Englander pdv-25 steel wool mod.

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Just want to comment on factory settings(6-4-1) and closing the bottom holes beneath the burn pot. If you give your stove more air say five or six (rule of thumb is to keep it even with your pellet drop which you said was six) you will not have a need to plug the airflow. Just sayin


The 25 pdv and pdvc is a double auger feed. Those lower numbers have absolutely no affect past heat range #2 on these stoves. I am guessing you have a single auger drop feed stove? My understanding those are adjustable through out the heat ranges.
 
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I've blocked only the two large holes above the burn plate. This allows for the 1/8 side openings to distribute more air evenly, to the entire upper burn pot area.
 
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6-4-1 - 5/5
 

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i just did my weekly sunday cleaning. then i remembered this thread and said hey, why not?
so i put some heavy duty high temp foil tape over the holes. It might not last long but i just want it to last a day or so for comparison. I see a difference in the flame, looks more robust. Right now i cant run it on anything but 1 since this is an oddball winter and its actually "warm" outside. will see tonight when temps drop and i can run it on 5 a while.
 
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I've blocked only the two large holes above the burn plate. This allows for the 1/8 side openings to distribute more air evenly, to the entire upper burn pot area.

The whole logic of plugging the holes is to get more air to flow up through the pellets. Not to distribute it more evenly to the upper area.
 
It seems to do both to me. Whatever the case. I like it.

Yes it will pull more air thru the upper holes as well.. but the whole point of plugging the holes is to get as much air to pass thru the pellets as possible.
 
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Well, its pretty cold out now (20's) and my stove has been on all day with the holes plugged. It is running better than i've ever seen. It's blowing hotter, so i have it lowered than i normally would for this temp. There are no unburnt pellets in the burn pot. There is ash in there but there is holes through the ash where the air is coming through. never seen that before. The glass is even clean where by now it would have been ashed over. I think i'm going to pick up those plugs on my way home from work tomorrow. I cant see the foil tape lasting very long in that environment.
 
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I'm curious as to what Mike thinks of this.
 
I'm curious as to what Mike thinks of this.

I would be curious too, especially to find out what purpose they serve. I tried this as a skeptic (i have to see most things to believe them) and there is undoubtedly a positive result. Then again, a lot of work goes into the design of these stoves and you would think the side holes serve some important function.For years i've been putting in a lot of effort to keep them clean and clear using a compressor and air gun during routing cleanings.

It could also be one of those things where they had to add them to meet some emissions requirement, kinda like water restrictors on shower heads. great to save water but then theres no water coming out so you have to shower twice as long. This year i'm not burning while not home (the days have been warm enough to do that) so i'm closely monitoring for anything funky due to the restricted air holes.
 
I'm pretty sure you're right Cedarjunki, I feel like I read somewhere that Mike posted it was to meet EPA standards.
 
I picked up some hillman plugs yesterday and plugged the bottom 2 holes below the wear plate. So far I am very surprised and pleased with the results. I have seen this posted before and ignored it. My heat output seems greater, glass cleaner and pellets fully burned. i may try plugging the top two and see how that does. I'll report back.
 
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i picked up the hillman plugs today too. i shut the stove and let it cool so i could remove my foil tape and put in the plugs. i found the foil tape was in such good shape and completely untouched by the fire i left the foil tape there. i'll keep the plugs. im sure the tape will fail at one point.
 
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Instead of plugging the bottom holes completely, I used a couple washers with a small hole and covered the large holes under the tray. I use some hi-temp silicone to stick them to the pot. The reason I like the washers better, is instead of cutting off the air completely from the top holes, it regulates it. With the holes completely covered there is actually too much air coming up from the bottom of the pot. This works great for blowing the ash out of the pot, but you are also blowing the pellets out before they are completely burnt! You will also notice that your flame is extremely tall, and your exhaust is a lot hotter. The side holes help to concentrate the burn, in the center of the stove, allowing the stove to absorb the heat, and the pellets to burn completely. With them closed off completely, you are sending a lot of that heat, strait up the chimney! This is what I have found, anyway.
 
Is there some kind of mod like this for pdvc models? Just looking for something to blow the ashes out of the burn pot....
 
Is there some kind of mod like this for pdvc models? Just looking for something to blow the ashes out of the burn pot....

Same concept. Probably the same burn pot as far as that goes.
 
Is there some kind of mod like this for pdvc models? Just looking for something to blow the ashes out of the burn pot....

i'm going to grab a few plugs on the way home for my PDVC tonight. It's easier to grab a few sizes and return what I don't use. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
3/4 for like a glove. Had to get them at Home Depot, 3/4 was the only size less than an inch that Lowes didn't have. My PDVC was manufactured 6/14.
 
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Im suprised to see how popular this is. I had no idea people were doing this until i saw this thread. I got the plugs from lowes. they only had a few 3/4's left.
As far as a concern regarding the stove blowing unburned pellets out of the pot, there is no way my stove would ever be able to do that no matter what i plugged.
 
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Now I want to try... Not for heat output, but cleaner burn pot. After a day of idling at 1-3 my pot is full of fluffy ash.
 
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I just did my weekly cleaning and covered my lower two holes with foil tape. We'll see how it goes. I'm interested in seeing how people make out with plugging the top holes as well.
 
I covered the two holes with a piece of sheet metal about 7/8"x 3" bent like a spring clip and slid over the holes I did this 8 years ago I like it better than plugs they don't fall out.