englander help..

[stillstandin]

It seems there is alot of knowledge here so here goes.... my wifey got a GREAT deal on a 25-PDV {it was purchased from Lowes and returned 2 days later with a bad igniter, igniter was replaced and she snaged it for $420!!} so I replaced my circa 1991 avalon {throws a ton of heat, noisey fans, hopper too small, no igniter, a PIA to clean, sticky switches ect..} with this beast..{read HEAVY} englander. Of course as my luck the exhaust on the PDV is higher and on the other side so I used a 45 and a 90 to "engeneer" it into place wich i plan on "doing it right" when the temp gets above freezing. I judge performance by stuffing i bbq thermometer in 1 of the tubes. I also dont have the OAK hooked up yet, but it is in the works. thats the back story, now for the problems. I cant get the PDV to make anywhere near the same heat as the avalon did. The avalons blower used to come on at 200 and at "low" feed would stay there, if I cranked the feed to "high" those tubes would hit 375-400.. The PDVs blower comes on at 140 and drops lower once the fan comes on, no matter what settings I try I cant get it to break 200. heat at 9 fan at 1 {chewing through pellets} gets me to about 200. now the exhaust pipe on the avalon you could wrap your hand around {unless it was crankin} now the PDV sizzles water off instantly even on low heat. I thought i was plugin the xhaust with the screwed up angles but the pipe is that hot on the 3 foot straight run AFTER the corners 2. Would a exhaust restriction lower the firebox temp? also the blower doesnt seem to change volume much between 1-9. dont get me wrong its working but you just dont feel much of a diffrence of volume on any setting. i included a few pics incase it helps..and i look foward to finding out if i screwed something up...

ps I think the flame is fine, bright yellow licking half-way up the fire box and no visible smoke out of the exhaust...

 

[orangecrushcj7]

Don't ever run the fan setting lower than the heat setting. That's a hardfast rule the Englander guys will tell you. I can't even set mine lower than the heat setting. If you are able to turn the blower setting down below the heat setting, it makes me wonder if your stove is an older model (older than this season anyways)? Also, trying a different pellet brand sometimes makes all the difference in the world. Just because the old Avalon burned your pellets good, doesn't mean the Englander will too. Different stoves burn different pellets better. I am sure Mike Holton from Englander can help you further.

 

[stillstandin]

I just tryed and i can turn the blower down to 1 regardless of heat seting, I can even turn it to "0" and shut the blower OFF!Can anyone else do this???. i'll grab a diffrent brand of pellets today and give that a shot, but i think somethin else is goin on because {from other thread} if you can get the output air in the area of 225 with the heat set at 3 and I cant get 180 INSIDE the tubes with the heat set at 9 is a big diffrence...damn abestos pellets...lol

thanks for the info anymore ideas would b greatly appreated...

 

[orangecrushcj7]

I just tryed and i can turn the blower down to 1 regardless of heat seting, I can even turn it to "0" and shut the blower OFF!Can anyone else do this???. i'll grab a diffrent brand of pellets today and give that a shot, but i think somethin else is goin on because {from other thread} if you can get the output air in the area of 225 with the heat set at 3 and I cant get 180 INSIDE the tubes with the heat set at 9 is a big diffrence...damn abestos pellets...lol

thanks for the info anymore ideas would b greatly appreated...

Wow, I think you may have a bogus stove. I can't speak with certainty about the PDV, as I have the PDVC, but they are very similar. I really doubt you are supposed to be able to control the room blower so it sets lower than the heat setting. You really need to contact Mike Holton. He is extremely knowledgable and helpful. I am surprised he hasn't chimed in already.. Here's his contact info taken from his signature:

mike holton (stoveguy2esw)
england’s stove works inc.
mholton@englanderstoves.com
stoveguy2esw@yahoo.com “homework"email addy

 

[stillstandin]

thanks 4 the info cj, if mike dosn't appear soon, ill give him a shout..hey how hot does ur exhaust get? can you touch it without losen' skin? cause my exhaust is hotter then my stove!

thanks again

 

[Skunk]

My 25-pdvc, bought early last Dec and manu'd sometime recently (Sept?), is able to turn the blower down below the heat setting... Which I never do of course. Weird discrepancy, orange crush.

I don't have any "0" setting though. But that could be the pdvc vs. pdv difference.

