OLD Englander 25-PDV, info/advise needed

[jimbr549]

Hi, All! I recently bought a used Englander 25-PDV, and it's not the basic model. Let me tell you what I know:

Manufactured date is 05/00. Serial # is WHI-009653
It looks like the standard 25-PDV, has brass louvers on the front, 4 heat exchanger tubes, door handle is closed down and on the left.

Where it gets funny is in the burn pot area. (see pics) There is no removable burn pot, never was, and as near as I can tell, there is not a place to put a wear plate. I'm assuming that you just pile some pellets in front of the auger and light'em up. Does anyone have experience with this style of 25-PDV? No manual with this configuration is available that I can find.

As far as the other parts of the stove go, the exhaust fan works, both the top and bottom augers work, the control board SEEMS to do what it should, but I won't know until I fire the stove.

So, some additional questions:

Is there a way to test the combustion blower without firing up the stove?
I see there is a place to connect a thermostat to the control board. Should there be a jumper there?
There is not a pressure switch on the stove, and I can't find a nipple on the exhaust fan housing, so maybe this unit never had a pressure switch. Is there a way to install a pressure switch on the existing fan housing? I do like some safety with my heat.
There is no feed adjustment door between the hopper and the top auger. Is that a really bad thing, or just sorta bad, or not bad at all?
Lastly, what amp fuse do you think the previous owner installed in the control board? (see pic) I'm guessing 100,000.
This stove needs all new gaskets, at the very least. Maybe many other things. I'm not in it deep dollars, and I'd rather quit while I'm behind IF the burn pot is a really bad design.
All thoughts appreciated.

 

[ericofmaine]

Wow, that does look odd. I have the same stove, but 9 years newer and my internals look nothign like that. It does appear, however, that you have a newer control board, so that's interesting. So, I can't comment on the burn pot area, so I'll go with your other questions.
1. Yes. If you do a search for "Englander Pellet Stove Test Mode," that should get you the procedure.
2. If you're not going to connect a thermostat, then yes, a jumper needs to be there or the stove will run on low, only.
3. Some pics of the inside of the back of the stove would help. My fan housing has a nipple that feeds a vacuum switch to control the auger.
4. See #3.
5. Its not a terrible thing, in my opinion, but one can be fashioned fairly easily with a piece of thin scrap steel.
6. Wow...

All in all, mine is a great stove. Hopefully someone with this older design will chime in.

Eric

 

[blades]

just looked at the old one i have here , looks like you described non removable burn area. did't look to see if it bolted in or not too much other stuff in the way.

 

[jimbr549]

Thanks, Eric, that's all very helpful.

The back of the stove looks like most others of it's kind, based on pics I've seen. The only thing missing is the vacuum switch and hose.

I'm gonna try the "test mode" tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to move the stove out into the middle of the driveway and fire it up, see what happens. I'll have my video camera ready so if something exciting happens (total meltdown?), I'll have something fun to share!

Wow, that does look odd. I have the same stove, but 9 years newer and my internals look nothign like that. It does appear, however, that you have a newer control board, so that's interesting. So, I can't comment on the burn pot area, so I'll go with your other questions.
1. Yes. If you do a search for "Englander Pellet Stove Test Mode," that should get you the procedure.
2. If you're not going to connect a thermostat, then yes, a jumper needs to be there or the stove will run on low, only.
3. Some pics of the inside of the back of the stove would help. My fan housing has a nipple that feeds a vacuum switch to control the auger.
4. See #3.
5. Its not a terrible thing, in my opinion, but one can be fashioned fairly easily with a piece of thin scrap steel.
6. Wow...

All in all, mine is a great stove. Hopefully someone with this older design will chime in.

Eric

 

[jimbr549]

From what I can tell, Blades, the auger tubes, bearing mounts, and fire pot are all one piece, and that piece is bolted to the back firewall, with the burn pot sticking into the front section through a rectangular hole in the firewall. There are no bolts in the front of the stove like you would find in a "normal" 25-PDV.

just looked at the old one i have here , looks like you described non removable burn area. did't look to see if it bolted in or not too much other stuff in the way.

 

[Pellet rick]

It looks like to me that this is someone’s attempt at a modified burn pot. They do not look like factory welds to me.

 

[jimbr549]

It's a factory design, I just found some examples on this site. There is so much info here, it takes time and luck to find things sometimes.
I've attached a couple pics I found but, unfortunately, not much info on how well this burn pot system works.

Time to call the folks at Englander, I reckon.