Would You Recommend the Castle Serenity Pellet Stove?

[Mac16]

Hello, I'm thinking about buying the Castle Serenity wood pellet stove, primarily because I'm on a tight budget and it has received good ratings/reviews on numerous websites including (broken link removed to http://www.consumersearch.com/pellet-and-wood-stoves) and http://heattalk.com/best-pellet-stoves-reviews/

I have obviously read the above reviews but I'd like to know the views of people with more experience with pellet stoves and even better - people who might actually own the Castle or have some experience with it.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated.

 

[rich2500]

great stove for the price, many happy serenity owners here.My only 2 dislikes with the stove are that the stove don't shutdown in thermostat mode and that the intake air adjustment doesn't come with an external adjustment rod ( easy enough to add your own though ) other than those 2 things it's a real winner.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

I have 3 of them. Two in my house, and now one in my hobby shack.

I have no experience with other makes or models. But for smaller areas, or well insulated larger areas, it is an excellent heater on a budget. To keep costs down to meet that low of price point, of course some corners had to be cut. So it is perhaps a bit louder than some higher end, pricier stoves. The fit and finish is still good, but not as refined as higher end stoves. The power draw is very low for the heat it puts out. Pellet usage will vary with pellet type and condition, but the Serenity is forgiving of many pellet conditions. It just takes a bit of user input to make adjustments accordingly.

So if you are looking for a hands off stove that is set it and forget it, the Serenity is not for you. If you dont mind being involved with the running of the stove, and your area is not too large, you may very well like the Serenity and all it has to offer. The pellet hopper just fits a 40lb bag. So refill will leave a few pounds in each bag. Pellet types that cause lots of ash will require more frequent burn pot cleaning, which only takes a few seconds. Your satisfaction will basically depend on your willingness to interact with the stove, and your willingness to tolerate heat variation in the house. In other words, it's not a gas or electric furnace that you just set a dial and never look again. It's a pellet stove that requires loading of pellets daily and occasional cleaning and maintenance. But the cleaning and maintenance can be done by you with a vacuum cleaner, not a certified technician at $120 and hour.

 

[Sytamra]

I do not own one but I've done many hours of research and this is the stove I will buy to replace my quadrafire Santa Fe before winter sets in.

 

[Nvnv]

I love mine. It's my first pellet stove but ran great all last winter. I don't run mine 24/7 as I have a mini split that heats during the day when I'm not home. I fire it up when I get home from work then run it until I go to bed.

Very easy to clean. Not too bad to get dialed in. This year I think I'm going to add a rod so I can adjust the air flow from outside the stove.

I actually just fired it up tonight for the first time this season. We just got a little cold snap and are into the 30's at night for the next few days. It still had a full hopper from last year so I just turned it on and it fired right up without skipping a beat.

 

[Talegas]

Love mine.. although this is going to be the second year to use it (meaning i have short experience with it).

Same as Nvnv, I'm doing adjustments to it like a rod to be able to adjust flow on the fly.. i'll add OAK today just to see if there is a big difference from using the air from the room..etc.. love it.

I don't use it with thermostat nor automatic mode... i just leave it in low setting and adjust it up a level if is really cold outside. That said, if i was to sue the thermostat, i dislike the fact that is not "smart enough" to say "ok, you are at 72 at low stall, and you want 74.. ok, i'll increase a SINGLE stall" nooo. .the thing is either ALL in or all out in thermostat mode.

But since i don't care about that, i am fine leaving it at low.

I was about to say "their support is great!".. but this is the second time in the week i give them a call and they leave me hanging for 15 minutes without even saying "someone is here, give us a bit more time". I am assuming that once they pick up the phone (or care to respond to my online inquiry) they'll be as great as they were last year.

 

[StickPick73]

I'd absolutely recommend the Serenity, depending, of course, upon what specifically you're looking for, as others have mentioned.

We're going on our third heating season with the Serenity. I installed it in our finished basement for supplemental heat, and to reduce heating costs. Our primary heat source is a propane forced air furnace. Since installing the Serenity, our furnace barely runs, even though we live in northwest Wisconsin where the winters are pretty harsh.

The Serenity is easy to maintain and burns various pellets well and sells at an affordable price.

Best of luck!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Johhna]

I am understanding your problem and I know there are lots of reviews available for it but I think you should try this most compatible one here: (broken link removed)

 

[mikkeeh]

I agree with most everyone else. Serenity will take more tinkering, and will burn some pellets well, some not so well. Certainly not plug and play. For a low investment, it’s not a bad stove. I also have a p43, so I’m kinda spoiled. No comparison as far as I’m concerned.

 

[masterofsense666]

I've been heating my 1400 sq ft ranch type house, since Dec 16th 2018 . I really like this stove. Simple operation.
I also keep it on 24/7 low setting 1 or 2 . Shut down every other day to clean fire pot and ash. When it's below zero
here in central New Hampshire, I'll up it to level 3 and use a space heater at far end of house overnight. Have used
1 ton +/- so far. Have tried 6 different brands, all seem to work. Have made no adjustments at all, Just plug and
play, and so far great. I recommend this product so far.

 

[harley75]

Just got mine for the up coming season ran it for 1hour on my.patio to get the nasty paint smell out.My question how do.you put this in thermostatic mod so far don't see any info in the manual on how to do it unless i pasted it.

 

[rich2500]

with the stove off push the button below the power button then cycle too thermostat

 

[harley75]

Ah ok thanks

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

As of right now, I would not recommend buying a Serenity stove. We’ve had ours for 4 months and it’s already crapped out and it’s impossible to get hold of the company. Not happy with it at all. It will run 15-20 minutes and then shut down. I’ve checked what the manual says to check and changed 52 C sensor to spare, nothing. The controller NTC1 isn’t shaded, NTC2 says ERR and the limit spot is shaded, not good and again, no reply from company after 2 days. I’ve only ran about 15-18 bags of pellets in it too. Save your money on this one.

