New to me Breckwell P28FS

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Lumberjack

Member
Hearth Supporter
Jan 2, 2008
167
Western CT
Hi All

I acquired a use Breckwell P28FS pellet stove. I don't yet know if the stove works properly or not. The person I got it from is unsure as to when it last ran and doesn't know anything about it.

It is quite dirty and in need of a good cleaning. From what i can tell it is from either 1996 or 1997. Not too sure. As it sits both blowers turn on and the auger seems to work. It didn't seem like the ignition rod was working properly as it wouldn't light the pellets (we tried running it in the driveway)

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info out there on this model. Anyone have experience with these? Is it worth the effort to clean, re-paint, install new gaskets and a new power cord (and whatever else I find wrong with it) or is this a model plagued with issues and I would be better off with a different unit? Are there any know common failure points that need to be examined?

In order to use it I will need to build a hearth pad and install the OAK and exhaust piping.

My thought was that the price was right, oil is expensive and the wife doesn't like operating the wood stove. This would be a good balance between fuel cost, BTU's produced and ease of operation.

Any thoughts or comments would be very welcome.
 
Try to manually light it with a propane torch in the driveway. Let us know what is working and what is not. At that point you can worry about cleaning and going through the entire stove.
 
To manually light do i just need about a handful of pellets in the pot and a pound or so in the hopper? Do things have to come up to temperature to know that they are working properly? Thanks!
 
To manually light do i just need about a handful of pellets in the pot and a pound or so in the hopper? Do things have to come up to temperature to know that they are working properly? Thanks!
needs to come up to temp. to see if things are working. I would put more in the hopper. I manually light my stove by putting about a cup of pellets mixed with hand sanitizer in the burn pot and light. The propane torch will work well also. Once it starts to burn close the door and turn the stove on.
good luck
 
hopefully i can try it today. i will snap some pictures though out the process.
 
Update.

I bought a bag of pellets today at TSC. They seem to have lots of dust in the btw....is this normal?

I vacuumed out the stove really well and took off all of the obvious panels and cleaned them up some. The exhaust blower inlet was clogged up with insulation like a mouse or other critter made a home in it. I can't believe that is supposed to be there right?

I filled the burn pot with pellets and followed the lighting sequence. The pellets lit themselves after a few minutes using the glow rod. I tried out all of the settings and everything seems to work as it should. The burn didn't seem terribly consistent but it never went out. It didn't throw a lot of heat either in my opinion.

My issue is this: This stove has been sitting for a while and may have been exposed to water. The bottom sheet metal is rusty. Not 100% on that but it smells very musty. I don't know any of the history ect. It had an odd smell as it heated up as well, like mildew. If I am going to install it in the house I want to be sure it is SAFE and can be trusted to run while we sleep, leave the house for work ect.

I am thinking at the very least I need all new gaskets, new paint, a new exhaust adapter. The part clamps to the exhaust blower and is very rusty with a pin hole or 2 in it. What else should I be looking for? Is it worth "restoring" a stove like this or am I safer buying a new one? I have this feeling that if I got through the work of building a hearth and installing an exhaust pipe that a blower is going to burn up, auger will die ect. So far I have $0 invested other than a few hours this afternoon.

I have a wood stove currently and am very comfortable using, inspecting and servicing it. Pellet stoves seem to be very different animals so any info is appreciated. The pellet stove would be installed in the living room where the wood stove is currently in the basement and doesn't heat the living floor as well as we would like. The idea of a second stove is appealing and I think the wife would prefer pellets over wood.
 
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