Which is only worth a damn if the stove provides enough heat for your area. If the stove is undersized, the coaling stage is not providing your home with enough heat.
Example: The Heritage vs. Defiant in the same room of my house.
Help me not hate my Regency F3100.
- Thread starter pearlgirl
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil. -
Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
- Status
Which is only worth a damn if the stove provides enough heat for your area. If the stove is undersized, the coaling stage is not providing your home with enough heat.
Example: The Heritage vs. Defiant in the same room of my house.
Get a thermometer. Otherwise you are just guessing.I don't have an accurate stove top thermometer. I know I need to get one.The baffle bricks were glowing orange last night, so it was hot. It is getting hot, like I said possibly too hot at times.
On the one stove, the 30, I can have a ROARING fire and the stove is still heating up and showing 300 degrees stove top. If I cut the air back to fast the stove never gets up to peak temps. As a new burner a thermometer is not an option. It is a must.
Right now you are just guessing as to what the stove is doing.
You do definitely need to get a thermometer. Based on your description that you're only really able to keep the fire going well with the draft open means that while you are creating a lot of heat you are sending a lot of it up the flue. That's why you noticed the temp go up when you closed the draft with the store bought wood. You were keeping more heat in the stove. Glowing fire bricks doesn't necessarily mean you are getting the overall stove hot enough to be really be producing a lot heat in the room.
I think you need to admit your old home is a lot more drafty than you think it is. I have a drafty old house as well and my home reacts the same exact way. Where as many other members here barely have the stove going in 40 degree weather, I absolutely need a stove or two going to keep the cold at bay.
Your home is drafty, this is going to be a huge challenge to overcome. At 3,500 sq ft, even when you get the stove working right (and you will), it will not heat your entire home.
The concerns there have to do with clearances mostly, something we did not know was amiss until this fall and we had some one out to clean the chimney. We were told by that guy not to use it at all. We have been in this house just a little over a year. I know the people before us used the stove to supplement heat A LOT. So, we did too last winter like I said. It gets a lot of air so it burns pretty hot, (though really nothing compared to the heats the Regency gets) and through wood pretty quickly. It's not too efficient, but it warms up that side of the house and when I am home all day I don't mind messing with it and feeding it wood. It only takes 2 pretty small splits at a time, 1 medium, or 3 really small. The built in thermometer on the oven part of it rarely gets over 250, but that is next to the fire a bit, not right on the part where the wood burns.
So there is a spot where the pipe is pretty close to a piece of wood shelf, and the guy that was here said the whole stove needs to be moved out away from the wall as well. (I would think though that maybe the wall could be changed? Tiled or something? I can post photos, but please don't berate me for using it, if you think it's hazardous. Helpful suggestions for how to make it better only would be appreciated.
The one side is old, the living room and 3 story section were built in the late 80's. The old side was also rebuilt, but it is drafty in places, mainly a closet that share an uninsulted wall with the stairs to the cellar.. I don't think it's more drafty than I am admitting. We are having some one out to address the issues it does have. That is also the side of the house we have heated with the cookstove, and have gotten the kitchen up over 80 in the dead of winter. So it's drafty but it can be heated.
The wood we have is wet. We just split some, and in the middle it was 30-32% humidity. Not horrible.....but too wet for sure. It was a better piece as well, as in the end readings were very low. So I am sure we have some that is much worse. We have another batch in a barn that I am having my husband check now.
simple.serf
Feeling the Heat
Dig though your wood pile and see if you can find some ash. While not ideal, it will burn better when not perfectly dry. (I had to do this last year, epa stove with 30% wood).
Random thoughts . . .
As you have discovered . . . it was the wood. Suggestions to get you through this year would include looking around for kiln dried wood, eco-bricks, seeing if any wood dealers have truly seasoned wood or burn what you've got . . . but use pallets to get the heat up, split the wood smaller and haul it inside to dry out a bit (just don't place the wood on or too close to the stove) . . . and definitely keep an eye on your chimney and creosote levels.
Thermometers for the stove and chimney . . . get 'em. They will help you run the stove more efficiently . . . and more importantly . . . more safely.
Secondaries . . . if you are able to get the chimney temp in the "good zone" try cutting back the air control slowly -- a quarter turn/pull/draw down at a time . . . wait 5-10 minutes to see if the secondaries kick in and the fire continues to burn . . . if all is good try going down another quarter turn . . . most folks are able to get down to about a quarter of the way open . . . sometimes you can go all the way "closed" (it's never truly all the way shut), but generally I find that I only can go all the way closed if my draft is good and the wood is very well seasoned.
As you have discovered . . . it was the wood. Suggestions to get you through this year would include looking around for kiln dried wood, eco-bricks, seeing if any wood dealers have truly seasoned wood or burn what you've got . . . but use pallets to get the heat up, split the wood smaller and haul it inside to dry out a bit (just don't place the wood on or too close to the stove) . . . and definitely keep an eye on your chimney and creosote levels.
Thermometers for the stove and chimney . . . get 'em. They will help you run the stove more efficiently . . . and more importantly . . . more safely.
