Englander 25PDVC not putting out as expected

Hey guys,

I'm a life long coal stove burner (chubby stoves). I bought a new home this year and decided to install an englander 25pdvc (rated for 1500 sqft). My home is a two level cape with about 1300 square feet on the first floor. The floor plan is pretty open so air circulation isnt too much of an issue.

I installed the stove about 10 days ago and have been burning for about 5 days since the inspection passed. So far I have burned Green Team pellets from Lowes and Fireside from Home Depot. At the moment the stove which has been going for about 5 hours since I shut it down to completely clean it with my shop vac. It is set to 6/6 and its only 59 degrees at my thermometer 15 feet in front of the stove. Granted it is a very cold evening here at 16 right now but I am really let down by this heat output.

I held a digital thermometer in front of the output louvers and it is currently putting out 113 degree air. I am not sure if this is low for a pellet stove burning on a medium to high setting. I know these things are really only space heaters but I cant believe it cant even throw heat 15' and warm our sitting area.

The stove vent is the simpson duravent. I exited the stove into a 90 elbow, up a 3' continuous section, a right 90 elbow to huge the wall, then another 90 out the wall and through the thimble. once out the wall it hits another elbow and then up the tee about 6 feet and terminates. I have had no venting issues even with all these elbows. The reason for the elbows was to tuck it in the corner and window vent clearance issues per the manual.

I also connected the OAK as directed and that is straight out the wall.

I will upload pics of the installation. I am at a loss as to why this thing is so underwhelming. I have been cleaning it very well (used to cleaning coal stoves which is much more time consuming) and I'm about to fire up the basement hunstman stove to help it out. Tomorrow ill be calling Englander for help on their end. Thanks for any advice in advance.

Thanks for the responses. I am considering increasing the exterior section to 4” pipe. The reason for the excess elbows is the inside location of the wall studs and then on the exterior is the vent termination clearances per the manual. If I go straight out or up I’m too close laterally to the windows.

This may be a dumb question but is the difference between this models advertised square footage and the next size up just strictly how many pellets it will burn ? I have also considered returning for the larger Englander model if after my efforts don’t equal better output. I am attempting to heat about 1200-1300 square feet on the first floor with this thing and expected a little more oomph.

Thanks again guys. As im new to the pellet fuel, so far i have tried the green team and fireside. The fireside seems to leave less ash but i didnt notice any heat difference. I am going to try the trick of plugging the two holes on the bottom of the burn pot and would also like to check the factory setting mode this is set on. I have hard a hard time finding a thread that states the process of checking and resetting the modes of A/B/C/D. If anyone knows it and doesnt mind a quick type out of it i would really appreciate it.

I figure I will tinker with the settings, pellets, and easy things such as the burn pot hole trick before i start changing any installation stuff or consider swapping to a larger model.

Whats the opinion out there on running softwood pellets through these? Has anyone seen a drastic change in heat output or is it minor changes in heat.

Thanks again for the advice on the EVL and your burn experiences. This website is such a great resource!

I plugged the two holes underneath the burn pot (when looking into the burn pot I plugged each hole on the left and right side of the pot that sit near the bottom and are about 1/2-3/4 in diameter) hopefully these are the correct holes. The reason i am questioning this is since doing that my first burn is 50 degrees cooler than before. It seemed as if everyone got improved results with this so I am wondering if I plugged the incorrect holes.

I just did the reset and it was set to D. I just reset to C and will see what that does....I have been burning on 5/7 to keep a consistent idea of what im getting out of it with different pellets and since tinkering. I had it going for a good hour or so and it never got up to the same temp as before i plugged those holes. that is kind of throwing me off since everyone has had success with that. i used knock out seal plugs.

as far as i understand the termination limits in the manual, there is no reference to clearing windows by going out. it references vertical and lateral limits which i wouldnt meet by going straight out. My window position put me in a pickle where going straight up clears the first floor windows but then encroaches on the 4' clearance underneath the second floor windows. i had to jink the pipe over to satisfy the building inspector

Heres a video of it burning on setting C at 5/5. my limited eye on pellet stoves doesnt tell me much on the flame im seeing

if that didnt work here are a couple of pictures. same flame in each pic just my phone focusing differently on each

ill have to mess with the exterior vent set up and try running a bag with a straight out termination to see what that does. are there any standard temps to expect out of the front louvers ? i have a rutland thermometer from my wood stove on there to use as a measuring stick. getting 215 right now out of the section, slightly higher if i put it on the body of the stove