 

[Washed-Up]

Hey moonlakeloonie, sorry to hear about the issues with your stove, if you start your own thread with the details, you’ll get a bunch of help and suggestions to aid in getting it running properly

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Hey moonlakeloonie, sorry to hear about the issues with your stove, if you start your own thread with the details, you’ll get a bunch of help and suggestions to aid in getting it running properly

Washed-Up, Sorry, I’m new at this stuff. I sent the questions out here, I’m not sure how to start a thread. I see a lot of people have the same issues I’m having with this stove. Thanks.

 

[Washed-Up]

Just below, you’ll see the Pellet mill-Pellet and Multifuel stoves, lick on it, post new thread will be at the top of the page, click on that, make your title and then explain what’s going on.

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Just below, you’ll see the Pellet mill-Pellet and Multifuel stoves, lick on it, post new thread will be at the top of the page, click on that, make your title and then explain what’s going on.

Just below, you’ll see the Pellet mill-Pellet and Multifuel stoves, lick on it, post new thread will be at the top of the page, click on that, make your title and then explain what’s going on.

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Washed-Up, Thanks for the help.

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

These are not garage stoves unless your garage never gets below 45 degrees. Per Castle, these are supplemental heaters and won’t start on their own in cold temps. I’ve had several issues with mine not feeding pellets and going into alarm. The alarm is from the heat sensor not getting hot enough, fast enough. Castle has sent me an auger motor, controllers and interface modules, they didn’t help. They even sent me a new stove, same thing. Finally after a year and a half, the other day they said, they don’t work when it’s cold. So what l’ve been doing for a long time is either, put a handful of pellets in the fire pit to start it the keep hand feeding pellets into until the room temp gets above 43, then it’ll start working fine on its own. The second thing I’ve done, which is far easier is, take the left side panel off and put a 75W-100W standard light bulb in there ( away from the wires ), that keeps the unit warm enough to start, most of the time, -25 outside is cold, I have a small insulated garage. The strange thing is, my Pitt Boss smoker with an auger and electronic controls sits outside and at -20 when it’s steak time, it fires right up. So, your alarm is from the sensor not getting hot enough fast enough. Castle even suggested I put a heater on my stove to keep it warm, I laughed. Bottom line, these are NOT garage stoves.

 

[Mt Bob]

These are not garage stoves unless your garage never gets below 45 degrees. Per Castle, these are supplemental heaters and won’t start on their own in cold temps. I’ve had several issues with mine not feeding pellets and going into alarm. The alarm is from the heat sensor not getting hot enough, fast enough. Castle has sent me an auger motor, controllers and interface modules, they didn’t help. They even sent me a new stove, same thing. Finally after a year and a half, the other day they said, they don’t work when it’s cold. So what l’ve been doing for a long time is either, put a handful of pellets in the fire pit to start it the keep hand feeding pellets into until the room temp gets above 43, then it’ll start working fine on its own. The second thing I’ve done, which is far easier is, take the left side panel off and put a 75W-100W standard light bulb in there ( away from the wires ), that keeps the unit warm enough to start, most of the time, -25 outside is cold, I have a small insulated garage. The strange thing is, my Pitt Boss smoker with an auger and electronic controls sits outside and at -20 when it’s steak time, it fires right up. So, your alarm is from the sensor not getting hot enough fast enough. Castle even suggested I put a heater on my stove to keep it warm, I laughed. Bottom line, these are NOT garage stoves.

Very good observations. Italian stoves, and Thelin have the same issues. Usually the problems boil down to the combustion motor,or/and the auger motor not running fast enough,or at all, because of the design or/and type of lubrication. But I can also see it being from a poor choice of electronic components, on the control boards,especially the capacitors.

 

[Manly]

For my purpose the Castle Serenity turned out to be the perfect solution. We installed it in a new 2 car garage I built. It is well insulated. It runs for 1 hour four times a day. We are in our third winter. It ran great right out of the box. Haven’t had to adjust anything. I’ve used quality softwood pellets as well as TSC hardwoods. I suspect this stove would burn any reasonable pellet just fine. Simple stove to clean. Did replace the ignitor recently. Easy enough and pretty inexpensive. My experience with this stove has been good at it is perfect for our application. Less than a grand when we purchased it.

 

[rsh678]

I have owned one for 3 years now. It has been very reliable and I haven't had any issues with it. Mine is in a small space so it is a little oversized but it was the smallest one I could find. I run it on low at all times and sometimes have to shut it down if it gets too hot.

 

[rsh678]

For my purpose the Castle Serenity turned out to be the perfect solution. We installed it in a new 2 car garage I built. It is well insulated. It runs for 1 hour four times a day. We are in our third winter. It ran great right out of the box. Haven’t had to adjust anything. I’ve used quality softwood pellets as well as TSC hardwoods. I suspect this stove would burn any reasonable pellet just fine. Simple stove to clean. Did replace the ignitor recently. Easy enough and pretty inexpensive. My experience with this stove has been good at it is perfect for our application. Less than a grand when we purchased

great stove for the price, many happy serenity owners here.My only 2 dislikes with the stove are that the stove don't shutdown in thermostat mode and that the intake air adjustment doesn't come with an external adjustment rod ( easy enough to add your own though ) other than those 2 things it's a real winner.

Can you tell me how you added the external adjustment rod (photos would be helpful). Thanks!