too much draft??

[gsxr1216]

i seem to be getting too much draft with my new ( new to me) regency hearth heater insert ( H2100) its one year old, i relined the whole chimney with 6" 306Ti flex liner, its about 18-19' worth of pipe, a small offset to one side maybe 1' offset so overall the pipe is pretty much all a straight shot straight up the inside of my clay lined chimney.

the first couple of fires i had to test it and make sure all was well it was maybe 35 degrees out and it seemed to work well, if you closed the draft rod all the way it would choke the fire out so there was no flames, pull it out all the way it it would flame right up and burn nice and hot.

now the problem, last week it finally got sorta cold, like 22 degrees, the first few hours the stove worked like before if you closed the rod down it would shut the flames down real good, but once i got a major bed of deep red hot coals after 4-6 hours and would load a new log and open the rod as the manaul suggests the fire would take right off and cook that new log and you and put out major heat but now when i close the rod down to simmer down the fire it wont choke the flames down low, infact it woulndt even shut them down enough to keep the flames from going up and around the "baffle plate" in the top of the stove. i was worried that it might over fire the stove, but its not running that hot but its certainly putting out a LOT more flames than i think it should with the draft rod fully closed. i thought the draft rod would pretty much choke out any fire if you closed it all the way??? i have checked the door and it seems to seal nice, i have stuck paper in it in various spots and closed it and theres resistance to try to pull the paper out from the door and stove frame. the door does have shims you can swap to crush the door seal more but to me the door seal seems like its decent everywhere already???? is there some other place that this stove could be sucking in air other than the draft rod or door thats making it burn excessively when the rod is closed down?? i sealed all the stove joints down by the stove itself (T that comes off the back off the stove, then unoin to the flex pipe) so i think thats good, plus even if those joints did leak would that make the fire really take off with the draft rod closed, i wouldnt think the possible air leaks there would be able to help feed a fire in the firebox???? is there any way to check to see that the draft rod is indeed closing off the air and isnt somehow getting stuck a little bit on these stoves??? i could swap some shims to tighten the door more but i really think its sealed good already??

any info or insight would be appreciated!

 

[Willhound]

I'm not fully up to speed on your Regency, but I suspect that like a lot of newer "high efficiency/clean burning" stoves and inserts, closing the damper rod all the way does not actually totally cut the inlet air. This is partly how the cleaner burning aspect happens in that you can't cause too much of a smolder.
You will find that with a nice hot bed of coals, dry wood and cooler temps outside, yes the chimney will draw better.

My suggestion would be to try different kinds of wood, different settings, let the coals die down to various levels, etc. and sooner or later you'll get a combination that you are comfortable with.
As an example, I do open up the air inlet on my Summit when putting in wood (as the manual suggests) when the fire is at a lower temp, or early in a burn, but as things heat up and I have a good bed of coals, I don't bother because I don't need to.

 

[elkimmeg]

Welcome to achieving secondary burning .You just described how to achieve it. The important thing to do is watch the stove thermometer, as long as it is under 650
then you are ok. It sounds like without the liner, your draft was poor and never achieved enough strength to kick in secondary burn. It also sounds like you are burning dry wood
sounds normal to me

 

[gsxr1216]

Welcome to achieving secondary burning .You just described how to achieve it. The important thing to do is watch the stove thermometer, as long as it is under 650
then you are ok. It sounds like without the liner, your draft was poor and never achieved enough strength to kick in secondary burn. It also sounds like you are burning dry wood
sounds normal to me

this stove is new to me, i never ran it before without a liner. i have got secondary burn before ( i beleive??) with this stove as the flames kinda erupt out of nowhere at the air tubes and barely reach over the baffle plate but those flames werent really big roaring ones. the condition i have now that is concerning me is when it gets really going on a big bed of coals is the flames are coming right off the wood itself and up to the baffle plate then up and over it . unfortuantely i dont have a themometer on the stove to see how hot it is, guess i need to get one!

 

[begreen]

I've been pushing our stove hard, 24/7, the last few days to keep up with the cold snap. What you are describing is a regular occurance in our stove. Seems pretty normal. When you put fresh wood in a hot stove with a good coal bed the first thing that happens is a rapid heating of the new wood. This causes it to gas like crazy and that gas ignites. You should try this with doug fir if you want to see a spectacular show. But the stove is designed for this and as long as the flue temps don't get outrageous I say, enjoy the show.

 

[axleman]

Sounds very much like what I experienced after I installed a liner as well. What I am discovering is that the stove is now working like it should. You really should get a thermometer if you have a place to put it on your insert. It can be very difficult (for me anyway) to get an accurate assessment on how hot my insert really is without a therm. I have found that going by what the fire looks like won't always tell you how hot it actually is. You may also find like I have, that under certain conditions, less air may actually make it hotter and more air will cool it down. Seems counterintuitive, but I have seen it happen on mine a few times. Others' experiences may be different.

 

[elkimmeg]

It took 20 years before BB found out what his old stove could do, by that time it was too old to handle the draft conditions.
I am glad to see safer and more effecient installations. It only confirms what I have been trying to promote others to do the last 5 years.
I know it cost more money for a full liner but cheping out with modern draft sensitive stoves i never allows the stove to reach its full potenticial.
More heat secondary combustion equates to effeciency and less wood comsumption. Many new posters still want to take the cheap compromised route out
Tell me how that now works out? Do me a favor and to all the other newbies, tell them how it works out some think I was just blowing smoke when it was they who did?
getting things right the first time actually saves money

 

[MrGriz]

I have to agree with Elk on the benefits of the full liner. Having just installed my insert, I only have the open fireplace to compare it to. In the past lighting a fire would mean smoking out the basement until the chimney warmed and the draft took over. With 22 feet of 6" ss liner, the cat alomst got sucked into the firebox on the first burn! And we're talking kitty cat, not combuster.

At first I bought into the liner as a safety item, but it definitely has multiple benefits.