Breckwell Help- P2000FS

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BDub

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 23, 2008
11
South Central PA
Anyone familiar enough with Breckwell stoves to offer some advice on my P2000FS that is sooting up so rapidly that if I didnt stop the stove every day to clean it, I'm not sure what ugliness I might face. I replaced the pc board this summer before installing it and had it "professionally" cleaned. I personally am not convinced about how professional a job it was, but I have since gave it a good cleaning. I am not running on outside combustion air and I have not cleaned the combustion fan or anything like that. To be honest, I have no idea how to get to it. I am a pellet rookie. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Make sure your airwash is not blocked -- we have 2 dogs and my Breckwell P2700 gets blocked quickly.

Your stove should pull air through a small gap under your glass panes -- these airwash gaps are very slight and can become blocked easily. I have found that my air compressor will blast it clean very quickly, particularly from the outside, or you can try something like a cable tie, etc to get down in there and clean it out.

When your stove is burning, does the flame look more like a blowtorch or more like a lazy type flame moving back and forth?
 
Will definitely have to try the airwash gaps. I have 3 dogs myself and this is definitely worth a shot. When my stove is burning it does not look like a blow torch at all, it is definitely of the lazy flame variety. Could this be to my not using outside combustible air? I do get nice heat most of the time from it, room it is in is 86 degrees right now (on heat setting 2 out of 5) and it brings up the temp in the rest of the upstairs nicely as well, however I do want to run it as effeciently as possible. What does the ideal flame look like?
 
I dont want to open a can of worms here but can I get some opinions on outside combustible air? I have talked to many, many people about this and I always end up with just about a dead even split of "Yes its a must" and "No way, dont need it"
 
Your ideal flame will stand up more like a torch, but not enough air blowing through to cause the burning pellet embers to "popcorn", or hop out of the pot all over the place.

It sounds like your stove is having trouble getting enough combustion air. Make sure your damper is open enough, try opening it all the way and see what heppens, is it connected to a knob on the left side?

Also, what does your vent configuration look like? 3" or 4" piping? Is it direct vent, up and out, or straight up through the roof like a chimney? How long have you owned the stove? Did you get it new?
 
Damper is connected to a knob on the left side, yes. I have it open all the way now and the flame did tighten up a bit, but I still does not seem anywhere close to what everyone seems to be describing here. As far as my vent configuration goes, it goes straight out through the wall to a T (bottom part comes off for cleaning) then it does a six foot run straight up to a 90 degree elbow and a downward facing exhaust cap. It was one of the Simpson Duravent DIY kits from Home Depot or Lowes. It is 3" dia. pipe.
 
BDub,

It sounds as though you are trying all the right things. Your vent pipe setup should be just fine. If you don't get this iron out with your settings, then just for sh%ts -n-giggles try a different brand bag (or two) of pellets. I just switched brands last night. My first brand "Turman" burned with a good torch-like flame with blue at the bottom of the flames. I then switched to a brand by Southern States called "Statesman Hardwood Heat", these pellets burned good but had I higher lazer flame then the other pellets. They also created more ash clumps. Last night I went back to burning the "Turman" and instantly I had the active torch-like blue flames back.

Its just a thought and something worth trying. If your pellets are not up to the task, you can probably adjust your stove to hearts content with no luck.
 
And I have only owned the stove for 5 months or so. It is not new. I got it from my brother in law for free (cost me $250 for the new PC board it needed). He upgraded to a beautiful Harman rice coal burner. I have some envy there (he is paying 160/ton delivered for his rice coal vs the 315/ton delivered I paid) I greatly enjoy the pellet heat and it certainly beats the snot out of running my in ceiling electric heat. Im just looking to get this thing dialed in so it runs efficiently.
 
You also need to clean your blowers.

I bought a new P2700 last year and I cleaned out the room air blower but not the combustion fan at the end of the year.

Was getting a lazy flame a couple weeks ago and decided to clean everything I could get at. I had a ton of buildup on both blowers.

Cleaned them out along with everytihg else (inclutding the run in between the stove and the cleanout T. It's burning significantly better now, much better flame than before.
 
As a P200FS owner I can tell you that the glass staying clean will not happen, just too much glass for the airwash system to cover. As for the stove not burning clean, I would agree that is a air flow issue if you are getting heavy black soot in the stove burn chamber or exhuast run. Do you have an outside air source? If not you can do a quick test to determine if it is need. With the stove running open a window that is near your stove about 2 inches. If the flame improves then you will need to install an outside air souce to the stove. If no improvement, don't waste your money on the fresh air supply. Did you purchase the log set for the stove? If so try running acouple of days without the logs. My stove stays much cleaner without the logs. The logs are now something I put in the stove in the summer months for looks.

You can download the manual for the stove at (broken link removed to http://www.breckwell.com/manuals.asp) From hear you can get much need operator help and cleaning instruction plus trouble shooting info.
 
Where do I clean out around the glass area for the air wash system ? I recently had my Breckwell P2700FS unit installed about 4-5 weeks ago. After each cleaning, the glass starts to get dirty within a couple hours. I am using Barefoot pellets and running the damper at about 3/4" open (per manufacture specs) while on #1 or #2 setting.

Just curious as to where the air wash system may be clogged.

Thank you.
 
bridarsam said:
Where do I clean out around the glass area for the air wash system ? I recently had my Breckwell P2700FS unit installed about 4-5 weeks ago. After each cleaning, the glass starts to get dirty within a couple hours. I am using Barefoot pellets and running the damper at about 3/4" open (per manufacture specs) while on #1 or #2 setting.

Just curious as to where the air wash system may be clogged.

Thank you.



Please do research on the site. I posted numerous answers to all the above questions. Search under my name, Kinsman Stoves. Your answers are there.

Eric
 
Thank you. Now to my next question. Is it possible to temporarily run a pellet stove if the center glass (of 3) is broken in the corner? I know there is negative pressure inside, but will there be any further issues with the glass or running of the stove until I get the glass replaced? Thank you.
 
bridarsam said:
Thank you. Now to my next question. Is it possible to temporarily run a pellet stove if the center glass (of 3) is broken in the corner? I know there is negative pressure inside, but will there be any further issues with the glass or running of the stove until I get the glass replaced? Thank you.

If there is a serious issue the stove will shut off and flash a #2. If not it can have an air/fuel problem and have a creosote issue.

Eric
 
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