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

[Wolves1]

Sorry it's the other way the plate with the holes is on top the solid plate slides on the bottom.

 

[Jonny006]

Jonny can you try something, let the fire finish, when the stove is cool take a mirror look at the back top of the stove from the inside. Open and close the bypass and see if the bypass plate closes fully. There are two plates the first with two big holes that stays closed all the time you manually slide that open when you clean your flue. The second on top and that slides close and completely closes the flue so the smoke has to pass the cat. I think your bypass does not close fully.

OK. I'll check it. I remember when I got the stove I was in the garage checking it all out and I recall watching how the bypass works and it did close all the way.
Kentucky Jeff, I know what happened with one of your stoves I think. When I was checking the thing out I was seeing how the adapter fit and if it is pushed too far in it rubs against the damper rod. Too much pressure, like the weight of a liner and it probably wouldn't move.
I did not have to disassemble my stove to install as I had plenty of room to work with. I just slid it in and attached the liner. I had about 9" on top to get into.

 

[Wolves1]

OK. I'll check it. I remember when I got the stove I was in the garage checking it all out and I recall watching how the bypass works and it did close all the way.
Kentucky Jeff, I know what happened with one of your stoves I think. When I was checking the thing out I was seeing how the adapter fit and if it is pushed too far in it rubs against the damper rod. Too much pressure, like the weight of a liner and it probably wouldn't move.
I did not have to disassemble my stove to install as I had plenty of room to work with. I just slid it in and attached the liner. I had about 9" on top to get into.

If you didn't have to take it apart then it should be fine but it doesn't hurt to check. How tall is your chimney?

 

[Jonny006]

If you didn't have to take it apart then it should be fine but it doesn't hurt to check. How tall is your chimney?

25'. That was the entire liner length. So it's probably like 26-27' overall.

 

[Wolves1]

25'. That was the entire liner length. So it's probably like 26-27' overall.

That should be fine, you shouldn't have to much draft. Just hope you can get that stove to burn has good as my stove is burning. I'm almost hoping that the damper doesn't close so you get this fixed. Did the regency tech call yet?

 

[dondero14]

Had to take the cat out to check on the bypass insallation which is no easy task because of minimum clearances but got it done. Once again the fork was backwards. I wish there were some better info on how the whole bypass works. I don't know how reversing the fork changes the bypass operation but it certainly reduced the draft and now the airflow change is noticeable when I adjust the primary air lever.

Hey Kentucky Jeff. What kind of burn times were you getting an what were the symptoms with your upstairs stove before you flipped the fork? Was the clearance that the bypass closes noticeable from just looking inside the firebox? I'm curious to know if you went 2 for 2 with that problem and it's that easy to mess up, how many other people that are having a burn time issue might be experiencing the same problem.

 

[Wolves1]

My reducer plate from regency came in. Below is a picture of it compared to the stock pilot hole on our floor model:




And for the person who asked a few pages back... Here is a picture of the primary air inlet on the Regency 5100:

How's the plate working?

 

[Seachaser]

I've been watching this thread since the beginning now and continually experimenting with my stove in the sense of wood type (bio-bricks/hardwood), load type (east-west, north-south), trending CAT temps, etc. To be clear I have not done anything like remove washers or install reduction plate, I am intentionally vanilla from the factory ( I removed the andirons). I am still experiencing similar burn times to Jonny and what i thought I would do is share my running fully damped, CAT engaged temperature read-outs over a 7 day period after 2 hours of burning:

11/27 1150
11/28 1200
12/1 1150
12/2 1100
12/5 1300
12/6 1150

These particular stats are all fully loaded in varying ways with seasoned hardwood (in my barn for 14 months) and on varying temperature days. What I think is obvious is that there is no way to sustain any reasonable burn times when burning consistently this hot. I live in Maine and have a great dealer in town who is waiting for my data so he can engage Regency with historical trends on all possible burning scenarios. I thought I'd share but would also love to hear what you are seeing for steady temps relative to mine and correlated to burn time.

 

[Wolves1]

I've been watching this thread since the beginning now and continually experimenting with my stove in the sense of wood type (bio-bricks/hardwood), load type (east-west, north-south), trending CAT temps, etc. To be clear I have not done anything like remove washers or install reduction plate, I am intentionally vanilla from the factory ( I removed the andirons). I am still experiencing similar burn times to Jonny and what i thought I would do is share my running fully damped, CAT engaged temperature read-outs over a 7 day period after 2 hours of burning:

11/27 1150
11/28 1200
12/1 1150
12/2 1100
12/5 1300
12/6 1150

These particular stats are all fully loaded in varying ways with seasoned hardwood (in my barn for 14 months) and on varying temperature days. What I think is obvious is that there is no way to sustain any reasonable burn times when burning consistently this hot. I live in Maine and have a great dealer in town who is waiting for my data so he can engage Regency with historical trends on all possible burning scenarios. I thought I'd share but would also love to hear what you are seeing for steady temps relative to mine and correlated to burn time.

