new owner of used breckwell 23FS scratching his head.......

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CLT Services

New Member
Dec 2, 2010
11
North Dakota
Ok guys, I bought this stove for 60 bucks at an estate auction, without doing any research thinking a pellet stove meant it would burn corn as well. I farm so I have about 150000 bushels of corn 200 feet from my shop, so I figured this little stove would help me out as i typically heat with a homemade wood stove, and LP furnace for backup. Anyway, when I bought the stove it was missing the motor for the exhaust blower. Found one at surplus center clearance sale with gasket for 29 bucks. surplus center.com by the way has a lot of parts for these types of stoves, for about 25% of retail price. They are uasually mislabeled or have poor descriptions, but if you look hard enough you might be able to find what your looking for. So I did some research(found out that corn was not an option) put the new fan in, bought a ton (literally, a ton) of pellets and fired it up. Here are my issues so far that I have not been able to figure out. Start up the stove after putting a small handful of pellets into burn pot. Plug it in and ater a couple seconds i hear what sound like a relay click and the exhaust fan starts.(exhaust fan runs constanly once plugged in even if stove is off) Push and hold the on/off button for a couple seconds and the Fire starts after 4-5 minutes. On my control panel, the on/off switch light stays on for about 15-20 minutes then begins to flash, one second on, one second off. Also, when adjusting the auger speed, no matter what setting it is on the fuel feed light is off for 10-11 seconds, then lights up for about 3 seconds. Another thing is the reset trim display. when i have it on setting 1 for heat and push the trim button i get 1 and 5 to light up, push trim button again and 1 and 4 light up, push again and just number one lights up. Shouldn't it be 1+4 and 1+3 and 1? And finally my control panel is different than a lot of ones Ive seen online and that I read about on here. Mine has no switch on the top for hi/low/on/off/manual. Mine just has the breckwell name there. Should i just buy a new circut board??? or do you guys have any other ideas? The stove will stay burning, but just enough to keep a tiny flame. I also took all the covers off the inside of the chamber and cleaned it out with a shop vac, blew it all out with 150psi compressed air, cleaned out the hopper, oiled the motors etc. Any help would be great. You guys have a great forum here, if I wouldn't have found this, I think I wouldve just thrown the stove on the scrap steel pile and been done with it.
 
CLT Services said:
Ok guys, I bought this stove for 60 bucks at an estate auction, without doing any research thinking a pellet stove meant it would burn corn as well. I farm so I have about 150000 bushels of corn 200 feet from my shop, so I figured this little stove would help me out as i typically heat with a homemade wood stove, and LP furnace for backup. Anyway, when I bought the stove it was missing the motor for the exhaust blower. Found one at surplus center clearance sale with gasket for 29 bucks. surplus center.com by the way has a lot of parts for these types of stoves, for about 25% of retail price. They are uasually mislabeled or have poor descriptions, but if you look hard enough you might be able to find what your looking for. So I did some research(found out that corn was not an option) put the new fan in, bought a ton (literally, a ton) of pellets and fired it up. Here are my issues so far that I have not been able to figure out. Start up the stove after putting a small handful of pellets into burn pot. Plug it in and ater a couple seconds i hear what sound like a relay click and the exhaust fan starts.(exhaust fan runs constanly once plugged in even if stove is off) Push and hold the on/off button for a couple seconds and the Fire starts after 4-5 minutes. On my control panel, the on/off switch light stays on for about 15-20 minutes then begins to flash, one second on, one second off. Also, when adjusting the auger speed, no matter what setting it is on the fuel feed light is off for 10-11 seconds, then lights up for about 3 seconds. Another thing is the reset trim display. when i have it on setting 1 for heat and push the trim button i get 1 and 5 to light up, push trim button again and 1 and 4 light up, push again and just number one lights up. Shouldn't it be 1+4 and 1+3 and 1? And finally my control panel is different than a lot of ones Ive seen online and that I read about on here. Mine has no switch on the top for hi/low/on/off/manual. Mine just has the breckwell name there. Should i just buy a new circut board??? or do you guys have any other ideas? The stove will stay burning, but just enough to keep a tiny flame. I also took all the covers off the inside of the chamber and cleaned it out with a shop vac, blew it all out with 150psi compressed air, cleaned out the hopper, oiled the motors etc. Any help would be great. You guys have a great forum here, if I wouldn't have found this, I think I wouldve just thrown the stove on the scrap steel pile and been done with it.

That controller may not be the same as in the manual you have (they do change suppliers for the parts) , your controller's trim action is the same as mine, 1+5, 1+4, 1.

It is also possible that your low limit switch is gone and the stove never sees the lack of fire (it can also be a bad control board) the switch is far cheaper to replace.

In heat range one it isn't likely to get a large flame have you increased the heat level to say three.

If there is no change in the flame could you post a picture of the control board both from the outside of the stove and from the inside? I'm looking for jumpers etc and any signs of fried parts.

Eric hearth.com member kinsman stoves (there are others here as well) is a Breckwell dealer he may be able to assist you in matching up parts with manual etc...
 
