Englander Burn Pot Build Up

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I

ispperformance

Member
Nov 20, 2014
65
Upstate NY
I just picked up a used Englander 25-PDV for my shop, and am curious about the Burn Pot build up. After about 8hrs of burning the pot is filled and the fire is burning at the back of the pot near the auger. I have tried 3 different brands of pellets, all with the same results, so I am assuming there is something I need to adjust or clean to fix this. The stove was manufactured in 2003, and the three lower buttons are set to 6-4-1.

[Hearth.com] Englander Burn Pot Build Up
 
To much fuel and or not enough air. Did you clean the stove completely before installing? I know some of the Englander stoves have some exhaust passages that are pretty hard to clean out. Someone that actually owns that stove will be along shortly that knows more than I.
 
Fairly common occurrence for me actually. I just use a 3 inch putty knife and scoop it out into the ash pans twice a day. I actually enjoy it, but then I'm weird like that.

Eric
 
That's some pretty crazy build up. Definitely need to add some air or take away some fuel. What heat level are you set at when you're getting build-up like that? Window glass all black and sooty? Plenty of folks have that stove here and I'm sure can get you fixed up. They're all gonna say it, so I'll get it out there first - step one is going to be a throughout cleaning - remove all the ash traps, make sure the exhaust vent is clean, and the intake as well. Pellet stoves are just like an engine, gotta get the air in and out well to get good performance.
 
Scoop it out with a spatula or putty knife. I do mine 2 or 3 times a day depending..Definitely give it a good cleaning though...These stoves require a lil more...
 
I can't believe you guys just scoop this stuff out instead of getting the stoves tuned up right. It doesn't have to be that way, not at all.
 
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mine does that too.. well not that bad, but i still scrape the bun pot out while its running.. its a englander thing lol give this thing a good cleaning...
 
Nick - I'm no expert with the New-Englander stoves - yet. I do have one in transit from AMFM, so in another week I might be a better resource. But the concept is the same regardless of stuff. You have essentially two basic variables for proper pellet stove combustion - air and fuel. There are in turn several variables that impact each of those - control board settings, damper (if equipped), fuel, feed regulator (if equipped), Outside Air Kit, venting, etc. The goal is to get the mixture of air and fuel just right, so that you get a clean, efficient burn. Fuel being burned up at exactly the rate that it's fed.

There are a few signs of good combustion. One is glass that stays relatively clean - you can expect it to get grey-brown after running for a few days, but if it's getting dark in just a few hours that's a good indicator something is off and you've got a rich mixture. Another sign of proper combustion will be a burn pot that doesn't load up like seen in this thread. The burn pot pictured in this thread is a sure sign of too much fuel and not enough air. A well tuned stove will eventually develop some deposits in the burn pot, but if you're getting a big mess like that once or more a day it needs some tweaks. I'm sure these stoves are also exhibiting a "lazy" flame - more like a campfire or fireplace and less like a blow-torch. You can take that too extreme in the direction - you don't want a crazy blow torch, but you want a very active, sharp flame. Don't overlook heat output, even on low you should be getting nice heat, and on high it should get uncomfortable to stand directly in front of a well tuned stove.

So, your tuning options on your stove are limited to a few things. First and foremost, you've gotta make sure there are as little restrictions to breathing as possible. Does the stove have a good air supply, preferably outside air? Is the stove clean? I mean really clean, every ash trap opened and thoroughly cleaned, lightly hammered to shake every last bit out. Check out the leaf blower method, there are some examples on youtube and some write ups on here. Once you've got a clean stove you can start tinkering with the control panel settings. You're going to probably want to take away from low fuel, or add some low air. Maybe an Englander expert can chime in to confirm the best way to get these adjusted. Finally, I think you may have a feed regulator in your hopper - this is essentially a movable plate that can limit the flow of pellets to the auger. As I understand it the low air and low fuel settings only impact the first few heat ranges on an Englander, to tune in the top end performance you may need to restrict the pellets down some if it's running rich at high power.

I'll be dialing mine in next week once it's installed - we'll see how it goes. I know right now though that if I spend just a few minutes with my old Winrich Dynasty I can get that thing to run for 8hrs and still have clean glass and a nearly perfect burn pot. Just takes a little tinkering - it's like tuning a carburetor in slow motion and a window into the cylinder head.
 
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Glad to see a lot of you guys chiming in to help. This is my first pellet stove, and I have it installed out in my workshop. As for the settings, the lower buttons are set to:

Low Fuel Feed - 6

Low Burn Air - 4

Air on Temp - 1

Intake Air is not connected to the outside. My garage is not insulated well, and a friend of mine said that it would be ok like that.

Flame doesn't seem bad, but the window does get black and sooty after about 8hrs.

I did not change those numbers, was like that when bought. Today I went thru the unit and cleaned what I could, didn't remove the burn pot or blower motor as it says to change the gaskets if I do. As for the leaf blower method, I am going to check for it now.

I looked inside the hopper today and there is no restrictor plate. It does seem as though the stove is feeding too much fuel all the time, and the build up happens at all setting, just quicker if I have it turned up.

Hopefully with everyones help I can get this thing tuned up, and learn a lot along the way.

Thanks guys!
 
I empty mine twice a day.....maybe its not tuned right
 
This a good flame? I get some buildup too. Not as bad as OP. I could use some guidance I guess though.

[Hearth.com] Englander Burn Pot Build Up
 
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Taking a good photo is tough with phones. LOL I tried several times ... Your burn pot photo is very descriptive, though.
If your workshop is like mine, I would definitely NOT want to pull combustion air from my shop. I'd want it from the outside. Pulling air from with an OAK has SO many benefits .. safety not being the least. Yes .. it 'might' work OK without, but you'll have much better luck with consistency .. and not causing problems elsewhere in your house and appliances, running with an OAK.

I do the putty knife clean-out routine twice a day as well. Cold stove ash cleanout (with removed baffles, etc), usually every 2-3 days. Mine runs nice and clean for about 8 hours after a cleaning, then gets increasingly 'sooty' and burn pot starts to build up like yours. I suspect I need to fiddle more with my 'low' settings also. My '98 25-PVDP is on mode b (suggested by Mike at ESW), with the 'low' settings 6-4-1. I experimented with the low settings on 3 other brands of pellets, but was running 'OK' on the Kirtlands, I'm burning now. I think I might try 5-4-1 or 4-4-1. One thing I've learned with lots of un-related troubleshooting .. when playing/experimenting with settings .. keep a chart or list, and change ONE thing at a time! Let things run long enough to get a GOOD feeling of the results. Some results (good OR bad) may not be noticeable for some time. If mine burns OK for 8 hours, THEN starts building up .. then my setting change may not be noticeable for over 8 hours.
 
Doesn't matter if its a Harman or an Englander. A good burn is a good burn and can be accomplished in any stove. And yeah I like to show off my Harman:p
 
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That's a nice looking stove. I think you have an installation problem on your stove though .. or it's SO lazy, it's laying down on the job!

Flames look reasonably sharp to me. Seems like, with that wide of a spread of flames, you should get some good heat! Probably have a wide burn pot on yours?
 
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Yes the pot is fairly wide. Now if I can just get the flame to go up like it's supposed to:)
 
well check your hopper lid make sure it is tight, i checked mine and it was loose... mine gets dirty after about 9 hrs... so i will check again in the morning. also got a urn pot gasket today so will replace that. next will be the door gasket. Then the hopper gasket i did turn my lba up to 5 been running 5-4-1 now 5-5-1. see what she looks like in the morning
 
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