I'm seeing similar temps, i'll hit temps in that range it will hold for about 1 to 2 hours then start to slowly drop about 100° an hour at times maybe less but after about 8 to 9 hours the temp is about 450.

 

[J RD]

How's the plate working?

Just completed my first overnight burn with the plate. I'm very happy with it!

The stove behaves how I would expect it now in terms of primary air control.

I loaded it to the gills at 2am last night. It's now 1130am and cat temp is at 700 with throttle about 3/4 inch to the left. I'm down to my crappy wet wood so I supplemented with wood brick fuel. There is very little ash and just a couple glowing chunks still left in their original conformation.

I'm going to reload it shortly, but I'm guessing I could get another 2-3 hours before the fan cuts off.

I would suggest everyone request this plate. It's a night and day ddifference in terms of being able to control the stove and was worth at least another 2-3 hours of burn time in my case.

 

[Wolves1]

Just completed my first overnight burn with the plate. I'm very happy with it!

The stove behaves how I would expect it now in terms of primary air control.

I loaded it to the gills at 2am last night. It's now 1130am and cat temp is at 700 with throttle about 3/4 inch to the left. I'm down to my crappy wet wood so I supplemented with wood brick fuel. There is very little ash and just a couple glowing chunks still left in their original conformation.

I'm going to reload it shortly, but I'm guessing I could get another 2-3 hours before the fan cuts off.

I would suggest everyone request this plate. It's a night and day ddifference in terms of being able to control the stove and was worth at least another 2-3 hours of burn time in my case.

Is that picture from 11:30?

 

[Kentucky Jeff]

OK. I'll check it. I remember when I got the stove I was in the garage checking it all out and I recall watching how the bypass works and it did close all the way.
Kentucky Jeff, I know what happened with one of your stoves I think. When I was checking the thing out I was seeing how the adapter fit and if it is pushed too far in it rubs against the damper rod. Too much pressure, like the weight of a liner and it probably wouldn't move.
I did not have to disassemble my stove to install as I had plenty of room to work with. I just slid it in and attached the liner. I had about 9" on top to get into.

I know about the adapter problem because I could actually see the rod rubbing on the adapter when the guys first installed. Again if any of them had read the instructions this would have been avoided by notching the adapter where the rod goes through the collar. There should be no resistance or screching when you slide the rod. My problem was the upper shield was not seated on the pins so it became cocked in place plus the fork was in backwards which you will not notice any change in how the rod slides, but you will have a draft increase that can't be controlled no matter what you do. As the instructions state, there is an "F" stamped on the front of the fork that must face the front of the stove. I know of no way to check this without removing the fork. It also is not a deep stamp, almost a scratch about half an inch tall, so when I asked my installers about they said there wasn't any "F". Not sure if they knew what an "F" was or not. I did have to show it to them.

 

[Kentucky Jeff]

Hey Kentucky Jeff. What kind of burn times were you getting an what were the symptoms with your upstairs stove before you flipped the fork? Was the clearance that the bypass closes noticeable from just looking inside the firebox? I'm curious to know if you went 2 for 2 with that problem and it's that easy to mess up, how many other people that are having a burn time issue might be experiencing the same problem.

Burn times were about 4 hrs before turning the fork with uncontrolable draft incinerating my wood. Also I removed 2 sets of washers from the door latch, one set and then two days later another set. There was no visual tell that the fork was put in backwards. Looking inside the box I couldn't see a gap in the bypass door at all. That's why I wish that someone that had an insert that wasn't installed could post some info on the bypass operation and maybe there is some way to tell other than pulling the fork out because it's a pain. There is a slight curve in the fork that must leave a gap in the bypass when not insalled correctly. Burn time immediately doubled with turning the fork and removing my second set of washers. Wish I had more for all of you who are battling crappy burn times.

 

[J RD]

Is that picture from 11:30?

Yes and when I went to reload it was actually much more solid than I expected. There was plenty of solid material left in that glowing mass. I'm now starting to believe this thing can reach 14 hours before the fan shuts off.

