Limit switches

[Roadstar]

I'm wondering if I should replace the High and Low limit switches on my '94 Breckwell. The stove is 20 years old and I have noticed that it is now taking longer for the stove to shut down once I turn it off. It will eventually shut itself down but I usually turn off the power strip because it's just blowing cold air out of the heating tubes. I believe the low limit switch controls that operation.

I don't like to fix things that aren’t broken and I wouldn't call the switches broken. They only cost $18.00 each on Mountain View and it doesn't look all that difficult to replace them according to the pictures but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. I have no way of telling if the high limit switch is sound because isn't that switch more of a fail safe switch?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Owen1508]

The high limit switch is a fail safe for an overheating situation. If it is bad the auger would not feed and the fans would blow all the time. Not to say that for $18 it wouldn't be a good idea to have one on hand in the event that it does fail.
The low limit switch (located on the combustion/draft fan on your model P24) is also called the POF switch. It is a 60T21 switch. So at 109 degrees it turns on the room fan (contacts close) and at 90 degrees it turns them off (contacts open). When they fail they tend to turn the room fan on all the time. Again it would be a good thing to have on hand just in case.
Either of these switches are $15.22 on the breckwell website. I believe shipping is $19.40 standard up to like 5 pounds, so if you have anything else(gaskets etc) it would pay to add them. I'm not sure what MV charges to ship. I deal with MV alot (Kami) and they are a good company.
Changing them out is simple and can be done with a screwdriver. Many videos on you tube on it.

 

[MountainSean]

If you are going to order those switches from us, call to place the order. Our software doesn't do well in calculating shipping costs on small things and it always charges too much. That is our biggest complaint with the vendor that does our shopping cart but we are limited in what we can do.

Kami is a nice lady and she does her job very well, glad to hear you are happy with us.

 

[tjnamtiw]

If they are reacting later, it could very well be a build up of corrosion or dirt between them and the heated surface. Just remove them and lightly sand both surfaces. You can also go to Radio Shack and get some heat transfer grease that is used between heat sinks and transistors and other electronics. I don't know of anyone using it, but it does make sense to get a more reliable reading.

 

[Roadstar]

After my post I decided to let the stove do its thing after I turned it off. It ran (the convection blower ) for 2.5 hours before it shut itself completely off. That's a bit excessive IMO. Normally it's no big thing to let it run its course.

However, in my case it caused an auger jam once when the fire went out in the middle of the night due to poor quality pellets. The low limit switch must shut everything down once the stove cools to a certain point. Since I believe my low limit switch isn't working correctly when the fire went out the auger kept feeding pellets for 2.5 hours. It not only filled up and overflowed the burn pot but the pellets filled up the drop chute as well and eventually jammed the auger. It took me a while to figure that one out.

Thanks for all the advise and suggestions. I think I'll just buy new switches and replace them this summer.