General questions on Englander 25pdvc

[Ridgefire]

First off I just purchased the Englander 25pdvc from Home Depot.

1. How long should a hopper of pellets last?

I have the unit set burn rate 1 and blower at 5. It seems like I'm lucky if I get 12 hours out of 40# of pellets.

2. Is there a optimal setting or is it just individual preference's? IE, you get better heat with a setting of 2 and 6, or something along those lines.

3. Is it harmful to run a mix of corn and pellets in the 25pdvc?

I did some searching here last night and found that Mike doesn't recommend it, and the book says it will void the warranty. But I cant find anything that says it will damage it.

4. On the same note of warranty, if I were to run a mixture of corn and something happens is the entire warranty void or just parts of it.
I found a post on here where someone said, I believe it was a Harmon stove that they would only void the warranty on the burn pot.

I think thats it for now. Thank you for your help. I wish I would have found this site sooner.

Other than it seems like it is burning a lot of pellets I really like the stove and if it saves me a bit of gas this winter then its all worth it.

Mike
From Northern Michigan.

 

[webbie]

That is fairly normal pellet use in colder weather. Corn contains quite a bit less energy, so I see no reason for you to burn it unless you have connections where it is 25% or more cheaper than Pellets....and, of course, if factory agrees. It can make corn syrup (gum), etc......but most probably it simply will not work to your satisfaction, so why use it.

You should be able to turn the stove down a bit lower than that, but I will get Mile or your manual address as to exactly how. Then again, if you are not overheating the area, then you don't want to turn it down.

As far as optimal settings, every stove may have its sweet spots, but these differ and as mentioned you have to burn through a certain amount of pellets to get heat - in Michigan, especially. Think about wood burning.....4 big arm loads of wood would weight about 100 lbs, and folks would not consider that a lot to burn in 24 hours. So your use is quite typical....and represents about 18,000 BTU (more or less) per hour output.

 

[Dougsey]

I used to have that stove and with burn rate on 1, I would get at least 24 hours out of a bag. But at that setting, I would only get a minimal maintenance burn (which is all you need sometimes). Sounds like it might need to be dialed in a bit.

I found 2/3 or 3/3 worked well for me when the weather was colder.

 

[Ridgefire]

Right now I have it set at 1 and 7 and it seems to heat the entire house very well, in fact my furnace has not kicked on once.

Still seems to be burning quite a bit of pellets though.

How do you dial it in?

 

[Xena]

How do you dial it in?

You call the folks at ESW and they walk you through it.
Technical Support (800) 245-6489
Got the number from their site: http://www.englandsstoveworks.com/

 

[Ridgefire]

the middle button on bottom 'low burn air" allows you to control the blower speed of the exhaust fan. push button & instantly push blower speed button down to 1 which is lowest setting.low fuel feed button allows for minimizing pellet feed with similar procedure.must watch to make sure enough pellets are fed to keep fire going.
seems to me that high pellet feed would require more combustion air than low pellet feed. exceess combustion air for low feed seems wasteful i guess.
years ago during pellet shortage i mixed 3 or 4 parts pellet to 1 part corn. corn clinkers resulted in burnpot which i figured was good because i burn low feed & clinkers seemed to block burnplate some & air didnt go around pellets burning. i didnt know how to adjust combustion blower then.i also put a valve on the air intake pipe to minimize excess air intake. great little stove has survived my experiments. i didnt have warranty & got the stove used.
good luck.
theres a couple of englander guys who can better help you. you should edit the title of your post to include the name englander

Thanks I edited the title.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

ok, 12 hours on h/r 1 is a bit high, suggest checking the "low fuel feed" button , and lower its setting 2 numbers (for example, if its set on 6 , drop it to 4) this should reduce consumption on lowest feed rate , do not lower the "low burn air" though , i want to leave that where it is , and the "air on temp" should never be taken above 1.

if this doesnt settle the unit down , call my shop at 800-245-6489 , one of my techs will assist you further, hours are 8-6 mon-fri , and 9-12 saturday (in season) however , we will be closed next monday and tuesday for the holidays. contact me in here if you have an immediate need as i will not be living in here at that time but i will monitor the forum daily to check up on "my flock' <chuckle>

 

[Ridgefire]

Thanks Mike


When I get home tonight I will try that.




After I refill it.... lol