A used Whitfeld

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Chaletaway

New Member
Feb 21, 2011
4
Oregon
I am thinking about getting a used Whitfeld pellet stove. It is 135 miles from me so I have a couple of questions. The picture looks good ,BUT what do I look for in a used unit. If it is runnable then that is a plus. Then only thing the seller ( sales helper) said is the number in the door is WHQ44672.
Any ideas of manufacture date? Model?
Kind regards
C
 
Chaletaway said:
Not being a stoveaholic doe's th e44672 mean any thing?
and what is iirc
C

44672 is the serial number. You would have to locate a Whitfield
dealer/parts guy to narrow down the mfr date from that number...
IIRC = If I Recall Correctly...
HTH
 
Inside the hopper cover (TOP) there should be a sticker with the date of manufacture.

I have two early 90's Whitfields and they are great stoves.

Look the interior of the firebox over well.

Inspect the fire tray for signs of erossion due to lots of use.

Look at the heat exchanger tubes for signs of flaking etc.

If the exterior is good and looks to have been well cared for, then have the seller remove the back cover (a few sheet metal screws and its off)

Look the interior of the mechanical cabinet over for cleanliness and that wires and such are neat and apear in good order.

Plug the unit in and press the start button, the exhaust fan should blow air out the exhaust pipe flange.

Depending on the model and year, it may or may not have an auto ignitor.

With the start button having been pushed, turn the fuel switch to on and watch to see if pellets drop into the burn pot (Fire tray)

If this stuff works, check the room air fan to be sure air blows out the heat vents.

Listen for very odd noises (grinding, howling etc)

Pellet stoves make some noises due to then fans and such.


From this point, the only other thing is to light the fire and see what happens.

Good luck

Snowy
 
Kind thanks for all your thoughts. We had purchased a NEW Englands just before Christmas ,,, had more problems than a sow in heat and no boar.
Just about 1-1/4 bags of pellets burnt and I gave up being the service man. Yes they send parts but you are expected to know all about the stove and tear it apart... Chees. It is finally going back Tuesday.
Looking for something that willl run long enough to burn this other bag of pellets before summer :coolgrin:
Hazelnuts huh? Must live round Albany, OR.
Cheers
 
Chaletaway said:
....We had purchased a NEW Englands just before Christmas ,,, had more problems than a sow in heat and no boar.
Just about 1-1/4 bags of pellets burnt and I gave up being the service man. Yes they send parts but you are expected to know all about the stove and tear it apart...

Well, that means a good stove will go back & be refurbished by Mike Holton & his Tech Service crew so others of us can buy them cheaper down the road.

Englander makes a point of stating that they cater to the "DIY" homeowner who can work on the stove themselves.....this is from their website:

"England's Stove Works was started, and is still owned by, a family that believes strongly in a "Do It Yourself" spirit – that’s one reason you found this product at your favorite “Do It Yourself†store.
We intentionally design and build our stoves so that any homeowner can maintain his or her unit with basic tools"

If you had problems after just 1 1/4 bags, most likely the installation was poor from the git-go.
 
HA you must be an Englander, NO my son has installed four pellet stoves ,All are still going. After 2.5 hours re-testing the first round, on my time.They first said it was the vacuum valve, I installed it with a"tech" in my ear. then they said it was the "control board" After 4.5 hours of putting up with them , I won't stick around for another sticking.
And thats all I will say about it end of story. I'll get one made in the NW for the NW.
 
Chaletaway said:
HA you must be an Englander, NO my son has installed four pellet stoves ,All are still going. After 2.5 hours re-testing the first round, on my time.They first said it was the vacuum valve, I installed it with a"tech" in my ear. then they said it was the "control board" After 4.5 hours of putting up with them , I won't stick around for another sticking.
And thats all I will say about it end of story. I'll get one made in the NW for the NW.

Just so you know here is where your made in the NW for the NW is now:

Lennox Hearth Products
1508 Elm Hill Pike, Suite 108
Nashville, TN 37210

Further as a lot of the current parts inventory is depleted on the old Whitfields they aren't being manufactured or replenished.

Other than that the old ones were good stoves.
 
First you should do a google search to find an online owner's manual, download it and study it a while. Also, it would be good to know something about the previous owner and the circumstances that lead to it being put up for sale. If the price for it isn't cheap, then you should probably first get it running and let it run until it's fully warning up to allow time for any possible problem to show itself. I bought a used Whitfield who's inside sticker shows the year 1988 and after cleaning it and painting it, it's been running almost flawlessly for the few months that I've had it. Since I only paid $50 for it, I can afford to replace a part someday if I can find parts. But if parts are no longer being made for it (I've seen parts of many sorts following google searches) then that should be a consideration in determining its price/value.
 
Chaletaway

I live up near Newberg, right in the heart of the Hazelnut growers on this end of the Valley.

I am less than 10 minutes drive with the dump truck to the plant.


I myself am a "Do it yourselfers- Do it yourselfer" If I dont like how it was built, I take it apart, take the parts down to my shop in the basement and make whatever changes are needed to get it to work like I want it to.

I have completely rewired my Whitfield Advantage 2T and installed industrial grade control timers to replace the original control board.

Reused all the factory safety devices, and added a couple more just to make things even safer.

Around here, nut shells are a way of life.

The occasional KAARRUNCH from the stove as a larger piece of shell gets broken as it passes the auger entry point used to cause concern, but not any more.


Good luck with the stove.

