It seems there is alot of knowledge here so here goes.... my wifey got a GREAT deal on a 25-PDV {it was purchased from Lowes and returned 2 days later with a bad igniter, igniter was replaced and she snaged it for $420!!} so I replaced my circa 1991 avalon {throws a ton of heat, noisey fans, hopper too small, no igniter, a PIA to clean, sticky switches ect..} with this beast..{read HEAVY} englander. Of course as my luck the exhaust on the PDV is higher and on the other side so I used a 45 and a 90 to "engeneer" it into place wich i plan on "doing it right" when the temp gets above freezing. I judge performance by stuffing i bbq thermometer in 1 of the tubes. I also dont have the OAK hooked up yet, but it is in the works. thats the back story, now for the problems. I cant get the PDV to make anywhere near the same heat as the avalon did. The avalons blower used to come on at 200 and at "low" feed would stay there, if I cranked the feed to "high" those tubes would hit 375-400.. The PDVs blower comes on at 140 and drops lower once the fan comes on, no matter what settings I try I cant get it to break 200. heat at 9 fan at 1 {chewing through pellets} gets me to about 200. now the exhaust pipe on the avalon you could wrap your hand around {unless it was crankin} now the PDV sizzles water off instantly even on low heat. I thought i was plugin the xhaust with the screwed up angles but the pipe is that hot on the 3 foot straight run AFTER the corners 2. Would a exhaust restriction lower the firebox temp? also the blower doesnt seem to change volume much between 1-9. dont get me wrong its working but you just dont feel much of a diffrence of volume on any setting. i included a few pics incase it helps..and i look foward to finding out if i screwed something up...
ps I think the flame is fine, bright yellow licking half-way up the fire box and no visible smoke out of the exhaust...
ps I think the flame is fine, bright yellow licking half-way up the fire box and no visible smoke out of the exhaust...
And don't bother to compare your temperatures to mine or anyone elses, placement of the thermometer will impact the results. Just be consistant with your own readings, that way you can tell how adjustments, or changes in pellet brands affect your heat output. One thing I just thought of.... On the PDVC, there is a restrictor plate that limits the amount of pellets that can be fed at time. I am unsure whether or not there is one on a PDV. You could try removing it, that will allow more pellets to be fed on the higher settings. The plate is a small approx 1"x3" piece of sheetmetal that is held in place with 1 screw at the bottom of the hopper at the auger opening. If you remove it, be careful not to let the screw drop into the auger. I had to remove my plate when I burned Lignetics, because they tend to be a bit larger. I replaced it when I started burning the smaller Barefoot pellets.
