Regency Cascade i1500

[TheShack]

Hi all,

Been lurking here for a while but just finally got a quote back from an installer for a Regency i1500 insert. I think it’s a reasonable quote, but this insert, and the whole Cascade line from regency, seems to be very new and I cannot seem to find any reviews from anyone using them. I’m told this is just about the only small insert which will fit into my funky century-old mason fireplace. I’m probably moving forward with this regardless, if I’m being honest, but curious to know if anyone here burns in a Regency Cascade and has anything good bad or indifferent to say about them?

Thanks!

 

[bholler]

Hi all,

Been lurking here for a while but just finally got a quote back from an installer for a Regency i1500 insert. I think it’s a reasonable quote, but this insert, and the whole Cascade line from regency, seems to be very new and I cannot seem to find any reviews from anyone using them. I’m told this is just about the only small insert which will fit into my funky century-old mason fireplace. I’m probably moving forward with this regardless, if I’m being honest, but curious to know if anyone here burns in a Regency Cascade and has anything good bad or indifferent to say about them?

Thanks!

No reviews yet. They just hit the market I really want reviews to I sell regency stoves but won't try to sell these untill they are proven in the feild

 

[begreen]

There are many new stoves showing up now as the stove market shifts to EPA 2020 compliance. We are all learning along with you.

 

[roberth42]

I have a new F2500M Cascade and have been burning for almost 4 weeks straight. I really like the stove and it heats our home very well.
I can load twice in a 24hr period and it cruises nicely....stove top sits around 500 degrees.

 

[TheShack]

I have a new F2500M Cascade and have been burning for almost 4 weeks straight. I really like the stove and it heats our home very well.
I can load twice in a 24hr period and it cruises nicely....stove top sits around 500 degrees.

That’s encouraging to hear, thank you!

 

[Nigel459]

To speak to it being a "new insert," while it absolutely is that, it sure is pretty much the 1100 with a round cat popped in there below the collar. Worst case is the heat from the cat does funky things to the flue collar area, in which case you can always run it in bypass mode and I bet it would behave like the 1100, a proven model. Best case, it holds up just fine and behaves like the 1100, with slightly better efficiency and a cleaner burn.

 

[TheShack]

Thanks, Nigel, that’s helpful as well.

 

[skarybat]

Hi

Hi all,

Been lurking here for a while but just finally got a quote back from an installer for a Regency i1500 insert. I think it’s a reasonable quote, but this insert, and the whole Cascade line from regency, seems to be very new and I cannot seem to find any reviews from anyone using them. I’m told this is just about the only small insert which will fit into my funky century-old mason fireplace. I’m probably moving forward with this regardless, if I’m being honest, but curious to know if anyone here burns in a Regency Cascade and has anything good bad or indifferent to say about them?

Thanks!

I just got mine installed. It is perfect for our needs. It delivers quite a good amount of heat for its small size. It looks high quality and beautiful. The only thing is I get smoke coming out of the door when I open it for reloading. I know there are several factors involved in draft dynamics, but I suspect small EPA stove like this one have less draft in general. The combustion is all good when door is closed though. I just need to be careful when I open the door.

 

[TheShack]

Thank you for that, Skarybat. We went ahead and put our deposit in for the i1500 so we’re just awaiting an install now, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Would be curious to know how large a home/space you are heating with it and if you have one story or two? My biggest concern is it will overheat our living room and not doo much for our upstairs bedrooms.
Are you opening the cat bypass before reloading?

 

[skarybat]

Good for you! I don't think you'll regret it. We were in the same situation : our masonry fireplace would just accept such a small unit.

I live in a bungalow (1150 sq) feet with a basement. We don't count on our insert to fill our heating needs, but when it's on, we don't hear the furnace working. It's not been very cold since we got it (around 25-30F). I live in Canada, winter will definitely get colder and I don't think it will be enough to heat the house for outside temps below 15 F. We have a central heating system in the house so I keep the fan working to ensure air circulation into the house. This way, there is no huge difference between our living room (where the insert is) and the master bedroom at the other end of the house. The basement is quite colder though (around 60F).

A full load will last around 3-4 hours until you can reload it on red coals. Yes our living room gets warm, but that's exactly what we want! It's not too warm.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that we are using softwood for now. You can now imagine what would happen with hardwood.

