# HELP!!!!! Breckwell Big E shutting off



## Fire Goddess (Feb 21, 2008)

I have a Breckwell Big E pellet furnace. The thing has been running great, we love it. 

But. It now is shutting off for no reason I can figure. It is blinking a 'code 3' which means it is out of pellets...except it isn't. We have emptied it, cleaned it out, tested the auger with no pellets and it seems to work fine. We have cleaned everything we can reach without actually opening up the stove. I am ready to toss the thing out the window as I am afraid the constant re-starting I am doing will cause another problem.  I am able to start it up again, it will run for as little as 20 mins or as long as several hours. Makes.No.Sense. We use a good quality pellet, and the issue seems to be getting progressively worse.

*side note: We did have a creosote issue about 2 weeks ago, as somehow the trim came unhooked. We caught it fairly soon after it happened but had a ton of creosote build-up. Cleaned it up, but somehow something got left in a bend of the pipe and about a week later had  an 'issue' in the pipe. I don't know that there was an actual fire as I saw no flames, but there was a buttload of smoke. Again, we took everything apart but the stove (the 'issue' was at the top of the pipe, away from the stove) found a couple klinkers in the bend, examined everything else we could see and all appeared to be fine. Put everything back togetehr and started the stove up and it ran fine for about 8 hrs then turned itself off.

I need help! I have no heat in my house right now except our other wood stove and not much wood left. We really depend on the Big E! And it is freezing here right now


----------



## hearthtools (Feb 21, 2008)

Fire Goddess said:
			
		

> I have a Breckwell Big E pellet furnace. The thing has been running great, we love it.
> 
> But. It now is shutting off for no reason I can figure. It is blinking a 'code 3' which means it is out of pellets...except it isn't. We have emptied it, cleaned it out, tested the auger with no pellets and it seems to work fine. We have cleaned everything we can reach without actually opening up the stove. I am ready to toss the thing out the window as I am afraid the constant re-starting I am doing will cause another problem.  I am able to start it up again, it will run for as little as 20 mins or as long as several hours. Makes.No.Sense. We use a good quality pellet, and the issue seems to be getting progressively worse.
> 
> ...



This is because your LOW LIMIT switch (breckwell calls it the Auger snap disk) is not closing to keep power to the system after the 15 minute start up.
Could be from the Creosote build up and the switch is not getting hot enough.
Could be a bad switch.


----------



## hearthtools (Feb 21, 2008)

Dont know how old your stove is but here is the 2007 manual
http://www.breckwell.com/database/TheBigE2005Manual-B.pdf

they show several things to check but if you are sure the stove is clean
Burn pot is in correctly then see below
it could be the low limit or the high limit has tripped or failed.
Are you sure the Convection (room air blower)is working if that blower fails the stove will over heat the the high limit switch will trip.


This is a very common problem and no need to panic.

<snip from the trouble shooting section>
STOVE SHUTS OFF AND THE # 3 LIGHT FLASHES:

*8. The Proof of Fire (POF) thermodisk has malfunctioned:*
Temporarily bypass the POF thermodisk by disconnecting the two
brown wires and connecting them with a short piece of wire. Then
plug the stove back in. If the stove comes on and works, you need
to replace the POF thermodisk. This is for testing only. DO NOT
LEAVE THE THERMODISC BYPASSED. Your blowers will never
shut off and if the fire went out the auger will continue to feed pellets
until the hopper is empty if you leave the POF thermodisk bypassed

*9. The high limit thermodisk has tripped or is defective*
Wait for the stove to cool for about 30 - 45 minutes. It should now
function normally. If not use the owner’s manual to locate the high
limit thermodisk. To test if the thermodisk is bad, you can bypass it
as described previously for the POF thermodisk.


----------



## hearthtools (Feb 21, 2008)

BTW
we have both limit switches in stock


----------



## Fire Goddess (Feb 21, 2008)

I do have the manual, and was confused(which isn't hard, lol) as I CAN get the stove to start working again and run for a while...so I figured if something was broked or 'tripped' it would fail to run, no?

Ah, thank you. I will pass along this to hubby as I am not comfortable doing wiring and such. And I can order parts from a Hearth-er? EXCELLENT! 

The low-limit piece...this refers to the pellet level in the hopper? It was shutting off regardless of how much was in there. We have only been keeping it about 1/4 full as we have been having to clean it out, etc to see what is going on...


----------



## hearthtools (Feb 21, 2008)

Fire Goddess said:
			
		

> The low-limit piece...this refers to the pellet level in the hopper? It was shutting off regardless of how much was in there. We have only been keeping it about 1/4 full as we have been having to clean it out, etc to see what is going on...



Lol
No low limit is that the stove is at its Low temperature limit to shut off the bowers.
when you turn the stove off the auger shuts off but the blowers keep going
when the low limit switch reaches 100 Deg then the blower will shut off.

When you start you stove the Control board gives power to the Combustion blower for 15 minutes.
then stops giving power to the blower.

If the low limit reaches 120 deg it will close (allowing power to flow threw it) and allow power to keep going to the combustion blower.

This is why it is called Proof of fire switch. It tells the stove that there is a fire and it can keep running.
if you run out of pellets or you shut the stove off. the stove will cool down and after that switch reaches 100 deg it will OPEN up and not allow power to flow to the blower.

