.......... I got to come clean and admit I took a lot for granted regarding my Englander 25 PDVC. It`s been a bit of a ride but I`ve learned a few things since I got into this stove and the 3 weeks experimenting with it. And after extracting information from 3 different techs and our forum expert Mike Holten , I`m thoroughly convinced of the following and in the future I will faithfully adhere to their advice. I originally got excited finding that heat mode c produced more heat than mode d but I forgot the importance of a clean burn .
Just to shorten the post I`ll list what I`ve learned in bullet form.
1... Listen to Mike Holten , don`t try to second guess him. He knows. The bottom 3 buttons only effect low burn setting #1 and #2
2....Occasionally (hopefully rarely) an on line Englander tech will offer erroneous information.
3.....heat mode d only is recommended for the 25 PDVC because the air to fuel ratio is designed ,preset ,and regulated by the control board for that smaller sized stove. Mode c is reserved for larger stoves
3....heat mode c on a PDVC is definitely hotter , eats more pellets but produces a richer burn (noticeably dirtier) because the air ratio cannot be increased as it is already maxed out. Max combustion air was designed for d mode.
4....combustion fan running at the low burn settings at #1 (d mode) is already at 88% +/- and adjusting settings up to #9 only controls the remaining 12 % +/- of the total range. (maybe 2% each increment. I`m baffled how some folks find a significant difference in flame and heat output. Personnally. I never could see a difference from 1 -9 and now I understand with only 12 % play remaining in the adjustment..
5...The 12 % range speed of the combustion blower does not directly relate to 12% more heat exiting the flue as it primarily incrementally affects the fuel-air ratio.
6....Heating a bare concrete floor even in a well insulated garage from temps of 36-40 degrees is going to take a lot more time as that concrete is going to absorb heat for a few hours before the stove output can catch up.
This morning I got out early , reset the stove to heat mode d and in a couple hours the stove was indeed cranking out decent heat set on #7. This stove does take time to build up heat output but that shouldn`t be a factor inside a house where it`s burning 24/7.
What triggered this change from me was the reply from Smokey regarding yesterdays thread "what should a flame look like" .
On mode c my heat output was high but the flames were long , dark orangish vs bright yellowish, and absent of any blue tinge above the pellets. It reminded me that my burn was indeed dirty and it bothered me all night.
All 25 PDVC users (myself included) have to understand this little stove heat outpu is only 22,800 BTU and not as capable as the larger models.
I`ve come to accept that as fact. And it`s obvious that it`s rated 1500 sq ft capability is stretched to meet the best conditions possible. Even though I`m still quite happy and satisfied with it given a chance to do it again I`d probably have opted for the larger one but as it is this little inexpensive PDVC will work out where it is and do what I require from it. I`ll just have to allow it some extra time to get up to speed, thats all.
I hope some of what I wrote here helps others.
Just to shorten the post I`ll list what I`ve learned in bullet form.
1... Listen to Mike Holten , don`t try to second guess him. He knows. The bottom 3 buttons only effect low burn setting #1 and #2
2....Occasionally (hopefully rarely) an on line Englander tech will offer erroneous information.
3.....heat mode d only is recommended for the 25 PDVC because the air to fuel ratio is designed ,preset ,and regulated by the control board for that smaller sized stove. Mode c is reserved for larger stoves
3....heat mode c on a PDVC is definitely hotter , eats more pellets but produces a richer burn (noticeably dirtier) because the air ratio cannot be increased as it is already maxed out. Max combustion air was designed for d mode.
4....combustion fan running at the low burn settings at #1 (d mode) is already at 88% +/- and adjusting settings up to #9 only controls the remaining 12 % +/- of the total range. (maybe 2% each increment. I`m baffled how some folks find a significant difference in flame and heat output. Personnally. I never could see a difference from 1 -9 and now I understand with only 12 % play remaining in the adjustment..
5...The 12 % range speed of the combustion blower does not directly relate to 12% more heat exiting the flue as it primarily incrementally affects the fuel-air ratio.
6....Heating a bare concrete floor even in a well insulated garage from temps of 36-40 degrees is going to take a lot more time as that concrete is going to absorb heat for a few hours before the stove output can catch up.
This morning I got out early , reset the stove to heat mode d and in a couple hours the stove was indeed cranking out decent heat set on #7. This stove does take time to build up heat output but that shouldn`t be a factor inside a house where it`s burning 24/7.
What triggered this change from me was the reply from Smokey regarding yesterdays thread "what should a flame look like" .
On mode c my heat output was high but the flames were long , dark orangish vs bright yellowish, and absent of any blue tinge above the pellets. It reminded me that my burn was indeed dirty and it bothered me all night.
All 25 PDVC users (myself included) have to understand this little stove heat outpu is only 22,800 BTU and not as capable as the larger models.
I`ve come to accept that as fact. And it`s obvious that it`s rated 1500 sq ft capability is stretched to meet the best conditions possible. Even though I`m still quite happy and satisfied with it given a chance to do it again I`d probably have opted for the larger one but as it is this little inexpensive PDVC will work out where it is and do what I require from it. I`ll just have to allow it some extra time to get up to speed, thats all.
I hope some of what I wrote here helps others.
