A few questions about my my Englander Stove

[Amatuer Adventurist]

I've got a 55-SHPEP that was built in July 09. Before I call customer service I thought I'd ask around a few questions.

We had a fairly cold couple of days here in Western New York. 0 with the wind chill over night, 10 during the day. I could not get my house warm. The room where the stove is has a thermostat for the forced air furnace. I couldn't get it above 75. Its only 10 feet from the front of the stove. The other rooms were much much colder. Right now it's on 3 feed 7 blower the room says 72. It was as high as 5 feed 9 blower but the burn pot just over fills. The house has new blown in insulation throughout and new energy efficient windows throughout as well. The whole house is 1300 sq ft but the upstairs is shut off with us remodeling it. We're also burning Lignetics. I use the baffle cleaner ever couple hours when I'm home. Anything else...?

When the stove is burning it turns the pellets red hot with new pellets coming in, forming a large flame that dances on the roof. ( At any feed/blower combination) The pellets though never really turn to ash. They form a solid piece in the bottom that comes out only after breaking it up with either a paint scrapper or a nail. Because of this the pellets get higher and higher till finally it has to be shut off and emptied so they stay in the burn pot and not fall all over the sides. It only takes about 24 hrs for this cycle. I've burned Clean Energy, Lignetics, and American Wood Ash pellets so far. I start it on 5/5 per the manual then turn the air up to 7-9 depending on how much warmer we're trying to get the house. I end up having to turn the feed down to 3-4 to keep from filling the burn pot to quickly. This just doesn't seem normal. Its rated for a 2,000 sq ft home. Ours IF everything was open is only 1300. I clean it out everyday. Vacuum every couple. What am I doing wrong.

I'm off to work till Sunday night. When I come back I'll try what anyone may suggest.

Thanx

 

[Arnold]

I have the insert version of that stove & never set my heat range higher than 3. I set the room blower to 9 & mostly have the heat range on # 2. On heat range 3 the top of the stove gets almost hot enough to cook on.........can't imagine running it on anything higher.

My burn pot never chunks up & I have my bottom settings on 1-6-1. Just get fluffy light grey-brown ash & I've burnt penningtons (Not known for great quality), pro pellet, & somerset pellets with great results on all 3.

Have you been taking out the top impingement baffle when you clean ?

I shut mine down & do a thorough cleaning & vacuum with the ash vac every day including removing the baffle & cleaning the area behind as well as brushing off the tubes...............takes all of 10-15 minutes including refilling the hopper with pellets for the day. I go thru a bag a day or less depending on out outside temps.

Might want to check your exhaust vent to see if it may be partially clogged.........my stove just never has the unburnt pellet build up you describe.

If you don't get it straightened out, give englander tech support a call. They have the best customer service of any company I've ever dealt with.

Tom in Oh

 

[HEMI]

I have the insert version of that stove & never set my heat range higher than 3. I set the room blower to 9 & mostly have the heat range on # 2. On heat range 3 the top of the stove gets almost hot enough to cook on.........can't imagine running it on anything higher.

My burn pot never chunks up & I have my bottom settings on 1-6-1. Just get fluffy light grey-brown ash & I've burnt penningtons (Not known for great quality), pro pellet, & somerset pellets with great results on all 3.

Have you been taking out the top impingement baffle when you clean ?

I shut mine down & do a thorough cleaning & vacuum with the ash vac every day including removing the baffle & cleaning the area behind as well as brushing off the tubes...............takes all of 10-15 minutes including refilling the hopper with pellets for the day. I go thru a bag a day or less depending on out outside temps.

Might want to check your exhaust vent to see if it may be partially clogged.........my stove just never has the unburnt pellet build up you describe.

If you don't get it straightened out, give englander tech support a call. They have the best customer service of any company I've ever dealt with.

Tom in Oh

keep in my (unless you know this already) that when on heat range of 3 or higher your bottom 3 settings mean nothing, only when your on heat range 1 or 2 does it com into play.