For the smoke issue when opening the door, I open the bypas and air intake before to open it. It doesn't seem to solve the problem.
I learned to add logs only at the end of the burning cycle to minimize smoke puffing into the house. It works ok for now.

 

[TheShack]

Hi all,

Been lurking here for a while but just finally got a quote back from an installer for a Regency i1500 insert. I think it’s a reasonable quote, but this insert, and the whole Cascade line from regency, seems to be very new and I cannot seem to find any reviews from anyone using them. I’m told this is just about the only small insert which will fit into my funky century-old mason fireplace. I’m probably moving forward with this regardless, if I’m being honest, but curious to know if anyone here burns in a Regency Cascade and has anything good bad or indifferent to say about them?

Thanks!

So the stove was installed today and I unfortunately wasn’t there for the installation but everything looked done correctly. I noticed however when building my first fire in it this evening that the push rod for the cat bypass and the top of the door come into contact with each other when the push rod is pulled out. I can get the door closed but the rod is then essentially jammed in place, and can’t be reinserted easily, or at all—I didn’t want to force it. The door swings easily and appears to be level. Is there any chance there’s a spacer apparatus or something like that in the door hinges that might be adjusted to lower the whole door a cm or so?

 

[begreen]

It's awkwardly located, but the rod should clear the door. If not, tell the dealer the stove is inoperable.

 

[skarybat]

Hi TheShack,

On my i1500, I can see that the rod is very flush with the top of the door when it's pulled out, but it doesn't seem to cause any problem.

However, the rod sometimes jams too when it's pulled out, and I won't be able to push it in. At first, it got me a little worried, but I then realized it only happens when the fire has just been started and the stove is cold-ish. When the stove is hot - let's say when the catalyst probe shows 600 *F ++ for more than 10 minutes, I can always easily push the rod. I don't know if it's normal, but it's not a problem since we're supposed to let the fire heat the stove for about 30 minutes before to engage the catalyst. Maybe it's meant to be this way, to avoid engaging the catalyst when the stove is too cold.

Tell me what the dealer says if you get in contact with them.

Good luck and enjoy your new stove!

 

[pmpybra]

I just signed up here because of this thread alone. We just got our Cascade i1500 installed over the past few weeks (they had a hard time and had to come back a few times). Just got it "inspected" yesterday (they just looked at it), and fired it up for the first time last night.

TheShack, I noticed that the bypass rod does rub against the top of our door, but I haven't noticed it impacting functionality, but it does kinda scrape.

My biggest concern though is the catalyst temperature probe. I've only had 2 fires so far, but the thermometer hasn't gone beyond 330F, even after some hours of burning with what looks like a lot of active burning.

skarybat, you said your probe shows 600 after 30 minutes? I'm worried our probe was installed wrong, because I have seen the combustor glowing, so I slid it closed to use it. I'll have to try to take the side/back shields off and see if I can check the probe.

Luckily I haven't had a problem with smoke coming out at all, except when starting it as I'm still trying to figure out what works best.

I don't have a moisture meter yet (it comes tomorrow), but the wood is being split up pretty small and feels light/clunky and sounds hollow, it was supposedly seasoned/covered for ~3 years? So maybe I just don't have the best wood, or maybe I'm not putting enough in there after seeing roberth42's post.

Maybe not a big deal since we're supposed to take it easy for the first few fires?

 

[TheShack]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I “solved” my issue of the door jamming up the cat bypass rod. I removed the door and took two steel washers out. Those are probably there for a reason and I’m not loving it as a workaround but it have JUST enough clearance that I can engage the cat now.

I am definitely going to have to learn this stove and I’m a little hesitant to trust this probe—but if it proves reliable it could be pretty handy. So far my highest temp on the probe has been about 580 with four medium sized splits loaded. Only been able to get two hour burns from a single load so far though.

I am also not seeing any issues with smoke drifting back at any point, but I have this sucker hooked up to a 25ft chimney so the draft is frankly bananas. I can close the air down almost immediately after the splits catch.

Would love to hear anyone else’s experiences with this new stove.

 

[skarybat]

Pmpybra, yes I guess your probe is not located at the place as mine. I did not install it l myself but according to the manual , it’s supposed to indicate the catalyst temperature, which is much hotter than the stove top for instance. I think mine shows accurate temperatures. I sometimes reach 600 F after only 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the splits / wood species. My guess is your probe is not located properly. My second guess would be your wood has high moisture level, but since you mention there was a lot of active burning, this might not be the problem. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to activate the catalyst 30 minutes after your fire has started, as long as you see active combustion. When I active mine, I instantly see the temperature going up, which tells me the catalyst is working (secondary smoke is burnt by the catalyst and that releases more heat).

