Englander 25-pah fire issues

[jwoot]

Hello,

I recently picked up a Englander 25-pah and have been working on a issue to get and keep the unit lit. Specifically, when I attempt to light it (with gel) the pellets are burning fine until the door is closed. At this point it is almost like there is too much air being drawn through burn pot and the burning pellets smolder out.

All this said, we have several other englander pellet stoves for other building (25-pdv/ 25-pdvc) and the issue I'm seeing on this stove screams of a airflow issue. That I can see everything is clean, all motors work and it is a good board.

Any suggestions or insights would be appreciated. This stove is kind of driving me batty at this point ... it should work and obviously it isn't lol

Checked settings (default I think)
lff - 1
lba -4 (update from test this evening/ tested several settings here and with it lower it was a bit better but basically doing the same thing)
lot -1

Checked mode using something mentioned in another post
-hold up & down blower buttons and then power on
-Shows as setting 3 on heat range window. Might not mean anything...but I'm not as familiar with this stove and the programmed burn stages


What I've done so far:
-For testing reasons this is currently in my garage (well vented)... I run a three inch 3 foot pipe out the garage door /T to 90 another 3" -foot pipe to a hood. Actually same setup I use for all of my other stoves...so I think venting should be ok. (correct me if I'm wrong)
-Completely disassembled stove (including auger/etc) and cleaned thoroughly
-read a few suggestions regarding bumping with a hammer/ did this with a rubber mallet everywhere I could safely do and cleaned
-vacuumed out about every corner of this stove I could find. Even used a small (1/4") hose attached to a vacum to really get up into the upper chambers from left/right access panels in burn chamber
-Tested all motors (disconnected from stove/power applied separately)
-put two different known good combustion motors on / same result
-new seal on combustion motor on replacement of course
-replaced door and window gaskets
-dollar bill test/match test to try to identify air intake issues
-resealed inside of pellet hopper with appropriate fire rated sealant
-completely cleaned again/ including leaf blower technique
-the ash drawer was replaced with a brand new one from factory so has brand new seals (missing when I bought the stove)

 

[Ssyko]

The pah has different programming than the pdv & pdvc so don’t compare them. The best thing to do is call englander tech support and they can walk you through the settings and troubleshooting if need be.

 

[jwoot]

I plan on calling their support line... just in my experience it is very difficult to get through this time of year. They have excellent engineers on the phones but from what I understand it is a smaller company so only have one or two people manning the phones at any given time so getting through is difficult at times.

That said, does anyone have an info on the burn modes for the pah stove? Been looking around and haven't really found anything substantial yet.

 

[jwoot]

Hmm...reading the documentation a bit closer and it looks like there is a gasket I missed. Initially I was looking at the burn pot but I didn't see any screws or ways to remove this...almost looked like it was welded in for this model.

I'll see if I can get this removed and replace the gasket...could certainly have a impact on the fire

 

[Ssyko]

Thats what i was saying I don’t think the 25PAH has multiple burn modes.

 

[jwoot]

Not sure myself to be honest...this said I have replaced the burnpot gasket with a new one, pulled the pellets I was testing with a dropped in from fresh bag (same as used in two other stoves). It is burning consistently but seems to be a really low flame/low heat output from what I would expect. Also kind of a struggle to manually light it with gel and keep going.

This said, I'm half wondering if the igniter on this is more key to the overall timing of the lighting that it is with my other stoves. More the other stoves if we did want to manually light it is just throw some gel on and light and off it goes. This stove is really designed differently in the burn pot and that might make a difference. In any case...a new igniterhas been ordered so we will see.

All this really isn't a big deal... I'm just generally annoyed about this stove. I hate not knowing why something doesn't work to what I'd think it would lol

 

[jwoot]

guess I should add...I'm also just adding this stuff to a post incase someone else happens to stumble on to this with the same problem. I've had other posts help me too many times

 

[gfreek]

I have emailed Englander questions and have gotten quick responses... from a tech. Phone not so much..

 

[jwoot]

So to follow up on this... as of my last post I was kind of annoyed with myself on this stove More everything was "right" and it should be working. At that, I decided to restart and check each and every component. Not only did it work...but what was it and was it the same as factory spec. Worked through and found the installed auger motor was a 1rpm motor instead of a 2rpm motor (as called for)

Complete head slap moment... the new motor arrived today/tested tonight. Fired right up...the settings were 1-4-1 / 1 & 1
Rookie lesson relearned

As always...thanks everyone for your input and help. It is always nice to have a sounding board and greatly appreciated.

 

[jwoot]

I have emailed Englander questions and have gotten quick responses... from a tech. Phone not so much..

thank you for this post....wasn't even aware they had or would respond to email inquiries. I'll keep this in mind in the future. Certainly a lot easier than playing the call every few minutes to a busy signal

 

[jwoot]

So to follow up on this... as of my last post I was kind of annoyed with myself on this stove More everything was "right" and it should be working. At that, I decided to restart and check each and every component. Not only did it work...but what was it and was it the same as factory spec. Worked through and found the installed auger motor was a 1rpm motor instead of a 2rpm motor (as called for)

Complete head slap moment... the new motor arrived today/tested tonight. Fired right up...the settings were 1-4-1 / 1 & 1
Rookie lesson relearned

As always...thanks everyone for your input and help. It is always nice to have a sounding board and greatly appreciated.

View attachment 267665

Should have added....also replaced the igniter

 

[gfreek]

Thanks for posting the fix..good to go..

 

[jwoot]

I have emailed Englander questions and have gotten quick responses... from a tech. Phone not so much..

You're right. Just emailed them today and received a quick/quality response on a issue I was working on. Thanks again for this info...will definitely use it in the future.