Thoughts on buying used Breckwell pellet stove

[dac122]

For some time I've been looking to add a wood stove or pellet back to my sun room. Originally I had an over-sized Jotul Model Number 1 that tended to drive you out of this 12x14 room. I have a chimney that is up to code ready to accept a new stove, and adding an air intake to the room for a pellet stove will be easy.

I recently came across what looks like a good deal on a Breckwell 1995/1996 model year P24FSA for $500. Assuming the stove works I have a few concerns:

1. The specs list this stove at max 50K BTU output, whereas my sun room auxiliary heat is an electric baseboard heater 2500/3000W producing around 8.5-10K BTU. On its lowest setting the Breckwell manual says its feed rate is 0.75 to 1.5 lbs/hour. My first question is can this stove be throttled down to not drive us out of this room? The room is well insulated but has significant heat loss due to many windows, a door, on a slab and insulated cathedral ceiling.

2. The seller does not have the stove hooked up and so there is no way to verify full opeation. What can I check to be reasonably sure the unit is working, or at least I won't have to replace an expensive part?

3. Are there any other issues I've overlooks as I have never owned a pellet stoves and don't want to make any costly mistakes here.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Wet1]

For some time I've been looking to add a wood stove or pellet back to my sun room. Originally I had an over-sized Jotul Model Number 1 that tended to drive you out of this 12x14 room. I have a chimney that is up to code ready to accept a new stove, and adding an air intake to the room for a pellet stove will be easy.

I recently came across what looks like a good deal on a Breckwell 1995/1996 model year P24FSA for $500. Assuming the stove works I have a few concerns:

1. The specs list this stove at max 50K BTU output, whereas my sun room auxiliary heat is an electric baseboard heater 2500/3000W producing around 8.5-10K BTU. On its lowest setting the Breckwell manual says its feed rate is 0.75 to 1.5 lbs/hour. My first question is can this stove be throttled down to not drive us out of this room? The room is well insulated but has significant heat loss due to many windows, a door, on a slab and insulated cathedral ceiling.

2. The seller does not have the stove hooked up and so there is no way to verify full opeation. What can I check to be reasonably sure the unit is working, or at least I won't have to replace an expensive part?

3. Are there any other issues I've overlooks as I have never owned a pellet stoves and don't want to make any costly mistakes here.

Thanks for the help.

1) A rate of .75 lbs/hr is approximately 6200 btu per hour w/o any efficiency losses. Assuming the stove is 70% efficient, that's approximately 4340 btu/hr. I would think this should be fine for a room such as the one you're describing. Although, it might be a little much in more mild temps, but then you probably wouldn't need the stove under these conditions anyway.

2) You can test the stove outside without having a flue hooked up. Just plug it in and let it do its thing (make sure you have pellets)... it should work just fine w/o having a flue hooked up to it.

3) Sorry, I don't know anything about this make of stove. As long as everything functions okay, and you can't find any negative info on this model, I would think you should be okay. Personally, I'd check to make sure parts are still available before I bought it given its age.

 

[flamegrabber]

I have a new Big E in our sunroom.

The room is ~13'X18' and the stove is at one end of the room.

Many windows and 3 skylights.

I run the stove in hi-lo mode with hi set to #2 ( if it's in the neighborhood of 35 degrees outside ) with a wireless termostat ( Breckwell's tstat ).

hi-lo mode cycles between what you set for hi ( 1-5 ) and setting #1 for lo. You can't change the lo setting, stays at 1.

The only time it runs on the lowest setting ( 1 ) is when the tstat reaches temp.

When it's very cold out I run it in hi-lo on with hi set to #3.

I doubt very much a setting of 2 will ever blow you out of the room. You'll never run it on #1, unless it's 50 degrees out and you just want a bit of warm air coming out of it.

You should be fine with the stove.

In fact, I originally ordered the Enviro Omega but that delivery was pushed out so far I cancelled and bought the new Big E.

I'm considering selling it and re-ordering the Omega. I want a multi-fuel stove.

If I decide to go ahead and sell it would you be interested? It's only 1 season old and runs fine. I could demo it for you. You'd get the tstat with it.

I live in the Boston area and would give you a fair price, but I wouldn't sell it until the heating season is over

Let me know.

But either way it's a good stove and woudl do the trick for your sunroom I'm sure.

FG.

For some time I've been looking to add a wood stove or pellet back to my sun room. Originally I had an over-sized Jotul Model Number 1 that tended to drive you out of this 12x14 room. I have a chimney that is up to code ready to accept a new stove, and adding an air intake to the room for a pellet stove will be easy.

