Englander 25-pdv won't feed pellets

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Decal1845

New Member
Oct 7, 2022
1
Potsdam, NY
Hello Guys,
Hopefully you guys can help me. We have an Englander 25-PDV, Manufacturing date of June 2008.

After doing the annual maintenance (burn pot gasket, door gasket, glass gasket, exhaust blower gaskets, hopper gasket, cleaning the room air blower, etc) , we can't get this pellet stove to feed pellets. When we turn the stove on, exhaust blower comes on, the vacuum switch on the exhaust blower activates, the igniter glows, but the top auger doesn't spin.

-We've disconnected all the exhaust piping and cleaned it, we used a really small nozzle to vacuum out the exhaust channels in the stove.
-I've bypassed the door ajar vacuum switch and the top auger will turn and move pellets.
-I've doubled up on the burn pot gasket since the burn pot is a little bit crooked at the top.
-I thought I messed up the door gasket, so I went ahead and replaced it, no change.
-I can put a vacuum on the vacuum switch, and the top auger will move (so my assumption is that the vacuum switch and top auger motor work).
-I've reset the control board, put it back in mode c, didn't work.
-I've run the diagnostics on the board, as long as I put a vacuum on the vacuum switch, the top auger will move when activated.
-I've adjusted the hopper latches so they don't have any play.

I'm assuming I have a vacuum leak, but I'm at my whits end trying to find it.

Thank you in advance.
 
I'd start by looking at the hose that goes from the exhaust motor to the vacuum switch. Its a clearish rubber hose. The ends tend to get brittle and cracked and can introduce a vacuum leak. Mine did that and I simply cut the hose back and reattached. If that doesn't work, I'd next pull the exhaust motor and make sure the fins are clean and that the motor isn't bound up.

Eric