 

[Arnold]

[/quote]keep in my (unless you know this already) that when on heat range of 3 or higher your bottom 3 settings mean nothing, only when your on heat range 1 or 2 does it com into play.[/quote]

Hemi.........Only in the last 2 days (low temp outside about 12*) have I needed to run my stove on heat range 3. I've owned 4 Englanders over the past several years (both old style & the new top feed style) & believe me, I'm quite familiar with settings, cleaning & most part replacement. The new model top feed shouldn't be doing what the original poster says it's doing......... combustion air flow thru the burnpot & the heat exchanger is vastly improved over their earlier model stoves.

Something isn't right.........???

 

[imacman]

.....I could not get my house warm......Thermostat....I couldn't get it above 75. Its only 10 feet from the front of the stove. The other rooms were much much colder. Right now it's on 3 feed 7 blower the room says 72. It was as high as 5 feed 9 blower but the burn pot just over fills.

When the stove is burning it turns the pellets red hot with new pellets coming in, forming a large flame that dances on the roof. ( At any feed/blower combination) The pellets though never really turn to ash. They form a solid piece in the bottom that comes out only after breaking it up with either a paint scrapper or a nail...........I end up having to turn the feed down to 3-4 to keep from filling the burn pot to quickly.......I clean it out everyday. Vacuum every couple. What am I doing wrong.......

Well, IMO, I have no idea why you have a problem with the stove getting your room(s) to 75...there are a lot of people here that would LOVE to have that problem. And you say you can get the room to 72 on feed 3? In the weather you're having right now, I'd say that stove is doing da*n well!.

As for the pot overfilling, that is classic case of lack of airflow through the pot.....not enough for proper burn, and may also have something to do w/ the clinker you're getting. I had a small case of marble-acorn sized soft clinkers last winter on the lignetics, but nothing that would fill the burn pot. Have you tried the other brands that you mentioned recently?

IMO, the "cleaning" that your doing isn't enough. How many bags of pellets have gone through the stove since you bought it? The "I clean it out everyday. Vacuum every couple" doesn't sound good enough...when was the last time you cleaned in the ash traps? Or the exhaust pipe? Did you make sure all the holes in the burn pot are completely open?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

check the door and ash pan seals ,make sure the seals actually meet the surface they need to seat to , if they do not call me at my shop and i'll get you straight. if the seals are intact and effectively sealing the openings still call me i'll figure out why your stove isnt burning right and set you on the road to enjoying your stove. or if ya want PM me a phone number and i'll have atech call you when we get back to work monday

 

[Amatuer Adventurist]

.....I could not get my house warm......Thermostat....I couldn't get it above 75. Its only 10 feet from the front of the stove. The other rooms were much much colder. Right now it's on 3 feed 7 blower the room says 72. It was as high as 5 feed 9 blower but the burn pot just over fills.

When the stove is burning it turns the pellets red hot with new pellets coming in, forming a large flame that dances on the roof. ( At any feed/blower combination) The pellets though never really turn to ash. They form a solid piece in the bottom that comes out only after breaking it up with either a paint scrapper or a nail...........I end up having to turn the feed down to 3-4 to keep from filling the burn pot to quickly.......I clean it out everyday. Vacuum every couple. What am I doing wrong.......

Well, IMO, I have no idea why you have a problem with the stove getting your room(s) to 75...there are a lot of people here that would LOVE to have that problem. And you say you can get the room to 72 on feed 3? In the weather you're having right now, I'd say that stove is doing da*n well!.

As for the pot overfilling, that is classic case of lack of airflow through the pot.....not enough for proper burn, and may also have something to do w/ the clinker you're getting. I had a small case of marble-acorn sized soft clinkers last winter on the lignetics, but nothing that would fill the burn pot. Have you tried the other brands that you mentioned recently?

IMO, the "cleaning" that your doing isn't enough. How many bags of pellets have gone through the stove since you bought it? The "I clean it out everyday. Vacuum every couple" doesn't sound good enough...when was the last time you cleaned in the ash traps? Or the exhaust pipe? Did you make sure all the holes in the burn pot are completely open?

I don't think getting a well insulated room to 75 degress 10 feet from a heat source is really cranking out the heat. Not on a stove rated to heat a 2000 sq ft home. I'm sure I'm doing something else wrong.

