Englander - Top Auger only turns when hopper is open

[mclark]

Englander 25 PDVC, bought in Feb 2010, have burned about 2.5 tons.

No problems at all until this. Cleaned the stove and then after starting it back up, noticed 5 minutes later that the fire had started to die down already. Stopped and re-started it, top auger did not turn at all this time. Emptied out the hopper and vacuumed out any pellets I could get. Put a small amount of pellets back in and started it back up with the hopper open to see if I could tell when the top auger turned. It did turn, dropped the pellets and the fire started. Put more pellets in, closed the hopper and after 5 minutes, the fire died out, again top auger stopped. Eventually figured out that the top auger will only keep working when the hopper is left open. So it can run for an hour fine with hopper open, then when I shut it, within 5 minutes fire has died because pellets stopped being fed. The bottom auger seems to be fine - always turning when stove on.

So this seems to be the opposite of what is supposed to happen with the hopper lid saftey switch - my understanding is if the hopper is left open the top auger will eventually stop. Any thoughts on what is going on here??

 

[kofkorn]

Hi,

A couple of quick questions to help understand the info:

1) Are you able to see the auger not turning when the cover is closed by viewing the back of the stove, or are you just assuming it isn't turning because the fire goes out?

2) Are you possibly getting jams that are working out when you restart? Try moving the motor on the upper auger when the pellets are not feeding. You should be able to rotate it a few degrees freely.

3) Is it possible that you are supplying too much air to the fire? You could be pulling air through the hopper and augers when the lid is open, reducing the air going through the burn pot and keeping the flame alive. When you are closing the cover, you could be pulling all of the air through the burn pot and causing the pellets to burn out before the next ones are fed in.

4) Have you tried any different feed and fan settings yet? What are you currently running. Try running on 9-9 for a while to see if this changes your issue.

5) Is it possible you disturbed the wiring during your cleaning? Could you be seeing some kind of ground fault with the switch that happens when you close the lid?

On my stove, I've found that I can get the fire to go out if my fuel feed settings are too low when i am running in low mode. The relationship between the upper and lower augers mean that during one turn of the lower auger a whole lot of pellets may come out, but on another turn a minute or two later, no pellets may be fed. If my low fuel feed settings are too low, it can go a few turns before pellets are dropped in the pot, sometimes causing the ones in the burn pot to burn down too much.

I have really tried to lower the fuel feed as low as possible in low mode so I don't use extra pellets when not needed, when the thermostat kicks in, the stove goes to 9-9 and really cranks up.

I hope this gives you a few ideas.

Good luck!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Englander 25 PDVC, bought in Feb 2010, have burned about 2.5 tons.

No problems at all until this. Cleaned the stove and then after starting it back up, noticed 5 minutes later that the fire had started to die down already. Stopped and re-started it, top auger did not turn at all this time. Emptied out the hopper and vacuumed out any pellets I could get. Put a small amount of pellets back in and started it back up with the hopper open to see if I could tell when the top auger turned. It did turn, dropped the pellets and the fire started. Put more pellets in, closed the hopper and after 5 minutes, the fire died out, again top auger stopped. Eventually figured out that the top auger will only keep working when the hopper is left open. So it can run for an hour fine with hopper open, then when I shut it, within 5 minutes fire has died because pellets stopped being fed. The bottom auger seems to be fine - always turning when stove on.

So this seems to be the opposite of what is supposed to happen with the hopper lid saftey switch - my understanding is if the hopper is left open the top auger will eventually stop. Any thoughts on what is going on here??

Are you comfortable around electrical circuits, if so and the switch terminals are easily accessed, with the stove shut down and cool, pull the plug and jumper the switch. Then plug the stove back in and start it up. Let us know if it runs. If it runs you need to replace the switch, if it doesn't give England Stove Works a call to help troubleshoot. The reason I say that is while there is no reason for that switch to have to operate via the control board it might.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

almost sounds like the hopper switch leads are on the wrong pins, if yo take out the switch and look at it there are 3 wire terminals , one in the front and two in the back , the front wire is the "common" and should have a wire, in the back the lower termonal is the "normally open" and should have the other wire, if the upper terminal has that second wire on it the switch would only allow power when switch is NOT depressed

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Must have gotten a good deal on the spdts there Mike.

 

[kofkorn]

Mike,

Is the safety switch a recent addition to the PDVC? Our 55-SHP's were bought about three seasons ago, and I'm not familiar with a hopper switch on either one of them.

Is it a logic switch going to the control board or a 110 live switch going directly to the motor?

Just curious.

Thanks!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Mike,

Is the safety switch a recent addition to the PDVC? Our 55-SHP's were bought about three seasons ago, and I'm not familiar with a hopper switch on either one of them.

Is it a logic switch going to the control board or a 110 live switch going directly to the motor?

Just curious.

Thanks!

switch was added in 2008 in the fall,

and its a live switch has 110 through it