Englander 25 pvc not feeding enough pellets?

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Murphy118

Member
Sep 20, 2010
155
NE Pennsylvania
Ok, fired her up last week, set on t-stat. Lit and went through startup flawlessly, stove set at 7 heat, 9 fan. I set the t-stat to about 4 degrees above room temp expecting stove to burn on high until t-stat was satisfied. For the next few hours I noticed that it was acting like the t-stat was satisfied, (it was not) and just feeding enough pellets to keep fire going, small flame every now and then, but never really burning at full bore.
Tried the stove 2 more times since then and same results. Last night I disconected t-stat, and stove still started up well but never went into "full bore heat" like it should being set at 7 & 9.
Tonight I will check top auger motor timing per heat setting, ( I have a record from a few years ago as to how long it turned vs. stayed off depending on the heat setting). If top auger is not turning enough, what is wrong? Control panel? I think there is a way to reboot the cpu, maybe that will be my next step.
I don't remember what the 3 bottom settings are, but i know they are the same as when I closed it up for the season. I will check tonight and post.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
John
 
First check that the top auger timing is the same as before. If not, could be partial jam of old pellets clogging the opening down to the bottom auger.

Are there batteries in the T-stat? Are they fresh?

If these are all OK, reset the control board and see what happens then.

If these don't work, give the Tech crew at Englander a call.
 
Sounds like its not getting the signal from the stat? And just staying at pilot/maintenance burn.

I would check batteries as imacman stated and also the connections. At both ends
 
Hmmm,,, batteries,,, did not think of that.. It's kinda late now, I will change batteries now, and check auger timing and set screws tomorrow after work.

Just thought about this though,,, stove acts up even with t-stat disconnected,,,,, but new batteries are going in anyways,,,,,,

thanks for the insights
John
 
With the t-stat disconnected the contacts aren't closed indicating it has satisfied the heating request.
 
Hello

How old is the stove?
Here is another item to check:
Pull off the auger motors(especially the bottom auger motor) and make sure you can turn the augers freely with no snags. If there is a snag, then pull the auger out and check the auger flight chute and clean any build up of ash. (Especially the bottom auger chute) Then check the knit line on the augers to make sure there are no burs. If the knit line does stick out, then grind it down on a bench grinder. This was the case in one of my stoves! If eitheir auger skips a beat. This means the auger gets juice and does not turn once in a while, then replace the auger motor with a new 1 RPM gear box motor.

See pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-after-long-warm-up.85404/page-2#post-1101692

and more pics here
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-25-pdv-drop-chute-jam.85348/#post-1097954

Good luck.
 
Awe Smokey!! You are correct sir! I forgot about the need for the jumper to be in place w/o t-stat !!!!! Duh,,,,,,,,,

Don, I will check that all out tomorrow, but I gave it a genuine top to bottom, inside and out cleaning before I fired it up, even switched the auger motors like I do every season, since the bottom one runs all the time. I'm sure I tightened the set bolts on the shafts, but at my age, any oveersight is surely possible!
I believe the tubes are 100% clean, and augers turn freely in them, but will check that as well.

John
 
Awe Smokey!! You are correct sir! I forgot about the need for the jumper to be in place w/o t-stat !!!!! Duh,,,,,,,,,

Just to confirm that suspicion, why not put a jumper back in and see how she runs.
 
imac, good idea, but instead of removing it from the hearth, because of having to get reaaaal low on the ground to re-install the jumper, (i am no longer a "nimble" kinda guy), I'll just short the t-stat wires, ini essence doing the same thing as putting the jumper back in, right?

Thanks you guys!!
John
 
imac, good idea, but instead of removing it from the hearth, because of having to get reaaaal low on the ground to re-install the jumper, (i am no longer a "nimble" kinda guy), I'll just short the t-stat wires, ini essence doing the same thing as putting the jumper back in, right?

Thanks you guys!!
John

Should be but a lot of extra wire that could have developed a break is then in the possible problem cause loop.
 
What Smokey said is correct....the stat wire could possibly have a break in it or be loose somewhere, so inserting the jumper into the connectors on the control board will isolate the stove....if it runs as normal, then you know for sure the problem is the stat or the wiring.
 
ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR THIS???

Feel free to use this post however you want,,,, like "Stupidest problems we ever tried to solve on the forum",,,,,or something like that,,,,

I went through all of the diagnostics suggested above over the last 3 hours, ending with checking continuity of the stat wires at the board, had none, pulled stat off of wall to check continuity of contacts, it was working fine,,,,,,,AHA!! I said, broken wire!!!
As I was putting the t-stat back together i saw there were 3 wires hooked to it,,,,hmmm should only be 2,,,,,now you need to look at the pic below.....


Right t-stat is for my gas furnace (3 wire system),,,, left one is for pellet stove (2 wire).....

you guessed it.

I WAS USING THE WRONG STAT TO CONTROL THE PELLET STOVE!!!!

I feel so ashamed,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but thanks to all you guys,, reallly,,,, thanks,



2012-10-04_22-32-33_224.jpg
 
;lol pretty sure we all have at some point in time pulled one of those stunts,atleast you admitted to it.
 
ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR THIS???

I WAS USING THE WRONG STAT TO CONTROL THE PELLET STOVE!!!!

View attachment 75991

From now forward, this should be quoted as "Murphy118's T-Stat Law"

I think Just Plain "Murphy's Law" is taken.

Yeah, we have all chased problems down then realised what we did wrong!
It's always good to get a laugh at yourself! I do it quite often...

Bill
 
--nothing is as easy as it looks

--everything takes longer than you think it will

--Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

--if anything can go wrong, it will, at the worst possible moment

--when you think you thought of everything that can go wrong, and make allowances for them,something unforseen will happen

--If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.

--Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value.


These are just a few of Murphy's Laws, laws that I have been living under strict tutelage of for the last 52 years, hence my handle, "Murphy118",,,, yep that's exactly where it came from back in the '80's when I had to pick out a username for the very first time,,,,,

John
 
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Well, glad you figgered it out. I guess a suggestion might be to mark the stats next spring so by the time fall rolls around, you don't forget what's what.
 
Well, glad you figgered it out. I guess a suggestion might be to mark the stats next spring so by the fall rolls around, you don't forget what's what.

That is one misteak that he will never repeat...I hope!
 
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