Where would the low limit switch be??? I have tried to increase the heat level as well, and all all settings, 1-5, it runs the auger the same, 10 seconds off, and 2-3 seconds on. I will try to get some picturs of it today. There is one jumper on the the board, and two places it could go. I have tried it without the jumper, and with the jumper on the two availiable slots. Thanks for the quick response
 
Wow $60. Can't go wrong at that price. You might want to take a look at Iburncorn.com I looked over there and there was some posts about mixing up to 2/3rds corn with pellets, so maybe you can burn some corn. Which model is it?
 
here are some pics...... i hope
 

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Sorry the picture of the component side is too small for my eyes to make things out.

When you tried the heat level advance did the light change or did it stay the same?

Do you have the manual for the stove there should be an exploded parts page(s), the part will be listed as low limit or proof of fire. There should also be a wiring diagram in the manual.

I would expect the low limit/proof of fire to be somewhere near the exhaust/combustion blower, although it can be elsewhere it closes when the temperature in the stove reaches a certain point, when the stove no longer sees proof of fire the blowers get shut off.

I do not have that manual on my machine at the moment.

Sorry about not responding earlier but I was helping unload some pellets.

I think the number that Turbo-Quad was talking about was Eric's.
 
i didnt get a manual with it, but i found the manuals on breckwells website. Found the pof switch and bent the contactor tab a little. That seems to work now. As far as the lights go on turning up the heat It seems to function fine. I hit the button and it advances one setting on the display eveytime I hit the button, but no change in the length of time the auger runs. 10 seconds off and 2-3 seconds on no matter what setting it is on. Auger feed light illuminates when feeding and goes out when auger is stationary, Also after being on for 10-20 minutes the on/off light flashes. One second on/one second off......
 
CLT Services said:
i didnt get a manual with it, but i found the manuals on breckwells website. Found the pof switch and bent the contactor tab a little. That seems to work now. As far as the lights go on turning up the heat It seems to function fine. I hit the button and it advances one setting on the display eveytime I hit the button, but no change in the length of time the auger runs. 10 seconds off and 2-3 seconds on no matter what setting it is on. Auger feed light illuminates when feeding and goes out when auger is stationary, Also after being on for 10-20 minutes the on/off light flashes. One second on/one second off......

If you get a better picture of the component side of that control board maybe J-Takeman can help find a part if you are into DIY and handy with a soldering iron and wick.

It would also help to know exactly how that jumpering should be.

I just can't tell from the picture. If we can see evidence of a burned part and can get the numbers from it the board can be repaired.


That flashing is a code and the manual should explain the possible causes. Maybe later this evening I'll download the manual and have a look through it.
 
Thats the oldest board in the digital fleet. There should be jumpers on the back of the board for thermostat settings. 4 pins with a black PC shunt type jumper. I think your in Hi/lo mode with no thermostat connected. The ten to 20 minutes is the start cycle. Once its finish theat, It starts looking for the thermostat state.

Try to post a clearer picture of the backside of the board. I see if I can find some of the older info for that board!
 
k ill try to get some better pics, and thanks for everyones help. Being I dont have much into this stove, should i just update to the newer circut board?? Will the plug in work with the newer style board???
 
CLT Services said:
k ill try to get some better pics, and thanks for everyones help. Being I dont have much into this stove, should i just update to the newer circut board?? Will the plug in work with the newer style board???

Yes its plug and play. I upgraded one last season. Easy swap! PM sent!
 
my camera just wont take decent pics close up.....Time for a new one
 

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nothing looks burnt at all.... Everything seems tight/no broken solder. two jumper points, one says j8/other ssays j9. Couldn't find an explanation on breckwells site for the on/off light blinking.
 
J8 and J9 are the jumper pins. The shunt(or jumper) Changes the mod of operation.

But you mising the thermostat connection block. See the picture and info I attached.

I found it in the Sonora P23 manual 2003. Download that and save for this info. I didn't know the BigE came with this board, It may have been swapped out as the bigE was introduced in 04' and this board was replaced in late 03 with the newer boards.

Pull the shunt off of J9 and somehow jump the 2 pins where that stat is supposed to connect(solder a jumper maybe?) and it will act like a manual on/off stove!
 

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Looking at the circuit board component side bottom right just above and to the right of the molex connector are there two pins there?

That is likely the thermostat connection point.
 
CLT Services said:
i have thermostat around here somewhere.... should i just solder a set of leads to the terminals where the plug for the thermostat is missing???

I'd fashion a jumper and attach it.

Even a paper clip just to prove if that is the case.

Remember do this with the stove off and unplugged.
 
You have to make sure that the thermostat you have is of the proper type before attaching it.
 
It requires a millivolt t-stat.

I can't comment about the other one.

Basically it must act as a low resistance switch when set point or lower is reached and provide an open circuit when it is above set point.

ETA: Did you give the jumpering a try?
 
Wow, slow down on taking it all apart and call me.

Eric
330-448-0300
 
kinsman stoves said:
Wow, slow down on taking it all apart and call me.

Eric
330-448-0300

Hey Eric, I suggested he contact you way back at the beginning of the thread Turbo-Quad even posted a link to a thread you had posted your telephone number in.

He has all of the information he needs now, you are sort of late to the party ;-).
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
kinsman stoves said:
Wow, slow down on taking it all apart and call me.

Eric
330-448-0300

Hey Eric, I suggested he contact you way back at the beginning of the thread Turbo-Quad even posted a link to a thread you had posted your telephone number in.

He has all of the information he needs now, you are sort of late to the party ;-).

Yep! Some of us have to pick up the slack while he's off playing around. :) We got this one for ya! :cheese:
 
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