25-PDVC

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Just give it a scrape out before bed and you’ll be good to go.
 
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I get a fair amount of ash in mine after burning for several hours. I just have a 2" putty knife (metal) that I open the door and scoop it off to the side.

Good morning!

Is there anything one should keep in mind when opening the door while the stove is running to scrape the ashes?

Thanks!

-Nathan
 
Good morning!

Is there anything one should keep in mind when opening the door while the stove is running to scrape the ashes?

Thanks!

-Nathan
Obviously without saying open slowly or you will pull the smoke out into the room. Also do not keep the door open very long or the smoke will also start coming out into the room. Remember these stoves work on a negative draft that requires the door closed and no air leaks to draft to the outside properly. That said you should not have an issue it only takes a few seconds to scrape the pot.
 
Definitly full, but looking more like I can burn overnight for 8 hours without worrying about burning the house down.

Good evening,

If it's any consolation, I have run my stove overnight every night for the last week with no issues in spite of some massive ash buildup from the North American pellets I tried. I don't know enough to be concerned about the ash except for the nuisance factor of crowding the pellets, so if it's a safety risk that's news to me. I did notice the flame starts coming out of the bottom auger a bit when it gets really crowded. The Home Depot stove chow pellets seem better than the afore-mentioned Lowe's ones so far in terms of more heat and less ash -- on my second bag tonight.

From what I can tell, the higher heat settings seem to encourage a more thorough burn and less ash too.

Best,

Nathan
 
That said you should not have an issue it only takes a few seconds to scrape the pot.

Morning,

Thanks for the tip. I did my first scrape last night, just kinda pulled the ash into that gap in front of the burn pot. The manufacturer suggests pressing the off button and waiting 5 minutes, which I did, but that seems to contribute to more wear and tear on the igniter when it comes back on. For next time I was considering putting the heat setting down to 1 and then scraping it in between "pulses" instead.

Still, like you said, easy peasy. Took a second to smoosh the pellets into the middle too.

- Nathan
 
Morning,

Thanks for the tip. I did my first scrape last night, just kinda pulled the ash into that gap in front of the burn pot. The manufacturer suggests pressing the off button and waiting 5 minutes, which I did, but that seems to contribute to more wear and tear on the igniter when it comes back on. For next time I was considering putting the heat setting down to 1 and then scraping it in between "pulses" instead.

Still, like you said, easy peasy. Took a second to smoosh the pellets into the middle too.

- Nathan
Some People on here may disagree with me but I never turn my stove off or down to scrape the pot for the 3 or 4 seconds it takes to scrape the pot. But I will admit when it is cooking in the middle of the winter it gets a little warm on the hand.
 
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What Rick said.

Eric
 
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Good evening,

If it's any consolation, I have run my stove overnight every night for the last week with no issues in spite of some massive ash buildup from the North American pellets I tried. I don't know enough to be concerned about the ash except for the nuisance factor of crowding the pellets, so if it's a safety risk that's news to me. I did notice the flame starts coming out of the bottom auger a bit when it gets really crowded. The Home Depot stove chow pellets seem better than the afore-mentioned Lowe's ones so far in terms of more heat and less ash -- on my second bag tonight.

From what I can tell, the higher heat settings seem to encourage a more thorough burn and less ash too.

Best,

Nathan

After blocking the two bottom holes with round magnets, I also closed off some of the wear plate holes to improve burn efficiency on my 25- pdv. If you look at the burn center on the wear plate, you'll see that you will get a circle of burning pellets in front of the auger tube, with ash all around it. I blocked off all of the wear plate holes around this circle with stove cement, to force more air up through the wear plate. You can use high temp foil tape underneath, to block the holes temporarily first. If you like the results, you can use the stove cement.
 
I’ve battled with the 25-PDV for a couple years now. Big tall “lazy” flame, I’ve cleaned the stove thoroughly, leaf blower trick, changed all gaskets, even put in a new combustion blower. Still have the same big lazy flame that flows right into the top of the stove.

I’m debating weather or not to replace the control board? Someone had posted that something on the board can go bad and cause the combustion motor to not speed up when you select the hotter settings, not sure if that is true. I pulled the OAK hose to feel the suction at temp 1 and it did not increase when I bump the temp to 9. I’m going to assume that if you turn up the heat to burn more pellets, the combustion fan should ramp up as well?


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The control board triacs actually are what control the on/off voltage to the motor but the timing is controled by the software on the prom chip that triggers the optoisolaters (An opto-isolator is an electronic component that transfers electrical signals between two isolated circuits by using light. Opto-isolators prevent high voltages from affecting the system receiving the signal.) so you could test them with a multimeter by tapping into combustion motor wires and see what the voltage change is if any between the settings. Be carefull you will be dealing with line voltage! If your motor isnt changing speed (motor is variable speed capable) your board is definitely the issue
 
Thanks for the info, I will test it out and see what happens. I bought the stove used some time ago, and I don’t think the combustion fan ever changed speed with temp. You englander tech support would have suspected a control board, they said my combustion fan was bad.


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I used a PDVC in my old cape for 4 years. I put 3-4 tons of pellets through it a year and let it run 24/7 from about Thanksgiving through the end of March. I ran it in C mode. Those stoves will burn a little dirty with lazy-ish flames on the low numbers. I also plugged up the bottom two holes. That stove was a beast and I loved it. We just moved so I know have a Quad insert.

Anyway, that ash build up is normal. As everyone said, scrape it a few times a day and keep it burning. The only way I was able to combat that is to burn Douglas fir pellets. I burned blazers one year cause I got em for $260 a ton. For that stove they were worth every penny.

I used to scrape the pot 3-4 times a day, and would shut down the stove and get all the ash out of the stove twice a week with any other pellets. With those Blazers, I scraped the pot every other day if that and didn’t have to shut down and clean the ash out of the stove for a month. That was the only way I was able to combat extra ash.

Bottom line, keep that thing burning.
 
The control board triacs actually are what control the on/off voltage to the motor but the timing is controled by the software on the prom chip that triggers the optoisolaters (An opto-isolator is an electronic component that transfers electrical signals between two isolated circuits by using light. Opto-isolators prevent high voltages from affecting the system receiving the signal.) so you could test them with a multimeter by tapping into combustion motor wires and see what the voltage change is if any between the settings. Be carefull you will be dealing with line voltage! If your motor isnt changing speed (motor is variable speed capable) your board is definitely the issue

I tapped into the combustion fan leads, reads at 117.4 volts, and there is no difference in voltage from setting 1-9.

I’m not sure if the combustion motor is variable, but I would assume it is. Maybe a Englander guru will chime in here.


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I would give Englander support a call and see if they have any input on the motor issue.
 
I would give Englander support a call and see if they have any input on the motor issue.

I did call them, and they said it sounds like I have a bad control board. With their previous recommendations, and Zero results in fixing the issue I’m a little skeptical.

I did run the combustion motor on its own power yesterday. I had the oven on and burning, shut it down quick and attached the combustion motor to it’s power source. Turned the oven back on and it was the same flame. This would tell me that the combustion fan does not spin up any faster than it did thru the control board?


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Correct. So that leaves the exhaust has an obstruction, or there is a vacuum leak. Check that your pot gasket, door seal, glass to door seal, have you plugged the holes under the burn plate? Visually ck your chimney for obstructions birds, bees,rodents anything.
 
I have a pdvc and had the same problem until i blocked the bottom two hole and all the outer holes in the wear plate,and slightly enlarged the rest. I have been burn for over a week now and only get a small amount of ash on the wear plate. Also the window stays cleaner much longer now. Give these things a try im sure you will not be disappointed
 
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