englander pdvc-25 E1 Error

[jwoot]

Hello!

So the weather is starting to turn cold, and I figured I better get it in gear and get my stove ready for the burning season.

The short version of my question is... I tore my stove apart for cleaning and once everything was back together it throws a
E1 error on startup. ON powerup the combustion motor starts {seems like good air flow} and the augur motors are turning.
The stove then shuts down in less than 20 seconds with the E1 error.

More detail

- Since this is the third season I have been using this stove, I thought it would be a good idea to replace most of the seals of the stove. I purchased a gasket kit for my Englander pdv-25 stove. Side note...Englander is running a decent early bird special at the moment {http://www.englanderstoves.com/store/25-PDVC_Parts.html}

I then pulled the combustion motor {and housing}, room blower, lower auger motor & screw, burn pot, and disassembled all vent pipe sections. I proceeded to clean the everything everything well. Meaning wire brush parts/ blow out motors with compressed air/ vacuum / etc. I also went through the entire stove and cleaned every nook that I could get to with a vacuum.

After this, I replaced all of the seals/gaskets and reassembled the stove. I also replaced the seals on the stove door for good measure. I also went through all of the vent pipes and cleaned them well.

Once this was completed, I tried a simple power up to verify the parts install. The combustion motor and augers are both turning. To my
surprise, the stove quickly powers down after 20 seconds. This is with the door closed, and a fully connected stove. Meaning vent pipe connected/etc.

I may have missed something, but I have a feeling that I bumped something during cleaning and I am just missing it. Any thoughts/insights would be appreciated.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

When the stove's start button is pushed does the combustion blower turn on and come up to speed. If you removed the combustion blower to clean it and then replaced the gasket, it is possible that the impeller is hitting bits of crud and not turning fast enough.

Also in cleaning it is possible to get crud in the vacuum sensors tubing (or forgetting to reattach it if you cleaned it out, or unintentionally knocking it off its barbs).

Depending upon the vent cleaning direction it is also possible that you knocked crud down into the tee to the point is is filled and blocking airflow.

Did you remember to remove the air intake plug if you plugged it for the summer and also the vent termination?

 

[jwoot]

When the stove’s start button is pushed does the combustion blower turn on and come up to speed. If you removed the combustion blower to clean it and then replaced the gasket, it is possible that the impeller is hitting bits of crud and not turning fast enough.


I believe the combustion motor is ok. No, hittiing or pinging. Also before I connected the vent pipes, I powered the stove on test the combustion motor. As it turns out, I learned to not do this without at least having a vacuum going on the exhaust before hand. There was a small bit of fly ash still in there somewhere...and I ended up looking like a racoon. My wife found it quite funny...me ...not so much All said, air is moving out.


Also in cleaning it is possible to get crud in the vacuum sensors tubing (or forgetting to reattach it if you cleaned it out, or unintentionally knocking it off its barbs).


I was wondering this myself. I didn't remove any of the vacuum sensors tubes for cleaning, but I could have bumped them. I'll check the manual and all of the hoses to see if I missed something.


Depending upon the vent cleaning direction it is also possible that you knocked crud down into the tee to the point is is filled and blocking airflow.

I completely disassembled the vent pipes for cleaning {inside and out}. I visually checked all of the pipes for buildup and then cleaned them.


Did you remember to remove the air intake plug if you plugged it for the summer and also the vent termination?

During the initial power on check, this is the one piece that was not connected. I was still pulling air from inside the room. That said, I do need to check the intake... this is something I haven't done yet.

 

[jwoot]

I checked the vacuum hoses coming off of the combustion motor and off of the main burn chamber. The ends were actually dry and cracked. There was enough length in the hose to snip the bad section and fully reattach the hoses {the other ends were good}. I retried and received the same E1 error.

Just for giggles, I pulled the exhaust vent and performed a leaf blower cleanout. There was a bit of fly ash that I missed, but otherwise the result was fairly clean.
Retry of startup netted the same result.

Any other thoughts?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

With the power off and the stove unplugged check the wiring connections to the vacuum switch and if they are tight, remove and jumper them. Then plug the stove back in and try it. If jumping works it is time to replace that vacuum switch (or make certain the vacuum line is going into the correct port, some of them are dual port and it is possible to have the hose attached to the wrong port).

Also make certain that your vacuum hose isn't cracking as fast as you snip the ends off and reattach.

 

[imacman]

If everything is back together correctly, and there are no loose or disconnected wires on the vacuum switch, then it sounds like the switch itself is at fault.

Try disconnecting both leads from the vacuum switch and connecting them together.....if this solves the issue, then replace the switch.

BTW, this is Englander's description of the E1 code:

www.englanderstoves.com/help/PelletStove/ecodes04.html

 

[jwoot]

Ok.. found the issue. I jumped the vacuum switch attached to the combustion motor and everything seemed to work fine {only tested for a minute or so}
I looked a bit closer at the actual connections that I had made to the vacuum switch earlier and realized that I had disconnected this at one point to reroute wires away from the combustion motor. When I reconnected them, I attached them to the wrong posts and didn't realize it.

Upside, it now appears to be working and I found that I need new vacuum hoses before the new season really starts One side question... is there anything special about these hoses? They look like a standard vacuum cable that I could get in any auto parts store. If so, this would beat the price that Englander is asking.



In anycase.. thank you everyone for your help on this Every time I have come here to ask a question... everyone has been really helpful and friendly.
I really do appreciate it

 

[wellsme]

With the power off and the stove unplugged check the wiring connections to the vacuum switch and if they are tight, remove and jumper them. Then plug the stove back in and try it. If jumping works it is time to replace that vacuum switch (or make certain the vacuum line is going into the correct port, some of them are dual port and it is possible to have the hose attached to the wrong port).

I had this problem and found that I had the vacuum tubes on the black ports instead of the white ports. When I switched the tubes to the proper ports
the stove worked fine.

 

[[email protected]]

I did the same thing a year or two back so don't feel to bad.

 

[Panhandler]

I use 1/4" fuel line hose as replacement vacuum hose, has worked fine.