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

[marty22877]

I Let the coal bed burn down before loading and after aa really long burn the coals are pretty low. I've barely had to take out ashes.

 

[begreen]

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.

Video is private.

 

[Wolves1]

I'm not sure if you can see the video this is today's slow burn.

 

[Wolves1]

Video is private.

Thank you. Do you know an easy way to down load videos from iPhone?

 

[Wolves1]

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.

Usually I take one scoop of ash out in the morning. I have ash in the front and hot coals in the back.

 

[marty22877]

I've also noticed too many coals will almost choke it, i make sure to burn them down enough so that they are at our below that front ledge.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

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.

When I've been around to keep it loaded up and burning well, it burns most coals down to ashes. When I leave it overnight, I end up with a lot of coals like you.

My dealer says he cleans the ashes out of his cat stoves only once a year...

 

[marty22877]

Raking the coals to the middle like a pile helps burn them down

 

[Jonny006]

A week ago I attempted to let the coals burn down. It took well over 12 hrs to start seeing any difference. The house was freezing. I cannot let the coals burn down b/c then there is zero heat coming from the stove.
Just now I had to shovel out an entire bucket of crazy hot coals in order to reduce the size of the bed. They are now outside on my porch glowing red hot. Ridiculous.
Not to mention the amount of ash dust which coated the entire living room. I was like a surgeon and there was dust literally everywhere and now my whole house smells like burning plastic.
This is completely unacceptable.
I called the dealer today and have not heard back.
I would really like to know how some of you are having such success with your stoves. Did I get a lemon?
I am literally feeling so defeated and frustrated.
Such a huge outlay of hard earned money and to be obsessing over this and tending to it this much is just not right in my book.

 

[Grisu]

Excessive coals, short burn times and a cold stove are usually the sign of wet wood. Did you resplit some pieces and test the fresh surface with a moisture meter?

 

[Jonny006]

Excessive coals, short burn times and a cold stove are usually the sign of wet wood. Did you resplit some pieces and test the fresh surface with a moisture meter?

Yup.
Took a piece out yesterday. split it and measured the moisture with my Newell Meter. 18% and then 20%. These are acceptable parameters according to what I have read.
My glass is clear and the wood incinerates as I've said and has no issues burning. When it's burning I've seen temps reaching 1200F. It then burns off the wood and reduces to the coals. It will then hover around 350F and if I leave it go to "COOL" and the heat will cease. Even though there are hot coals they do not provide any real heat.

 

[Jonny006]

I'm starting to think that I cursed myself by not going with my gut. I wanted to get the same style of freestanding stove that I had in my previous home. I was told by the dealer that I did not have the clearances. I am willing to bet that I could have made it work. I was never a fan of the insert but was willing to go with it given the favorable specs provided by the company and dealer.
So this make the sting that much worse.

 

[Grisu]

Maybe that reducer plate was too much. Rake the coals forward before the cat temp drops that much and open the primary air again a bit. As long as they are glowing the cat should eat the emissions of the coals and keep the stove warm.

Is that insert at an exterior wall? How cold is the outside of the fireplace?

 

[Wolves1]

Can it be that the bypass control isn't attached correctly and your losing hot air up the chimney and bypassing the cat? It sounds like the stove isn't keeping the heat.

 

[marty22877]

Heres a cool little trick i found searchimg around

http://www.woodheat.org/charcoal.html

 

[Jonny006]

Maybe that reducer plate was too much. Rake the coals forward before the cat temp drops that much and open the primary air again a bit. As long as they are glowing the cat should eat the emissions of the coals and keep the stove warm.

Is that insert at an exterior wall? How cold is the outside of the fireplace?

I've done this. It still is not hot enough. I have the primary wide open and the cat is not engaged because it's below the recommended temp of 600F.

 

[Jonny006]

Can it be that the bypass control isn't attached correctly and your losing hot air up the chimney and bypassing the cat? It sounds like the stove isn't keeping the heat.

