Englander 25-pdv heat problem

[kmunyon]

Hi everyone I purchased an englander pellet stove from lowes about a year ago after our old pellet stove finally capped the bed. This new stove has only gone through one winter and this year we just can't get a good heat output. We have cleaned it top to bottom and tried increasing the fuel and blower settings but it doesnt make a difference. You can barely feel the heat coming out from the air vents. It burns pellets ok and clean, just a very poor heat

 

[johnnyb1970]

What model????

 

[kmunyon]

25-pdv. You have to have your hand 2 inches from the vent holes to be able to feel any air blowing out of it.

 

[DMKNLD]

Hello and welcome to this forum ! I'm not an Englander owner, but there are many on here who can help you, which you will get a better response if you edit your thread title to include your stove brand and model - that will better catch the eye of others on here who have your stove and can often best help you.

A couple general pellet stove heat output ideas would be your pellet choice - are you burning decent quality pellets ? Did you change them from last season, where I assume you had better heat output ? Most stove burning / efficiency problems are from ash build-up somewhere. You said you cleaned the stove top to bottom - that included the venting as well, to include even using a leaf blower to get all the air /ash pathway cleaned out ? Use the search link in the upper right to search 'LBT' or 'leaf blower trick' to read all about that.

I'm sure others will chime in here who have an Englander stove to help out.

 

[kmunyon]

We are burning Nature's heat pellets. Yes we have cleaned everything top to bottom. We don't not have a leaf blower though. The outside vent is cleaned and the OAK is feeling cold with condensation. Even at 9-9 setting it gives off the same air as if it was set to 1-1. I can hear the blower so I know that it is on and working

 

[DMKNLD]

Many posts on Pennington / Nature's Heat pellets, most of them generally unfavorable, but every pellet burners idea of 'poor heat' or 'lots of ash' is individual, as is each stove's ability to burn variable pellet quality. Other Englander owners who've tried them can better speak to that.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/natures-heat-bad-idea.132938/

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pennington-are-they-good.117559/#post-1615805

I don't know if you have a local pellet shortage in your area like others in New England have reported, but I would try a couple bags of a different pellet brand to see if that helps your heat output.

'Best practices' idea on pellet purchasing is 'try before you buy' - ie test burn a few bags before you commit to a ton or more purchase, then you'll know how they burn in your stove. I made the mistake my first burn season of ordering 4 tons without trying them out first, of what ended up being 'dirt in a bag' quality pellets. Live and learn.....

Here's a good article on hardwood vs softwood pellet characteristics - not brand specific but a good info resource. (broken link removed to http://allaboutwoodpellets.com/hardwood_softwood.php)

Good luck !

 

[JDenyer236]

Have you checked and cleaned the blower wheel on the convection(aka room blower) blower? You would be amazed how fast some of these get clogged up, especially if you have a dog and/or cats.

 

[kmunyon]

Usually I burn green supreme, but the last few bags I have had to use these other pellets because of shortage of pellets. How and where do I find the blower wheel. Also how do I access this. I find this stove to be not very user friendly for cleaning compared to my previous Quadra fire stove. This englander stove has very limited access from what I can see

 

[Chrisnow86]

how was it last year? is it worse this year? if you are burning a different type of pellets that can make a difference.. if the stove has always been sub par you could try changing the operating mode of the stove.. also make sure the cavities in the heat exchanger, that can get plugged up with ash, and work like a insulator and keep the heat from getting out.. and def clean the convection blower.. take the back panel off the stove its only a few screws, and you can get to it from the back of the stove.

 

[kmunyon]

Is there a better way to get all of the ash from behind the back plate. Everytime I take it down alot of ash comes with it but I can't seem to reach alot of areas and because the top does not lift up I don't know how else to clean it

 

[Chrisnow86]

its a pain to get to.. i take a small piece of garden hose and made it fit my vacuum nozel and fished it threw the holes of the exchange, here is a diagram of how it looks back there.. thanks to mike at ESW

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

In your cleaning is it possible that you dislodged the thermostat wire if on a thermostat or the jumper on the control board.

I also will add a +1 to the sugestion from JDenyer236 about making sure the convection blower is clean as that is the air flow you are feeling and they do get quite plugged up over time.

Ash in the works prevents the exhaust gases from providing the heat to the heat exchanger so the convection blower can pump it into the room.

 

[kmunyon]

I am not sure about the thermostat wire. I know we tried installing a wall thermostat to the stove so it would automatically work but it didn't work. We also didn't use the stove much last winter because the air was so dry, we used more oil. But this year we just simply can't afford to waste all the oil

 

[Chrisnow86]

ya there should be a jumper wire for a thermostat on the back side of the control board, where the two wires for the thermostat would hook up make sure the jumper wire is there and tight to complete the circuit.. if you are not using a thermostat. that would explain why it wouldn't get hot

 

[kmunyon]

Does anyone know what the bottom 3 settings should be. Right now it is set at 2-2-2

 

[kmunyon]

I cleaned the one side good, can't access the back right now though

 

[kmunyon]

After reading through the forums I changed the setting to 5-4-1, and 3-9. The flame seems to be ok to me. Hopefully this will help somewhat until I can get some help move it back from the wall so I can access the side

 

[johnnyb1970]

Change it to 6-4-1
The only one one you might want to change is 6 that's the fuel feed I change mind to 3 it all depends how cold it is outside the higher you go the hotter it will get but never go above 6
This are the numbers I would do.
3-4-1
4-4-1
5-4-1
6-4-1
Just to let u know 6-4-1 is factory set you must of change it.

 

[kmunyon]

Thanks for the info. Yes somehow it was changed, and hopefully it will help with the heat ouput

 

[johnnyb1970]

Leave the numbers 4-1 alone I wouldn't change them. Good luck

 

[johnnyb1970]

How is the stove now.

 

[kmunyon]

It seems to be doing good. I still don't think it's fully up to par with heat output, but then again I might just be used to Quadra fire and how well their blowers are

 

[Chrisnow86]

You could try changing the stove mode from d to c it really ups the heat but more fuel

 

[kmunyon]

How is that done?

 

[Chrisnow86]

Shut the stove down let it cool... Unplug it for a min plug it back in.. The press the up and down arrows of the blower speed at the same time and I letter will appear in the heat range.. Switch it to c then fire It up.. But only run it on heat range 5 to start and she how it works then up the heat and see how the stove reacts