New to wood burning. Please help!

[ryan03NH]

I recently had a Recency HI300 insert installed. I have a very difficult time getting the temperature above 65 in the room the insert is in. The room is roughly 14x18, 8 ft ceilings, with a ceiling fan that I run in reverse to push the heat down. The wood I am using is seasoned for 2 years, although it does have some ice on the outside, and I can see the moisture exiting the wood when I first load the insert. I suspect the wood is part of the issue, but I feel like I should still be able to get the room to a higher temp. I also go through wood like crazy, as I tend to leave the damper open a bit more because as soon as I close it the room temp drops significantly. The installers told me the room it is in will reach mid 70s no problem. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? Supposedly this is an excellent insert.


Anything offered is greatly appreciated.

 

[prezes13]

It is an excelent insert. Sounds like your wood is wet and that's why you run it with air control fully open(dumper) sending all the heat up your chimney. Few of my frinds have that insert and they are able to keep their houses in mid 70 for hours. Get some dry wood 20% or less moisture content at room temp on a freshly split piece. Or get some compressed wood fuel bricks, like envi, eco, hot or other bricks.

 

[Swedishchef]

Welcome to the forums!

Try bringing in some wood and setting it inside for a week or two with a fan blowing on it. Make sure it is nice and dry. Something tells me (wood hissing) that your wood source is part of the problem.

When you say seasoned, was it cut/split/stacked in an open area for 2 years?

Andrew

 

[Grisu]

Sizzling wood is certainly not dry and the ice on the outside is not helping either. Stack the wood for a few days in the stove room that should get rid off the outside moisture.
How was the wood seasoned? It needs to be split and then stacked in a sunny and windy spot for one to three years, raised from the ground, and I prefer top-covering although opinions about that differ. Wood that is still in logs and only split shortly before burning is not dry. To test your wood you can get a moisture meter. Brings some splits up to room temp, then split them in half and press the pins in the center of the fresh surface. It should read below 20%. If it is above that, I recommend burning some compressed wood logs like Envi-blocks, BioBricks or similar to see whether that will fix the issue. Lumber scraps or pallets would also work.

Other potential culprits:
Do you have a full, insulated liner to the top of the chimney? How long is it?
Is there a block-off plate? https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/make-a-damper-sealing-block-off-plate/
Is the fireplace at an exterior wall? Maybe insulating around the insert would help: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/finally-got-around-to-insulating-my-fireplace.75755/

Do you have an infrared thermometer to measure the temps of the insert?

 

[ryan03NH]

It is an excelent insert. Sounds like your wood is wet and that's why you run it with air control fully open(dumper) sending all the heat up your chimney. Few of my frinds have that insert and they are able to keep their houses in mid 70 for hours. Get some dry wood 20% or less moisture content at room temp on a freshly split piece. Or get some compressed wood fuel bricks, like envi, eco, hot or other bricks.

Thanks for the quick response Prezes13. I will pick up a moisture reader to determine if the wood is the culprit. Unfortunately for me I moved into the house in December, so I was unable to really secure fully seasoned wood since in NH it was all sold out by early fall. The "seasoned" wood I have came from a family member who had it split and stacked under a tarp.

 

[ryan03NH]

Welcome to the forums!

Try bringing in some wood and setting it inside for a week or two with a fan blowing on it. Make sure it is nice and dry. Something tells me (wood hissing) that your wood source is part of the problem.

When you say seasoned, was it cut/split/stacked in an open area for 2 years?

Andrew

Hi Andrew, thanks for the response. I will bring some wood in and let it sit until it seems dry. I figured any wood that is hissing cant be dry. It was split, stacked and under a tarp for a little under 2 years I believe.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Check your wood, get as much of -20% MC as you can and bring it in your house.....
Once you have a good hot coal base, load it up with your driest wood leaving some airspace in your box....
When you see a blazing fire, start closing it down, get it as closed as possible with having good hard flames.....
You should be running your insert fan on high......
Don't run your ceiling fan...... Maybe after you accumulate a warm stove room. I never use mine....
Make sure any and all doors to rooms that you do not want to heat are closed.......
When your load stops burning flames, open door and turn over coals, keep door open to burn down coals and let out radiant heat.....
Repeat the same process, it may take 5 hours or so to raise the temp in that area.....
What temperature is the room before you start? Too low and you will struggle.......
What species of wood are you using and what is your MC %. This is important......
How long are you burning before getting frustrated.....
If I leave doors open to other parts of house, I can feel a breeze on the back of my neck, the fan draws cold air from those rooms, thus lowering or keeping the temperature from rising in my stove room......

 

[Andy S.]

I have the HI200 and I feel your frustration. From my own experience last year I can almost assure you it is related to wet wood. My suggestion would be to throw $20 at some store-bought wood. If it helps, my process is to load up with plenty of space between the splits and use a fire starter (I use the store-bought squares) with the door open. After about 15 minutes (or fire has caught) I'll close the door without latching it. This will cause a more focused rush of air and cause the fire to flare. I leave it like that for about five minutes and then lightly latch the door. The fire will subside and the secondaries will start at the top of the box. As soon as the fire recovers (another 5 min or so), I'll latch the door completely. The fire will subside again and secondaries will slowly build at the top of the box over the next few minutes. Once they are rolling against the glass I will slowly turn down the air. The process from a cold start generally takes 30 min or so. The process from coals is faster. Using a few bundles of store-bought wood will allow you to get the stove to temp and have a few reloads. Unless I miss my guess you'll be nice and warm.

