Englander 25-pdvc Pellets not burning

[Shoe0402]

Hi guys I recently bought a used englander 25-pdvc/55-shp10 pellet stove. I know very little about it other than people I work with have pellet stoves and love them. I am using lignetic pellets and it seems like when I turn it up over 2 on the feed rate the pellets won't burn off quick enough. I installed an outside air intake and that didn't seem to help at all. I did try putting new gaskets on the combustion motor and fan and also the burn pot and clean it out well. Any other ideas to help me burn the pellets better the stove will literally overflow of its turned up to like 5 or so in about 20 minutes and smoke out the house. Please help. And like I said maybe the gaskets and better cleaning will help

 

[Shane1]

Are you door gaskets good? What are the bottom 3 numbers on your board? The bottom three buttons. You have to search the site to see what they should be as apposed to what yours are. Also if its smoking out the house are your pipes sealed?

 

[Shoe0402]

Thw door gaskets look good. How would I know if they were def bad? The are still white in color and don't look flattened out. The bottom numbers are low fuel feed: 2, low burn air: 4 and air on temp:1

 

[Lake Girl]

Since you bought it used, not sure if you have the manual: (broken link removed to http://www.heatredefined.com/assets/images/manuals/3343/25-pdvc_merged.pdf)
Troubleshooting guides on England Stoves website: (broken link removed to http://www.heatredefined.com/support/troubleshooting-guide/troubleshooting-help)

Check your door gaskets and hopper gasket if it has them (can't remember which model but an owner found the hopper lid was allowing air in because of a gasket problem).

Some stoves have a feed restrictor in the hopper that can be adjusted...

Cladmaster has the same stove and gives good directions on stove settings (3 lower factory set; if you change them, record your starting point and never change the last one from its 1 setting): https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-25-pvdc-tuning.121069/#post-1621357

Will change thread title so Mike, head tech @ England stove works, may see it ...

 

[Shane1]

Put a dollar bill in the door. There should be a little tension as you pull if out. Check all around the door.

 

[Shoe0402]

Put a dollar bill in the door. There should be a little tension as you pull if out. Check all around the door.

I did try rhe dollar bill test and I couldn't pull it out of the door I went around the whole thing

 

[Shoe0402]

Since you bought it used, not sure if you have the manual: (broken link removed to http://www.heatredefined.com/assets/images/manuals/3343/25-pdvc_merged.pdf)
Troubleshooting guides on England Stoves website: (broken link removed to http://www.heatredefined.com/support/troubleshooting-guide/troubleshooting-help)

Check your door gaskets and hopper gasket if it has them (can't remember which model but an owner found the hopper lid was allowing air in because of a gasket problem).

Some stoves have a feed restrictor in the hopper that can be adjusted...

Cladmaster has the same stove and gives good directions on stove settings (3 lower factory set; if you change them, record your starting point and never change the last one from its 1 setting): https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-25-pvdc-tuning.121069/#post-1621357

Will change thread title so Mike, head tech @ England stove works, may see it ...

Thank you will try this tomorrow when I power it down to clean it

 

[DrewBoogie]

Search around for the year the stove was built too. My bottom numbers are 6-4-1 from the factory.

Also, search here for pictures of Lava burn in Englander stoves to see if that is what you're getting. It's normal for Englanders like ours with that style burn pot to have a big chunk of burning coals in the part closest to the glass.

 

[DrewBoogie]

read this thread: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pellets-dont-seem-to-fully-burn.150351/#post-2017248

 

[Harvey Schneider]

You didn't describe the fire, so we don't know if the flame is large or small, active or lazy. These are important clues as to whether there is adequate air movement to burn the pellets.

Since it is a used stove, you can't take anything for granted.
It is possible somebody replaced the upper auger motor with a higher RPM motor. The OEM motor output shaft turns at approx 1RPM. If it was replaced with a higher RPM motor, the fuel feed would be too high.
The way to check this is to empty the hopper, and in diagnostics mode, verify the number of revolutions per second the upper auger is turning. Unloaded, they tend to turn a little fast (up to about 1.5 RPM). Anything faster than that is wrong.
The choke plate at the bottom of the hopper can make small to moderate adjustments of fuel feed, but it sounds like your fuel feed problem is bigger than that.
Another possibility is that the combustion gas pathway is clogged with ash. With the baffle removed you can reach the passage. There is a horizontal baffle half way up and to the left facing the stove. Ash collects on top of that baffle. If the stove was not cleaned at end of season is possible that there is a cake of ash sitting on top of it.

 

[Lake Girl]

Search around for the year the stove was built too. My bottom numbers are 6-4-1 from the factory.

Also, search here for pictures of Lava burn in Englander stoves to see if that is what you're getting. It's normal for Englanders like ours with that style burn pot to have a big chunk of burning coals in the part closest to the glass.

What year is yours? Any idea when numbers may have changed...

Edit: If altering those bottom numbers at all, note starting point with changes and allow at least 1/2 hour between changes to determine effect.