 

[Wolves1]

Yes and when I went to reload it was actually much more solid than I expected. There was plenty of solid material left in that glowing mass. I'm now starting to believe this thing can reach 14 hours before the fan shuts off.

Wow that's awesome.

 

[Wolves1]

Just completed my first overnight burn with the plate. I'm very happy with it!

The stove behaves how I would expect it now in terms of primary air control.

I loaded it to the gills at 2am last night. It's now 1130am and cat temp is at 700 with throttle about 3/4 inch to the left. I'm down to my crappy wet wood so I supplemented with wood brick fuel. There is very little ash and just a couple glowing chunks still left in their original conformation.

I'm going to reload it shortly, but I'm guessing I could get another 2-3 hours before the fan cuts off.

I would suggest everyone request this plate. It's a night and day ddifference in terms of being able to control the stove and was worth at least another 2-3 hours of burn time in my case.

When you did your overnight burn was the throttle completely closed or was it 3/4 to the left when started.

 

[Wolves1]

Sorry for all the questions but Im always looking to learn and improve a burn time.

 

[J RD]

Sorry for all the questions but Im always looking to learn and improve a burn time.

No worries. That's why we're all here.
I had it closed all the way down after running wide open for about 45mins. The entire load was caught by the time I closed it down around 2:45am

 

[Wolves1]

No worries. That's why we're all here.
I had it closed all the way down after running wide open for about 45mins. The entire load was caught by the time I closed it down around 2:45am

Thanks. I was curious because I'm getting some blackening on the left and right corners on the bottom. Are you getting the same thing?

 

[J RD]

Thanks. I was curious because I'm getting some blackening on the left and right corners on the bottom. Are you getting the same thing?

Yeah, I pretty much always have build up in the bottom corners. This is the first regency I've ever seen do this but I'm sure it's due to the gap over the blower hump that allows the air to cool in those pockets.

 

[Wolves1]

Yeah, I pretty much always have build up in the bottom corners. This is the first regency I've ever seen do this but I'm sure it's due to the gap over the blower hump that allows the air to cool in those pockets.

The glass is definitely cooler in the corners. It's only in the corners you still get a beautiful view of the fire it's fine with me as long as it burns okay.

 

[Wolves1]

Just want to make sure it wasn't just me.

 

[Simon Templar]

I would suggest everyone request this plate. It's a night and day ddifference in terms of being able to control the stove and was worth at least another 2-3 hours of burn time in my case.

For those of you with restrictor plates, how did you order them? Did you contact regency directly or go through your dealer? I'm fine doing either but I'm curious how others are going about it.

The best I've gotten this week was to have the blower running after 5 1/2 hours when I reloaded it (to be fair, it might have gone another half hour or more if I had let it go). It's a far cry from what the brochure boasts and what the dealer promised (which was considerably less than the brochure). I'll admit that I've had this for less than a week and just removed my first set of washers from the door, so I've still got a lot of learning to do, and my cat still has breaking in to do. But since I'm on the wrong side of half the duration I'd hoped for I'm thinking I'd like to be able to turn down the fully-damped blast I'm seeing now.

 

[J RD]

For those of you with restrictor plates, how did you order them? Did you contact regency directly or go through your dealer? I'm fine doing either but I'm curious how others are going about it.

The best I've gotten this week was to have the blower running after 5 1/2 hours when I reloaded it (to be fair, it might have gone another half hour or more if I had let it go). It's a far cry from what the brochure boasts and what the dealer promised (which was considerably less than the brochure). I'll admit that I've had this for less than a week and just removed my first set of washers from the door, so I've still got a lot of learning to do, and my cat still has breaking in to do. But since I'm on the wrong side of half the duration I'd hoped for I'm thinking I'd like to be able to turn down the fully-damped blast I'm seeing now.

I would imagine Regency would prefer you go through your dealer. I happened to go directly to Regency, but we are a dealer

5.5 hours is extremely low even without the restrictor. Have you been loading to the glass without the andirons?

 

[Simon Templar]

I would imagine Regency would prefer you go through your dealer. I happened to go directly to Regency, but we are a dealer

5.5 hours is extremely low even without the restrictor. Have you been loading to the glass without the andirons?

I do still have the andirons in, but I load to the glass as best I can anyway. Last night's load was packed so dense it took forever to get the cat up to temp (over an hour) because air wasn't really getting around the wood. Let me clarify though - at 5 1/2 hours it was still blowing heat and wasn't dead when I reloaded it. The other nights this week when I've tried to go 7 hours the blower was out, though there were still plenty of coals to quickly get a hot fire going again.