25-PDVC Control Board Failure

[Maritimer]

I bought a 25-PDVC stove 3 weeks ago and I love the heat it gives off (I have only put 8 bags through it). Last night I planned on letting the pellets run dry so this morning I could do stove maintenance like carbon buildup, scraping, vacuuming etc. I opened the hopper and there were still pellets in it (which there shouldn’t have been because it was nearly empty). So I started it back up and the top auger and room blower weren’t coming on. Now I ran the lower auger wires to the top auger and the motor works fine. I checked the voltage coming out of the control board to the room blower and its 0vac through all 9 settings. I disconnected the blower from the control board and ran a separate hookup to it. The room blower works fine. So I believe my control board for the fan output is dead. Everything else about the control board works but not the room blower.

Just one side note. When I took the cover off the back and through the course of troubleshooting I touched the lower auger motor and it nearly burnt my hand. Also I noticed some lubricant leaking out of the gear box. Will I have a failure of the auger motor shortly??

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated till I can contact the stove service people.

 

[rap69ri]

The bottom motor will get hot because it turns constantly, and some lube on the outside of the motor is pretty normal as well. Were pellets continuously coming out of the bottom auger?

 

[Maritimer]

Yes, pellets have been coming out steady from the bottom auger. I did notice though on the bottom auger motor (Same as the top) that it has on the label the name of the company, amperage, and Inter. duty. If I'm reading this right Inter. duty means intermittent and not continuously running as the bottom auger always runs. I wonder if this is why it gets extremely hot.

Just a thought.

I hope I can get through to service tomorrow and find out if my control board output for the fan is repairable.

Thanks for your advice

 

[rap69ri]

If you're getting pellets at the bottom auger than the top auger must be turning. It doesn't run continuously like the bottom auger. You probably now this, but the room air blower won't start until the internal temp reaches a certain temp. This usually happens about 15-20 minutes after startup.

 

[pegdot]

If you haven't already done so go to Englanders web site and find the instructions for running the stove through it's Diagnostic mode. That will allow you to check both the top auger and the room blower. Was there an error code on the panel?

 

[Maritimer]

I didn't see an error code but its the damndest thing it is working again. Maybe there was a bad connection because I pulled all the connectors and re-installed. Thanks for all the input. I did try the diagnostic feature for future reference. That worked well.

I have also been looking at the bottom auger motor and doing some research. From what I can tell the motor on the bottom should be a continuous duty motor not an inter. duty that is there. That is why it gets so hot. Does anyone have any thoughts.