 

[Shoe0402]

Since you bought it used, not sure if you have the manual: (broken link removed to http://www.heatredefined.com/assets/images/manuals/3343/25-pdvc_merged.pdf)
Troubleshooting guides on England Stoves website: (broken link removed to http://www.heatredefined.com/support/troubleshooting-guide/troubleshooting-help)

Check your door gaskets and hopper gasket if it has them (can't remember which model but an owner found the hopper lid was allowing air in because of a gasket problem).

Some stoves have a feed restrictor in the hopper that can be adjusted...

Cladmaster has the same stove and gives good directions on stove settings (3 lower factory set; if you change them, record your starting point and never change the last one from its 1 setting): https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-25-pvdc-tuning.121069/#post-1621357

Will change thread title so Mike, head tech @ England stove works, may see it ...

Just tried this a big ago it's power up now so I'll see how it works out. Thank you

 

[Shoe0402]

You didn't describe the fire, so we don't know if the flame is large or small, active or lazy. These are important clues as to whether there is adequate air movement to burn the pellets.

Since it is a used stove, you can't take anything for granted.
It is possible somebody replaced the upper auger motor with a higher RPM motor. The OEM motor output shaft turns at approx 1RPM. If it was replaced with a higher RPM motor, the fuel feed would be too high.
The way to check this is to empty the hopper, and in diagnostics mode, verify the number of revolutions per second the upper auger is turning. Unloaded, they tend to turn a little fast (up to about 1.5 RPM). Anything faster than that is wrong.
The choke plate at the bottom of the hopper can make small to moderate adjustments of fuel feed, but it sounds like your fuel feed problem is bigger than that.
Another possibility is that the combustion gas pathway is clogged with ash. With the baffle removed you can reach the passage. There is a horizontal baffle half way up and to the left facing the stove. Ash collects on top of that baffle. If the stove was not cleaned at end of season is possible that there is a cake of ash sitting on top of it.

Thank the flame is high and low kind of all over the place if that makes sense. It ranges in color from yellow to orange. I put a new top auger motor on this year so that is the correct rpm. I will check for buildup on the upper baffle next time I shut it down and clean it I just started it back up after a hard circuit board reset. Thank you will let you know

 

[Shoe0402]

Search around for the year the stove was built too. My bottom numbers are 6-4-1 from the factory.

Also, search here for pictures of Lava burn in Englander stoves to see if that is what you're getting. It's normal for Englanders like ours with that style burn pot to have a big chunk of burning coals in the part closest to the glass.

I looked at the picture it and the pellets are not burning across the whole pot

 

[doghouse]

Try the leaf blower. You mention that you purchased the stove used. Sounds like it is dirty and needs a good airway cleaning. Bottom 3 numbers only work on heat settings 1 and 2 on the two auger stoves.

 

[Cedarjunki]

So did you ever figure out the issue?

I just wanted to add, i picked up a few bags of pres-to-logs in which are made by lignetics to give a try... i am burning the 3rd bag now and i dont dare turn the stove up past setting 2 for any length of time otherwise the pot just fills..

I suggest trying another brand pellet if you havnt yet already.

 

[Shoe0402]

So did you ever figure out the issue?

I just wanted to add, i picked up a few bags of pres-to-logs in which are made by lignetics to give a try... i am burning the 3rd bag now and i dont dare turn the stove up past setting 2 for any length of time otherwise the pot just fills..

I suggest trying another brand pellet if you havnt yet already.

Hi sorry for the delayed response never realized I got another message. No its still not burning when I try and turn it up seems good on 1 and 2 haven't used 3 but turned it up to 4 and within 15-20 minutes the pot is almost overflowing with just black pellets I didn't try any different brand just the lignetic. I bought 2 ton of them. What other kinds would u recommend

 

[Cedarjunki]

No clue what your choices are around you.. grab a bag softwoods just to do the test.. if there is a big change simply try any other pellet besides what you have. Believe me not all pellets are the same. Hell even walmarts penningtons burnt better than prestos i had tried.

 

[Shoe0402]

No clue what your choices are around you.. grab a bag softwoods just to do the test.. if there is a big change simply try any other pellet besides what you have. Believe me not all pellets are the same. Hell even walmarts penningtons burnt better than prestos i had tried.

Ok I am going to try and grab a couple different bags todag and see if I get time. Everyone I talked to around here said to use lignetics guess I should have tested tbey first

 

[Cedarjunki]

I have 20 plus bags left out of a ton that i bought because everyone seemed to like them here as well... needless to say my stove dont like them. 2 identical stoves will burn the same pellet completely different. There is no specific good for all..

 

[Shoe0402]

I have 20 plus bags left out of a ton that i bought because everyone seemed to like them here as well... needless to say my stove dont like them. 2 identical stoves will burn the same pellet completely different. There is no specific good for all..

Thank you very much will try this

 

[Harvey Schneider]

I can't remember if it was covered earlier in the thread, but at this point I would do a control board reset followed by setting the board mode.

 

[Jigger]

In the bottom of the hopper. There is a sliding piece of metal over the feed auger. If that is wide open then your going to get loaded down with pellets.

 

[Dgopetactical]

Sounds normal to me.

 

[Shoe0402]

I can't remember if it was covered earlier in the thread, but at this point I would do a control board reset followed by setting the board mode.

I did do one and set it to c mode