Help me not hate my Regency F3100.

[begreen]

Here we go, just grabbed a picture of the top!

Looks like that might be class A pipe going thru the roof. If so, your cheapest solution is to attach this shield to the single-wall stove pipe where it gets closer than 18" to combustibles.
http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Group-BM0133-Adjustable-Shield/dp/B000DZQR3Q

Keep an eye on the pipe. That looks like cheap hardware stove stove pipe.Watch out for any sign of tiny holes developing, especially where there is rust and replace all the pipe at that time. Note that the crimped edge is supposed to be on the bottom edge of the pipe (toward the stove).

 

[pearlgirl]

Insulating under the living room floor should help. Then I would close the crawlspace access doors. You don't want that cold spilling into the adjacent basement(s). It could freeze plumbing during a bad cold snap. Note that this is common when folks don't run the furnace in the winter. I would recommend letting it cycle once an hour or so during a deep freeze to avoid pipe freezing in the cold basement. If the hot water heater is down there I would also insulate the hot water pipes and give the hw heater an extra wrap of insulation.

I think we will use the furnace more than I was originally wanting to once the house is better insulated. It won't be so expensive to use it then. Based on last year I never wanted to use it ever again!

 

[turbocruiser]

I think we will use the furnace more than I was originally wanting to once the house is better insulated. It won't be so expensive to use it then. Based on last year I never wanted to use it ever again!

Again if you have a "fan on" or "circ on" feature to the thermostat you can use the furnace to circulate the air without heating the air and that helps tremendously as long as you have sufficient supply and sufficient return. Hope that helps.

 

[begreen]

Again if you have a "fan on" or "circ on" feature to the thermostat you can use the furnace to circulate the air without heating the air and that helps tremendously as long as you have sufficient supply and sufficient return. Hope that helps.

If the duct work runs are long the heat loss may negate any gains here, especially if the supply or returns are uninsulated.

 

[pearlgirl]

If the duct work runs are long the heat loss may negate any gains here, especially if the supply or returns are uninsulated.

I think this is absolutely the case right now, hopefully it will be much better after all this work is done and it may be a possibility down the road. Thanks!

 

[turbocruiser]

If the duct work runs are long the heat loss may negate any gains here, especially if the supply or returns are uninsulated.

True. We are lucky in that we have supplies and returns on all our levels and the runs are relatively short. Without the furnace on fan only and all our ceiling fans on full the room the stove is in gets uncomfortably warm. But with the furnace on fan only and all our ceiling fans on full the lowest level tends to stay 5 degrees below the middle level and the upper level tends to stay 5 degrees above the middle level so it is pretty well balanced.

 

[begreen]

I think this is absolutely the case right now, hopefully it will be much better after all this work is done and it may be a possibility down the road. Thanks!

I insulated all runs when we installed the heat pump. It made a big difference.

 

[turbocruiser]

I insulated all runs when we installed the heat pump. It made a big difference.

Out of curiosity what did you decide on for insulation? In other words was it fiberglass, fiberglass w/foil backing, or something else specific? Did you happen to make any measurements of the before vs. after?

 

[begreen]

I used fiberglass with foil backing on the plenums and trunks. It's designed for duct insulation. The supply runs were redone with insulated flex duct. The old propane system was pulled and I didn't get any measurements for it. But we did measure with the heat pump and see about a 2-5 degree drop from the supply plenum depending on the length of the new insulated. run.

 

[pearlgirl]

I insulated all runs when we installed the heat pump. It made a big difference.

I believe they are doing this! Right now the runs are going from the one basement completely through the crawl space that is already less than 40 in some places, and into the cellar before coming up on the other side, and they are not sealed where they come up either. He said they'd be fixing that.

I believe the majority of the insulation work is going to be spray foam. I guess that is in part why it's going to be so expensive, he said it's expensive stuff. Oh I'll be so glad when they get started. It is going to take a few weeks though, especially with the holiday next week. We are able to do this through a state program, and financing is offered. It's a 15 year loan, at 3.59% so even though this is pretty big ticket, monthly it's going to be really manageable. Getting that loan approved and everything set through the program will take a little bit.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I think we will use the furnace more than I was originally wanting to once the house is better insulated. It won't be so expensive to use it then. Based on last year I never wanted to use it ever again!

