Advice / Review need: Regency CI2600 fireplace insert risky & costly?

[Jonny006]

I am not getting any sufficient burn times. Loaded it up to the point where no more wood would fit at 3:00. Went to the inlaws, back at 8:30. No fire. Thick bed of coals producing zero heat and thermostatically controlled fan was off.
I'm at my wits end with this fu**ing stove. I spent a lot of money on a heater which does anything but.
I bought this stove for these reasons, which the company touted;
Up to 14hrs burn time
Takes 20" logs
My results are nowhere near this claim. If the manufacturer tells me that a bed of coals which do nothing to supply heat is considered "burn time" then I will say go F**k yourself.
20" logs? sure. If you load only one way and then you cannot put enough wood in it to achieve any significant burn time.
Listen, I've got three kids under 3. I work 70+hrs a week and my wife does as well. I don't have time to fart around with this stove and be some kind of beta tester. I purchased this stove under the assumption that it would perform in a manner consistent with the manufacturers claims. This has not been the case at all.
I don't really know what my options are at this point. Ideally I would like the company to return my money. I don't see this stove working out at all.
Honestly I don't even know what options I have. Suggestions are welcome.

 

[J RD]

I am not getting any sufficient burn times. Loaded it up to the point where no more wood would fit at 3:00. Went to the inlaws, back at 8:30. No fire. Thick bed of coals producing zero heat and thermostatically controlled fan was off.
I'm at my wits end with this fu**ing stove. I spent a lot of money on a heater which does anything but.
I bought this stove for these reasons, which the company touted;
Up to 14hrs burn time
Takes 20" logs
My results are nowhere near this claim. If the manufacturer tells me that a bed of coals which do nothing to supply heat is considered "burn time" then I will say go F**k yourself.
20" logs? sure. If you load only one way and then you cannot put enough wood in it to achieve any significant burn time.
Listen, I've got three kids under 3. I work 70+hrs a week and my wife does as well. I don't have time to fart around with this stove and be some kind of beta tester. I purchased this stove under the assumption that it would perform in a manner consistent with the manufacturers claims. This has not been the case at all.
I don't really know what my options are at this point. Ideally I would like the company to return my money. I don't see this stove working out at all.
Honestly I don't even know what options I have. Suggestions are welcome.

Go to the dealer and demand a replacement. It really falls back to.them.first and then their business is to take it up with regency. As a retailer these situations can be frustrating as you basically lose a decent amount of money on the deal and end up with a defective used stove, but that's part of the game in this business. No dealer worth their own weight should be leaving this on their customer.

 

[marty22877]

II would go back too, I'm getting 9.5 hours with the fan on blowing hot no problem. Tonight it's going into the twenties so we'll see how long it burns, but I have a feeling it will be in when I wake up.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

Here's my stove about half an hour into a burn, with damper closed and combustor engaged. Combustor is red hot. Should the flames still be going this fast?

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[Jonny006]

Last night I filled it at 10:00. At 4 my wife was up with the baby and said the stove was out and not blowing any hot air.
The coal pile is so thick that it bends the shovel when I try and stir it. It's like a big insulated blanket. I can literally put my bare hand on the stove after 4-5 hrs. Thats how little heat is coming out.
I'm calling the dealer today. Seriously fed up.
And Edge, that is how my stove looks under way. An incinerator.

 

[Wolves1]

Here's my stove about half an hour into a burn, with damper closed and combustor engaged. Combustor is red hot. Should the flames still be going this fast?

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[/qu

This is after 45 min of burning.

Last night I filled it at 10:00. At 4 my wife was up with the baby and said the stove was out and not blowing any hot air.
The coal pile is so thick that it bends the shovel when I try and stir it. It's like a big insulated blanket. I can literally put my bare hand on the stove after 4-5 hrs. Thats how little heat is coming out.
I'm calling the dealer today. Seriously fed up.
And Edge, that is how my stove looks under way. An incinerator.

