New England Pellet stove 25-PDV,55 stops feeding pellets

[ray67]

Hello,

I'm having issues this season getting the stove to run. I just did my yearly maintenance and replaced a vacuum switch that went bad.
The issues is the top auger stops turning. I switched the bottom motor to the top, and it's still having the same issues. I also switched the purple wires to the top motor and it stops feeding pellets. The stove turns off with no error codes. Both augers have been remove and clean when i did the maintenance and recently when i switched the motors. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Fyi- I had this stove for over 10years.

Thank you

 

[Ssyko]

check your vacuum hoses on the ends and make sure they are not split or cracked, and that they are clear of anything in them. make a note of which nipple they come off of on the switch. check the port inside the fire box and make sure it clean(toothpick or paper clip) it is on the right side wall about the same height as the lower hinge. you can see the hose through the rt side decorative vent. dont ever put the lower auger wires on the top. they are just for the lower auger it runs continuously.. the upper auger is timed and only runs a few seconds at a time

 

[ray67]

check your vacuum hoses on the ends and make sure they are not split or cracked, and that they are clear of anything in them. make a note of which nipple they come off of on the switch. check the port inside the fire box and make sure it clean(toothpick or paper clip) it is on the right side wall about the same height as the lower hinge. you can see the hose through the rt side decorative vent. dont ever put the lower auger wires on the top. they are just for the lower auger it runs continuously.. the upper auger is timed and only runs a few seconds at a time

Ssyko thank you for your response. I just checked the vacuum hoses on each ends and they are clear and they aren’t split. The port in the fire box is also cleaned.

 

[Ssyko]

Ok now we need to make sure the stove is really clean. You should check the combustion blower chamber and the path to it from the fire box. Then check out the exhaust vent pipe, insure it is clean and clear. The exhaust blower is you vacuum creator. You should plug the 2 holes under the scraper plate on yeach side. That helps combustion immensely.

 

[ray67]

Ok now we need to make sure the stove is really clean. You should check the combustion blower chamber and the path to it from the fire box. Then check out the exhaust vent pipe, insure it is clean and clear. The exhaust blower is you vacuum creator. You should plug the 2 holes under the scraper plate on yeach side. That helps combustion immensely.

Hi Thanks for your response. I think I got it working last night. The set screw for the bearing was loose. Hopefully, this was the issue.
Thank you

 

[ray67]

Well, that didn't last too long. I went to check on the Pellet stove this morning, and it was off. The upper auger keeps getting stuck. No error codes. I moved the auger up and down and the pellets starting to drop.
Can it just be the motor?
If the motor isn't working correctly, should the pellet stove show an error code?

 

[Pellet rick]

I run into that every so often. Usually pellet related being typically some of the pellets are larger and they bridge the trap door in the bottom of the hopper. Open the trap door gate a little bit and see if that helps. What happens is they get jambed up and it stops feeding the bottom auger , so the stove goes out . Then the pellets decide to drop before the stove shuts down and over feeds the burn pot . Worth a look.

 

[ray67]

I run into that every so often. Usually pellet related being typically some of the pellets are larger and they bridge the trap door in the bottom of the hopper. Open the trap door gate a little bit and see if that helps. What happens is they get jambed up and it stops feeding the bottom auger , so the stove goes out . Then the pellets decide to drop before the stove shuts down and over feeds the burn pot . Worth a look.

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try that out.

 

[BackDoc]

If you look at my prior posts on here you should see the post I made about enlarging the hole over the feed auger. It 100% fixed the problem and I have not had one issue since. Not all of them have the same type of restrictor plate that mine had. Mine was not adjustable. If yours is adjustable then open it as suggested above and you should see improvement.

 

[ray67]

If you look at my prior posts on here you should see the post I made about enlarging the hole over the feed auger. It 100% fixed the problem and I have not had one issue since. Not all of them have the same type of restrictor plate that mine had. Mine was not adjustable. If yours is adjustable then open it as suggested above and you should see improvement.