The shack, I too must refuel about every 2 hours, unless I carefully load it to the maximum (which asks some Tetris skills). I think I was a little too optimistic in my first answer. I hope burning time will increase when I get to burn some hardwood. Good for you that you solved your door problem. Is the door still airtight after removing the washers ?

Regarding my smoke problem, I finally just found out I have poor draft. My chimney is only 16 feet and not insulated. I manage it well by loading only at appropriate time. There are no more smoke spills if I’m cautious. The only thing is I’m about the only person who can operate the stove in the house for now.

Overall I’m very satisfied with my new stove and I hope you both will be too!

 

[burningred56]

Hey everyone, I actually have had the insert since October 2019 and I am glad others have it too. Been nice on a lot of the cold nights and I have been dealing with similar issues with the bypass not wanting to close/getting stuck, some smoke coming into the house when reloading, door not being tight, etc. Overall, I have a few tips I can share with you all. It's a great little insert like you all probably know, it was the only one that would really fit my fireplace and despite a few issues with it, it burns well and heats my living room to 75F easily on a small load.

My thoughts and tips:
1. Things I have learned with the probe, if you jiggle the wire it will sometimes show the wrong temperature and will need to be jiggled/adjusted and it will usually read normal again. IDK why that happens but it can.

2. Smoke in the room, best thing is to load when down to red coals, always open the bypass and turn the air control down (prevents more air blowing in the center of the coals making smoke push out into the room). I have found holding the door open a crack allows for any smoke to clear out and allows for the firebox to adjust a little bit for the change in air pressure. Then I open completely for the new load and close again.

3. This stove's firebox is small so loading is a little bit challenge. Try to load N to S and you will find it is a pain because no way a 16in round or quarter is going to fit. E to W and I get usually a good burn, but not as hot as a N to S load because it tends to burn unevenly. Since the firebox is small I found that I can cut four 16 inch logs into eight, 8 inch splits and use the splits to load in a NxS pattern.

4. Buy fire gloves, this stove is small and when loading the baby up, so much super hot metal is within inches of your hands. I took the skin off a few of my knuckles because I brushed the smoke shelf lip while loading wood. This was a one and done lesson, instant 2nd to 3rd degree burn and it hurt like the Devil himself kissed my knuckles.

5. Fatwood is a great way to start the fires off, paper and kindling is nice, but the ash tends to get out of control once it builds up and fly ash will come out sometimes when loading. I can usually start a fire with seasoned wood with one piece of fatwood.

6. I usually get about 1.5 to 2.5 hrs of burning before reloading, it usually depends on your wood species and how seasoned it has become. I have been burning mainly Ash and Walnut, usually see the burn time on these about the same. Sometimes I get a few oak pieces and it burns about 3. I always load on red coals and I wait till the wood is no longer holding its original shape. (Do not load when wood is half burned, you will get a ton of smoke in your room)

7. It will heat your room, maybe another room nearby, but it is not going to heat your entire house unless your house is very small. Expect it to impact the room it is in and maybe few others. This really depends on your house, how much insulation you have and how well it is sealed up. My living room was maintaining a 75 degree F. temp, my dining room which is about 15 feet away from the fireplace, was 70 and the 2nd floor gets some heat in the hallway from the fireplace.

8. Do not clean out all of the ash from the fireplace, IDK why but I always have a harder time getting a nice burn on an empty fireplace, vs one with some ash on the bottom.

Overall, the insert has been a blessing, these are just my thoughts and tips. I have used it a few times all day long, loading about every few hours when I saw the coals were nice and red. Somehow my door always seems to need to be tightened in the latch/handle area, which increases the seal around the door and will increase the burn time. Be careful not to overfire your stove with too much wood or too much air coming into it. If you are constantly seeing burn temps rise fast and burn time dropping you may have too much air getting into the firebox. Check your door with the dollar bill test, if you can pull it through the rope seal when the door is latched shut, you are not tight enough. Keep up the burning everyone.

 

[skarybat]

Hello burningred56

Thanks for sharing your experiemce. Can you describe your chemney ? We seem to have the same limited drafting.