englander secondary vacuum switch question

[bloozmahn]

after much wrangling i've finally managed to get my sisters englander pellet 25-PDVC stove working, i've had to bypass the vacuum switch that connects to the front of the stove, i'm assuming the combustion chamber. i tested the switch by sucking on it and it functions properly that way. i blew into the hose and i didn't detect any impediment to the air.

the stove works fine but is running too hot and eating too many pellets. from what i've figured out this switch cuts power to the upper auger motor, which is running on a timed voltage coming from the motherboard. is it possible that it reacts to a much lower vacuum than i can provide just by sucking on it and this is why it's not feeding voltage?

i'm tired of buying parts hoping to fix this thing and would like some help if i could get it. how is the vacuum created if the hose feeds into the front of the stove? is it when the combustion blower comes on and sucks the air out into the room? i can't think of any other scenario where vacuum would exist in a heated chamber..

thanks in advance

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Where to start. If the stove is feeding pellets the problem is not the vacuum switch. Go to the England Stove Works web site and read the instructions to, first reset the control board's and second make sure it is in mode D.
I am sorry to be so terse, but typing on a tablet is frustrating.

 

[DexterDay]

The stove is a giant air pump that puts the firebox under negative pressure.

The vac switch doesn't control the voltage supplied for feed rate. The vac switch is only to verify vacuum and supply power to feed the stove. The selected feed rates and settings of the bottom 3 buttons dictate the overall feed rate, along with the "mode" that was noted above (C or D mode).

What heat settings are you running on? And what are your bottom 3 buttons set at (LBA LFF AOT)? Harvey makes a good point about a board reset. Good place to start.

 

[CladMaster]

Look for posts made by 'CladMaster', he's posted details on how to do a control board reset. .... Oh, wait, thats me !

 

[bloozmahn]

i should have mentioned the stove worked flawlessly for 6 years before this last batch of problems started. I know that the vacuum switch doesn't supply voltage, it simply interrupts the voltage going to the feeder auger motor.

i'll try a board reset.

if the firebox only has negative vacuum when the blower that puts hot air in the room in on ( i don't know the term for this blower) she said it doesn't switch off under normal operation unless you turn off the stove, and it doesn't turn on until aprox 10 mins after you start the stove, then it may be functioning properly. i replaced the lower auger motor with the gleason avery model after doing research. could it be it just functions better than the crappy merkle the stove came with? the RPM matched the merkle.

 

[DexterDay]

The room blower should run the entire time the stove runs. Other than start up to establish POF.

Once it senses the Temp, the convection blower (room air) kicks on and should stay on.

The.combustion blower is the blower that pulls the air through the pot and through the stove.

Its possible that the old auger was failing /slowing. But i would still do the reset and take it back to factory specs.

 

[TLHinCanada]

if the firebox only has negative vacuum when the blower that puts hot air in the room in on ( i don't know the term for this blower) she said it doesn't switch off under normal operation unless you turn off the stove, and it doesn't turn on until aprox 10 mins after you start the stove, then it may be functioning properly. i replaced the lower auger motor with the gleason avery model after doing research. could it be it just functions better than the crappy merkle the stove came with? the RPM matched the merkle.

I must be missing something. What is the stove doing that is causing this anguish. The fan that turns on ten minutes after you start the stove is the convection fan, it has nothing to do with the vacuum switch. The combustion fan provides air for the combustion chamber. I would have thought that resetting the board to "D" and adjusting the magic buttons would be cheaper than replacing the auger motor.