Englander 25EPI issue

[KLRCris]

OK folks......I'm officially at wits end with this stove. A little history, purchased in 2012, the stove has run well up until late last November. It was burning fine and then the flame slowly reduced to like it was set on heat setting 1. I've done all the recommended maintenance, replaced gasket in glass and door. passes flame and dollar bill test with flying colors. replaced combustion blower, replaced auger motor. Bypassed safety switches just to eliminate that as a possible cause. Used compresses air to clean all passageways. They are spotless. Replaced room blower (Has nothing to do with this issue but it was squealing. chimney and OAK are clean and clear. No blockages anywhere. It seem to be an intermittent issue. It ran well for January up until yesterday when the flame went down to almost going out and adjusting the auger speed did not help at all. I opened the door and through in a handfull of pellets and the flame went back to normal until they burned away so it is definitely a fuel feed issue. So, with that said, i did manage to get it burning well but i had to adjust the low feed setting to 5 and the flame went back to normal and throws decent heat. Crazy right, setting 4 is better but not what i'd consider normal.

I'm thinking issue with control board? It's the only thing left really. Any help would be really appreciated. I am considering a Harmon at this point as the dealer is right up the road from me.

 

[ericofmaine]

Did you check your auger? Pellets this year seem to be very dirty with a lot of fines. I have the same stove you do (the insert model) and actually, for the first time, had to pull my auger as it was choked with fines.

Also, check you burn pot. Mine has a slight warp / wobble that would let air around instead of through it. I cut a gasket (hopper gasket would work, too) for it and that helped immensely.

Eric

 

[KLRCris]

Hi Eric

Yes i did pull it out several times. There are lots of fines i agree but it seems to be more related to auger on time. Logically thinking about this, I believe the control board is running at low heat settings (When acting up) even though I have the auger speed set to 7. When it is acting up it seems the auger settings have no effect on the on-off times at all. Bumping the low feed to 5 definitely changes the duration of movement and i see that in the amount of pellets dropping and flame height/heat output.

 

[ericofmaine]

If you think it may be a problem with it dropping back to low heat settings, did you check that the thermostat jumper is in place and tight? This is assuming, of course, that you're not using one.

Eric

 

[KLRCris]

Eric

Good point on checking that jumper! I will do so as I'm not using a thermostat. I suppose it could be corrosion on the terminals as well. I'll pull it off and clean, reinstall. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Ssyko]

Is the stove on a good surge protector? Have any power outages of flickers?

 

[KLRCris]

Ssyko

Yes to both questions. Have it on an APC surge protector but we have had numerous outages and the power flickered on and off enough times to make me cringe since the stove was running.

 

[KLRCris]

Does Mike Holton still frequent these forums? Curious what his take on this would be. I'm sure he's seen just about every failure mode possible on these stoves.

 

[Ssyko]

I haven’t seen him here for a long time. You can call him. When you call ESW support don’t do anything till it asks for a name and you say mike holton. And it rings Mikes ext.

 

[KLRCris]

I did a little more experimenting this weekend and i'm becoming convinced its the control board. I checked the thermostat jumper and its in place and tight. Checked the setting and it is set for Hi/Lo so i unplugged and re-plugged it back in, hit the 2 down keys to set the stove thermo setting to on off (o/o on display) doing this the stove would not start at all. Seems like something screwy with the thermostat circuit?? When in high low mode it appears the stove is stuck at lowest setting. I can override this by bumping low fuel feed to 5 and it run nice and hot. I'm wondering if there is a better surge suppressing system since we get frequent power outages in my area? Don't want to keep buying $300.00 control boards. Also, can this board be reset or is a new board the only option?

 

[Ssyko]

You have the stove set on hi/low with a jumper? Why not just leave it on manual?

 

[KLRCris]

SSyko, not sure what you mean. There are only 2 modes that i'm aware of. hi/lo and 00. Is there another way to place it into the manual mode you speak of? Should i do a hard reset of board? The stove won't run at all set to o/o just hi/lo. Any help/clarification would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ssyko]

I don’t know the programing in your particular board. All the stoves use the same board just diff programming. So i would assume 00 would be for on-off and hi-low would be with a Tstat. I would call Esw they have more info on that particular model and there mey be an easy fix or there might be a problem with the board.

 

[KLRCris]

FYI, the jumper being in place is what actually puts control in manual mode. I'm going to remove, clean and tighten the jumper as as i feel a small amount of corrosion could render it in not working condition with such low signal type voltage. Last night, the stove ran as it should without and tweaking of fuel feed so the issue is intermittent which is also maddening.

 

[ericofmaine]

KLRCris is correct, the jumper in place puts the stove in "manual" mode. Hi/Lo or On/Off controls how it acts when the thermostat is connected, either heat setting X when the thermostat calls for heat and idle when it doesn't, or it will turn the stove on or off when the demand is there or not.

I'm wondering if when you checked the jumper if you reintroduced continuity.

Eric

 

[KLRCris]

Eric

I've got to inspect the jumper closer. I just gave it a wiggle and it appeared tight but it could have some corrosion on it that prevents it from doing its job.

 

[KLRCris]

Folks, just to follow up on this issue I posted last winter, I finally replaced the control board and the stove now runs like it should. I also purchased a better (Hopefully better) surge suppressor (Tripp Lite). I wanted to add the final outcome to this issue in case others have had a similar situation and tried everything else like I did. Maybe I'll be saving someone some grief. The control board while expensive, is probably the easiest thing to replace. The stove also now auto-starts with igniter as it should. Not sure exactly what was wrong with old board but the main symptom was the auger timing would not change no matter the heat setting and would not start with igniter either. It was not putting in enough fuel to get good heat and had just barely a flame. Thanks to all who tried to help me out here!

 

[johneh]

Thank You for putting closure to your problem
So few do and we wonder if we have helped
Glade to see your stove is running the way it should