My new PDVC is now running superbly!

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Gio said:
rottiman said:
Gio, thanks for the heads up. Made a noticable difference for sure. I am going to fine tune the lower three alittle more this weekend.

I strongly suspect there have been more than a few unsatisfied users of these stoves over this somewhat well kept secret mode change capability that can raise the heat output so significantly. I wonder how many users live with it as it is. I also wonder why the instructions are not available in the users manual?

I wonder how many swapped out a stove because of the lack of heat?
 
jtakeman said:
Gio said:
rottiman said:
Gio, thanks for the heads up. Made a noticable difference for sure. I am going to fine tune the lower three alittle more this weekend.

I strongly suspect there have been more than a few unsatisfied users of these stoves over this somewhat well kept secret mode change capability that can raise the heat output so significantly. I wonder how many users live with it as it is. I also wonder why the instructions are not available in the users manual?

I wonder how many swapped out a stove because of the lack of heat?
Not that I could take a wild guess but I would imagine it`s reasonably easy to return one to Home Depot or Lowes for most any legitimate reason.
 
Gio said:
jtakeman said:
Gio said:
rottiman said:
Gio, thanks for the heads up. Made a noticable difference for sure. I am going to fine tune the lower three alittle more this weekend.

I strongly suspect there have been more than a few unsatisfied users of these stoves over this somewhat well kept secret mode change capability that can raise the heat output so significantly. I wonder how many users live with it as it is. I also wonder why the instructions are not available in the users manual?

I wonder how many swapped out a stove because of the lack of heat?
Not that I could take a wild guess but I would imagine it`s reasonably easy to return one to Home Depot or Lowes for most any legitimate reason.

sometimes illegitimate ones too. biggest reason behind our sequestering the functions of the settings is that if you get them out of whack in the wrong way it can cause the unit to not burn clean , or shut down in some cases. which is why we want folks to callour support linie and discuss what the stove is or isnt doing so we can guide them into a better trim for the unit.

as for setting the units into "C" mode first off , if you run the stove too long on higher settings without ample cleaning you will probably start running into overtemp shutdowns. its really important to keep the stove clean when running in that mode.
 
stoveguy2esw said:
as for setting the units into "C" mode first off , if you run the stove too long on higher settings without ample cleaning you will probably start running into overtemp shutdowns. its really important to keep the stove clean when running in that mode.

I have two questions: 1st one seems obvious but I'll ask it anyway. I assume the only reason its burning hotter is because its burning more pellets?

2nd question for Mike, How high can I run my stove without causing excessive wear and tear (assuming it's not shutting down for over limits). Only asking because I was told I shouldn't run it on high but then find out you can change the settings to run hotter.

I look forward to seeing how it goes.
 
I can understand a stove going off on overtemp but on mode d my stove wasn`t ever gonna get close to that happening.
If it`s possible to shut down the stove on overheat while in c mode why do the modes go all the way to A ?
 
joefraser said:
stoveguy2esw said:
as for setting the units into "C" mode first off , if you run the stove too long on higher settings without ample cleaning you will probably start running into overtemp shutdowns. its really important to keep the stove clean when running in that mode.

I have two questions: 1st one seems obvious but I'll ask it anyway. I assume the only reason its burning hotter is because its burning more pellets?

Maybe not. It seems they have been able to improve the overall efficiency. There not blasting heat out the vent and getting more in the room. And it also seem they have been able to reduce there feed rates after(there not running maxxed anymore). So they maybe using even less than before the change.

Anyone track there fuel usage difference?
 
simple math-----more heat=more pellets=more cleaning. if we ask more from our stoves(heat),they also ask more from us(fuel and cleaning) kind of a give and take thing------ i accept it as/is.all we try to do is maximize taking and minimize giving =====efficiency.
 
What interesting is how little air actually comes out the exhaust. I had thought it would have been much more.
Regardless, my Harman is eating plenty of pellets too these days and the vent pipe also gets hot.
It sure isn`t like the shoulder season where I can burn low and get from 24-40 hrs from one bag.
 
