Looking at some used stoves

[mwedd]

I am looking at 3 said to be used for one season only stoves. As in my other thread "considering a pellet stove…. advise, ideas welcome", I am heating my finished basement which is 1100sq ft. The stove I am considering are an Enviro Empress, Quad Castile and St. Croix Hastings. All three are 30-35,000 btu. I have personally seen a St. Croix in a showroom some time ago. I dont remeber being real impressed with the ash pan setup. These stoves are all very close in price and all are 1hr plus drive away so I am looking for a little feed back from users to help decide if one of these jewels would be the one I would want. My main considerations are ease of maintenance (cleaning, ash removal, etc.), ease of use (controllability) and quietness. I think these are all quality stoves from what I have read here and other sites and their performance should be very equal. Please list any likes/dislikes of these 3. Thanks

 

[peirhead]

I spend 15 minutes cleaning my quad every 3 days or so when burning 24/7 on a thermostat....like the stove very much...no experience with the others though.

 

[Stevekng]

I have stoves made by all three makers you are considering. I like all three stoves for different reasons but I like the Enviro best, as it is easiest to clean and easiest to keep burning properly.
The quad is a no frills basic stove. All you can do is meter the pellet feed manuallyand the heat output is a low, medium, high toggle switch. There is no air feed adjustment. The Enviro has a more computerized operation for pellet feed and an air feed adjusment as well. The Empress has more heat output than the Quad. Also, the Quad takes longer to get to temperature and thus burns more pellets before the blower motor kicks in.
The St. Croix has a very similar control panel to the Enviro for pellet feed and has a manual adjustment for air as well. The St. Croix contol goes through a self test routine before ignitning that will prevent the stove from operating if there is a malfuctioning component. The burn pot is "self cleaning" and is a nice feature but I think if you burn a good brand of pellet, this will not be a deal breaker for the other stoves. Also, the St. Croix puts out more heat than the Quad, but not as much as the Enviro.
I hope this helps.

 

[mwedd]

I have stoves made by all three makers you are considering. I like all three stoves for different reasons but I like the Enviro best, as it is easiest to clean and easiest to keep burning properly.
The quad is a no frills basic stove. All you can do is meter the pellet feed manuallyand the heat output is a low, medium, high toggle switch. There is no air feed adjustment. The Enviro has a more computerized operation for pellet feed and an air feed adjusment as well. The Empress has more heat output than the Quad. Also, the Quad takes longer to get to temperature and thus burns more pellets before the blower motor kicks in.
The St. Croix has a very similar control panel to the Enviro for pellet feed and has a manual adjustment for air as well. The St. Croix contol goes through a self test routine before ignitning that will prevent the stove from operating if there is a malfuctioning component. The burn pot is "self cleaning" and is a nice feature but I think if you burn a good brand of pellet, this will not be a deal breaker for the other stoves. Also, the St. Croix puts out more heat than the Quad, but not as much as the Enviro.
I hope this helps.

I was leaning 1st towards the enviro then the quad. How is the ash pan on the enviro? How long before cleaning on avg?

 

[krooser]

My St. Croix has been bulletproof and the versa-grate keeps the stove working great with very little maintenance. I can go two weeks without even opening the door to clean out the ash (I do empty the ashpan weekly).

Last year's Hastings (which is very similar to my Pepin) was a corn burner only I believe. It will not have the versa-grate if it's a corn only stove. My Pepin can burn a corn-pellet mix but I've never done it.

My service tech sez the St. Croix's are about the most trouble free that he sees... I also bought mine used for $1200.00 and hasn't missed a beat (except once when I fiddled with it and had to call for service to get it back to where it was when I bought it). I never touch any adjustment except the heat adjustment.

 

[Fsappo]

see how much these cost new, and make sure your paying a lot less than a new stove with considering the 30% tax rebate. For example, new st croix $2900 -rebate is $2000, so a "good deal" on a used Hastings would be what..maybe $1000-$1200 when you consider your losing the 2 year warranty and the risk of buying the unknown?

