why does this happen pdvc

Does it run fine when you set it back to the settings when you had both stoves running?

Does the flame look right? Is it lazy? Does the stove seem to have decent combustion airflow?

chrisasst said:

(p.s., I did clean it recently)

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When did you last clean the venting and combustion fan? Is it possible that there is a partial blockage of the venting?

chrisasst said:

I have two stoves, run them both. When both are running, the pdvc runs great. Now that my enviro is currently out of commision, the pdvc is going by it self. I have to raise the heat range up a little. now and it burns like crap. pellets build up, i raise the air up to 7 and still builds up.. Just dont know why the change when both are running vs only the pdvc....I do have a tstat on it

(p.s., I did clean it recently)

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Did/do they both have OAKs?

The burn pots on these stoves are the problem, but that is the way they are designed. The large area (burn plate) allows the pellets to spread, but they then stop spreading after a certain point, this leads to lots of red hot pellets on the burn plate. Due to the way air is fed into the burn chamber the pellets don't always burn completely and the ash does not get ejected from the burn plate completely. I have studied how this stove runs over 2 years with different brands of pellets, some pellets will burn well in this stove at any heat setting, yet other brands of pellets will do what the OP is pointing out above with pellet buildup on the burn plate (the PDV does the same).

It's like the stove is being starved of air / oxygen at times, burns lazy and the window gets black after a short time. I have also noticed that the walls inside the stove are covered in a black silky substance, it's oily to and at times hard to wash of your hands if you get it on them.

A poster here made a new burn pot for his stove.



This lead me to make some small changes to my stove, details can be found at the two links below.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/25-pdvcs-original-burn-pot.123615/

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/question-about-englander.134952/page-3#post-1814841

The modified burn pot allows the stove to burn the pellets and eject the ash at the same time. You will see that I have confined the pellets into a smaller area to do this. More air is forced up through the pot and the pellets, this allows the stove to burn hotter and cleaner than it does with the standard burn plate. This also stopped the glass from getting black soot buildup, it's white instead.