Englander 25 PVDC ignitor

[Murphy118]

First off, thanks for all of the info here, going into my third season for my sotve and have not had any problems at all,,,, until now. this summer I did a thorough cleaning, both blowers, greased bearings, swithched auger motors top to bottom and bottom to top, replaced all gaskets that needed it, (Thanks Englander for putting together that kit of gaskets!!),removed ignitor and cleaned out its hole, and cleaned everything really good.
OK so this morning it was a little chilly so I decided to fire it up, augers worked fine, OAK worked fine, but ignitor did not start the pellets in the burn pot. I manually started it with my torch and stove worked great, (thermostat controlled).
This afternoon i took the back off, unplugged the auger motors,(hopper is full) and set it into start sequence. Ignitor never "glowed" but did get warm, really too hot to touch, but never cherry red. I noticed that the very tip of the ignitor was not inside the cut out hole in the steel plate, but behind it and not centered. After it cooled down, i tried to center it in the hole but was unable to unless i moved the locking collar to give it more depth. I did not remove or loosen the collar in my cleaning endeavor, is it supposed to be "in" the hole, flush with the plate? or behind it?
I tried 3 more "dry" tests w/o pellets and not once did the ignitor glow,,,, but it did get very warm. Is it unusual for the ingitor to get "tired" or "lazy"? I always though a resistive heating element either worked or didn't, but i am no expert by any means.
Also I did not remove any wires from the board so I think I can rule that out. The ignitor is 120 volt right? so i should get 120 volts off of the tabs on the board during start up, right?
I appreciate any help on this as I thought it would be clear sailing after spending so much time cleaning it and doing what I thought was some preventative maintenance.

John

 

[BrotherBart]

The pros will have to answer the rest but the ignitor sits behind, not in or through, the hole.

 

[kofkorn]

It is possible for the ignitor to "break down" and not cause an open circuit. There are a few other possibilities that could cause the ignitor to not completely heat as well. Just a few days ago, there was someone on this forum who was having ignitor issues on a stove that he was test firing. Turns out that he was using a 16ga extension cord which dropped the voltage available to the stove. When he hooked the unit to a 12ga cord, it worked fine.

So if you have the ability to check the voltage to the ignitor, It's a quick and easy debug thing to do. if the voltage is between 110 and 120, that probably indicates a bad ignitor.

They do have a limited lifetime, and will tend to die faster if you are someone who frequently turns the stove on and off.

Should be a relatively easy DIY job, and you can manually light until you get the part.

Good luck!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

the important thing to have is a sufficient air gap between the tip of the igniter rod and the backside of the hole , do this ;

remove the igniter and reinsert it all the way in til it bottoms out, then pull it back about an eigth of an inch 1/8" this should open up the gap to allow the heat to flow out. then center the rod in the hole (doesnt need to be exactly centered) and snug the keeper bolt down to hold it in position

 

[Murphy118]

Thanks Mike, I will try this soon as I get home from work today. If that dosen't do the trick I will test voltage at terminals on board under start up conditions, if voltage is present and ignitor dosen't fire after leaving air gap I will replace it,,,,,, just happen to have a new one on stand by along with 2 spare auger motors and a whole lotta gaskets!


Thanks again
John

 

[WoodPorn]

I had this issue last year and it turned out to be airflow to (through) the ignitor path. If I remember correctly (and I probably don't) there is a small hole next to the ignitor looking in from the back of the stove that got buggerred up and restricted the required amount of air.

 

[Murphy118]

Thanks guys!
I got home from work, got the beer can chickens on the grill and while they were roasting went inside and did like Mike said, loosed the bolt, bottomed out ignitor and then pulled it back about 1/8 inch, dry tested it w/o augers and there was that beautiful little red glow,,,,, gotta love it. I did not however see any hole that might be a jet or orifice in the casting that holds the ignitor,,,,,
After supper i decided that it was a bit chilly in the house so i hooked up the augers, replaced the back panel and my daughter and I watched as the tiniest first spark became fire
I actually stood there with my hands on my hips and declared at the top of lungs "I have made Fire",,,, like tom Hanks in Castaway,,,,, my wife never even looked up from her Kindle and said in a very monotone voice "that's nice dear,,,, put out the dogs",,,,,,,, geeeeeeeeesh don't they get it?????

 

[smwilliamson]

One thing you are going to want to also take note on...if you ever remove the burnpot, the gasket that separates the igniter, feed tube and air intake MUST be sealed off from each other via the gasket. if air leaks around the back of this gasket the hot air from the igniter will escape behind the pot and not into the pot. RTV works well in a pinch.