What model Whitfield pellet stove?

Looks like one of the ancients!

I'd stay far away unless I was a collector!

It's a Legend. The very first model Whitfield made and you can still get some parts for it. Just none of the electronic control parts, unless you know what you are doing and use timers and relays from Grainger for example. Not a bad stove but as their first model it had it's share of first model stoves problems.

Oh. Being a legend it was made from roughly 1984 to 1988. Everything in it will be OLD and ready to break down if it is still working at all. Offer $100

Are you gonna pick up this piece of history Don??

Dont always have to pay asking price.... For $150.. I would be a buyer amd want to operate one of the 1st pellet stoves made by the company that revolutionized pellet stoves.

The shipping would cost more than the stove, that stove is quite aways away from Don.

But to complete the rebuild, snowy rivers posted a control board plan built from standard parts for her old Whitfield stoves. A search on here should show up a lot of information.

SmokeyTheBear said:

The shipping would cost more than the stove, that stove is quite aways away from Don..

Click to expand...

Yep.... Didn't even notice that. I thought he was really considering buying it.

That far away, I wouldnt be a buyer. Unless you were a hard core collector and wanted one of the originals.

Do not listen to all of the BS. I have 3 of these stoves. I have 3 friends who have also been using them for years. I once read an interview with old man Whitfield who said " My first stove was probably the best one I ever made". They are built like a tank. Extremely heavy gauge steel. The blowers are the same as used on the later Advantage models and readily available at the pellet stove online stores . There are no electronics or circuit boards so they are very reliable. The only electronic part is a timer. It is an Omron model H3BF-8 110 volt that is used in many industrial applications world wide and can be bought on ebay for 60 to 80 dollars any day. I have only had one fail in 20 years. The thing heats like no tomorrow. I heat a 3300 sq ft house with it down stairs and run it 24/7 in North Idaho. The basement is usually 78 degrees and upstairs is about 72 with an outside temp of f 32 in an older home that is not up to modern insulation. The only thing you cannot get is the fire boards inside the burn box. I use standard bricks on the sides but the back piece has to have the hole for the feed pipe to go through. I did find a guy who had sheets of the old style fiber board and made a new back piece. That back piece is the only tricky part. They were very delicate and have to be treated carefully. I love my WP-1 and would not trade it for anything except maybe an Avalon Astoria. 200 to 300 dollars is a fair price. 350 to 400 if it is in perfect working condition. Oh yeah one more thing. The hopper only holds about a bag and 1/2. This stove does not like to be run at a real low setting so you will get about 14 hours of burn time per bag. I load mine morning and nite as routine. In my opinion all later Whitfields were complicated over-rated junk

When the manufactures skewed off into "Microprocessor ville" the troubles started.
The more complex the controls became the more issues that arrose.
Many manufactures used solid state timers made by precision timer company with great results, but the cost was an issue, or so the bean counters thought.

The designers then started putting all the controls on a single circuit board "controller" and having this stuff made over seas where the cost was dirt cheap (for the OEM, not to owner to replace later)

The move to the microprocessor controls all on one board move was the begining of a lot of troubles.

The Whitfield stoves had their share of controller problems for sure.
The triacs used to handle fan speeds was a source of issue on several models. The main trouble would start out as poor fan speed adjustment which would at times lead to fan motor failure.

Another issue with the control boards is Static discharge.
Some stoves were extremely sensative to being hit by static due to the owner walking across a carpeted floor and then touching the controls.
Some control boards were made such that a good healthy static hit (like the kids zapping the cat after shuffling on the carpet) would serious damage the micro electronic components and in some cases one hit would ruin the board.

Touching the stoves metal skin to discharge the static would normally prevent this from happening, but most folks do not remember to do it.

Bottom line, the headlong rush to mount a computer in everything really set the stage for reliability issues.
The basic fans, augers, motors and such are pretty much as they were.

Yesss there have been some changes (and not for the better) with the mechanical components, but overall these are not the root cause of the problems we see on the never stoves.

The greatest problem is that manufactures are trying to design stoves that can think for themselves and do not require the owner to do much more than pour in pellets and press a button.

An owner without a good knowledge of how the stove works (basics) and why, seriously compromises the likelyhood that he/she will have an overall good experience with the stove.

Around our house, the stove is an integral part of the family so to speak, at least in the heating season.
So many people have grown up with a home heating system that is far removed from daily life, in as much as the thermostat is set to the comfort zone and the machinery does the rest, with little to no interaction of the owner.

Its not until the house is too cold/hot that anyone pays much attention to the heating/cooling system.

Actually building a fire, tending the stove, cleaning the stove and maintaining the unit is actually outside the knowledge base of many people today.

This equates to todays automobiles as well, with anitlock brakes, traction control and a whole host of electronic wizzardry that has reduced the operator knowledge of how to drive to the point that they become incapable of dealing with any sort of issue that requires skill.

Let any of the magic boxes fail, and so many of todays drivers are just helpless.

This same scenario applies to the home heating appliances that so many of us just take in stride as we tend, clean and lovingly care for.

I am an avid fan of the Whitfield Stoves. we have a Prodigy II and an Advantage 2, both of which were built in the early 90's

These stoves are good old work horses, and easily repaired.

Just some thoughts

Ms Snowy