Snowy
 
whoa
no need to search online for the book, just drop me a pm for goodness sakes!

the q means quest, but the long s/n threw me off.
i guess my iirc might be off!

http://woodheatstoves.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=25&chapter=1
here is the how to id a whitfield page on our site, but the pictures all look the same

the quest has a single rectangular fireback..
in fact measuring the fireback can help me determine model if all else fails
 
Today I opened up the left side of my Whitfield and put a few drops of oil in the two oil holes on both blowers. Now the room blower no longer rumbles every few seconds as it has for the 2 months that I've used it. If you buy the Whitfield you're considering, that might be one of the first things you'll want to do because most owners who aren't do-it-yourself-ers" won't bother doing it every year as recommended since it isn't a really easy process and you need the right kind of lubricant. I just happened to have (from some yard sale) a plastic bottle of high-temp turbine oil with a long pull-out plastic dispensing tube.
 
arnash said:
Today I opened up the left side of my Whitfield and put a few drops of oil in the two oil holes on both blowers. Now the room blower no longer rumbles every few seconds as it has for the 2 months that I've used it. If you buy the Whitfield you're considering, that might be one of the first things you'll want to do because most owners who aren't do-it-yourself-ers" won't bother doing it every year as recommended since it isn't a really easy process and you need the right kind of lubricant. I just happened to have (from some yard sale) a plastic bottle of high-temp turbine oil with a long pull-out plastic dispensing tube.

That's interesting, because I'm real big on maintenance and lubrication, but the service manual for my Whitfield Profile 20 says "Do not lubricate blowers, they are permanently lubricated."

Now, I'm not the type to just think, "OK! The manual says don't oil them, so I won't!" But I'm hesitant to go blasting the motors full of liquid wrench.

I'd oil the motors if I knew:

I was using the right type of oil.
The oil wouldn't "clean off" some type of special factory lubricant, or attract dust in a bad way.

Do these motors use roller bearings, or the common sintered-metal oilite bushings? I've found that once the oil-impregnated bushings "dry out", it
seems near impossible to keep them lubed, I've only had some luck with a heavy oil, like 75-weight,

:/
 
FireGood32 said:
arnash said:
Today I opened up the left side of my Whitfield and put a few drops of oil in the two oil holes on both blowers. Now the room blower no longer rumbles every few seconds as it has for the 2 months that I've used it. If you buy the Whitfield you're considering, that might be one of the first things you'll want to do because most owners who aren't do-it-yourself-ers" won't bother doing it every year as recommended since it isn't a really easy process and you need the right kind of lubricant. I just happened to have (from some yard sale) a plastic bottle of high-temp turbine oil with a long pull-out plastic dispensing tube.

That's interesting, because I'm real big on maintenance and lubrication, but the service manual for my Whitfield Profile 20 says "Do not lubricate blowers, they are permanently lubricated."

Now, I'm not the type to just think, "OK! The manual says don't oil them, so I won't!" But I'm hesitant to go blasting the motors full of liquid wrench.

I'd oil the motors if I knew:

I was using the right type of oil.
The oil wouldn't "clean off" some type of special factory lubricant, or attract dust in a bad way.

Do these motors use roller bearings, or the common sintered-metal oilite bushings? I've found that once the oil-impregnated bushings "dry out", it
seems near impossible to keep them lubed, I've only had some luck with a heavy oil, like 75-weight,

:/

You always go by what the motor manufacturer says about lubrication, just because your stove has the same brand name as another's stove it doesn't always have the same guts.

Whitfield is an old name and has under gone a lot of changes over the years.
 
The owners manual for my Quest Plus also says: “Do not lubricate blowers, they are permanently lubricated.â€

Also, on the combustion blower is written: "No oiling required" . See photo.

So for a long time I thought that applied for the convection blower as well. Then a couple of months ago some whining sounds started to appear from the convection blower motor. Also, it started to surge up and down. Something was wrong...

Pulled it out and took a photo of the label which says "Oil every 6 months with S.A.E. 20"

Maybe the previous owner has changed it way back in history, I don't know, but a few drops of oil and it worked liked new again.

The 20 S.A.E. monograde oil is recommended, but I only had some engine oil at that time ( 15W-40 ) and it's still working.

As they say: "Any grease is better than no grease" ;-)
 

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Stovensen said:
The owners manual for my Quest Plus also says: “Do not lubricate blowers, they are permanently lubricated.â€

Also, on the combustion blower is written: "No oiling required" . See photo.

So for a long time I thought that applied for the convection blower as well. Then a couple of months ago some whining sounds started to appear from the convection blower motor. Also, it started to surge up and down. Something was wrong...

Pulled it out and took a photo of the label which says "Oil every 6 months with S.A.E. 20"

Maybe the previous owner has changed it way back in history, I don't know, but a few drops of oil and it worked liked new again.

The 20 S.A.E. monograde oil is recommended, but I only had some engine oil at that time ( 15W-40 ) and it's still working.

As they say: "Any grease is better than no grease" ;-)

Yep, always check the manufacturer's plates on the motors themselves.
 
I read that Whitfield invented the pellet stove, so over the years they improved the quality of their components. My PDF manual for the Advantage II says to lubricate the blower motors once a year, 2 drops maximum. I had already done that a month ago, but decided that it was very, very likely that they had never been oiled, after all, what kind of care does a stove get when it's sold for only $50? So I oiled them again. I hope I did the right thing, -don't know if there's really a problem if oil meant for turbines is used. Of all the oils one could use, I'd thing that turbine oil would be the slowest to break-down or thicken. But the only way one will know if a motor needs oiling appears to be to look at its label -unless it's not very old and wouldn't have been around long enough for a fan replacement.
 
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