Severely disappointed in heat output of 25-PDV

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grunyon

Member
Jan 25, 2013
50
Hey everyone,

In my relentless Google searching hoping to find a solution to my problem, I've seen a lot of threads here. So I am now creating my own.

I have a 25-PDV from the Home Depot with a build date of 2009.

The heat output of this thing is lukewarm at best. It is really no more than what comes out of the heat vents in my automobile. If not less, to be honest. My upstairs and basement of my house are both sealed off with a door and the stove is in the first floor living room. It heats (or doesn't) about 900 sq feet. The model I have is supposed to to heat over 2000 sq feet. Everyone I've talked to raves about how warm their house is and how they have to open windows and such. I have tried different pellets. The back plate is in place. I have tried both modes C and D. I have reset the stove to factory settings. It's not dirty because it's brand and I vacuum it out every day. It wasn't even that warm brand new. I don't think my house is the problem... there is insulation in the walls and I have all brand new windows and such.

Help!

EDIT: Here are some pictures of the stove and the installation.

http://imgur.com/a/c71wg
 
Your Air intake looks a bit restrictive,... try popping it off for a bit see if heat increases,.. also try doing a board re-set,.. procedures are in these threads,.. I can get my PDV going so hot you cant stand in front of it.
 
grunyon said:
Do you really think that's it? It's not like it is kinked or anything like that
Click to expand...
well something obviously isnt right and you gotta start somewhere,... restrictions and obstructions are first,.. then move on to combustion blower and fuel feed.... component board,..its most likely not going to fix itself.
 
Welcome to the forum! You've tried different pellets but what pellets specifically?
I ask because when I first got my stove I didn't know the difference between
a top shelf pellet and the rest (as most newb stove owners). Lots of threads on here about quality pellets and where to buy them. The Techs at Englander will walk you through TS also.
 
I use Stove Chow from the home depot. The guy who recommended and runs the 25-pdv also recommended them to me. I also tried some pellets from Lowes which people online recommended but I can't remember the name of them at the moment.
 
Have you tired to send MIke a message here, he is the senior tech for Englander, and will get you squared away. It looks like you have a dirty burn, with a lazy flame, But I will wait for others to chime in! Also that oak looks really bent, I would do as others said, and try to remove that for a few hours and see if you get any improvement. Your oak should be a straight shot with as little bends as possible.
 
Doesn't sound right to me. I have the little brother to that the 25-PDVC and I am sitting at 82° in my house right now and 30° outside. This is on setting 1 right now. Full clean yesterday running Lignetics orange label. I am heating the full 1600sf with this
stove. (You can see I have my HVAC "OFF"). I have an OAK installed.

[Hearth.com] Severely disappointed in heat output of 25-PDV
 
Kinked or not, that is a major restriction
 
I see where you guys are coming from. I'll try it. I can't see my two 90* bends being any more restrictive than that plate you're supposed to use to partially cover the hole from the weather on the outside.
 
I just got off the phone with Home Depot and I am allowed to return this item for 90 days after purchase. I still have about 10 days. I'd hate to have to exchange it for a different one... but this problem is just too weird.
 
I'd say I go through a bag of pellets on C mode at a heat range of 3 in 12 hours or so.

Is air supposed to be coming out of the bronze vents? Is that much ash supposed to be gathering in the burn pot or should the burn pot be able to clean it's self out?

If I keep putting bags in without letting the fire burn out, the fire seems to snuff it's self out because of ash build up in the burn pot after about three bags. One guy on the Home Depot reviews wrote " I keep it running for two weeks at a time before I clean out the ashes. "
 
The fire is steady. It seems to feed fine. It takes forever to heat up. The air coming out of the blower doesn't seem all that hot. The heat in my car could probably blow hotter honestly. It is almost like it's missing the heat exhanger or something.

I've been burning for at least 3 hours now. I'll take a picture of the burn pot and post it.

EDIT: Here's a picture of my burn pot.

http://imgur.com/EMoY31e

You can see the different layers so I think it's burning okay. There's the new pellets coming in, the burning pellets, the cindered pellets, and the ash which seems to be nice, fine ash.
 
Is that picture with the door open, or closed. If it's closed, the flame is very lazy and would more then likely indicate a restirction. I would do as others have said. Unhook the OAK and see if the flame gets any stronger. If it does, you will need to find better routing for you OAK.
 
grunyon said:
I see where you guys are coming from. I'll try it. I can't see my two 90* bends being any more restrictive than that plate you're supposed to use to partially cover the hole from the weather on the outside.
Click to expand...
not only do the bends look restrictive,... but that exterior flap looks VERY restrictive.
 
I'd bend that exterior flap up a little bit to make sure it isn't restricting the inlet air any, and maybe just disconnect the oak from the stove while it's running to see if there's any change. Can you take a pic of it burning through the glass and not open the door?

Even though this stove has a build date of 2009, when you bought it at HD, was it brand new in the box? It wasn't a returned stove sitting on the floor, was it? (I have seen that in my local store).

Is the stove on a stat? If not, have you made sure that the jumper wire is still installed on the control board?
 
I am going to exchange the unit for a completely new one from the local store to avoid any further headaches. It would be more up for troubleshooting if I didn't have such a strange problem.

How can I tell if it's brand new? It didn't look like there was ever a fire inside of it and there were still metal shavings and stuff when I got it. My settings for LFF and LBA were way off, though, when I first got on the phone with you guys.

At my home depot, they are just sitting on a pallet with their box loosely over the top.

Should I aim to try to get a newer build date?
 
Well, it would always be nice, but the stoves are all the same, pretty much. Only thing that might be different is the revision # on the control board, but I doubt that will make any difference.

Did you get a chance to get us a pic (or a video) of the fire while the unit is burning and with the door closed (and clean glass)?
 
In the first set of pics it looks like you have black soot outside the flange that should seat in the door gasket. On the upper right and left corners. If so you may want to make sure the door gasket is seating properly. Hard to tell from the pic though.

Does the stove itself get hot on a feed rate of 3? As in too hot to touch. What do you set the room fan at?
 
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