soon.

 

[begreen]

I have the I2500. (i2450 with Cat added). I'm having trouble getting heat to other parts of the house. Near the stove it's 80+. It could be my wood or the fact that I am in a center stair colonial. New to burning so I hop I'll figure it out soon.

Center stair colonials tend to have rooms isolated with doorways. You can even out the heat by putting a fan on the floor in an adjacent colder room blowing cool air down low into the stove room. A basic table or box fan, running on low speed works well for this setup.

 

[CONick]

It's been a few weeks, and I've run the stove maybe 15 times now. Still loving it! I've been learning it's characteristics, experimenting with damper control, and figuring out how to get it to (what I believe to be..) max temp and ideal hotness for max efficiency.

As others have mentioned, there is no perfect place to put your thermometer, as the whole insert is essentially surrounded by a shell. But after trying many different locations, it seems like just above the door opening is a fairly good place for the thermometer. I get the same readings here as I do when putting thermo on the exhaust neck. I'm maxxing it out at about 550deg F., at which point the secondary air tubes are just starting to glow a little. I feel like ideal efficiency is when this thermo is around 500deg F. I figure the actual temp is a little higher (since there isn't a perfect place for thermometer), and I think this is the max/peak heat I want to run.

The thing cranks out heat! Even with the fan off, it puts out a lot of good heat. I think that the shell around the insert is designed to flow heat out the front, even without the fan on. I believe it will do great if we are ever without electricity on a cold day. (still waiting on my faceplate).

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the update. If you get a chance can you put in a Rating for this insert?

Stove Reviews

www.hearth.com

 

[Cozyhotbox]

I just had the i2450 installed and am having an issue with the damper rod jamming when pulled all the way out. I have to hit it back in to close the damper. The issue is still pending with the installer but was wondering if anyone could measure the full stroke distance from fully closed to fully open? I am wondering if it is eaven opening all the way before jamming

 

[begreen]

It sounds like the air control is binding. The dealer should come out and fix this. It's dangerous to not be able to control the air properly. If it jams while wide open, it could damage the stove.

 

[CONick]

I got a fairly exact measurement of 3.25" from full closed to full open on my i2450. The damper rod does not bind at all. When it's full closed, it just hits a wall. When it's full open, it hits another wall. No sticking.

 

[begreen]

I'm wondering if they introduced some binding when installing the surround?

 

[Garbanzo62]

I have the I2500 which is basically an I2450 with a cat added. No binding on the damper.. I do get a little resistance on the cat If I let the temp get much over 600 before I engage it. Assuming that is due to metal expansion adding some resistance.

 

[Cozyhotbox]

Thanks for the inputs. It is jamming when fully opened at about 3" and I have to hit it by hand to free it back to slide closed. Apparently it isnt a serviceable part and is a full stove replacment. Hate to go through the whole process again but yes could be a safety issue if it gets worse or completly stuck open down the road

 

[Jedi]

@CONick what thermometer is that on the inster? I'm gettong my insert installed in 2 weeks!

 

[danwilks]

I had a similar issue with the air control rod on my 2450 purchased this past fall. Mine was very difficult to move in or out. Almost felt like it was bent somewhere. I needed to use pliers and a hammer to get it all the way open and then hammer to close. Regency replaced the entire stove. They said there was no way to fix it and it was a "field destroy" for the dealer.