I appreciate you taking the time to make this. Most of the stuff that pops up on RU-vid when you search for wood stoves is manufacturer marketing material so it's nice to watch videos make by owners. I just ordered a I2500 (my first stove) and watching this makes me excited for this winter.
The i2500 has a catalytic combustor and operates slightly differently, but it is more efficient and may give slightly longer burn times. My guess is the effective heating time will be very similar. Enjoy your stove this winter!
Getting our first wood stove in a couple of days, so I’ve been watching Y.T. for tips…. I have the same watch as you so get a thumbs up…. Good video also…
I recently moved into a house that had a year 2000s i3100 large wood insert. these are notorious for smoke deflector failure, which mine has. Im not the original purchaser so warranty is out of the question. I am a bit of a newbie so, just out of curiosity, because I've not found a really good explanation for it, but, what would you consider over firing? I recently refurbished the unit, got rid of the rust on the outside, refinished it (stovebrite paint), replaced a bent airtube and all bricks and the baffle. I also installed a new chimney liner as the one that was there was exhausting directly into the chimney space (clay lined) instead of capped. In the first 30 minutes of use, following the instruction manual, the baffles bowed like a banana, both in opposite directions but consistent with how the baffles were poured it seems. I run mine at about 50% and most of the time its all secondary burning that occurs. Thanks!
According to the manual, if any part of the stove body is glowing, it is overfiring. My secondary air tubes will glow when secondary combustion is cranking on a full load of wood, but not the stove body. I've never had any part warp or bow. My baffle is a lightweight ceramic brick/tile, and I think it would snap before it warped. I've seen other manufacturers state that if the stove top is higher than 800F it is overfiring. You can't get good readings on the actual stove top for an insert, especially with a convection chamber. That's why I measure in the corner above the door. That will be cooler than the stove top, but its the best you can do. 600F by the door is about all I'm comfortable with. You get much above that and you can start to see a hint of glow inside the convection chamber from the stove top.
Regency inserts have really close clearances. That’s one reason we bought it - we could get a larger unit and meet clearances. The front face of the unit is hot, but otherwise it’s a wood stove inside another steel box as a convection chamber. The outer temperatures are much cooler. The brick above the unit barely gets warm. With a prior smaller unit from another manufacturer the brick above got almost too hot to touch. Insert design makes a big difference.
Do you have a Regency or a different brand of stove? We have a free-standing Regency, but smaller and experience relatively the same thing in that there are always enough coals in the morning to restart the fire by just removing some ashes and adding wood.