 

[mnkywrnch]

My St. Croix has been bulletproof and the versa-grate keeps the stove working great with very little maintenance. I can go two weeks without even opening the door to clean out the ash (I do empty the ashpan weekly).

Last year's Hastings (which is very similar to my Pepin) was a corn burner only I believe. It will not have the versa-grate if it's a corn only stove. My Pepin can burn a corn-pellet mix but I've never done it.

My service tech sez the St. Croix's are about the most trouble free that he sees... I also bought mine used for $1200.00 and hasn't missed a beat (except once when I fiddled with it and had to call for service to get it back to where it was when I bought it). I never touch any adjustment except the heat adjustment.

Krooser your right about st croix be very good,but I believe the hastings is a pellet stove,the greenfield,lancaster,and auburn are st croix's corn stoves.

 

[chrisasst]

I bought a used stove from a dealer. Worst mistake I made. Just be careful what you buy...

 

[gutterboy2ca]

we bought this little Enviro used from the dealer,was there showroom model for nearly 10 years,paid enough for it @ $1000, new was sold out @ $2800, so we figured what the heck,and it still carried a full 1 year warranty from Enviro, even though it was a 10 year old Demo.We have been very impressed with the Enviro, and would certainly buy this Brand again when this one craps out.Looks Like new, Works like new 1/3 of the price of New,Got nothing bad to say and dealer has been terrific for a couple warranty parts (3 sec timer)new (1-sec timer)

 

[krooser]

My St. Croix has been bulletproof and the versa-grate keeps the stove working great with very little maintenance. I can go two weeks without even opening the door to clean out the ash (I do empty the ashpan weekly).

Last year's Hastings (which is very similar to my Pepin) was a corn burner only I believe. It will not have the versa-grate if it's a corn only stove. My Pepin can burn a corn-pellet mix but I've never done it.

My service tech sez the St. Croix's are about the most trouble free that he sees... I also bought mine used for $1200.00 and hasn't missed a beat (except once when I fiddled with it and had to call for service to get it back to where it was when I bought it). I never touch any adjustment except the heat adjustment.

Krooser your right about st croix be very good,but I believe the hastings is a pellet stove,the greenfield,lancaster,and auburn are st croix's corn stoves.

I got that one wrong for sure and I was just on St. Croix's website yesterday.

The Lancaster is the same as my Pepin only for 100% corn.

 

[Stevekng]

The ash pan on the empress is rather small compared to the one on my meridian. I think the ash that collects in the area around the burn pot is of more concern on any stove. The ash pan is usually a quick open and dump process with most stoves,in contast to cleaning the area around the burn pot, which can become messy and a bit more time consuming,

 

[Doublea88]

Bought a st croix pepin 2wks. ago.. Wife and I love it. Found used, made 9/2001, used for 4seasons after buying from dealer, not used for last couple years. My father and I took 2 nights after work to remove and clean all panels, lube auger shaft, motors, etc. It needed a good cleaning! $30.00 in high temp paint and a wall thimble. Installed in 2 hrs. Been running 5 days without a hitch. I just joined this site today, but have been reading posts for a few weeks now from this site. I need to find another stove for garage. lol.. Keeps boiler off (and with city gas, that is good) and house warm. Best investment we've made in long time Purchased 1.3 ton of okanagan pellets, which im excited to try and see if I get a higher temp out of the heat exchngr.. Was given 120 pounds of New England wood pellets and am finishing up the last of them now. glass gets smokey on low, with the fan on low and some times fan hums then smooths out. Small price to pay, huge in savings though!

 

[Doublea88]

P.S.

Does anyone kno the price of pepin new off hand?

thnx,
doublea

 

[krooser]

P.S.

Does anyone kno the price of pepin new off hand?

thnx,
doublea

The Pepin is no longer made... they now sell that stove as a corn burner only. I can call my dealer later today and ask about the sticker price of it's replacement.

I found a used Pepin on CL for $600.00 OBO... "needs some adjustment" which I THINK means needs to be cleaned and serviced. If I wasn't broke it would be heating my shop right now.

Google this exactly... "pellet stove site:craigslist.org" without the paranthesis and you'll find lots of used stoves for sale.