I'm not following what you mean by this?

Heres a cool little trick i found searchimg around

http://www.woodheat.org/charcoal.html

I have actually been doing this without knowing about this article.
From all these suggestions I am once again stuck babysitting this stove. If I am home like tonight it's not that big an issue. But i am often not at home and my wife does not have the time to fiddle with this stove constantly.
I guess I was spoiled previously with my old stove. All I had to do was add wood and dump out the convenient ash pan every three days or so and the thing heated my whole house 24/7.
I would have thought that with 30 years of advancements this stove would have at least matched that stove. Clearly I was mislead.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

Just curious, what are your fan/blower settings, and what kind of ventilation or air current does the room have?

I swear our same insert runs better when I have an 8" fan blowing from the floor down the hallway towards the stove room.

Still don't have a proper cat thermometer yet, just the one on the faceplate, but...putting fan on low instantly raises the temp up, and puttin it on high knocks the temp down just as fast. It definitely changes the airflow in the stove.

 

[Grisu]

I've done this. It still is not hot enough. I have the primary wide open and the cat is not engaged because it's below the recommended temp of 600F.

With the primary wide open you have way too much (cold) air coming into the firebox. Of course, the cat won't come up to temp. I just don't understand how according to your description the insert can go from chewing through the wood and 1200 F cat to tons of coals, a cold stove and a 350 F cat in seemingly two hours or so. I am wondering what is happening in between.

How was the insert installed? Is it at an exterior wall? Was a block-off plate installed?

We can only make suggestion what may be wrong and how to get the insert to perform better. It's up to you if you want to make the insert burn at least as well as the other owners here can get it to work or return it to the dealer.

P.S. The suggestion of a leaky bypass is actually a good one. If the bypass is not closing correctly a lot of the smoke will go straight up the chimney instead of being consumed by the cat. That could explain why the temp drops so quickly because the cat is running out of fuel once the peak fire is over.

I guess I was spoiled previously with my old stove.

What stove was that?

 

[Wolves1]

I'm not following what you mean by this?

I have actually been doing this without knowing about this article.
From all these suggestions I am once again stuck babysitting this stove. If I am home like tonight it's not that big an issue. But i am often not at home and my wife does not have the time to fiddle with this stove constantly.
I guess I was spoiled previously with my old stove. All I had to do was add wood and dump out the convenient ash pan every three days or so and the thing heated my whole house 24/7.
I would have thought that with 30 years of advancements this stove would have at least matched that stove. Clearly I was mislead.

Grisu explained it perfect.

 

[Jonny006]

With the primary wide open you have way too much (cold) air coming into the firebox. Of course, the cat won't come up to temp. I just don't understand how according to your description the insert can go from chewing through the wood and 1200 F cat to tons of coals, a cold stove and a 350 F cat in seemingly two hours or so. I am wondering what is happening in between.

How was the insert installed? Is it at an exterior wall? Was a block-off plate installed?

We can only make suggestion what may be wrong and how to get the insert to perform better. It's up to you if you want to make the insert burn at least as well as the other owners here can get it to work or return it to the dealer.

P.S. The suggestion of a leaky bypass is actually a good one. If the bypass is not closing correctly a lot of the smoke will go straight up the chimney instead of being consumed by the cat. That could explain why the temp drops so quickly because the cat is running out of fuel once the peak fire is over.



What stove was that?

I open the primary because otherwise the coals smolder. The cat needs heat to be effective so I don't understand how a low temp or cool reading will allow this to happen.
I have been saying all along that I feel like the heat is going right out the chimney. There is no other logical place for it to go since it's certainly not going out into the house. Grisu you ask the question "I wonder what is happening in between" Well, I do to.

And I disagree with your comment on that it's up to me to get the insert to perform better. The insert is not working as described and while I have attempted to use the suggestions thus far, none have yielded the kind of results others have described.