BJN644 said:
I had the same issue with my 25 PDVC that I use in my concrete floor shop. The tech guys walked me through reprogramming to "C" mode as well. What they didn't say was where to set the lower buttons, I'll try the settings you mentioned tonight, really interested to see what that 9 air setting will do.

Well I tried setting the air to 9 and this is what I found.

I'm running the stove in "C" mode, fan and burn on 9, WFO in other words. I let the heat stabilize, getting an average of 250 deg. F air blowing out of the stove. The LBA (middle button) was set at 5, I slowly started bringing it up to 9. What I found was absolutely no change at all in air temperature coming out of the stove. So, my conclusion is that maybe it is true that the lower 3 buttons only work on 1&2.

Anyway, I don't think that 250 degrees coming out of that stove is to bad, burning Maine Choice pellets, which many regard as middle of the road pellets.
 
BJN644 said:
BJN644 said:
I had the same issue with my 25 PDVC that I use in my concrete floor shop. The tech guys walked me through reprogramming to "C" mode as well. What they didn't say was where to set the lower buttons, I'll try the settings you mentioned tonight, really interested to see what that 9 air setting will do.

Well I tried setting the air to 9 and this is what I found.

I'm running the stove in "C" mode, fan and burn on 9, WFO in other words. I let the heat stabilize, getting an average of 250 deg. F air blowing out of the stove. The LBA (middle button) was set at 5, I slowly started bringing it up to 9. What I found was absolutely no change at all in air temperature coming out of the stove. So, my conclusion is that maybe it is true that the lower 3 buttons only work on 1&2.

Anyway, I don't think that 250 degrees coming out of that stove is to bad, burning Maine Choice pellets, which many regard as middle of the road pellets.

I also played with the air button settings from #3 to #9 and I found only a 3 degree difference which could have been due to normal variations of the pellets themselves. I did end up leaving the LBA at # 4 . My conclusion matches yours, no obvious differences at any heat settings.
What I will look for come the warmer weather will be the differences of the low burn air settings on heat range 1 and 2 and how it effects the glass , mainly looking for the cleanest burn.
 
jtakeman said:
joefraser said:
stoveguy2esw said:
as for setting the units into "C" mode first off , if you run the stove too long on higher settings without ample cleaning you will probably start running into overtemp shutdowns. its really important to keep the stove clean when running in that mode.

I have two questions: 1st one seems obvious but I'll ask it anyway. I assume the only reason its burning hotter is because its burning more pellets?

Maybe not. It seems they have been able to improve the overall efficiency. There not blasting heat out the vent and getting more in the room. And it also seem they have been able to reduce there feed rates after(there not running maxxed anymore). So they maybe using even less than before the change.

Anyone track there fuel usage difference?

So far after the first 24 hr on heat setting C my pellet use was about a quarter bag more. As far as Mike's explanation, I can see where stove cleaning IS important. I did have a dirtier stove this a.m. but for me it is not a problem as I tend to over clean on a daily basis.
The Englander Techs have been great but they would not tip their hand re this change on three attempts to get them to walk me thru it. I can understand why they are so hesitant. I can well imagine that there are a number of frustrated customers out there who are unaware of this page, and are unhappy aout the heat production of their stoves. These are the tpe of things you put up with when you elect to go with a lower $$$$ stove. If you are willing to put up with the manual tinkering to save the $$$$, so be it. Thank God Englander has really really good Tech support for their customers. without that I believe their stove sales would nose dive over the lack of support @ point of sale. For my self the extra labor was worth the savings as my stove seems to now be producing the heat that it should. Thank God for this forum which put me @ this point.
 
rottiman said:
jtakeman said:
joefraser said:
stoveguy2esw said:
as for setting the units into "C" mode first off , if you run the stove too long on higher settings without ample cleaning you will probably start running into overtemp shutdowns. its really important to keep the stove clean when running in that mode.