Secondaries . . . if you are able to get the chimney temp in the "good zone" try cutting back the air control slowly -- a quarter turn/pull/draw down at a time . . . wait 5-10 minutes to see if the secondaries kick in and the fire continues to burn . . . if all is good try going down another quarter turn . . . most folks are able to get down to about a quarter of the way open . . . sometimes you can go all the way "closed" (it's never truly all the way shut), but generally I find that I only can go all the way closed if my draft is good and the wood is very well seasoned.
All I can say is that I hope for the best for you. It will be interesting to see the results of the home energy audit you have planned...please post back with the findings. (Too bad that you coulnd't have had the audit performed before the stove install, as I am wondering if the monies spent on the stove might have been better suited for insulaton/weatherstripping) Is there any way you could post picks of the house? or floorplan? Good luck
They are quite likely correct about heating your whole house. Rest assured, though, that with better wood you will be able to significantly reduce your oil consumption.
I won't berate you for using the old cook stove. But, if it is dangerous please don't use it! Pictures would definitely help and if it is just a clearance issue that can maybe be fixed fairly easily.
As for the wood: Do you you have space in the stove room to stack a bunch of it (at a safe distance from the stove of course)? What kind of wood is it? Also, splitting the larger splits down that will help them dry faster. If it isn't oak and you can get a bunch stacked in the stove room it will likely be quite a bit better by the time the temps really start dropping in January. You can also buy some of those biobricks to mix in.
Since you have a chimney over there, maybe replacing the old cook stove with a smaller, more efficient wood stove could be in your future? I know you probably don't want to think about that right now.
I won't berate you for using the old cook stove. But, if it is dangerous please don't use it! Pictures would definitely help and if it is just a clearance issue that can maybe be fixed fairly easily.
As for the wood: Do you you have space in the stove room to stack a bunch of it (at a safe distance from the stove of course)? What kind of wood is it? Also, splitting the larger splits down that will help them dry faster. If it isn't oak and you can get a bunch stacked in the stove room it will likely be quite a bit better by the time the temps really start dropping in January. You can also buy some of those biobricks to mix in.
Since you have a chimney over there, maybe replacing the old cook stove with a smaller, more efficient wood stove could be in your future? I know you probably don't want to think about that right now.
So once I get these thermometers, what temps am I looking for? Would these numbers be different if I have to continue to use this less than optimal wood? (I am working on getting better, the guy I left the message with earlier just called me back and I should be getting some better wood from him in the next few days. Hopefully it really is better!)
Test the wood before you buy it.
I believe the Regency is a typical steel stove. That means at the peak of the burn cycle having the stove top at around 600-750 should be just fine, unless someone else knows of a reason this isn't the case for this specific stove. I am willing to bet you have barely gotten the stove to 500 degrees at this point.
You should notice a massive difference when the stove is near the 700 degree mark.
I actually have thought of this very thing! Possibly even a pellet stove as I am not sure I am loving the wood as much as I thought I would
Certainly not the moving and stacking! The big deal would be getting the beast of a cookstove out of there! I can't even imagine.
Got a thermometer, have it on top of the stove, near the front. Have wood that is probably 20-25% moisture after checking it after split, has been going for about any hour since adding it. Air is down 75% I'd say, and stove is reading 650-675 degrees. Temp is up to 73 in room with stove.
I actually have thought of this very thing! Possibly even a pellet stove as I am not sure I am loving the wood as much as I thought I would
You could also consider a coal stove.
Nice - glad to see it getting up to temp and holding. With my insert going all day, it takes about 8 hours for the upper floor bedrooms to go from about 60 to 65 as the stove is on the first floor. It should burn for a while at those temps before you need to reload....maybe add some wood when the thermo gets around 275-300
I have absolutely gotten it to 500 degrees. I have started to overfire it honestly, more than once, where there is a slight orange glow on top of the stove right in front of the blower. I am getting this stove hot. The thermometer I have, and have been using, works, it's just "off". Cold it says it's 200 degrees, so right now next to the one I just bought it says 850 and it's really 650. It gets up to 850 or more on the "off" thermometer every time I load it up and get it going. I don't turn it down until it does. So it's been getting hot enough, I just couldn't give you any numbers for sure, and didn't want to really admit that I have started to overfire it before. The one I have been using lets me know when it goes up and down for sure, just the numbers are off like I said. But I just ran to the hardware and got a new one.
I just knocked the air down again, it's holding at 650 so far. My kids are going to think I'm crazy, I keep jumping up to go and look at it!
Ok! Thank you for the suggestion of when to add wood. I do feel like I am struggling a bit with what to do after the good 2ndary burn happens etc. We are getting a lot of big coals too with the wetter wood which will hopefully be better with better wood too. So I feel like the box fills up fast with crap that doesn't burn if I reload without letting that all burn down which does affect how hot I can keep it.
Good to hear. Do you have a full load in the stove?
That room should be able to exceed 80 degrees as the burn cycle progresses. If it can not, I would feel draftiness is a big factor here.
Ok, with the air turned down a bit more (but not shut the temp started to drop) I opened it back up a bit.
It's a pretty big E/W load, not tightly packed by any means, I put in as much as I could without having to engineer it.
- Status
Similar threads