If that's the case, you can get the compressed bricks for this year or do as I did last year and scrounge pallets and construction scraps to get going and then mix them with your marginal/wet wood. It will not be great but it will be better.

Welcome and good luck! You have a great insert that will keep you warm for years to come with dry wood.

 

[Typ0]

Even though the wood sucks you still should be able to get the temp up at times during the burn especially if you are loading it a lot.

 

[Grisu]

The "seasoned" wood I have came from a family member who had it split and stacked under a tarp.

Fully covered or top-covered only? Stacked or just a big heap? Raised from the ground e. g. with pallets?

 

[Typ0]

If it's stacked and under a tarp why is there so much ice on it?

 

[ryan03NH]

Sizzling wood is certainly not dry and the ice on the outside is not helping either. Stack the wood for a few days in the stove room that should get rid off the outside moisture.
How was the wood seasoned? It needs to be split and then stacked in a sunny and windy spot for one to three years, raised from the ground, and I prefer top-covering although opinions about that differ. Wood that is still in logs and only split shortly before burning is not dry. To test your wood you can get a moisture meter. Brings some splits up to room temp, then split them in half and press the pins in the center of the fresh surface. It should read below 20%. If it is above that, I recommend burning some compressed wood logs like Envi-blocks, BioBricks or similar to see whether that will fix the issue. Lumber scraps or pallets would also work.

Other potential culprits:
Do you have a full, insulated liner to the top of the chimney? How long is it?
Is there a block-off plate?
Is the fireplace at an exterior wall? Maybe insulating around the insert would help: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/finally-got-around-to-insulating-my-fireplace.75755/

Do you have an infrared thermometer to measure the temps of the insert?

Hi Grisu,

Appreciate the response. As far as I know the wood was sitting on a bed of rocks, and was fully covered with a tarp. The wood has ice all over the outside because I believe during one of the ice storms we had recently the tarp had a hole ripped so water leaked. I was under the impression that if the wood gets wet like that, if it has been seasoned for a few years it should dry out pretty quick even if the outside was wet. I plan to get a moisture reader, and I hope I get a terrible reading which would tell me its the wood. Chimney is very tall, but I do have a full insulated liner. I do have a block off plate, and the fireplace is on an interior wall. I'm pretty sure installers put some insulation around the unit in the fireplace.

I don't have a thermometer so I will have to look into that as well. I'm happy to hear everyone telling me the wood is definitely part of the issue.

 

[Grisu]

The moisture needs to evaporate. Covering the wood fully with a tarp won't let the water escape. (Just think about how well wet clothes would dry if you cover the drying rack with plastic.) Having holes in the tarp that let water in will compound the problem. Otherwise, your install sounds good; actually better than the one of most new members who come here. Once you have dry wood the insert should give you plenty of heat.

Make sure to stack the wood for the next two to three winters ASAP. Ash and softwoods should dry until the next one, while the other species will benefit from at least 2 years of drying time.

 

[ryan03NH]

If it's stacked and under a tarp why is there so much ice on it?

Hi Typ0 - I believe just recently during a storm the tarp got a small hole in the top. I was told it happened recently and the wood was dry beforehand. I figured if the wood has been seasoned for almost 2 years, some ice on the outside wouldn't cause me to have such issues... but maybe it is the reason.

 

[Tenn Dave]

Hi Typ0 - I believe just recently during a storm the tarp got a small hole in the top. I was told it happened recently and the wood was dry beforehand. I figured if the wood has been seasoned for almost 2 years, some ice on the outside wouldn't cause me to have such issues... but maybe it is the reason.

Hi Ryan....sounds like you have all the bases covered except for the wood. Last year I burned oak & hickory that was 2 years cs&s and 21% to 23% MC. Results were OK. This year I'm burning 3 years cs&s with less then 20% MC and results are outstanding. Much more heat and longer burn times. Store your wood off the ground in a windy, sunny location if possible and only top cover it.

 

[ryan03NH]

I have the HI200 and I feel your frustration. From my own experience last year I can almost assure you it is related to wet wood. My suggestion would be to throw $20 at some store-bought wood. If it helps, my process is to load up with plenty of space between the splits and use a fire starter (I use the store-bought squares) with the door open. After about 15 minutes (or fire has caught) I'll close the door without latching it. This will cause a more focused rush of air and cause the fire to flare. I leave it like that for about five minutes and then lightly latch the door. The fire will subside and the secondaries will start at the top of the box. As soon as the fire recovers (another 5 min or so), I'll latch the door completely. The fire will subside again and secondaries will slowly build at the top of the box over the next few minutes. Once they are rolling against the glass I will slowly turn down the air. The process from a cold start generally takes 30 min or so. The process from coals is faster. Using a few bundles of store-bought wood will allow you to get the stove to temp and have a few reloads. Unless I miss my guess you'll be nice and warm.

