Big E pellet stove, should I

[Fishhead5]

I've been trying to find out how good these stoves are. I can get a brand new one (SP 1000 PWA) for $550 on sale. We've been using an older whitfield advantage 2 for 5 years now. The only problem we've had with it is we had to replace the controll panel ($300). Some of the metal inside, upper right corner, is starting to chip away. What do the experts have to say?? Should I, or shouldn't I?

Thanks!!

 

[Shane]

I don't know a whole lot about the Big E. Our store carried Breckwell for about a month. We sold and installed an insert, the next day the customer called complaining that the stove was feeding irratically. We discovered the board was faulty. I ran to the shop jerked the one out of my showroom model and replaced it. Sent the warranty claim in and they denied it saying the board was faulty due to a lack of or improper maintenance. And that's all I have to say about Breckwell.

 

[buildingmaint]

I have a Big E .I paid 1400.00 shipped to my house every thing included. I have had no major problems with mine so far.Some times it turns its self off at inopportune times and I wake up or come home to a cold house.I have mine on a programmable stat and run it on the high/low setting high #4 low#2 setting. Throws out a lot of heat on the #3 and #4 setting .I also run a ceiling fan in the room that has the stove in it. I clean mine once a week ,don't believe the owners manual that says you can clean it once a month the stove will shut its self off way long before that. It is very finicky on the lowest setting as far as setting the damper goes .I try not to use it. It is easy to clean if you have any mechanical ability at all . I have only used two kind of pellets in it and have had no feeding problems so far.It is noisy ,very noisy. So if you put it in your living area you will have to turn up the TV .Thing I would change if I could would be a quieter fan ,a ash pan that you could empty with out turning off the stove ,better owners manual or more descriptive manual in all I like the stove it was cheap when I bought it and I didn't want to pay the gas company what they wanted for gas at that time.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

i looked at one briefly at our local TSC , wanted to look at the manual but it was missing , asked the girl at the counter , she said , that a customer had apparantly walked off with it when they first put it on the floor, she said they were supposed to have one coming to replace it (the missing manual) that was october... stove still there manual yet to arrive... i dunno if the girl in the store was serious about the manual being on the way ,or maybe when the replacement showed up it got pilferred as well.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

I don't know a whole lot about the Big E. Our store carried Breckwell for about a month. We sold and installed an insert, the next day the customer called complaining that the stove was feeding irratically. We discovered the board was faulty. I ran to the shop jerked the one out of my showroom model and replaced it. Sent the warranty claim in and they denied it saying the board was faulty due to a lack of or improper maintenance. And that's all I have to say about Breckwell.

shane,
thats BS on their part, i'd have replaced it in a heartbeat. one day in the home and its improper maintainence?????you dont question your dealer for this simple reason " he buys stuff from you. if you do question him , he dont buy stuff from you he buys from sombody else" did they replace your showroom board?? gawd! <picking my jaw up off the desk>

 

[restorer]

I don't know a whole lot about the Big E. Our store carried Breckwell for about a month. We sold and installed an insert, the next day the customer called complaining that the stove was feeding irratically. We discovered the board was faulty. I ran to the shop jerked the one out of my showroom model and replaced it. Sent the warranty claim in and they denied it saying the board was faulty due to a lack of or improper maintenance. And that's all I have to say about Breckwell.

shane,
thats BS on their part, i'd have replaced it in a heartbeat. one day in the home and its improper maintainence?????you dont question your dealer for this simple reason " he buys stuff from you. if you do question him , he dont buy stuff from you he buys from sombody else" did they replace your showroom board?? gawd! <picking my jaw up off the desk>

Shane:
I assume you terminated your dealership during the call when they denied the claim. A current dealer list and former dealer list would be interesting to look at. I looked at the Big E awhile back at Sutherlands, was not impressed.

 

[Shane]

In all honesty I probably shouldn't have brought that story up for that I apologize. I should have abided by the "if you don't have something nice to say...." rule. It is true though.

 

[begreen]

FishHead. Hustle your butt down to the nearest Lowes and or Home Depot tonight and hope they have an Englander pellet stove on sale at half-price. That is the deal of the century.

 

[Fishhead5]

It's in a hardware store here in town. I haven't had a chance to talk with someone that really knows about it at the store, what kind of warranty and service we would get with it. I like the idea of the difference in the btu's it puts out compaired to the one I have now, but it won't do much good if it's broke all the time.

Thanks
Doug

 

[begreen]

You and TrekTravel have similar questions. All I can add is that I have never regretted paying a bit more for quality. But I have regretted trying to save a nickel and compromising on the cheaper product. A good stove should have better design, much higher quality components, service and parts available for the long haul. The Englander pellet stove may be the rare exception to the rule in striking a balance in price vs quality. And their support is quickly becoming legendary.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/6317/

 

[Fishhead5]

BeGreen, you've got a good point. I really don't need it, just thought it was a heck of a buy.

We must not be too far apart, I'm in Shelton