There is something very wrong. I'm thinking maybe to much draft. How tall is your chimney? The other problem I'm thinking is the wood. I'm getting an easy 9 hours of stove giving off heat the I load the stove again. I have an old house 1930 two rooms is the old plaster no insulation. So after 9 hours I reload because temps in house slowly drop.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

Last night I filled it at 10:00. At 4 my wife was up with the baby and said the stove was out and not blowing any hot air.
The coal pile is so thick that it bends the shovel when I try and stir it. It's like a big insulated blanket. I can literally put my bare hand on the stove after 4-5 hrs. Thats how little heat is coming out.
I'm calling the dealer today. Seriously fed up.
And Edge, that is how my stove looks under way. An incinerator.

Johnny, what is your wood like? Where did you get it, how long was it seasoned, are the ends cracked? We ended up with unseasoned wood, which looks like a big source of my frustration with the stove. I'm going today to get a ton of biobricks and see how those burn, those alone or in combo with our wood. I'm also getting one of these from Lowe's today...http://www.lowes.com/pd_78059-56005-MMD4E_0__?productId=3136919

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

This is after 45 min of burning.

There is something very wrong. I'm thinking maybe to much draft. How tall is your chimney? The other problem I'm thinking is the wood. I'm getting an easy 9 hours of stove giving off heat the I load the stove again. I have an old house 1930 two rooms is the old plaster no insulation. So after 9 hours I reload because temps in house slowly drop.

We're a 1500sf ranch, and the flue is short if anything, that's what the installer said. Stove's on the first floor.

It sounds like our wood is too wet, I am getting a moisture meter today so I can have some hard numbers to work with, and getting some bio bricks to mix in.

Good to know that this is abnormal

Here's a video taken about 20 minutes later. You can hear that the fan is on and see the coal bed and combustor are both red hot.

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[edge-of-the-woods]

Hi. That thermometer isn't going to do you any good there. The idea of the thermometer on this type of fireplace or insert is to monitor the catalyst temperatures. I mentioned earlier in other posts, I called the Regency guys. They cleared up a lot of muddy waters for me. I really learned loads from them. This insert isn't like any I've burned before. They told me to make sure I was heating the catalyst. Once that's done and I have my insert going well, if I am off to my night-shift I load the firebox up and close the draft off. But if your picture was anything to go on, you have a load of space there for bigger pieces of wood! I have noticed that hardwood like oak burns for a while longer than softer stuff. I also use large logs, the larger the better. By the time my firebox is loaded up, there isn't a lot of space for much else! 14 hours was the goal at first because thats what regency say you can get. But I was trying to get it with half a load! Once I started to get there, 14 hrs is a breeze. I set myself a target of 16 hrs. I'm close but not quite there.

Thanks for that! How long does it take you to get the catalyst heated up enough to close the draft and walk away from it?

A few more questions out of curiosity. Are you starting with a hot coal bed, adding kindling, then wood? Do you touch the draft at all before the catalyst is hot? When you're getting the catalyst hot, is the door open or closed?

What I have had to do so far is this:

0. Start with catalyst open and damper open, coals buried under ash
1. Rake the coals around to get them uncovered and red
2. Set some kindling on top of the coals, wait with door open for that to catch
3. Sit there watching with door open till kindling is burning well and flue warm (smoke goes right up if I close the door)
4. Add one or two logs and close stove, take dog out
5. When logs have caught, add more logs and close stove
6. Wait for fan to kick on, then close cat and close damper almost all the way

 

[marty22877]

So i'm getting 10 hours now no problem. I loaded it up last night with the majority oak, it wasnt as tight as i could have made it and had probably 7-8 pieces in it, waited 10 min closed the bypass then the damper all the way, put the fan on high and let her rip. Came down this morning and the fan was still on high blowing out good hot air, i just had to open the stove, mix the coals around a bit, threw some smaller logs on and it's already raging away.

