Loading routine

[ChadMc]

Happy new year guys. We have been using a regency f2400 for 1 month now. Took some learning and for the first few weeks I had some pretty bad burns but I feel like I have this thing dialed in. Burning clean, hot, and long with secondaries always burning great. Now since I feel I have a good grip on that I’m trying to focus on my wood consumption. For a bit I felt like I was always feeding the stove more and more wood when I should have left it go long considering the coaling will still warm the house. I believe it performs better from full loads. We live in bucks county PA and are true cold winter months are Jan and feb. It gets cold but not crazy. I’m curious to hear some daily routines from you guys. I feel like loading a few splits here and there gets the heat but I’m constantly loading the stove. I mean I have wood but I don’t want to be wasting it away. I almost think a full load in the morning. A full load afternoon. And a full load for night. The f2400 seems to hold 6-8 decent size splits with maybe one big boy in there.
BTW this site has been awesome for me. The dealer we got the stove from was great but I have learned so much from the info on here. They didn’t tell me about temps or secondary burns. More like have fun enjoy. Which is fine. I like to learn this stuff for n my own anyway. Thanks again!

 

[BigJ273]

Load it full, let it do it’s thing and burn down to coals. Once the coals appear to be done throwing off any reasonable heat, repeat the process again. EPA stoves are built to be run that way. It’ll save you some wood too and the feeling like you always have to have burning splits going. Sometimes a good bed of coals puts off more heat than burning splits anyway. Sometimes I’ll even throw some bark pieces on the coals to keep the heat from them going a little longer before a reload.

 

[mark cline]

You will probably learn more on here than you would from the dealer. That being said , give us a little more info on your house size and layout. My Hearthstone Mansfield heats my house comfortably warm but the winters haven’t been that cold , only a few nights in the mid 20’s. I load morning before work when I get home then before bed. I only load 4 to 5 splits at a time and then when it gets real cold I would load 5-6 at a time or more if it will fit . North south burns allows me to load the most amount of wood . You will have to go through the winter to get a handle on your total usage. You will get the hang of it.

 

[ChadMc]

You will probably learn more on here than you would from the dealer. That being said , give us a little more info on your house size and layout. My Hearthstone Mansfield heats my house comfortably warm but the winters haven’t been that cold , only a few nights in the mid 20’s. I load morning before work when I get home then before bed. I only load 4 to 5 splits at a time and then when it gets real cold I would load 5-6 at a time or more if it will fit . North south burns allows me to load the most amount of wood . You will have to go through the winter to get a handle on your total usage. You will get the hang of it.

We have a split level about 2300 square ft. Stove is in the den so moving the heat around has also been a learning curve. We a bit north of you so colder but our winters are probably similar. I can get good heat from 4-5 splits but I feel like I’m always goin back to loading it. 4 splits in our stove would basically lay NS flat on the coal bed. The extra row above that base row seems to really add burn time. I think cause this is a new stove I’m staring at it and loading it cause I’m so fascinated with it haha.....and my wood stacks are shrinking.

 

[kennyp2339]

Its a new toy and fun to play with, I find that when I'm home on vacation I tend to the fire more frequently then when I'm busy with a daily routine. Try letting it burn lower, candle like flames from the wood, with occasional rolling secondary's coming off the top baffle (doesn't necessarily always have to be a rip roar fire) this will extend your burn time, there is also a difference in burn when the blower is running medium / high, vs low or off, also a game changer is to retrain your thinking to this stove is an area space heater and should be used as a supplemental heater during real cold weather, not crank down on it and push it to its limits.

 

[spudman99]

Hi Neighbor.

My recently installed BK Princess insert also has me on a learning curve like you. Out stoves are different and that makes a difference but I thought I would let you know my routine. I can easily get 12 hour burns from my insert, but am having trouble heating my 2900 sf colonial in the upper levels.

I load it full in the morning around 7:00am. Char the wood and turn town the thermostat/air intake in increments to low while everyone is at school or work. When I get back around 7 at night, I reload again in full but burn hotter till around 10 when its time to retire. Back down to low air and let it ride till morning.

Family room stays around 71, upstairs struggles to get above 64. I have fans pushing air but the 8' ceilings and door heights make it hard to warm it everywhere.

Been burning now about 8 weeks, probably have gone through just under 1 cord. I have really strong draft and that may increase my wood usage. I find it better to load it full and use the air control to moderate the heat, which is typically how stoves are designed.

If you are close by PM me if I can be of any assistance to you.

 

[xman23]

It just comes down to the heat you need at that time. All the variables comes into play, house size, insulation outside temps and wind. And I'm sure a few more. For example the last few days and nights here in PA the days and nights have been 30 - 40 degrees. At that temp and my house, I can't run full time without overheating the house. Any overheating is just a waist of wood. So a lot of fire starts and let them burn out. wait a few hours and relight. Small fires are OK, but as you said a lot of 1 split reloads. And since the night is so hard to maintain temps and sleep, we let it burn out and let the thermostat take over. This all changes when we get to single digit temps.

 

[ChadMc]

Funny cause the

Hi Neighbor.

My recently installed BK Princess insert also has me on a learning curve like you. Out stoves are different and that makes a difference but I thought I would let you know my routine. I can easily get 12 hour burns from my insert, but am having trouble heating my 2900 sf colonial in the upper levels.

I load it full in the morning around 7:00am. Char the wood and turn town the thermostat/air intake in increments to low while everyone is at school or work. When I get back around 7 at night, I reload again in full but burn hotter till around 10 when its time to retire. Back down to low air and let it ride till morning.

Family room stays around 71, upstairs struggles to get above 64. I have fans pushing air but the 8' ceilings and door heights make it hard to warm it everywhere.

Been burning now about 8 weeks, probably have gone through just under 1 cord. I have really strong draft and that may increase my wood usage. I find it better to load it full and use the air control to moderate the heat, which is typically how stoves are designed.

If you are close by PM me if I can be of any assistance to you.

Funny cause your house temps are just like mine. 60s upstairs is fine though. Den and loving stance stay in the 70s. At 7pm do you have a coal bed? Or are you doing a restart? That’s a long burn!! That’s would be the holy grail if I could do that. FYI aside from learning these tricks and tweaks. Since dec 2 our main heater has not turned on ONCE! So I’d say no matter how much wood were burning we’re happy. For once I’m excited to get the energy/gas bill haha.