It could be the hight limit also
If the stove reaches over 200 deg at the high limit switch. (because of a room air blower failure)  the switch will open and not allow power to flow to the I think Auger motor on your stove. hard to tell because the new Breakwells run all limit switches to the control board now instead of the Blower or auger motor them selfs like before.

See this thread for more
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13408/

and for more help with trouble shooting see the yellow sticky post at the top of the pellet corn room
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13422/


----------



## buildingmaint (Feb 21, 2008)

I have had that problem in the past ,and it was always because [ # 2 The air damper is too far open for a low feed setting .] I would have it set on the HIGH/LOW setting with the high on #3 so the low was on #1 and it would go out all the time.


----------



## hearthtools (Feb 21, 2008)

buildingmaint said:
			
		

> I have had that problem in the past ,and it was always because [ # 2 The air damper is too far open for a low feed setting .] I would have it set on the HIGH/LOW setting with the high on #3 so the low was on #1 and it would go out all the time.



Thanks for chimeing in
I have no experience with this stove
Breckwell lost most of its dealers in central California. Including me


----------



## Fire Goddess (Feb 21, 2008)

buildingmaint, how do I set the high/low settings? I have no idea what ours is set at, if at all. We run it at 3 typically. Lately we have had it up at 4 just to see if we could phase out the other stove...


----------



## buildingmaint (Feb 21, 2008)

On your control panel there are three settings [ MANUAL - HIGH/LOW- ON/OFF] . You can only use the HIGH/LOW- ON/OFF if you install a thermostat. If you try to run the stove on HIGH/LOW or ON/OFF without a thermostat your stove will only run on the # 1 setting. I f you do not have a thermostat you should use the manual setting. I have never had my stove turn off when it was on #3 because of an air damper issue. If your damper is too far open on lower settings  it will blow the fire out, then the stove shuts off.

See my post called [ my big e experiment ] to see how hot I got my house with the BIG E on #3 MANUAL setting. The heat was brutal.


----------



## Fire Goddess (Feb 22, 2008)

Yay! You guys are fantastic!

buildingmaint, thank you. We have been running our Big E wrong since we installed it in Nov.! My hubby and I must have both missed the part  in the manual, that if you do not have a thermostat, you need to run it on 'manual'. We do not have one, and have been trying to 'set' it on 3 or 4 and though it was comfortable, was not 'cranking' out heat as I thought it should. Hubby came home and I had him read this thread, he cleaned things out and reloaded the hopper, set it to manual and let her rip...HOLY COW! Our house was toasty in a matter of an hour or so on #3...all 3000sf! Woke up this morning to the stove still running and the house at a pleasant 72 degrees. I am a happy (and warm)woman! I am just surprised we were able to run the stove for so long, technically, the wrong way. 

Thanks again


----------



## hearthtools (Feb 22, 2008)

I forgot ACE the control board maker started putting the Thermostat Mode switch on the board

We have had so many Service calls because of that dumb switch.
Enviro and Breckwell. use the same board maker.
the thermostat Mode selection used to be a jumper on the back of the board so the homeowner would not screw with it.


----------



## buildingmaint (Feb 22, 2008)

Glad I could help. I went through a lot of growing pains when I  first fired up my BIG E. The tech guys at Breckwell were real good getting back to me when I emailed them many of my questions. I also received a lot of good advice from the folks on this board. At work when I fix some ones problem I sing them the " MIGHTY BUILDING MAINTENANCE SONG , HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAY. '" lol, they just love it.


----------



## warmsand (Oct 6, 2011)

I just wanted to chime in to say THANK YOU buildingmaint for your insights on this. I bought a used Breckwell Big E earlier this year and experienced the same issues reported by Fire Goddess. I even reinstalled it using 4" pipe (instead of 3"). I feel like a total idiot now. I was ready to begin testing the thermodiscs when I read this thread. I ran home to give it a try and sure enough it fired up and was pumping out heat in no time! It was like standing in front of a blow dryer. SWEET OIL FREE HEAT! THANK YOU! Now to sell the 3" pipe and recoup some of this needlessly spent money ...


----------



## kinsmanstoves (Oct 6, 2011)

hearthtools said:
			
		

> buildingmaint said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Not just in CA.  I stopped selling them.

Eric


----------



## jtakeman (Oct 6, 2011)

kinsman stoves said:
			
		

> hearthtools said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Wonder Why?

"O" my this is an oldie!


----------



## Dennisla (Oct 10, 2011)

j-takeman said:
			
		

> kinsman stoves said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I've run my Big-E 5 years now and it's saved me a lot of money that otherwise would have been spent on oil.
Now I'm ready for my 6th year and the stove is looking great.  I had to replace a blower the second year. must have been a lemon motor.
Everything else has been running fine.   Only thing I question is the amount of buildup I get in my chimney.  
I'll  probably create a new post on that.  I'd hate to see Breckwell fade away.  I really like the stove.


----------



## jtakeman (Oct 10, 2011)

Dennisla said:
			
		

> j-takeman said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Breckwell was purchased by US Stove Co. How much this will change things?????????? Just a wait and see!


----------

