Englander 25 PDV Switching from D mode to C mode

[nick123]

Hey everyone,

I 'm still fairly new to burning pellets. I've been doing a lot of reading on my stove. I have also been experimenting with the bottom 3 settings. The default for my stove are 6 4 1 which seems to chomp through pellets. I'll get 13-17 hours per bag at that setting burning on heat setting 1 or 2. Currently running at 4 6 1 to save pellets. When the outside temp starts to dip into the 30's or below it seems like the stove has trouble keeping the house in the lower 70's. I'm thinking of switching from d mode to C mode.

What do you all think?

Thanks Nick

 

[stoveguy2esw]

are you turning up the heat range when you have colder nights? changing to C mode is simply going to feed more fuel per heat range. if you are typically running in the low ranges then its a waste of time, simply burn with the heat range up a notch or so higher (blower speed to match)to get the same effect

 

[Dgopetactical]

Your pellet consumption for that stove is about right on
Switching your low fuel feed to 4 cuts the amount of fuel feed to pot and will reduce heat tremendously, good for warmer weather bad when it's cold.

I would not switch the factory "mode" settings unless mike "above post" at ESW tells you to.
Switch back to 641 (adjust heat range to your liking) on cold nights.
If you have to, run 341 or 441 "heat range #1" on warmer days 40 or above. I would not put the low burn air on 6 either the just adds more air and excellerates the fuel to burn faster leaving longer periods of hot ash then flame.

How old is your stove? Last time you did a total cleaning.
Denny

 

[Dgopetactical]

Since your experimenting, I would experiment with different pellets first, all pellets are NOT the same and all burn different, you gotta find the ones that your stove loves and pushes heat. Took me a while to figure that out.
Denny

 

[PoopieBritches]

I'm just starting my second season with pellets,and have much to learn. You are trying to conserve pellets,and increase heat output? I would love to do that as well. Can't likely have both however. Doesn't the PDV already run on C from factory? I have PDVC,which if I recall correctly runs on D. You might be able to save some pellets by running on D,at the expense of heat output. Sounds like you would best benefit by running off a t'stat? Allowing better control of consumption while not having to watch the stove. I have also done some tweeking with the lower 3,to try and reduce heat during those warmer periods where 1,1 on the settings produce too much heat. I don't believe that increasing low air feed is gonna help reduce pellet consumption,I have found that if I need to reduce the pellet feed rate,I must also reduce the air to keep a steady flame. Currently running 4-1-1,sometimes 5-1-1 for longer pellets. Pellets will definitely vary,and need to be adjusted for accordingly. Good luck!

 

[Dgopetactical]

No matter how you look at it you cut the feed rate you cut your heat output, if you want more heat crank it to 9/9 if your hot 1/1.
The only way I would play with the bottom buttons is if I need to cut fuel feed if I'm being cooked out of my house on 1/1.... No matter what mode d or c you most likely will not notice much difference in pellet use.

2 bags in a 24 hr period is normal for me in cold season, 1/2- 1 bag in shoulder season.

 

[jim3854]

My Englander 25 pdv on C mode makes a huge difference with heat and pellet usage . I switch to C on the really cold nights .

 

[MCPO]

My neighbor`s PDV puts out far more heat than my PDVC however it can eat thru pellets in the shoulder seasons with the lower 3 buttons set at 6-4-1 as well. We fine tuned it by reducing the LFF and the LBA a notch or two and the pellet savings was significant.

We have found no need to change the factory heat mode setting even during the coldest days since the stove puts out a tremendous amount of heat just by upping the heat range and lowewr 3 set at 6-4-1.
In contrast my little PDVC benefits immensely from the change to heat mode "c" come the real cold weather. That too will eat much more fuel but there is no free lunch with either stove.

 

[WVSnowman]

