Looking at a used 2006 that has been stored since 2008. The price is right, I just don't have any experience with this brand. Had Whitefileds in the past.
Breckwell Big E, opinions?
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buildingmaint
Feeling the Heat
Mine is a 2005 and I have had few problems with it, had to replace the control board last year, and a snap disc on the exhaust blower. Other then that no problems . What is a good price ? I would not pay over $400.00 , I can buy a 95% efficant gas furnace installed for $1200-$1500 with a ten year warranty. One thing about the Big E is it is pretty easy to work on , if you are inclined to that kind of work.
kinsmanstoves
Minister of Fire
The Big E is a good stove. There are better ones out there. The Big E does have a long track record of problems in the design and blower motors custom made for the old Breckwell company. They do not last compared to the same blower with a different part number. I sold a lot of Big E units and had to work on almost all of them.
Eric
Eric
warmsand
New Member
We have a 2005 Breckwell Big E that has had two previous owners. We paid $700. It really puts out heat. We have an old two-story farmhouse built in 1912 with an open floor plan and a big stairwell. It's about 1788 square feet.
I have had a difficult journey into the world of pellet stoves. We were blowing through a 200 gallon tank of oil in 5 weeks ($750) and needed a cheaper way to stay warm. We are on a limited budget, so I sized the system, installed it myself, and have learned how to maintain and troubleshoot the thing without the help of any kind of service person. In my area, I couldn't find someone to service a Big E, even if I had the money. There are some rooms on the fringe of our house that are colder than I would like. But our floor plan really constricted our placement options. In general though, it keeps my first floor at around 75 degrees and the second at 70. I have had two problems thus far:
#1 - User Error
I couldn't get it to work for over 6 months only to find that a combination of poor documentation and user stupidity was the cause. We were running it without a thermostat on a setting that required a thermostat (HIGH/LOW, ON/OFF, MANUAL). It would attempt to burn but never really got hot enough to leave ignition mode. Once I switched it to MANUAL it burned like a champ.
#2 - Combustion Blower
A few weeks ago the Big E stopped and through an error light. We used the manual to pin down the problem - the combustion blower was dead. I tried cleaning it to no avail. I took it to a "fan guy" who lubed it up. It worked for another day and then died again. By that point, I had discovered that I didn't need to by the $200 Breckwell replacement part, I could use a universal 6" pellet stove combustion blower fan priced at $110. I ordered it from Brunners Bits and Pieces (http://www.heiligkuh.com/) in PA. They had great prices, fast shipping, and even followed up to see how we were doing. It was easy to install and has been pumping out heat since.
This is my first pellet stove, so I don't have much to compare against. Even so, I'd recommend it despite the issues I've had. It's easy to clean, easy to work on, and pumps out heat. My current challenge is increasing its efficiency but I suspect that is part of my learning curve.
Best of luck! Hope this helps.
Linsey
I have had a difficult journey into the world of pellet stoves. We were blowing through a 200 gallon tank of oil in 5 weeks ($750) and needed a cheaper way to stay warm. We are on a limited budget, so I sized the system, installed it myself, and have learned how to maintain and troubleshoot the thing without the help of any kind of service person. In my area, I couldn't find someone to service a Big E, even if I had the money. There are some rooms on the fringe of our house that are colder than I would like. But our floor plan really constricted our placement options. In general though, it keeps my first floor at around 75 degrees and the second at 70. I have had two problems thus far:
#1 - User Error
I couldn't get it to work for over 6 months only to find that a combination of poor documentation and user stupidity was the cause. We were running it without a thermostat on a setting that required a thermostat (HIGH/LOW, ON/OFF, MANUAL). It would attempt to burn but never really got hot enough to leave ignition mode. Once I switched it to MANUAL it burned like a champ.
#2 - Combustion Blower
A few weeks ago the Big E stopped and through an error light. We used the manual to pin down the problem - the combustion blower was dead. I tried cleaning it to no avail. I took it to a "fan guy" who lubed it up. It worked for another day and then died again. By that point, I had discovered that I didn't need to by the $200 Breckwell replacement part, I could use a universal 6" pellet stove combustion blower fan priced at $110. I ordered it from Brunners Bits and Pieces (http://www.heiligkuh.com/) in PA. They had great prices, fast shipping, and even followed up to see how we were doing. It was easy to install and has been pumping out heat since.
This is my first pellet stove, so I don't have much to compare against. Even so, I'd recommend it despite the issues I've had. It's easy to clean, easy to work on, and pumps out heat. My current challenge is increasing its efficiency but I suspect that is part of my learning curve.
Best of luck! Hope this helps.
Linsey
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