25 PVDC

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Shaw520

Feeling the Heat
Oct 15, 2012
426
Modena
Greetings,.. Although I have been heating with wood for many yrs,.. this is my first yr with pellets. I have two stoves both were picked up used; a newer Avalon Avanti, and an older 25-PVDC. The Avalon is a great running, easy to use stove, but the 25- is a real work horse and seems to easily put out twice the heat.
I have three questions on the 25-PVDC;

1. the settings - I was having an issue with the stove going out when set below 3, so I call Englander Tech, I found that my settings were set at 1-1-9, tech support had me change that to 5-1-1 and so far seem better. Now from reading these pages for the past month I see there are different variations for different results. Please share your experiences with settings and how the effect fuel consumption vs efficiency. and some of your preferred settings.
2. The convection blower on the unit seem a tad loud, is this an inherited trait of this stove, or is there a way to quiet her down,
3. The door glass is cloudy beyond the point of seeing through it,..Englander wants $82 w shipping for a new one, Ive tried cleaning it thoughly put that hasnt helped much, is there a way to polish/ bring it back,.. or a supplier that can custom cut a piece.

Thank you all in advance! Shaw
 
I fixed an opaque window by polishing the inside with 600 grit wet or dry using soapy water as a lubricant. You don't need to be aggressive with it, just of few minutes of hand polishing. I finished with a polish intended for glass stove tops. It's not perfect, but it is pretty good.
A loud convection blower may be off balance because it has ingested too may dust bunnies. Pull it from the stove and comb the dust and gunk out of the cage. Be careful not to bend any of the vanes. Another cause of vibration is the bearing carrier. That is the plate at the end of the motor that has the bearings attached to it. It is held in place by three little dimples in the motor housing. These loosen with time and can be re-tightened. Take a nail set and tap gently on each of the dimples to give it a good grip on the bearing carrier. It doesn't take much force to get these snug again.
 
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I have successfully used Barkeepers friend on severely carboned glass.
Is the convection blower noisy at the motor or is it the actuall airflow noise? My PDVC is not quiet on anything over 2 convection air, sound like a jet!
If you do go the route of buying a new glass, (you may already know this) I believe it is Ceramic
 
I too recently aqcuired a 25pvdc at an incredible price (free)

I painted it, inspected and gave it new gaskets (if needed), rotated auger motors, cleaned the convection motor (this was filled with alot of dust bunnies) and combustion motor, and went through it as per this thread which is very informative. I am pretty sure I could fix any problem on this thing now.

One word of caution watch out for metal burrs, mine has many.

Still this thing from all I have heard is a quite a work horse and pumps out some serious heat. I know mine is quite a tank and as long as they make parts and pellets it should essentially heat forever.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/cleaning-and-inspecting-the-englander-25-pdvc.69425/
 
Interesting that Englander have you those settings. AFAIK, the 25PDVC is supposed to be set at 4-6-1. IMO, the settings they gave you don't provide enough combustion air. Maybe Mike H. will see this thread and chime in.
 
I think its great that we have all these options to better fine tune! ...a nice thing bout these Englander's

ok,.. so my results with the recommended 5-1-1 have been this; stove runs great but using too many pellets at low (1-2) setting,... So I set it at 3-1-1,... and so far so good, ..less pellet consumption at a very consistent low heat. Will See!.. (keeping in mind it been warm,.. 40's and upper 30's),.. hence my need for a 'low heat'.

Door Glass; not much luck,.. tried the ceramic stove cleaner,.. tried the 600 grit,... its clean, just not clear.

BTW, thank you all for your expertise and help! .... glad to be part of this forum.
 
....Door Glass; not much luck,.. tried the ceramic stove cleaner,.. tried the 600 grit,... its clean, just not clear......
Might want to check at your local glass supply....they probably can order a new piece of ceramic glass for you.
 
The lower 3 buttons all depend on what revision your board is. Mike has told me my old non ignitor pdvc(2001) is factory preset at 4-1-1.
 
Ceramic is very expensive! Might have an option of having a glass replacement store polish it or try a headlight polishing kit that has a buffer pad that mounts in a drill.
 
Last week tech support told me to set my 2012 pdvc at 4-5-1, these settings change year to year I believe
 
Last week tech support told me to set my 2012 pdvc at 4-5-1, these settings change year to year I believe
Aren't these just values to start out with. I thought that the point of having them accessible is so that you could fine tune the slow burn when heat is not called for. Differences in draft, pellet qualities and atmospheric conditions can all change the fuel and air requirements for slow burn.
 
