2008 englander pdv-25

[Axeless]

Hi everyone. New here, recently picked up a used 2008 pdv-25. I had a few concerns and questions.

Are the side vents supposed to blow hot air? Mine only blows from the top over the door, after i cleaned a load of hair and dust from the blower screen. It seems i have to run the blower at 9, anything less and it hums awkwardly.
Also, the hopper lid only gets lukewarm, but the top plate in very front of stove gets pretty hot. Is this normal?
The auger was squaking, but i chipped away all the creosote from the tube. Im burning cubex pellets, and after a night there is a clump of hard ash in burn pot and chimney is smoking a bit more, im guessing the pellet type? And i was wondering if removing the blower allows access to heat exchanger tubes? Thanks

 

[ericofmaine]

Hi everyone. New here, recently picked up a used 2008 pdv-25. I had a few concerns and questions.
Are the side vents supposed to blow hot air? Mine only blows from the top over the door, after i cleaned a load of hair and dust from the blower screen.

No, the side vents are there for decoration. Other than some normal convection, there is no heat coming from those.

It seems i have to run the blower at 9, anything less and it hums awkwardly.

Does the fan speed at least adjust when you change the blower speed on the control board? If so, you may just need a new blower motor. Otherwise, you could have a bad control board.

Also, the hopper lid only gets lukewarm, but the top plate in very front of stove gets pretty hot. Is this normal?

Yes, normal.

The auger was squaking, but i chipped away all the creosote from the tube. Im burning cubex pellets, and after a night there is a clump of hard ash in burn pot and chimney is smoking a bit more, im guessing the pellet type?

No, it really isn't pellet dependent. Mine will do this and I keep a 2" METAL putty knife that I scrape out the burnpot twice a day.

And i was wondering if removing the blower allows access to heat exchanger tubes? Thanks

It will, but the easiest is either the leaf blower trick (search it, works well) or to get a smaller diameter hose that will go in the hole behind the impingement plate. If you want to go in through the exhaust motor, make sure you have a new gasket as the one that's there won't survive.

Eric

 

[Axeless]

Ok thanks. Will this blower work? https://www.homehardware.ca/en/75-amp-2-speed-electric-leaf-blower/p/5124197

And also should i blow or vac out the small air intake tube on the back of stove?

 

[Ssyko]

Yes that blower should be fine. When you do the leaf blower trick have your stove door open. And check the vacuum hoses and make sure they arent cracked or split at the ends

 

[Pellet rick]

A couple of things I can recommend on this stove. ericofmaine is correct on every thing, but I will ad to it. If your convection fan was that dirty I would remove it from the stove and blow out the squirl cage with compressed air. Believe it or not the dust ways down those little motor's and sometime they will hum when they struggle to get to the rpm. Pellets in a PDV or PDVC are everything. Personally I will only run 100% soft wood thru my PDV or if I cannot find them I will settle for a mixture of soft/hardwood . But that is a last resort. After checking what Ssyko wants you to check pull out the burn plate and plug the two holes under it to the left and right of the fresh air tube. Most people use Hillman plugs from Depot or Lowes. That will force more air up through your burn plate and help with your lava pile. I even increased the center hole diameters in the burn plat slightly and blocked off the perimeter ones to also help. Just my 2cents . you can take or leave it.

 

[Axeless]

Okay guys thanks. The fan does change speed so the board is OK, guess i will order a blower gasket and take out blower when it arrives. But for now anything under 9 it makes noise. Its -12C right now here, and i had to fire it up. I vacuumed out all the inside really good and vacuumed all visible holes i could see. I will run the leafblower as soon as i get it. One last thing. Anything under 5 on heat range setting doesnt heat house, im 1100 sq ft mobile home with addition(drafty). Is it ok to run her at 7? Like i mean is it hard on it? New to all this. I should add, that im using it intermittently, so when i fire it up the house is fairly chilly. So 12 hours on, 12 hours off and -15C outside. Because im paranoid about a fire.

 

[Ssyko]

Should run finat 7 even 8. What are the bottom 3 settings press each button 1 time and remember the numbers. They should be 6-4-1

 

[Axeless]

What are the bottom 3 settings press each button 1 time and remember the numbers. They should be 6-4-1

2-5-1 is what i have.

 

[Ssyko]

Ok thats part of your heat issue press the first button once then the up arrow below the number till it read 5 -4-1 then set heat range to 5 fan and fan at 9 and see how the heat is

 

[Pellet rick]

Ssyko I thought everyone was in agreement that the bottom three buttons do nothing above heat setting 2? Have I been wrong all these years . Agreed that stove will run on setting 8-9 all day long. By the way I take my convection blower out monthly to clean it and have never replaced the gasket. No need on that one. Combustion blower definitely though

 

[Pellet rick]

Axeless what mode are you in? The pdv should be in C mode but I know a few people who have bought them and for some reason they came in D mode

 

[Ssyko]

Ssyko I thought everyone was in agreement that the bottom three buttons do nothing above heat setting 2? Have I been wrong all these years . Agreed that stove will run on setting 8-9 all day long. By the way I take my convection blower out monthly to clean it and have never replaced the gasket. No need on that one. Combustion blower definitely though

Yep your right im brain dead tonight lol

 

[Pellet rick]

Yep your right im brain dead tonight lol

Was wondering what you were talking about. Thought maybe I was brain dead . Lol we’re getting old .‍♂️

 

[Axeless]

I dont know what mode its on. But it seems to be hotter after the vacuuming, and a taller flame. I set the lower settings 5-4-1. And standard settings at 5-9. Now, one thing i do notice is the left side(looking at front) gets pretty hot. I took the flat black plate off covering the exhaust blower and i have a room fan blowing in there. But shes pretty hot behind that gold grill at the sidewall. Normal? Also when i look in, in front of exhaust blower i see a piece of metal tape fluttering around and under it looks like yellow fiberglass. That would be just behind the gold vent on exhaust blower side(hot side). I can touch it, but its hotter than right side.

 

[Ssyko]

It’s insulation. englanders combustion blower housings are usually coverd then taped in place to keep the temps down in the back. The right side is usually a little cooler because of the convection blower is on that side and moves alot more air.

 

[Axeless]

Okay. Thanks for all the advice I will post an update after the leaf blower, and a few of the other tricks mentioned here. Thanks again all. -15C right now and going to -20 tonight so its definitely gonna run.