Thank you for your suggestion. My restrictor plate is adjustable. I'll give it a try. I had this stove for over 10 years and never had so many issues before.

 

[Pellet rick]

Ray67 the Pellets get worse every year.lol

 

[ray67]

Ray67 the Pellets get worse every year.lol

lol They sure do. Can I just remove the restrictor plate or will this add too much weight to the auger?

 

[Pellet rick]

Absolutely you can but it may eat thru more pellets then you want. But it will tell you if there is an issue or not. I would just open it up all the way first though. Where is yours set now?

 

[ray67]

Absolutely you can but it may eat thru more pellets then you want. But it will tell you if there is an issue or not. I would just open it up all the way first though. Where is yours set now?

I think it's closed all the way. I would have to check when I get home. Every time I hear the boiler go off, I see money flying out the window.

 

[Pellet rick]

I keep mine about 3/4 open or maybe a little more and it seems to feed pretty decent. But open it all the way and see if its your issue. You can always choke it down to the sweet spot later if it fixes your problem.

 

[ray67]

I keep mine about 3/4 open or maybe a little more and it seems to feed pretty decent. But open it all the way and see if its your issue. You can always choke it down to the sweet spot later if it fixes your problem.

Thank you. I will try that as soon as I get home.

 

[ray67]

Ok now we need to make sure the stove is really clean. You should check the combustion blower chamber and the path to it from the fire box. Then check out the exhaust vent pipe, insure it is clean and clear. The exhaust blower is you vacuum creator. You should plug the 2 holes under the scraper plate on yeach side. That helps combustion immensely.

can you send me a pictures of the two holes under the scraper plate?

 

[Pellet rick]

There are only 3 holes under the burn plate 1- the big one for the air [ its about 1.5" 2+3 are directly to the left and right of the big hole . They are located on the sides of the burn pot itself.I forget the exact size but they are right around 1/2-5/8 holes. one on each side of the pot. Plug the both with either steel wool which will not last forever or use what most of us use are electrical hole plugs they use to plug knock out holes on a electrical panel. Do yourself a favor and look up burn pot mod's for the PDV. they work great especially the plate mod.

 

[ray67]

There are only 3 holes under the burn plate 1- the big one for the air [ its about 1.5" 2+3 are directly to the left and right of the big hole . They are located on the sides of the burn pot itself.I forget the exact size but they are right around 1/2-5/8 holes. one on each side of the pot. Plug the both with either steel wool which will not last forever or use what most of us use are electrical hole plugs they use to plug knock out holes on a electrical panel. Do yourself a favor and look up burn pot mod's for the PDV. they work great especially the plate mod.

The only mod i see is steel wool. Are there any more mods?

 

[Pellet rick]

The biggest one that helps with the burn and lava build up is blocking off the outer holes on the burn plate and increasing the size of the holes right in front of the auger hole. Ssyko just posted a picture of the plate mod a few days ago on another post. I cannot seem to figure out how to copy and paste the photo. Ill keep trying

 

[Pellet rick]

Go to Englander pellet stove using to many pellets back on 11/7/19 and scroll down and ssyko has 2 pictures posted of the burn pot holes and the plate mod

 

[ray67]

Go to Englander pellet stove using to many pellets back on 11/7/19 and scroll down and ssyko has 2 pictures posted of the burn pot holes and the plate mod

 

[Pellet rick]

That’s the one but I went a little bit bigger on the holes

 

[ray67]

That’s the one but I went a little bit bigger on the holes

I also so on that post about heating setting(turn the stove on heat setting 1 fan 3. bottom 3 on 1.4.1 and let us know how that works.).
Do you guys put the fan and pellet feed on the same number?
For the bottom 3 buttons I have never changed them. Are there any benefits to change them?

 

[Ssyko]

Hi Ray if your stove is working good for you at the lower 3 factory settings then no you don't need to change them yet. if you do the mod to the burn pot and scraper plate when you run the stove on heat setting 1 or 2 you will have to adjust the first 2 numbers because the stove is going to be burning the fuel more efficiently. when you get to that point we can help you get it dialed in.