I have two questions: 1st one seems obvious but I'll ask it anyway. I assume the only reason its burning hotter is because its burning more pellets?

Maybe not. It seems they have been able to improve the overall efficiency. There not blasting heat out the vent and getting more in the room. And it also seem they have been able to reduce there feed rates after(there not running maxxed anymore). So they maybe using even less than before the change.

Anyone track there fuel usage difference?

So far after the first 24 hr on heat setting C my pellet use was about a quarter bag more. As far as Mike's explanation, I can see where stove cleaning IS important. I did have a dirtier stove this a.m. but for me it is not a problem as I tend to over clean on a daily basis.
The Englander Techs have been great but they would not tip their hand re this change on three attempts to get them to walk me thru it. I can understand why they are so hesitant. I can well imagine that there are a number of frustrated customers out there who are unaware of this page, and are unhappy aout the heat production of their stoves. These are the tpe of things you put up with when you elect to go with a lower $$$$ stove. If you are willing to put up with the manual tinkering to save the $$$$, so be it. Thank God Englander has really really good Tech support for their customers. without that I believe their stove sales would nose dive over the lack of support @ point of sale. For my self the extra labor was worth the savings as my stove seems to now be producing the heat that it should. Thank God for this forum which put me @ this point.

I`m kinda fortunate that I can easily compare my Harman to the PDVC and with both being comparably sized stoves I can check heat and fuel useage against each other. At this point I have to say they are very very close with repect to heat output and fuel useage. Neither stove is having any problem eating up pellets in this cold spell .
 
I have the 25-pdv but have found the change just as succesful for heat output. I registered blower temp of 275 with Pennington Nature's Heat Pellets on heat level 4. I think I was able to get around 240 on heat 9 with Okanagans before the change. Unfortunatly I couldn't get the Okies and was out so I don't have a perfect sample setup. Although from what I've seen the Penningtons are on the lower end of heat output. I had mine on heat setting 1 this morning cause I'm running low on pellets and I was still getting really good air temps (175 degrees) so I could see that if you wanter lower heat levels it (shoulder seasons) it may make since to be on the original D setting. I need all the heat I can get so I will stick to this setting.

Great post Gio!
 
joefraser said:
I have the 25-pdv but have found the change just as succesful for heat output. I registered blower temp of 275 with Pennington Nature's Heat Pellets on heat level 4. I think I was able to get around 240 on heat 9 with Okanagans before the change. Unfortunatly I couldn't get the Okies and was out so I don't have a perfect sample setup. Although from what I've seen the Penningtons are on the lower end of heat output. I had mine on heat setting 1 this morning cause I'm running low on pellets and I was still getting really good air temps (210 degrees) so I could see that if you wanter lower heat levels it (shoulder seasons) it may make since to be on the original D setting. I need all the heat I can get so I will stick to this setting.

Great post Gio!

Glad to hear from another happy stove owner .
Those folks that live in warmer parts of the country can probably get along just fine in d mode but the reality is that in c mode you can still dial it down to the #2 or #1 setting to maintain a slow burn that dramatically cuts pellet useage. We also have the LFF setting to play with too so there shouldn`t be a real need to switch back and forth.
Keeping the stove clean should always be a pre requisite to efficient operation.
 
I just tried this on my 25PVDC and got no letters ever. Tried it multiple times. Cold. Is my stove too old for this? It is a manual ignition model.
BTW- It looks like running it on 2 missing combustion air blower blades the flame ids MUCH cleaner! HUH??
 
breklaw said:
I just tried this on my 25PVDC and got no letters ever. Tried it multiple times. Cold. Is my stove too old for this? It is a manual ignition model.
BTW- It looks like running it on 2 missing combustion air blower blades the flame ids MUCH cleaner! HUH??

