Need Some Help With an Englander stove

[McMatt]

First, the basics. It's an Englander 25PDVC made in 10/08.

I started burning a few weeks ago and all was well.

Friday night the fire went out unexpectedly after about three hours burn time. Foresookth sayeth I. When the stove didn't respond to a shaken fist and blue language I dug all the pellets out of the hopper carefully checking to see if there was any foreign matter....part of a a bag, the neighbor's missing kitty etc...and found nothing amiss. When I loaded the stove again it burned fine all weekend producing good heat and no funny noises.

By the standards of the miserable weather we endured last week today was moderate so I shut the stove off so I could clean it after work. After cleaning I reignited it and all seemed well. Well pleased I sat down to enjoy a Cup of Meade. Well maybe a couple cups.

The fire went out again. So once again I dug all the pellets out of the hopper, took a vacuum and cleaned the area around the auger as best as I could, reloaded the stove and it ignited. That lasted twenty minutes. So I once again dug out all the pellets, threw them in the trash thinking it was a prank batch some bored lumberjack cooked up and then re-vacuumed the area around the auger. While the hopper was empty I studied the spinning auger. It seemed to stop occasionally then resume moving but it never stopped for more than a second or so. I stared at it a long while (when I have no clue what I am looking at I tend to stare at them a long while) loaded fresh pellets, tapped on the front auger with a hammer (it seems to spin fine all the time but I just like hitting things with a hammer time to time.)

It's burning now, strike that, I just went and checked, it's out again. (It lasted fifteen minutes this time)

Any advice on what I am overlooking would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rap69ri]

Are there any error codes showing up on the control panel when it shuts itself off?

 

[McMatt]

No codes. In fact even with all the fuel out it doesn't shut off or trigger the "out of fuel code." Thanks

 

[packerfan]

Check the opening in the bottom of your hopper. There is a plate that slides back and forth to allow more, or larger sized pellets to fall to the top auger. The plate is held in place by 1 bolt and is easily adjusted.

I've had to adjust mine on occasion when I changed brands of pellets. Open it up a bit for longer pellets, and close it a bit for the shorter ones. Give it a try, it may solve your problem, as it sounds like your pellets just aren't falling down to the top auger.

 

[McMatt]

I did in fact remove that plate while looking for an obstruction. Seeing that it was adjustable to a minor degree and with this year's pellets larger than normal I adjusted the opening to it's widest position. Thanks for the tip though.

 

[rap69ri]

The top auger turns intermittently like it should. Does the bottom auger continuously turn as it should?

 

[McMatt]

Yes, the bottom auger continues spinning constantly with the unit on. I'm pretty familiar with it's speed as I stare into the thing constantly and it seems to be moving at the correct rate. There's no grinding or other noises to indicate that it's misaligned in it's tube either. Thanks.

 

[rap69ri]

Next question then, when it shuts off is there a mound of pellets in the burn pot?

 

[McMatt]

No, the first sign of trouble is pellets stop coming out of the bottom auger into the burn pot. What fuel is left in the burn pot at that point is eventually reduced to embers and with no new fuel coming in, the fire goes out. In the first two instances when I cleaned out the hopper and refilled it, the pellets began flowing again and the fire restarted. It's in the shut down mode right now, and I will try to restart it once it shuts down.

I don't think this is a fuel related issue either. I still had some of my stash of lignetics left from last year and never had any problems with that. That's what's in the stove now. I must say this "Surefire" stuff that my supplier got me this year leaves a lot more ash than Lignetics but I did thoroughly clean the stove today.

 

[rap69ri]

Is it possible that the high temp limit switch is being tripped? This would cause the top auger to stop feeding pellets and put the stove in shutdown. Or is the top auger going into thermal shutdown. I think these are the two items that could cause your problem as you describe it.

 

[sydney1963]

What settings do you have your stove set at? Like mine is set at 1-2 and 5-6-1.

 

[McMatt]

FHS- I typically run my stove at 1-1. THat's enough to keep this small place warm without waking up to 78 degree temps.

RAP- I could use more info to check on this problem. How would I diagnose it? It seems to me considering how quickly the stove turns off that a high temp problem wouldn't be the issue but I defer to your knowledge. Thanks. I will say that the upper auger kept turning when I dug the pellets out of the hopper. It just seems to paraphrase Cool Hand Luke, my upper and lower auger have a fundamendtal failure to communicate.

Here's the frustrating part. I re-fired the stove at 8:30. By 8:33 it was burning happily. Away. An hour and a half later it's still purring happily along. I am about to turn in to face another 12 hour work day tomorrow, and hoping and praying the stove runs through the night so I don't wake up half frozen. Will advise tommorrow after I gnaw my way through the restraining straps on my bed.