Pearlgirl we insulated our home last winter and what a difference it has made. We went from the stove and furnace running to mainly the stove. Our furnace is an old old one. To put it into perspective our bills went from 450-500 a month to the last bill being 81 dollars. Insulation is worth every penny by the end of this winter we will have mad back the 3100 in savings alone. Good luck I hope this helps ease your mind some. This will give you an idea of what foam is like through the install process.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/so-begins-the-insulation-pics.83224/

Pete

 

[pearlgirl]

Pearlgirl we insulated our home last winter and what a difference it has made. We went from the stove and furnace running to mainly the stove. Our furnace is an old old one. To put it into perspective our bills went from 450-500 a month to the last bill being 81 dollars. Insulation is worth every penny by the end of this winter we will have mad back the 3100 in savings alone. Good luck I hope this helps ease your mind some. This will give you an idea of what foam is like through the install process.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/so-begins-the-insulation-pics.83224/

Pete

Great to read through that thread! I'm even more hopeful now! Thank you!

p.s. Just noticing all the folks from Michigan. We grew up in the Flint area.

 

[Pallet Pete]

Great to read through that thread! I'm even more hopeful now! Thank you!

p.s. Just noticing all the folks from Michigan. We grew up in the Flint area.

Your welcome pearlgirl you know whats funny I have noticed a lot this year that I did not last year from Michigan. Where in flint are you from I have some family from that area too.

Pete

 

[pearlgirl]

Well it sure gets cold there, and with the economy the way it is, there are probably more and more looking for other ways to stay warm! We are more from the suburbs, west and south. My dad and brother are both in the city now though actually. (I wish they were not!)

 

[Waulie]

My wife is from Flint!

Flint town, Flint town, fa fa fa fa Flint town.

We were just down there a few weeks ago. The city is actually coming around. It is way nicer than it ways a few years ago.

 

[KB007]

+1 on insulation. We have a fiarly well sealed 1800 sqft bungalow that had R20 in the attic. We blew in to make it up to R50 and it made a big difference in keeping the place warmer.

Just to check a couple of details:
Have you checked your baffle on the F3100 - it needs to be all the way to the back and overlapping RHS on LHS.
Do you have the fan running? High or low?
Thermometer is really important, or better yet get yourself an IR gun and use that - I pikced one up at the HW store cheap and it really helped confirm the accuracy of the magnetic thermo (or at least the inaccuracy). Now I know where to tell my wife where it needs to be b4 turning down.

Right now, with temp outside of 30F, our LR (20X18) is sitting at 85F with the I3100 coaling along from 2 splits put in 4 hrs ago.

Dry wood, good insulation and a little bit of technique and you'll be roasting in that room.

 

[corey21]

+1 on insulation. We have a fiarly well sealed 1800 sqft bungalow that had R20 in the attic. We blew in to make it up to R50 and it made a big difference in keeping the place warmer.

Just to check a couple of details:
Have you checked your baffle on the F3100 - it needs to be all the way to the back and overlapping RHS on LHS.
Do you have the fan running? High or low?
Thermometer is really important, or better yet get yourself an IR gun and use that - I pikced one up at the HW store cheap and it really helped confirm the accuracy of the magnetic thermo (or at least the inaccuracy). Now I know where to tell my wife where it needs to be b4 turning down.

Right now, with temp outside of 30F, our LR (20X18) is sitting at 85F with the I3100 coaling along from 2 splits put in 4 hrs ago.

Dry wood, good insulation and a little bit of technique and you'll be roasting in that room.

Sounds like at my house with the stove hot.

 

[kmachn]

I'm a big advocate of the spray foam, great R-value and air seals. Just keep in mind that once the house gets good and sealed up, it may have an effect on your draft. With all those air leaks right now, your stove has plenty of places for make-up air to enter the house. But once those get sealed up, it might have a little harder time finding places to get in. Of course, it's not hard to find knowledgeable people around to give you some feedback should that happen. But if you're anything like me, you do some intense insulating & air-sealing and get all "fired up" about that first fire in the stove and then you can't hardly get the darn thing to get going and frustration sets back in. I hope that doesn't happen, but if that is the case then you'll at least have a starting point to troubleshoot.

 

[pearlgirl]

I'm a big advocate of the spray foam, great R-value and air seals. Just keep in mind that once the house gets good and sealed up, it may have an effect on your draft. With all those air leaks right now, your stove has plenty of places for make-up air to enter the house. But once those get sealed up, it might have a little harder time finding places to get in. Of course, it's not hard to find knowledgeable people around to give you some feedback should that happen. But if you're anything like me, you do some intense insulating & air-sealing and get all "fired up" about that first fire in the stove and then you can't hardly get the darn thing to get going and frustration sets back in. I hope that doesn't happen, but if that is the case then you'll at least have a starting point to troubleshoot.

Thank you! I have been wondering about this!