Englander 25-PDVC burning Okies

[RustyB]

First time poster, long time reader and can't tell you how much I appreciate all the info I have gotten from this forum - you folks are the best. I'm hoping to get a little info on an issue/question I have. After a couple of yrs of burning average pellets and thanks to the forum I have started burning a better pellet. I have been burning Barefoots for the past month and been very happy with them. Good heat, little ash, minor issue with clinkers, (I do seem to blast through them quicker I've noticed though.) Minor complaint with the good heat. I have a magnetic wood stove thermometer attached to the outside of the stove and have been getting temps around 280-290 with the barefoots. I found a place that sold Okies and was thrilled to get a chance to try them as I have read that they are fantastic. I cleaned the burnpot and put in a bag expecting great things and have been quite disappointed. My external thermometer is reading around 210-220 which is what I was getting with the Maine Choice I started the season with. They do burn clean but I was expecting more heat. Background info: Good cleaning at start of season, new gaskets, combustion blower cleaning, vent taken off and cleaned, shop vac to whatever I could get to etc. Removed vent pipe abount 10 bags ago and cleaned it again along with another shop vac stint. Old house, minimal insulation. Stove is on an interior wall, vents directly into a brick chiminey. Bottom settings are 3-4-1 and burning at 2-3. No OAK at this point due to placement logistics however I am trying to get a way to put it in. Don't know what other info you might need but I'm wondering if there is a better setting I should be using to get the best heat/burn. Any insight you can give would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks and Happy New Year

 

[Pellet-King]

Way the complaint's are going around here, soon BTU be moving out of country and setting up shop in Europe.

 

[jtakeman]

Welcome RustyB, I know little about your stove, So I will let others help you. But I did want to welcome you to the group! Hopefully you are just trying them and haven't bought a large amount yet?

pellet king, I think BTU is already selling them overseas. Lots of mills are. But I doubt he will leave the USA.

 

[hot-n-bothered]

I have the same stove. I also had good luck with barefoot pellets. I Have never burned Okies but I am having the same issue with cubex pellets. I think the cubex and Okies are a similar pellet. The barefoot pellets burn over 75* hotter than the cubex. The cubex do burn very clean even at very low heat so I have been burning them when it's not too cold and over night when I turn the stove down and go to bed. Another pellet that burns hot in my englander is the "pennington natures heat" that I bought from walmart last year. These pellets get mixed reviews and they burn a bit dirty but put out as much heat as the barefoot pellet. I have a meat thermometer stuck in the Right side of the heating vent on the upper righthand corner of the stove and can get over 400* air from the barefoot and penningtons but only get about 325-350*out of the cubex. I've experimented with the settings and always get the same relative results. You might want to try to mix the pellets together, I had good luck when I mix the cubex in with the other pellets.

 

[imacman]

....I think the cubex and Okies are a similar pellet.....

Not at all. The Okies are a softwood pellet, and the Cubex are hardwood.

IMO, the OP needs to change the bottom 3 buttons to something like 4-6-1, or even 6-4-1, and increase the heat settings. Not sure why he is only on heat setting #2 and is living in NH. Crank it up! Every pellet/stove combination yields different results for different installs.

Oh, and yes, install the OAK....required by Englander for all of it's stoves.

 

[hot-n-bothered]

....I think the cubex and Okies are a similar pellet.....

Not at all. The Okies are a softwood pellet, and the Cubex are hardwood.

Thanks for the correction,
I'm glad i read this thread because I was going to buy a skid of softwood pellets for this stove but now I guess I better try a couple of bags first.

 

[hot-n-bothered]

Sorry dbl post

 

[imacman]

I'm glad i read this thread because I was going to buy a skid of softwood pellets for this stove but now I guess I better try a couple of bags first.

ALWAYS try 3-4 bags of an unknown pellet (well, unknown to your stove...LOL) before buying any large quantity.

There have been MANY forum members who bought first because of the "unbelievable great price" and/or "the dealer said these are the hottest burning pellets I've ever seen", etc, etc., and regretted it later.

Also, make use of the extensive testing that Jay Takeman did.....great info here:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/50101/

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/42511/

And Benski's testing:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/42511/P330/#539204

 

[86 toy]

First time poster, long time reader and can't tell you how much I appreciate all the info I have gotten from this forum - you folks are the best. I'm hoping to get a little info on an issue/question I have. After a couple of yrs of burning average pellets and thanks to the forum I have started burning a better pellet. I have been burning Barefoots for the past month and been very happy with them. Good heat, little ash, minor issue with clinkers, (I do seem to blast through them quicker I've noticed though.) Minor complaint with the good heat. I have a magnetic wood stove thermometer attached to the outside of the stove and have been getting temps around 280-290 with the barefoots. I found a place that sold Okies and was thrilled to get a chance to try them as I have read that they are fantastic. I cleaned the burnpot and put in a bag expecting great things and have been quite disappointed. My external thermometer is reading around 210-220 which is what I was getting with the Maine Choice I started the season with. They do burn clean but I was expecting more heat. Background info: Good cleaning at start of season, new gaskets, combustion blower cleaning, vent taken off and cleaned, shop vac to whatever I could get to etc. Removed vent pipe abount 10 bags ago and cleaned it again along with another shop vac stint. Old house, minimal insulation. Stove is on an interior wall, vents directly into a brick chiminey. Bottom settings are 3-4-1 and burning at 2-3. No OAK at this point due to placement logistics however I am trying to get a way to put it in. Don't know what other info you might need but I'm wondering if there is a better setting I should be using to get the best heat/burn. Any insight you can give would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks and Happy New Year

some explaination for more heat with barefoots at the same heat setting could be that the barefoot pellets are a smaller diameter pellet than most other brands and the augers will feed more pellets into the burn pot because of this smaller size.. try turning your lff up to 4 or 5 with the okies and see how that work for ya

 

[RustyB]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions. I will adjust the settings and see how that works. I only bought 5 bags to try so I'm sure I can mix them and/or adjust settings and get through them.
Appreciate the help - as I said in my original post this forum is the best - a massive wealth of info and support. Thanks to all.