Honest Dealer? Wants to sell me Cheaper Stove

[terryjd98]

Well I am close to deciding which Pellet Stove to buy. After all the research and reading your replies to my posts here I was looking at buying an Enviro Max. Told the Dealer my house size, layout, wanting stove in basement, needing to heat story and a half house, only working part -time, ect, ect.
Anyways said the 70,000 btu would be too much stove for my 2000 sq. ft house. Price would have been $4,800.00 installed, taxes included.
He said the Breckwell Big E and 55,000 btu would be plenty to heat the whole house, would never need to have it on high unless 30 below. Price on this stove is $3,900.00 installed, tax and all. Don't forget in Canada we have 13% tax so that alone adds up fast.
He also said he would sell me a Harmon P61A if I wanted, that would have been about $4,900.00 installed but the Big E was a good quality stove, no use paying more then I have to, Breckwell has been around a long time and just as reliable as Harmon, only cheaper.
Now he did say he would put in any stove I want but no need paying for something I don't need. This company has been around for years and I have never really heard anything bad about them just was kind of suprised by being told to go with the cheaper option. Also want to make sure I get a stove that has enough BTU to do the job on our cold Canadian nights.
I wonder if there are still good Dealers around that give the poorer working guy a break and make more on more well off customers or if he just gets the Big E really cheap wholesale.
Any comments appericated
Terry

 

[MCPO]

Could it be that the stove he is pushing is already in stock or easier to get ?
John

 

[sinnian]

Seems like you got a stand up guy, which is refreshing to hear for a change.

 

[buildingmaint]

You will not be able to heat 2000 sq ft with a BIG E on low unless the lowest temps you get are in the high 50's to mid 60's . I can not heat 600 sq ft on 1-2 heat level setting [ THERE ARE 5 SETTINGS] unless it gets to mid 60's during the day. IMHO from experience the last three years of only heating with my pellet stove ,to maintain a 72 degree temp you would have to run the stove on the #3 level manual setting, or on the 2/4 high /low setting with a programmable stat. Any way the 55000btu rating is at the # 5 setting that the owner manual say never to use for longer then 1 hour. Just my 2 cents , hope it helps. There are tons of info on BTU output on here as in 1 lb= BTU 2 lb=BTU.

 

[drizler]

http://www.nevelsstoves.com/breckwellstoves/Big_E.htm

Seems steep for a Breckwell, usually you can get them at Tractor supply for about this much. But then I am a cheap bastard!

ALso remember that you don't get a lot of quick heat from these stoves no matter which you have. You might even fare better with 2 smaller cheaper ones but it all depends on the age, insulation of the house and how well you adapt to living COLD. We manage 1400 sf with just the countryside very nicely but it never gets and I don't ever ask for tropical................ Don't forget a lot of that install is where you put it and what it needs for vent pipe. Mounted on an outside wall will be a whole lot easier and cheaper than in a fireplace or basement ect. Whatever you do use a thermostat you will save a lot there and buy much of your pellets right now when they are cheaper, you can get the stove later, there are a lot of them around this year I hear. Just my nickles worth as a stove owner for 5 years now thats all, but I still think that price is too high.

 

[terryjd98]

I was wondering if the stove would be able to heat 2000 sq ft. A couple of dealers now have said it would but maybe they are just able to get the Big E stoves in eaiser. Not much danger of getting into the 60s here in winter, more like lucky to get into the 30s and can be pretty sure Jan and Feb, are going to be into the minus 30 to 0 range, maybe lower with windchill.
Wish I could get that kind of price from anywhere in Canada like you can in the USA. I am on the cheap side myself, why I am shopping around at every place I can find and every type of stove. I have looked up a couple of stoves now and they are an easy 6- 8 hundred cheaper then in Canada.
We really don't have any problem adapting to cold, usually keep the house at 68 in the winter. There is a thermostat that comes with the stove.
Main reason I want the stove in the basement is to keep the water pipes from freezing in the winter. Maybe I would be better off with 2 smaller cheaper stoves or somekind of small electric heater that would keep the basement at around 40 degrees, its only used for storage, hot water heater, furnace, water pipes and my little workshop. If had a stove upstairs it would only have to heat about 1400 sq ft and easy through the wall istall.
Thanks for everybodys comments. Its really helping me think through this process and giving me ideas of what to ask different dealers about.
Terry

 

[webbie]

It is NOT the stove that heats, it is the amt of pellets burned:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/you_and_a_BTU/

I would always suggest putting the stove into the living area, as opposed to a basement...

 

[BrotherBart]

If you can do your own installation or know of a WETT certified installer locally Englander pellet stoves will be arriving in Canadian Tire Stores for the first time this year. Good solid pellet stoves with great factory support at a more than reasonable price.

Well, that is if you don't mind having a Yank stove in the house. And no, I do not work for England's Stove Works. Sometimes I feel like a pimp for them here though.

 

[terryjd98]

Now that news of Englander stoves making it to Canada is great to hear. From what I have read on here they are very good stoves. I auctally wrote to the Company yesterday and asked if they happened to have any dealers in Canada. No problem with me having a Yank stove in my home, sure as hell be a nice change from everything comming from China now days. With Canadian Tire being as big as they are that should put them way ahead of any of other big box stores that have cheap never heard of them before stoves and should be for a good price. Suprised that ones like Home Depot or TSC stores don't carry a name brand up here.
I know a couple of WETT certifed dealers, have been in their stores enough now they know me by name when I walk in. Am sure I can find somebody that does installs on the side and the dealers will WETT certify, think they charge $200.00 if not their install. Even as far as an install goes I would feel comfortable doing one as long as I had the specs for it.
I guess I will have to email Canadian Tire and see when the stoves are going to come out on the floor, if there are any left to ship to Canada. Should be shortly I would think, end of july Christmas stuff should be comming out lol. The sooner I find out the sooner I can decide what stove to buy.
Thanks for the news
Terry