I would really like this stove to work. I have not given up and continue to appreciate all the help received. Am I asking too much of this unit? Is it not designed to be a whole house heater that requires minimal attending? If that's the case that I have clearly purchased the wrong unit.

The stove is in an existing fireplace. 25' chimney that is sealed at the top only. I did not install a block off plate above the stove as I was instructed by my dealer, as well as the rep from Regency that this was not needed. They both stated that the liner inside the masonry chimney acts as a thermos and that by installing the plate there is little to no effectiveness.

My old stove was a 30yo VC Encore Defiant. Same setup into an existing chimney with a liner. It was a dream. Fill it with wood, set the thermostat, enjoy hours of heat, repeat. It was $500 from Craigslist with maybe another $800 added in the 4 years I used it. This insert was close to $4000 with liner. Can you understand my frustration?

 

[NH Burn]

Hi everybody, I have been reading all the posts closely as I have purchased this stove a couple weeks ago and am not getting even close to a 12hr burn time! I have fully seasoned red oak that was cut last winter and split last spring. I am only able to get around 4 medium splits in with a decent bed of hot coals and that seems to last at most 6 hrs. Last night I loaded the stove and went to bed at 11:00 and came down at 8 this am and there were minimal coals and no fan on. It seems that I am getting too much air into to the unit with the damper closed down. I took off the first set of washers yesterday and that has worked a bit, I have not taken the knockouts out yet and I ordered the cat probe temp gauge last wk. Any suggestions so that I may hit 10-12 hrs would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Wolves1]

Hi everybody, I have been reading all the posts closely as I have purchased this stove a couple weeks ago and am not getting even close to a 12hr burn time! I have fully seasoned red oak that was cut last winter and split last spring. I am only able to get around 4 medium splits in with a decent bed of hot coals and that seems to last at most 6 hrs. Last night I loaded the stove and went to bed at 11:00 and came down at 8 this am and there were minimal coals and no fan on. It seems that I am getting too much air into to the unit with the damper closed down. I took off the first set of washers yesterday and that has worked a bit, I have not taken the knockouts out yet and I ordered the cat probe temp gauge last wk. Any suggestions so that I may hit 10-12 hrs would be greatly appreciated.

More wood, you should fit a lot more then 4 pieces of wood, the more wood you put into the stove the better it performs.

 

[Wolves1]

I open the primary because otherwise the coals smolder. The cat needs heat to be effective so I don't understand how a low temp or cool reading will allow this to happen.
I have been saying all along that I feel like the heat is going right out the chimney. There is no other logical place for it to go since it's certainly not going out into the house. Grisu you ask the question "I wonder what is happening in between" Well, I do to.

And I disagree with your comment on that it's up to me to get the insert to perform better. The insert is not working as described and while I have attempted to use the suggestions thus far, none have yielded the kind of results others have described.

I would really like this stove to work. I have not given up and continue to appreciate all the help received. Am I asking too much of this unit? Is it not designed to be a whole house heater that requires minimal attending? If that's the case that I have clearly purchased the wrong unit.

The stove is in an existing fireplace. 25' chimney that is sealed at the top only. I did not install a block off plate above the stove as I was instructed by my dealer, as well as the rep from Regency that this was not needed. They both stated that the liner inside the masonry chimney acts as a thermos and that by installing the plate there is little to no effectiveness.

My old stove was a 30yo VC Encore Defiant. Same setup into an existing chimney with a liner. It was a dream. Fill it with wood, set the thermostat, enjoy hours of heat, repeat. It was $500 from Craigslist with maybe another $800 added in the 4 years I used it. This insert was close to $4000 with liner. Can you understand my frustration?

Jonny I'm almost certain the damper doesn't close properly and the smoke(heat) is going up the chimney. When fully closed is the cat glowing?

 

[Wolves1]

https://vimeo.com/m/113171978