Jonny - what i've been doing is mixing up that bed of coals every time i load and rake them front center best i can, before i did that the coal bed would be so thick that i could barely move the coals around, not sure if it will help at all but at least something to try.

 

[Wolves1]

Thanks for that! How long does it take you to get the catalyst heated up enough to close the draft and walk away from it?

A few more questions out of curiosity. Are you starting with a hot coal bed, adding kindling, then wood? Do you touch the draft at all before the catalyst is hot? When you're getting the catalyst hot, is the door open or closed?

What I have had to do so far is this:

0. Start with catalyst open and damper open, coals buried under ash
1. Rake the coals around to get them uncovered and red
2. Set some kindling on top of the coals, wait with door open for that to catch
3. Sit there watching with door open till kindling is burning well and flue warm (smoke goes right up if I close the door)
4. Add one or two logs and close stove, take dog out
5. When logs have caught, add more logs and close stove
6. Wait for fan to kick on, then close cat and close damper almost all the way

I rake the coals around and bring them to the front. I place the logs on the coals no kindling, I'll do a full load close the door within 2 to 5 min fire catches, it hits a temp of 500-700 in about 10 to 15 min then I close the top wait 30 seconds then I close the bottom. I'm trying to post a video of how it's burning but having a hard time with my iPhone. Anybody any tips?

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

I rake the coals around and bring them to the front. I place the logs on the coals no kindling, I'll do a full load close the door within 2 to 5 min fire catches, it hits a temp of 500-700 in about 10 to 15 min then I close the top wait 30 seconds then I close the bottom. I'm trying to post a video of how it's burning but having a hard time with my iPhone. Anybody any tips?

Huh. What's a full load? Is it packed completely full? I'm finding that between the coal bed and the cat, I can't really stack that many full-sized logs in there. I end up having to get my maul out and split the splits thinner, so I can wedge them in there full. Other people say that's not good for burn time though, because smaller splits burn faster.

I have the Vimeo app on my iPhone, I find it's the easiest thing to use to upload video. From the Camera app, I can "send" my video to my Vimeo page. Then I go to that pay, get the link for the video, and post it here. The forum turns the link into a thumbnail all by itself.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vimeo/id425194759?mt=8

 

[Wolves1]

Huh. What's a full load? Is it packed completely full? I'm finding that between the coal bed and the cat, I can't really stack that many full-sized logs in there. I end up having to get my maul out and split the splits thinner, so I can wedge them in there full. Other people say that's not good for burn time though, because smaller splits burn faster.

I have the Vimeo app on my iPhone, I find it's the easiest thing to use to upload video. From the Camera app, I can "send" my video to my Vimeo page. Then I go to that pay, get the link for the video, and post it here. The forum turns the link into a thumbnail all by itself.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vimeo/id425194759?mt=8

Thank you I'll try and send a video. I'll load as much wood as I can fit if you go back the pic that Rocco showed that's what it would look like.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

Thank you I'll try and send a video. I'll load as much wood as I can fit if you go back the pic that Rocco showed that's what it would look like.

Thanks! I guess I was naive when I thought I could be loading this thing up with 18-20" splits. It seems more and more like I need to be cutting down my wood to fit NS.

 

[Jonny006]

My wood was cut down in July 2013 and split. It is reading @18-20% with a handheld moisture meter.
The coal bed is always stirred up and raked accordingly. I'm seeing more and more that the coals are not burning up. I was told by my dealer that every few days to simply rake the coals to the rear and scoop out the ash. I rarely if ever have ash. It's all coals that don't break down.
The coal bed is so thick now that I am limited by how much wood I can get in there.
I left the house at 6:45 and my wife is home. She has had to put wood in twice. It is 11:52 as I type this. She noticed that when you add wood it has to burn for so long to get up to temp that it winds up burning the wood to almost nothing.
So, If I scoop out the hot coals and leave some to start up new wood, the stove will burn nice and hot for a little while and then I'm right back to where I was.
As for efficiency, this stove eats wood faster than my old VC ever did with maybe 1/4 of the heat output.

