Recently my Englander 25-PDVC isn't putting out enough heat to warm the approximately 600 square foot room it's in. The volume of air seems correct, it's just lukewarm at best. Previously the stove would put out so much heat on 1 I'd need to open a window after it had been on a couple hours.
It began after I'd run a few bags of Tractor Supply hardwood pellets through it, which is a brand I'd never tried. As I was burning them, I'd noted the smoke from the chimney was quite dark. The inside of the stove was getting more soot than I'm used to, and the soot was much darker as well. One day later, when turning the stove on from cold, it wouldn't fire up. No pellets at all on the burn plate.
Here's what I found when I started poking around:
-The silicone hose from the r/s (from the rear) pressure switch to the top of the combustion blower was melted at the blower end and unattached
-The upper auger motor was covered in grease, as was the auger bearing
-The inside of the stove was covered in dark, almost black soot. More soot than I'd ever seen.
First round of attempts to repair:
-Cut off the end of the silicone hose and reattached to the blower
-Replaced the upper auger motor and bearing
-Vacuumed/scraped the inside of the stove, removing the impingement plate and clearing out the heat exchanger as best as possible.
After the 1st round of repairs, the stove was pushing pellets into the burn plate. They'd fire as normal, but the heat output was low. The fire seemed a bit lazy, so I switched from the TSC pellets to another brand. Fire may have been slightly better, but still a very low heat output.
2nd round of attempts:
-powered upper auger motor directly, confirming it spins at approx 1RPM
-confirmed upper auger on/off cycle changes with heat range setting, ie it turns longer and stays off less time as the heat range increases and the opposite with lower heat range settings
-vacuumed out the combustion blower by attaching my shop vac to the output of the fan. did not remove silicone vacuum line, open the stove door, or have anyone bang on the inside of the stove with a rubber mallet while I vacuumed
-powered lower auger motor directly, confirming it spins at about 1RPM
-confirmed lower auger motor runs at all times when stove is in use
-confirmed stove was set to "D" heat range
-performed a factory reset to the stove
After the second round of repairs didn't change the heat output, I grabbed a couple bags of Stove Chow pellets from HD. I'd used them in the past, and they did give good heat. With those pellets, the fire looks great in the stove. A tall flame that went from side to side and front to back in the burn pot area. The heat output is slightly better, but nowhere near where it had been previous to the issue with the pellets not being loaded into the stove.
My plan moving forward:
-replace the upper auger motor bearing gasket. I didn't replace it when I replaced the bearing; the current one in the stove seems to be plastic, the replacement is a fiber gasket. When I cleaned the stove at the beginning of the season, I'd replaced the burn pot gasket and it was a fiber construction, so I'm assuming that's correct for the auger bearing gasket as well.
-vacuum the inside of the stove in the manner described in the leaf blower method described elsewhere on this forum, but with my shop vac instead. The ID of the convection blower outlet is the same as the OD of my shop vac hose.
-remove and reinstall the convection blower to make certain it's cleaned. I'll replace the gasket at that time
My question (finally, I know...) am I missing something obvious? Do I seem to be on the correct path moving forward?
It began after I'd run a few bags of Tractor Supply hardwood pellets through it, which is a brand I'd never tried. As I was burning them, I'd noted the smoke from the chimney was quite dark. The inside of the stove was getting more soot than I'm used to, and the soot was much darker as well. One day later, when turning the stove on from cold, it wouldn't fire up. No pellets at all on the burn plate.
Here's what I found when I started poking around:
-The silicone hose from the r/s (from the rear) pressure switch to the top of the combustion blower was melted at the blower end and unattached
-The upper auger motor was covered in grease, as was the auger bearing
-The inside of the stove was covered in dark, almost black soot. More soot than I'd ever seen.
First round of attempts to repair:
-Cut off the end of the silicone hose and reattached to the blower
-Replaced the upper auger motor and bearing
-Vacuumed/scraped the inside of the stove, removing the impingement plate and clearing out the heat exchanger as best as possible.
After the 1st round of repairs, the stove was pushing pellets into the burn plate. They'd fire as normal, but the heat output was low. The fire seemed a bit lazy, so I switched from the TSC pellets to another brand. Fire may have been slightly better, but still a very low heat output.
2nd round of attempts:
-powered upper auger motor directly, confirming it spins at approx 1RPM
-confirmed upper auger on/off cycle changes with heat range setting, ie it turns longer and stays off less time as the heat range increases and the opposite with lower heat range settings
-vacuumed out the combustion blower by attaching my shop vac to the output of the fan. did not remove silicone vacuum line, open the stove door, or have anyone bang on the inside of the stove with a rubber mallet while I vacuumed
-powered lower auger motor directly, confirming it spins at about 1RPM
-confirmed lower auger motor runs at all times when stove is in use
-confirmed stove was set to "D" heat range
-performed a factory reset to the stove
After the second round of repairs didn't change the heat output, I grabbed a couple bags of Stove Chow pellets from HD. I'd used them in the past, and they did give good heat. With those pellets, the fire looks great in the stove. A tall flame that went from side to side and front to back in the burn pot area. The heat output is slightly better, but nowhere near where it had been previous to the issue with the pellets not being loaded into the stove.
My plan moving forward:
-replace the upper auger motor bearing gasket. I didn't replace it when I replaced the bearing; the current one in the stove seems to be plastic, the replacement is a fiber gasket. When I cleaned the stove at the beginning of the season, I'd replaced the burn pot gasket and it was a fiber construction, so I'm assuming that's correct for the auger bearing gasket as well.
-vacuum the inside of the stove in the manner described in the leaf blower method described elsewhere on this forum, but with my shop vac instead. The ID of the convection blower outlet is the same as the OD of my shop vac hose.
-remove and reinstall the convection blower to make certain it's cleaned. I'll replace the gasket at that time
My question (finally, I know...) am I missing something obvious? Do I seem to be on the correct path moving forward?
