Englander 25-PDVC and the burn plate mod

[aveteam]

Hi all! New member here, but I've lurked around a while.
Last year we picked up a second hand 25-pdvc that needed some tlc, all the usual stuff. Now to the meat of this post.
It's always run pretty well, except that after an extended run time, like a day or more, there was always a large crusty buildup at the front of the burn pot, where the angled part is. Mostly ash and partially burned pellets. If I scraped it out it burned fine for a day or so, lather rinse and repeat. Well, this past week we were out of town for a few days so we had some friends of ours come over and feed the stove as it'sbeen really cold at night and its our only source of heat atm. When we got back, there was probably a good cup and a half to 2 cups of partially burned pellets pushed to the front of the burn pot and spilling over out the front. This was alarming. I cleaned it out and started looking for mods to the burn plate becauseit looked like it wasn't getting enoughair to burn completely. Our friends have a Ravelli and it's always blowing ash out and the burn pot stays very clean. Long story short, I think this mod fixed it. There's a lot more activity in the burn pot now and a lot less if not no ash left, plus it puts out quite a bit more heat.
The pellets we're using are Golden Fire 100% Douglas fir.
Anyway, thanks for posting the picture of the mod and I'll post back in a few days after it proves out.

 

[aveteam]

On closer inspection and reading more posts this morning, I discovered I didn't plug the 3/4" holes on the inside of the burn pot. Made a huge difference. Now the pellets are getting enough air flow to glow and actually ash out rather than get pushed to the front by new pellets and snuff out. It's happily chewing thru pellets on 9-9. I checked and it's running in mode "d". I've considered bumping it up to "c" but I want to see how it does for a few days first.

 

[ct_administrator]

You may have found the burn pot / plate mods done on here. There is a few threads that explain how to drill larger holes etc. along with plugging the holes.

I had the same problem really bad this year with a pile of partially burned pellets building up, and constant cleaning and scraping on the inside of the end of auger tube. I searched some threads and found this old one

25-PDVC's Original Burn Pot......

is not very efficient ! Some background info on my setup... 25-PDVC corner install with OAK installed. Exhaust vent -- EVL = 18 feet, this is broken down as follows 3" pipe from the stove to outside the house -- 1 stove adapter, 45 bend, 2 feet through the wall, cleanout T, 2 feet vertical...

www.hearth.com

I made something like prototype 2 of my own in about an hour out of a thinner piece of sheet metal with some snips and angle grinder, and also did the restrictor plate mod on the inside of the hopper. I couldn't be happier. What a difference it has made. I wish I had seen those threads years ago.

 

[aveteam]

You may have found the burn pot / plate mods done on here. There is a few threads that explain how to drill larger holes etc. along with plugging the holes.

I had the same problem really bad this year with a pile of partially burned pellets building up, and constant cleaning and scraping on the inside of the end of auger tube. I searched some threads and found this old one

25-PDVC's Original Burn Pot......

is not very efficient ! Some background info on my setup... 25-PDVC corner install with OAK installed. Exhaust vent -- EVL = 18 feet, this is broken down as follows 3" pipe from the stove to outside the house -- 1 stove adapter, 45 bend, 2 feet through the wall, cleanout T, 2 feet vertical...

www.hearth.com

I made something like prototype 2 of my own in about an hour out of a thinner piece of sheet metal with some snips and angle grinder, and also did the restrictor plate mod on the inside of the hopper. I couldn't be happier. What a difference it has made. I wish I had seen those threads years ago.

Thanks for the reply! I read thru that thread and it confirms what I suspected, it was designed that way for regulations. Being as we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere here, I'm more concerned with getting the most BTU out of a hopper of fuel than particulate out the flue. But I get why it was made that way. With the burn plate mod and plugging the side wash air feed holes in the bottom of the burn pot I only really need to scrape it once a day now as opposed to twice or three times before. And it seems to ignite quicker. That has always been a problem with this stove. Eventually it'll be replaced with a Harman or Ravelli and find a home in my man-cave but for now it does a good job. Who knows, I may get out my angle grinder and build a burn pot like in that thread if I get ambitious!