I recently came across what looks like a good deal on a Breckwell 1995/1996 model year P24FSA for $500. Assuming the stove works I have a few concerns:

1. The specs list this stove at max 50K BTU output, whereas my sun room auxiliary heat is an electric baseboard heater 2500/3000W producing around 8.5-10K BTU. On its lowest setting the Breckwell manual says its feed rate is 0.75 to 1.5 lbs/hour. My first question is can this stove be throttled down to not drive us out of this room? The room is well insulated but has significant heat loss due to many windows, a door, on a slab and insulated cathedral ceiling.

2. The seller does not have the stove hooked up and so there is no way to verify full opeation. What can I check to be reasonably sure the unit is working, or at least I won't have to replace an expensive part?

3. Are there any other issues I've overlooks as I have never owned a pellet stoves and don't want to make any costly mistakes here.

Thanks for the help.

 

[jtakeman]

A 95/96 model is kind of old. Might need to replace a few parts to make it trust worthy.

I'd spend a little more for a newer stove. I have seen 2000 to 2004 stoves in the local paper for around $600.00

Make sure you see it run, Atleast!

Good luck.

 

[mgreenage1]

As per my signature, I'm a Breckwell owner. I @ least can lessen your concern about parts availability. Parts for the Breckwells are still readily available even @ Breckwell's site(you have to dig for it though). This includes all the major parts such as combustion and convection motors,etc. I have recently been scouring the net for parts for mine and found there are plenty of places that stock and sell them. I can't speak for other Breckwell owners, especially of this vintage, but I have had great luck with my unit as far as parts breakdowns. I have yet to replace any part except for door and window gaskets. As a qualifier however, I live in a bit milder area than most here so the stove may not have been as stressed over the years as some, but it is and has been my main source of heat for years now. Hope it helps ya some.

 

[dac122]

Thanks to all for your insightful comments and answers. And thanks to flamegrabber for the offer, but for the 16 hour round trip drive or delivery costs I could probably buy close to new.

I called Breckwell and it sounds like the parts for this stove are all still available, except the analog control board. That has been superseded by a digital board upgrade kit for $360 (ouch!).

Given that cost and other parts, and the fact the the used stove I am looking at can't be run, I may make an offer that deducts some money with the expectation I will have to put some money into it. Or I will give the owner a chance to show me it runs.

 

[imacman]

........ Or I will give the owner a chance to show me it runs.

As Wet1 said above, all you need to do is get the stove outdoors, and run an extension cord, plug it in and turn it on.

If owner isn't willing to do that, I'd look elswhere....don't buy a pig in a poke. And the price is kinda high for a stove that's already 12 years old.... if it DOES run, offer him $400 cash.

 

[jbbcd]

I have the same stove you are looking at for 4 years now & have used it very strong all 4 winters (wisconsin) on high settings.
I bought it used in very very good condition. paid $850.00
I am now having a bit of trouble w/ it. replaced the combustion blower $220.00 2 heat sensors aprox $80 for both & a new control board $240.00
The control board is my fault though. Shorted it out when I hooked up thermostat. Doh!
Any way, overall I am very happy with the stove. My stove is in the basement works awsome! heat rises! WARM FLOORS!, also have it hooked up to my return duct work!
Few things I have learned w/ a pellet stove:
1) very very messy, dusty etc......
I would never have a pellet stove in my main living area unless it was only for show.
2) Don't really save that much money on heat, considering you still have to buy the pellets & parts (I have seen a local store here sells pellets for over $5 a bag, thats nuts!) anything over $4 bag I will not use the stove natural gas here is much cheaper!
3)very very happy with how the warm heat from this pellet stove feels :cheese: compared to our natural gas.
4)Very very high maintenance on pellet stoves!

I love it though, my wife too :exclaim:
Thats my 2 cents worth
Good Luck!
John

lol........... a few years late

 

[texasgeezer]

We've had our Breckwell P32 insert since 1994 & burn about one ton a year. Only thing I don't like is the blowers seem to fail too often & are costly to replace. But with just electric heat as the other choice the Breckwell is still quite a bit less costly. Our neighbors are paying 3 to 5 times as much for their electric heat for a comparable sized home. They are dusty when you clean them but I use a shop vac with the bag inside. That seems to minimize the dust. We use newspaper on the floor during cleaning & newspaper & windex to clean the glass. The ash dust will discolor carpet but can normally be cleaned.

One of my close friends used firewood that he cuts to heat his home. Seems like whenever I call him he's always out trying to round up some more wood. Plus his nearby carpet has several burnt spots.

 

[Pellet-King]

Find yourself a Whitfield, there plenty and cheap and part's easy to find, have seen many in my area craigslist for $2-300, Bought a Breckwell P23 for my buddy last fall for $300, he replaced the combustion blower and works great!