Does sound like a bum stove though. Difference between 1-9 blower settings are huge. Where are you measuring temps, at the location of that therm in the photo? I have a thermometer at the left front corner of the stove, magnet deal like that, and can max out at about 450* with hot pellets. For what that's worth. I tried to find the hottest part of the stove since then I can look at the widest range of temperatures, to figure out pellet quality, stove efficiency, etc.

Exhaust pipe on my stove is usually "touch for a split second, but don't keep your hand on there any longer you damn fool" temp.

 

[stillstandin]

thanks for the scoop skunk, sounds like i got an issue, i cant beat 200 and my pipe is at "instant hair loss" temp. sounds like i need mike...{and a beer}

 

[Skunk]

I've called ESW tech line a few times, they are O-K as far as tech lines go, and Mike is totally accessible, good luck figuring the prob.

 

[JLF001]

25-pdvc manufactured 09/08 and the blower speed can not be set lower than the heat. Turn up the heat beyond current blower and blower goes up to. Blower will not go down lower than current heat setting.

Must be something new.

 

[Skunk]

25-pdvc manufactured 09/08 and the blower speed can not be set lower than the heat.

At home now, just checked. Manu'd date of 10/08 here and I don't have that limitation. Weird, eh? *shrug*

 

[Mr Whitfield]

I'd sell it and repair your old stove, this is just your beginning of trouble. Do a search on these stoves, Auger motor problems. Bottom line you get what you pay for.

 

[orangecrushcj7]

thanks 4 the info cj, if mike dosn't appear soon, ill give him a shout..hey how hot does ur exhaust get? can you touch it without losen' skin? cause my exhaust is hotter then my stove!

thanks again

Vent pipe is hot enough that i can't touch it longer than a split seconad, as mentioned above.
On a separate note, It would be nice if people would stay on topic and keep unrelated opinions to another post. Brand bashing helps no one.

 

[stillstandin]

thanks orange, I hear ya..." It's a P.O.S." isn't the help i was lookin 4..i'm sure it'll be a champ once i get the bugs worked out. I dropped a bag of lgs in it last nite and i got a little more heat out of it.. i just cant seem to break 220. feed at "9", feed at "5", feed at "3" all ends up around 220..go figure. Do these stoves have an air adjustment? {my old one had an airflow adjustment on the side,} I don't see it mentioned in the manual... thanks

 

[slvrblkk]

thanks orange, I hear ya..." It's a P.O.S." isn't the help i was lookin 4..i'm sure it'll be a champ once i get the bugs worked out. I dropped a bag of lgs in it last nite and i got a little more heat out of it.. i just cant seem to break 220. feed at "9", feed at "5", feed at "3" all ends up around 220..go figure. Do these stoves have an air adjustment? {my old one had an airflow adjustment on the side,} I don't see it mentioned in the manual... thanks

I don't know if this helps you or not but here it goes....I have a 25-pdvc the air blowing out is 210 with the feed rate on 2 and the blower on 5....my lower 3-button settings are 5-9-1(I think yours will be different on a pdv)....I have a thermometer on the outside of the firebox door and the temp of the box is 380. I have a 30/70 mix of penningtons and wood pellet co. pellets so I can use up my bad penningtons from last year. You probably really need to get a hold of Mike so he can get your stove dialed in. Good luck with it!

 

[stillstandin]

that does help,thanks i am not that far off, maybe just a matter of finding the right food that the stove likes..

 

[orangecrushcj7]

No air adjustment that I am aware of for any of the higher settings... just 1 and 2, done via the "low burn air" button. But that doesn't help with getting max heat out of it, only improves your low burn. Air adjustment for all heat settings would go on my list of ways to improve the stove. Not that I am complaining though And don't bother to compare your temperatures to mine or anyone elses, placement of the thermometer will impact the results. Just be consistant with your own readings, that way you can tell how adjustments, or changes in pellet brands affect your heat output. One thing I just thought of.... On the PDVC, there is a restrictor plate that limits the amount of pellets that can be fed at time. I am unsure whether or not there is one on a PDV. You could try removing it, that will allow more pellets to be fed on the higher settings. The plate is a small approx 1"x3" piece of sheetmetal that is held in place with 1 screw at the bottom of the hopper at the auger opening. If you remove it, be careful not to let the screw drop into the auger. I had to remove my plate when I burned Lignetics, because they tend to be a bit larger. I replaced it when I started burning the smaller Barefoot pellets.