 

[J RD]

My wood was cut down in July 2013 and split. It is reading @18-20% with a handheld moisture meter.
The coal bed is always stirred up and raked accordingly. I'm seeing more and more that the coals are not burning up. I was told by my dealer that every few days to simply rake the coals to the rear and scoop out the ash. I rarely if ever have ash. It's all coals that don't break down.
The coal bed is so thick now that I am limited by how much wood I can get in there.
I left the house at 6:45 and my wife is home. She has had to put wood in twice. It is 11:52 as I type this. She noticed that when you add wood it has to burn for so long to get up to temp that it winds up burning the wood to almost nothing.
So, If I scoop out the hot coals and leave some to start up new wood, the stove will burn nice and hot for a little while and then I'm right back to where I was.
As for efficiency, this stove eats wood faster than my old VC ever did with maybe 1/4 of the heat output.

I've been burning my coal bed down before I do a full load up. Basically I stir them around to expose any that aren't already glowing and then open the air control all the way. This will usually provide another hour or 2 of medium heat before they brunch down and load it back up.

 

[Simon Templar]

First, thanks for posting the videos! Does anyone have videos of a slow burn that is "normal" (i.e. not getting too much air when damped down)?

My new insert is being installed on Tuesday, and I just re-read the owner's manual. For the first 5 or 6 burns, does the stove need to completely cool between fires? If so, does that translate to about 1 fire per day? I'm pretty eager to finally use the insert but it's a big investment and I want to make sure I break it in correctly.

 

[Wolves1]

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I think this should be my slow burn video. Been trying to figure it out.

 

[Wolves1]

It worked thanks edge of the woods guy. This is what I think a slow burn would look like. If I'm wrong please tell me, that is 45 min of burning.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

First, thanks for posting the videos! Does anyone have videos of a slow burn that is "normal" (i.e. not getting too much air when damped down)?

My new insert is being installed on Tuesday, and I just re-read the owner's manual. For the first 5 or 6 burns, does the stove need to completely cool between fires? If so, does that translate to about 1 fire per day? I'm pretty eager to finally use the insert but it's a big investment and I want to make sure I break it in correctly.

Hi Simon! We did two burns a day, one in the morning and one at night. You're going to get a lot of crap on the glass at first. Use crumpled up newspaper, wet it just a bit and dab it in your ashes, and use that to clean the glass. Do it when the glass is warm and it will come right off.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

It worked thanks edge of the woods guy. This is what I think a slow burn would look like. If I'm wrong please tell me, that is 45 min of burning.

Nice job! That looks great. You had it loaded east-east?

 

[Wolves1]

Nice job! That looks great. You had it loaded east-east?

Yes east west and two logs on the right north south.

 

[Simon Templar]

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I think this should be my slow burn video. Been trying to figure it out.

Great, thanks for sharing. I'd have thought the flames would be slower moving, but I'm not qualified to have an opinion yet, since I don't have the insert yet

And thanks edge-of-the-woods for the tips on cleaning the glass; I'm sure that'll be helpful.

With the issue of short burn times being attributed to too much air, I'm wondering if there's a way to actually measure draft? Restricting air input sure seems like the smart way to go about getting the equation right, but if draft was measurable I'd think that it would be known whether one needs to adjust the air intake for optimal burn. But again, I'm not qualified to have an opinion ...

 

[Wolves1]

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This was today's slow burn after 45 min. I think I'm getting it to burn at a slower rate. Started at 8:30am 4:41pm temp still in stove 500 and fan still blowing hot air.

 

[Jonny006]

I'm curious. Those of you that have long burn times, how often are you scooping out the ashes? And do you have ashes?
All I seem to have are chunks of coals. Seems silly to scoop out the fuel but at this point I have so many that it's getting harder and harder to load it with wood. There's no room.