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Aren't these just values to start out with. I thought that the point of having them accessible is so that you could fine tune the slow burn when heat is not called for. Differences in draft, pellet qualities and atmospheric conditions can all change the fuel and air requirements for slow burn.
I honestly don't know, my manual says the bottom three buttons shouldn't be messed with, which is exactly what the guy who installed it for me did. I contacted tech to see what factory settings were and they told me to set it at 4-5-1. To be truthful it seemed to burn cleaner and without flucuations in the flame before I set it to 4-5-1, it was set at 6-6-1. I guess I'm using less pellets, and maybe keeping more heat from going out the stack, but I don't know for sure. You are right, there are so many variables to consider, and what's the point of having adjustable controls if they are not supposed to be adjusted. I think you talked me into it, I'll tweek it tonight when I fire it up, thank you for your input
 
I went thru this a few yrs ago. Englander recommends a starting point of 6-4-1 for the 25 pdvc.bottom 3 buttons.
Don`t be afraid to change them. They are there for a reason.
I can get mine dialed down to idling at about 3-2-1 but anything lower is a gamble with regards to going out since the 25 pdvc doesn`t deliver pellets accurately, (note the fluctuating flame when on low).
Still, with all it`s foibles, it`s a lot of stove for the money.
 
Thank you for the info. I'm a newbie and still trying to figure it out. My intall person set the bottom 3 at 6-6-1, and tuned the top 2 at 1-3, it ran great. I read the manual and it recommended the top 2 be set the same(1-1,2-2 etc.), I guess I am trying too hard to follow the manual instead of going with the obvious, I just don't want to waste pellets by sending heat out of the vent, not into my house. I may be over-thinking this, but I want to be ready for my first Maine winter with pellet heat any input on this is greatly appreciated. I purchased 4 ton of Maines Choice because of free delivery and $200 /ton, may be a rookie mistake also but that's what I'll be burning. So far I'm happy with the stove and haven't had to fire my ancient steam boiler up yet to heat the first floor of my 1900's Colonial, but colder days are coming and I need all the help I can get !!
 
Think its a learning curve, finding what works best,... I am now at 3-2-1 and she idles along real smooth without an over use of pellets. At this setting I can turn the upper controls to 1-2 without it going out,.... unless im using the Green Supremes,...then I have to turn it up to 2-3 or it WILL go out.... at least like this I know im at the most conservative setting.
 
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For older PDV's and PDVC's. The bottom 3 buttons only effect the 1st two heat settings.

The bottom 3 buttons are there to achieve an efficient burn. If its burning rich, you would increase the LBA or decrease the LFF ( or both). If its running lean (going out on heat 1) then you decrease LBA or increase LFF (or both).

Its not a one size fits all setting (4-6-1). Due to pellet density, length, fiber quality, vent length on install, altitude, etc. They change with every install. But for the majority of users, if using the standard 3' rise in an up and out type install, the settings should work well, or be pretty close (depends on year, as to what the bottom 3 are / different models, different #'s).

Hope this helps in your quest JayVee. Welcome to the Forums.
 
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BTW- Never adjust the AOT (Air on Temp). Always leave at 1. And the other abbreviations are...

LBA- Low Burn Air (higher # = higher combustion blower rate)

LFF- Low Fuel Feed (higher # = higher feed rate).

Understand that increasing these #'s by 1 wont have a Giant effect. If you are at 3 on your LFF and go to 4, your not gonna burn an extra bag of pellets a day. Its a very small adjustment. Used to fine tune.

Cheers
 
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BTW- Never adjust the AOT (Air on Temp). Always leave at 1. And the other abbreviations are...

LBA- Low Burn Air (higher # = higher combustion blower rate)

LFF- Low Fuel Feed (higher # = higher feed rate).

Understand that increasing these #'s by 1 wont have a Giant effect. If you are at 3 on your LFF and go to 4, your not gonna burn an extra bag of pellets a day. Its a very small adjustment. Used to fine tune.

Cheers
Good stuff Dexter.
 
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thank you so much Dexter!! This is the kind of help I was hoping to get from tech support, but with guys like you out there who needs 'em. As long as I know I can't mess things up by adjusting I'll give it a try. Thanks again !!
 
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You can mess it up :) Just take baby steps if you do any adjusting. If you put LFF on 9 and LBA on 1, your gonna be swimming in a pile of unburnt fuel and spitting smoke out the vent like crazy. But a small increase or decrease to help a certain brand of pellet burn better, is not a problem.

Remember.... More air will give you a better (lively) burn, but to much air will throw heat out of the vent.

Mike Holton is the Senior Tech at Englander and goes by Stoveguy2ESW here. He is a great help here on the Forum
He is Mr. Englander :) I learned lots from reading his posts.
 
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Thanks for the advice, I'm still intimidated a bit so I will take small steps for sure. Also will follow stoveguy2ESW, it's been a good day for me and my stove, thanks again
 
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thx Dexter - glad I found this thread
for some reason the 6-8-5 settings my kids must have configured were not optimized
 
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