25PDV Finally....CLEAN BURN POT AND PLENTY OF HEAT. I used my stove off and on since 2004 only on the weekends. We recently moved to our mountain house and took the stove with us. Just started burning full time and now I remember why I did not burn more often...I had a pile of ashes flowing out of the pot after about 6 hours. Called Englander and spoke with Mike and we reset it to 6-9-1. Well that did nothing and still woke up to an overflowing burn pot. I have been reading from this site and have learned much about this model and how you need to maintain the stove. Being and old Drag Racer that has built some pretty fast cars I knew I could figure this out because I was not going to clean the burn pot every couple of hours..... so here is what I have found. The flame was never lazy a bright yellow flame that did not appear to be central to the bottom of the pot. By that I mean there were as many horizontal flames as vertical flames. It appeared that is was not getting enough air underneath the burn plate (wear plate) and the pellets did not burn completely or dance around like I have seen in other brands. Then I remembered another conversation with Mike at Englander about putting steel wool in the large air holes located on the top left and right side of the burn pot. Theory is that this forces the air to be pulled from the under side of the wear plate and the smaller side holes in the pot. Also, I am using and have used Presto-Log pellets which are only about 1/4 to 1/2" long so I emptied the hoper and looked at the shutter plate setting which was not on the highest closed setting so I closed the shutter plate to the most closed position to restrict pellet flow. I then set my three board settings to 3-9-1 (based on another post). Back to the steel wool theory which made sense....since steel wool does not last and I still wanted to close off the larger holes and try to concentrate the air flow underneath and to the smaller side holes .... off to the local ACE store I went. Best I could measure was 9/16" for the small how and 11/16" for the large hole. I went to the hardware section and found "Hillman" steel push plugs and purchased the 9/16" and 5/8" plugs and retuned to the house. Now the 9/16" fits the small hole and has to be tapped in but the 5/8" is too small so you have to bend the tabs out until you get a good fit and then I installed that plug. Since I cleaned the stove outside before I installed it (Leaf Blower) checked all gaskets and serviced the augers I figured it was down to a fine tune up. Last night I filled the stove and started it up and immediately I had a bright blue bottom flame to white to yellow tipped flame and after about 1/2 hour I noticed that the red hot pellets were dancing around in the pot (more like a slow dance). Also checked temp output in front of the stove and read 245* with a control panel top settings of 3 and 9. I went to bed and when I checked the burn pot this morning I was blown away on how clean it was....what a surprise. The other positive was that it was 25* outside and snowing while the inside house temp was at 72*....this is in a large A-Frame so I am heating a lot of cu.ft. with a 25' ceiling. The plugs can be purchase and any big box or hardware store so from what I have found if you are experiencing a full burn pot after a couple hour burn then I suggest you work with Mike and the group here to get you stove burning clean and hot! Thanks for listening! BTW thanks to everyone for your input and I will say as far as Englander Customer Service is rated I say from the early years until now it has improve 100%.....might have something to do with the company and employees maturing! Thanks again to all!

 

[Harvey Schneider]

You can't make heat without burning pellets. If you cripple the stove by starving it for fuel, it won't run as hot as it can with a reasonable feed rate. Switching modes is not magic. If you set it to D mode you might as well just set it for a higher feed rate like #8 or #9.
As I said, you have to burn pellets in order to make heat.

 

[WVSnowman]

You can't make heat without burning pellets. If you cripple the stove by starving it for fuel, it won't run as hot as it can with a reasonable feed rate. Switching modes is not magic. If you set it to D mode you might as well just set it for a higher feed rate like #8 or #9.
As I said, you have to burn pellets in order to make heat.

Harvey, Thanks for the reply and agreed. I just never had to fine tune this stove due to the fact is was just a weekend deal when it got cold. Burned last night on 2-9 at 22* outside and woke to 66* and a fairly clean burn pot...cranked to 5-9 and it is still burning clean and after 3 hours with a minor build up but nothing compared to the mess I had before. Keep warm and enjoy the heat!

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Harvey, Thanks for the reply and agreed. I just never had to fine tune this stove due to the fact is was just a weekend deal when it got cold. Burned last night on 2-9 at 22* outside and woke to 66* and a fairly clean burn pot...cranked to 5-9 and it is still burning clean and after 3 hours with a minor build up but nothing compared to the mess I had before. Keep warm and enjoy the heat!

I find that my PDVC burns dirtier than my Mt Vernon AE, but it does a good job of heating. When I say it is dirtier, I don't have a real mess to clean, just a harder, crustier mass in the burn pot. It heats my 1200 sq ft unfinished basement workshop with no difficulty, but it can burn through a bag of pellets in an afternoon. Pellets are just the cost of heat.

 

[kofkorn]

I used to use steel wool in the vent holes exactly as you described, but I found a way that is a little more adjustable. I've actually bent a small piece of sheet metal into a wide "U" shape that fits up against the inside of the lower portion of the burn pot, under the wear plate. I slide the piece forward or back to cover the two inlet holes for the side of the burn pot to direct more of the air up through the wear plate and through the pellets rather than through the holes and up over the top of the pellets. This lets me pull it back for less flow through the wear plate in the shoulder months, letting me lower the LFF a little and reducing consumption, while covering the hole for more airflow through the pellets in the heart of the winter when the stove is mostly running on high. It also gives me a little more adjustability when i change pellet brands.



Good luck!