What spare parts should I keep around?

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Rastallama

New Member
Oct 10, 2012
66
Boston...ish...
I just finished the install and I want to be prepared for anything. I have a Harman P43. What kind of parts might I want to have around for fixes?
 
ESP, it's something that gets damaged while cleaning etc and stove Cant run very well without it. You can do a manual start. Most of the fans can be had off of eBay or Amazon and don't go out for several years with proper cleaning.
 
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You essentially can't be prepared unless you keep a spare stove! I keep an extra ignitor and that's about all you can do (I have a Quad, but doubt it's much different in this regard). It 's likely more important to be prepared for loss of electricity.
 
Your dealer has spare parts…. seven years, sometimes with two stoves, and I've only replaced one ignitor.

How many spare parts do you keep for your car?
 
Closest dealer for us is almost three hours away. We have two auto parts stores that have next day delivery within five miles. Spare tire, fuzes and fuel filters count?:)
 
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All I have is a spare ignitor. That's all. I do have backup heat sources so I can deal with a potential down time. I can't justify buying anything else to keep around. Most likely by the time you need it, you will have exhausted the warranty period. Now your wallet becomes your warranty.
 
Things that could fail without warning or that might mask a latent failure would be high on my list.

I could see an ESP or maybe a circuit board being on that list. The ignitor would not be high priority, since a manual light and a maintenance burn would be all that are needed to keep the stove running until a new ignitor arrived.

Motors/fans I'm undecided on, since I think that a fan or motor would give some indication of the start of failure (like a strange noise) that would allow me to keep it running for a week or so until parts arrived. But my stove is too new for me to have any experience with those types of failures.
 
My combustion fan is making a very loud vibration noise. i just had to order one
 
According to Murphy..
It doesn't matter what you have on hand..Whatever you dont have on hand will be what fails. :p
 
Well, whatever floats your boat or fits the situation at your place. Let's see what is in Smokey's spare parts bin:

Combustion blower
Convection blower
Igniter (plus matches, approved accelerent, lots of pellets)
High Temperature Sealant
Flat gasket (besides window glass this stuff can be used for the combustion blower)..
Silicon rubber gasket material (convection blower)
Rope gasket (burn pot and door)

Time from no heat to heat about 1 hour (and half a box of band-aids).

When my hands are cold it takes me longer to do things :p.
 
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Been running a P61 for 12 years and have not needed anything but a real good yearly cleaning with spot cleanings in between. No mechanical trouble from motors, ESP, blower, augur, control board.....yet. Must have got a Wednesday built unit, it's treated me right. Only things I replaced are door, hopper and burnpot gaskets. Nothing in an emergent situation. If you have other sources of backup heat I think you'll be fine. As long as FedEx, USPS or UPS can deliver to you, most parts would be available in a few days.
 
Let's see both FedEx and UPS have refused to deliver and the USPS has also declined to place packages in a snow bank.

Seems that those box trucks don't skate very well in the winter.

Most of us pellet burners try to stay away from the dino juice because we are cheap, more than a couple of us can last quite awhile on what we have in our stores.
 
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Let's see both FedEx and UPS have refused to deliver and the USPS has also declined to place packages in a snow bank.

I heard DHL will go where others won't, Have you tried them? >>
 
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It took as long as 4 months for me to receive some of these parts from Europe via the distributor. My nearest distributer and parts dealer is 1200+ miles away. I do not want to wait that long if the unit breaks down so I'm ordering what I can when I can. I currently have a spare igniter, tangential room fan, snap disk, combustion fan gasket, hopper lid switch, and control cables. Will also be getting an auger motor and combustion fan.
Universal parts that are less likely to fail and can be shipped in a reasonable amount of time I won't worry about stocking. I'd buy the control board too if the manufacturer would let me.
 
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I heard DHL will go where others won't, Have you tried them? >>

I'm not the one who does the shipping and the choices normally available are USPS, FedEx, and UPS, USPS frequently uses FedEx fast post and it is a toss up as to who actually delivers I've had both FedEx and USPS do the delivery.

You have to remember it isn't a question of where they deliver but can they safely deliver on any particular day.

Now as to DHL the normal pickup points for them if they can't make it here are six of one half dozen of another as to convenience from here as FexEx, UPS, that makes USPS a preferred shipper for me which leads to my remark about FedEx fast post.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to leave it to its only 3 days away as that can end up being longer.
 
I keep a heat pump and a kerosene heater. If my pellet burner breaks I will order the part and hope it comes qucikly.
 
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I keep a heat pump and a kerosene heater. If my pellet burner breaks I will order the part and hope it comes qucikly.

I also have a full tank of dino juice and a FHW system and a generator and gasoline for the generator, but that doesn't mean I intend on using them if I don't have to.

The spare parts are cheap the rest not so much.

If one looks around enough those very expensive blowers can be had for under $50.00 and a lot of other parts under $25.00.

Cheapskates are us is our motto.

Reduce, reuse, and recycle are fine and dandy but it really helps is if you get it cheap to start with.
 
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I get this strange feeling that I have answered this before...
Spare Parts on hand: auger motor and gaskets.
Knowledge of the workings of the stove are more helpful than anything.

Too many cheapskate comments in this thread, and yes, I am one. I just made a combustion motor gasket, because I can!

Bill
 
You essentially can't be prepared unless you keep a spare stove! I keep an extra ignitor and that's about all you can do (I have a Quad, but doubt it's much different in this regard). It 's likely more important to be prepared for loss of electricity.

Exactly why I bought the same stove for the second location. Eight years with stove one and just replaced the convection blower and ignitor. Works as good now as the day I installed the stove. Gaskets and high temp sealant are no-brainers.
 
Should I buy a spare ignitor at the local stove shop or is there a website where I can get it cheaper?
 
Wow, talk about a gamut of responses here, from 'well - take it as it comes' to 'be prepared as SmokeyTheBandit' ;)

I guess it all depends on a number factors: Do you have backup heat?, How close is your pellet stove dealer?, How good are you at DIY / Fixing things?, etc. I'm fortunate enough to have one of those awesome dealers on the face of the earth, just 20 minutes away - so I generally dont' worry. If I wanted to start covering my bases on my own, well I guess I would have an extra spare ignitor for each stove, maybe get a multimeter and/or start learning more about electrical engineering, etc.

Honestly, now that I heat my house 100% w/wood pellets, the best insurance / backup plan I could implement would be a good old wood stove and a cord or two of seasoned wood on the property - fool proof, and there's no arguing about that.
 
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