If that's the case, you can get the compressed bricks for this year or do as I did last year and scrounge pallets and construction scraps to get going and then mix them with your marginal/wet wood. It will not be great but it will be better.

Welcome and good luck! You have a great insert that will keep you warm for years to come with dry wood.

Hi Andy,

It is reassuring to hear that you are happy with you HI200. I haven't been able to find much online about the HI300. The Stove Shoppe I bought it from said it was one of the better inserts out there. I am going to pick up a few bundles of store bought wood and see if it makes a difference. I tried this a few weeks ago, however I was mixing it with my wood. I have been able to get a nice roaring fire going, but I just cant maintain a good temp in the room. I will report back on if the store bought wood makes a difference. Thanks!

 

[Grisu]

The HI300 is the same as the Regency I2400; just with a different front. It is a proven and reliable performer. Store bought kiln-dried wood is often only heated to kill bugs, not to get the wood below 20%. Your results can be hit or miss with them.

Once you have dry wood and a good fire burning start closing down the air in stages. Reduce the air until the flames start to move slowly, wait for the fire to pick up again, close the air some more until you see slow flames again and so on. During those adjustments the temps should keep climbing and you should see flames in the top of the firebox seemingly coming from the burn tubes.

 

[Rick8325]

1 or 2 story home? Staircase in same room as insert?

 

[Tenn Dave]

The HI300 is the same as the Regency I2400; just with a different front. It is a proven and reliable performer. Store bought kiln-dried wood is often only heated to kill bugs, not to get the wood below 20%. Your results can be hit or miss with them.

Once you have dry wood and a good fire burning start closing down the air in stages. Reduce the air until the flames start to move slowly, wait for the fire to pick up again, close the air some more until you see slow flames again and so on. During those adjustments the temps should keep climbing and you should see flames in the top of the firebox seemingly coming from the burn tubes.

This is absolutely correct. Last year I purchased some wood from a Big Box store and when I got it home and tested the MC on a fresh split it was 21% moisture !!

 

[Andy S.]

I haven't been able to find much online about the HI300.

Look for posts from Velvetfoot. He is a stinkin' Mets fan but otherwise a helluva good guy with a wealth of knowledge running the same stove as you.

 

[ryan03NH]

1 or 2 story home? Staircase in same room as insert?

Hi Rick,

2 Story home, and the staircase is not in the same room.

 

[northwinds]

As others have stated, sounds like it's the wood. Not too early to start working on your wood supply for next winter. If using tarps, top cover only. Don't cover the sides. Focus on wood that isn't oak or hickory if you aren't able to season it for two years plus. Locate your wood stacks where there is lots of sun and wind. What you're going through is very common to first year burners.

 

[ironworker]

How many pieces of wood are you putting in.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Hi Typ0 - I believe just recently during a storm the tarp got a small hole in the top. I was told it happened recently and the wood was dry beforehand. I figured if the wood has been seasoned for almost 2 years, some ice on the outside wouldn't cause me to have such issues... but maybe it is the reason.

Sitting under a full tarp tent for two years isn't seasoning, it's just sitting. The ice by itself won't cause much of a problem, especially if you can bring the wood indoors and let the ice melt off before you put it in the stove. "Water wet" just isn't an issue. It only penetrates a fraction of an inch, and dries off very quickly either indoors or outdoors.

In my experience, those bundles of wood sold at convenience stores, etc., are not really very dry-- at least they aren't around here. They're there for folks who want a nice little fire in the fireplace on a special occasion or in an old smoke dragon in a hunting camp, not for burning in modern wood stoves.

The advice to get this wood out from under that tarp and stack it outside in sun and wind as soon as you can is excellent advice. You won't be able to use it this year, but maybe next if the splits aren't too huge. This year, stick to the smaller splits augmented by either those envi-bricks or whatever they're called, or if you can find it this time of year, some pricey kiln-dried wood, maybe split up some old wood pallets, find scrap wood, etc. If the stuff you have isn't too green, you can limp along for the rest of the winter that way, but you won't get the kind of heating out of it you're looking for, and you'll need to start all over again on learning different fire-building and maintenance habits once you are working with dry wood. (Been there, done that.)

This problem catches almost all of us when we start burning an EPA stove, and it's truly maddening to be forced to postpone the heating experience we were anticipating. But unless you can somehow find that rare source of actually dry wood (check with the moisture meter before buying) or a kiln-dried firewood supplier (pricey, and not necessarily as dry as you'd like, either), there's not much you can do about it.

 

[Typ0]

This problem catches almost all of us when we start burning an EPA stove, and it's truly maddening to be forced to postpone the heating experience we were anticipating. But unless you can somehow find that rare source of actually dry wood (check with the moisture meter before buying) or a kiln-dried firewood supplier (pricey, and not necessarily as dry as you'd like, either), there's not much you can do about it.

So you are saying there is hope?