I've burned all the pellets I mentioned. The Clean Energy's seemed to have burned the hottest of them so far but they were also the first I've burned.

Monday when I get home I'm planning on really cleaning it out. Everyday I empty the burn pot and clean out all the holes with a nail. Then I scrape it as well. I brush off all the gaskets before I close it all up again. I've vacuumed it out probably 4 times. I've gone through about 10 bags so far.

 

[[email protected]]

Something does seem wrong. My house is 900 feet with a 25 pdvc rated for 1500 feet. I had it set on 3 and 5 last night and it was 76 degrees this morning. The stove is 2 walls and about 20 feet from thermostat and half my down stairs has NO insulation. It was 12 degrees and fairly windy.
I would talk with Mike he will get you figured out.

 

[Amatuer Adventurist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFD9hFLe74Q

First video of the pellet stove. It had been on about 26 hrs at this point. I'm getting ready to shut it down and clean it. The next 2 video's are still processing.

Second video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXVBAiLTUUc

Third video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85b-VPgKUYg

 

[Arnold]

Watched your videos.........That looks horrible.........My new Englander never does that. What brand of pellets are you using ? Are they stored inside ? If those pellets aren't wet or pure junk, something has to be blocking air flow on the intake or exhaust blower outlet.

Hope tech support at Englander can sort it out for you. If I run my stove abovemuch feed setting 3 it would melt down before the burn pot got that full.

 

[Amatuer Adventurist]

Those are Lignetics. They're dry and stored inside. Its the third brand I've tried. All end up just like that. I'm going to give them a call tomorrow.

 

[blanc12]

What are you using for exhaust pipe. Is it straight out then up or just straight out?

It looks like an air issue. You said you had it low (under 3) overnight. There are settings that control the air at this level. Contact Englander and they will help you with these settings. The stove will work great when you get it set right.

 

[Amatuer Adventurist]

I used the kit they sell. Out and 3 feet up.

 

[SmokingAndPoking]

keep in my (unless you know this already) that when on heat range of 3 or higher your bottom 3 settings mean nothing, only when your on heat range 1 or 2 does it com into play.

This is only true for the older models (PDV & PDVC).

The 10CPM, 25PAH and 25EP are all affected by the bottom three settings regardless of the heat range.

 

[imacman]

Watched your videos.........That looks horrible.........My new Englander never does that. What brand of pellets are you using ? Are they stored inside ? If those pellets aren't wet or pure junk, something has to be blocking air flow on the intake or exhaust blower outlet.

Hope tech support at Englander can sort it out for you. If I run my stove abovemuch feed setting 3 it would melt down before the burn pot got that full.

I agree with Arnold.....that is nasty!! I may end-up being completely wrong in the end of this, but it sure looks like that there is a serious airflow problem within the stove or pipe.

Have you checked ALL the gaskets as Mike Holton suggested? Have you done the dollar bill test on the door gasket? I'm tempted to ask about the combustion blower running correctly, but the stove is so new.........but hey, anything is possible.

I have another question after looking again at video #3....when you open the ash drawer, all the ash & pellets are on the sides. Does your stove have ash drop "doors" or slides on each side of the burn pot? Are they completely closed when your burning? I can't figure out how those pellets are getting there unburned and on the sides.

Are there ash trap "doors" on each side of the firebox that lead into the ash trap?

 

[mattfloyd1]

AA
I've got the same stove as you-built July, 09 and been burning since October'ish. My lower settings are 1-5-1(preset from the factory this way) and I haven't touch them. Stove runs very clean and hot. It seems the cleaner the burn pot the better this stove runs. I do shut my stove down every day and clean it(that's just me). Each weekend I completely break down and remove everything in the burn cavity, brush and vacuum all ash out, and scrape the burn pot to the metal. After scraping the burn pot, I took and reamed the 3 different size holes with a cordless drill set on low speed. In some of the bottom vent holes was some pretty good built up of carbon as the bit didn't pass through as easy as the side vent holes. So far, I've burned Pennington and Greene Team and neither have given me any trouble.
-Matt