From what I can gather the electronic control is new on the 2004 and up models so that method of changing modes might not work with yours.
Put a call in to Englander. They`ll set ya straight.
 
strange. mine is set already to "A". kind of disappointing knowing that my stove is already as hot as it will go. But it makes sense, since I only run mine on 5/9 and it heats the whole house just fine. I also used to get overfire codes on 9/9, which makes sense. I can't complain really. I wouldn't really have the need for it to get any hotter. This is about as cold as it gets and the stove is doing just fine.
 
Orange Crush CJ-7 said:
strange. mine is set already to "A". kind of disappointing knowing that my stove is already as hot as it will go. But it makes sense, since I only run mine on 5/9 and it heats the whole house just fine. I also used to get overfire codes on 9/9, which makes sense. I can't complain really. I wouldn't really have the need for it to get any hotter. This is about as cold as it gets and the stove is doing just fine.

Why not talk to an Englander rep and ask why?
I`m thinking they probably use the same or similar control for each stove in their product line . Pure conjecture but why would there be an a b c and d heat mode on the dimunutive pdvc which normally requires only d since it`s only rated at 22,500 BTU output.
Models outputting 25,000-40,000 might need c and b settings. Their biggest BTU producer (10CPM) might require the A setting.
Regardless , I think my pdvc can put out comparable heat as my P-38 Harman now that it`s in c mode.
 
maybe putting it into a or b mode makes it a larger btu capacity stove? the btu rating is only the volume of pellets the stove can physically put into the burn pot in a given amount of time. So if the augers release more pellets while in "a" mode, it obviously has a higher btu rating than when in "d" mode. I wonder if the ABCD modes only affect the 3-9 settings, just as the LBA and LFF only affect the 1-2 settings? I ask this because even though my stove is in "a" mode, I can still get 24 hours out of a bag when the stove is set on 1. I understand 24hrs is the benchmark for the slow-burn.
 
Orange Crush CJ-7 said:
maybe putting it into a or b mode makes it a larger btu capacity stove? the btu rating is only the volume of pellets the stove can physically put into the burn pot in a given amount of time. So if the augers release more pellets while in "a" mode, it obviously has a higher btu rating than when in "d" mode. I wonder if the ABCD modes only affect the 3-9 settings, just as the LBA and LFF only affect the 1-2 settings? I ask this because even though my stove is in "a" mode, I can still get 24 hours out of a bag when the stove is set on 1. I understand 24hrs is the benchmark for the slow-burn.

I`m not sure the incremental mode settings from a to b to c to d are all equal. I do know d to c significantly increases the heat output but seemingly each letter could very well ratchet up the heat a notch.
I have also found after much time spent was the lower 3 buttons only do effect settings #1 and #2 . I have no question about that anymore. The stove automatically adjusts the pellet feed rate and combustion air on settings 3-9 .
 
Of course Mike Holten has already made this clear. I found this in the troubleshooting guide.


"Wrong mode: The 25-PDVC / 55-SHP10 / 55-SHP10L / 55-TRP10 is run in the “D” mode; if it is set in “C” mode it can feed too much fuel in the high ranges and exceed temp. settings. Also, in lower or mid ranges, if the room fan is kept even with the heat range, the same can happen in "C" mode, as the feed rates are a bit faster in that mode.

Running the blower speed below the heat range: If the blower does not move enough air for the heat that the fire is making, the unit will error out as well."

With all this above said and understood The fact is my stove on "D" was just not producing the heat it should have on #9 . The factory tech advised me to adjust to "C " mode and all is well now. I no longer need to turn it up that high and I always run my blower on #9 as it isn`t very powerful since it`s only 140 CFM.
All things considered this small stove is more than capable and able to pump out plenty of heat especially when you get a good understanding of how it works and what settings suit your particular installation best.
 
I have a question about auger behavior after the stove shuts down with an E3 error. When the stove shuts down does the auger stop or does it continue to run?
 
skyman said:
I have a question about auger behavior after the stove shuts down with an E3 error. When the stove shuts down does the auger stop or does it continue to run?


the top auger stops just as the stove does in shutdown, this kills the fuel feed and allows the stove to shut down just like if you pushed teh off button
 
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