anyone ever modify the wear plate on a 25 pdvc? i've been tossing around a few ideas, maybe to lessen the crustys left after 1/2 a days burn.i'm running on a t-stat and have been cleaning the stove twice a day-------maybe too much, but black glass just bugs me.
wear plate modification
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Been there and done that with my PDVE to no avail. You can get more air through the wear plate with more or larger holes which cleans up the burn some but the ash falls through and builds up in the area below which can block the air flow so.........you still have to clean it frequently and it's way easier to give the burn pot a quick scrape and wipe the glass than it is to lift the wear plate out and try to get fine ash out of the area below it.
In short, the conclusion I came to is that you'd need to redesign the entire thing to solve the problem. I think a more open wear plate would improve the burn considerably but you'd need to find a way to open up the bottom of the burn pot and the floor of the stove so that the ash could fall through, past the air opening, into a clean out area or an ash drawer. Since you'd have to maintain the seal on the stove that's a pretty tall order and way beyond what I felt comfortable attempting but if you come up with any other ideas I'd really like to hear about it. :coolsmile:
In short, the conclusion I came to is that you'd need to redesign the entire thing to solve the problem. I think a more open wear plate would improve the burn considerably but you'd need to find a way to open up the bottom of the burn pot and the floor of the stove so that the ash could fall through, past the air opening, into a clean out area or an ash drawer. Since you'd have to maintain the seal on the stove that's a pretty tall order and way beyond what I felt comfortable attempting but if you come up with any other ideas I'd really like to hear about it. :coolsmile:
yeah, that's what i was thinking-----maybe elongate some of the holes,or connect them. also would it be better if i were to bend the plate so it fits the pot better? mine doesn't sit flush with the support rails.
I am burning so horrible pellets right now. So as a test I blocked the upper hole on the left side of the burn pot(on the side,not in the wear plate), with a short bolt. Then I drilled out the 2 holes that are about 1 inch away from the auger in the wear plate to 1/4 inch. The clinks are still bad with the horrible pellets but after burning the stove for 30hrs without cleaning out the pot my window was only moderately dirty and the pot did not push all the way out to the front.
thanks for your replies, so it may seem that there may be a little room for improvement with the wear plate. does your plate sit flat against the support rails?
just drilled about 5 7/32" holes in my old wear plate and heated and bent the front lip just a touch to let it sit flat to the rails. also found extra weld material in the left corner of the rail assembly and in the front right------ground them down also ---they were making the plate sit up a little also. seems to be burning a little cleaner,but it hasn't been running long. flames no longer try to go under the left side of the plate---also seem a little taller. will post results later after some burn time.
burned 5 or so hours-------burned firesides down to mostly powder! just got a couple bags of pa pellets to try. so far they seem good(maybe better than firesides) despite all the bashing of pa's i've read. will know more in the am. will post pics of my plate drillings in the near future if mods prove viable.
burned through the night with fine ah left an pot. if pa pellets are supposed to be such crap, with a little extra air, they burn hot in my stove and leave less mess than the firesides. will get pics of my wear plate later when i clean the stove.
How has this worked out for you since yesterday? I agree that more air will produce a hotter fire, however, you really aren't adding any more volume of air. If the same motor is running at the same speed, it is pulling the air in at the same rate. The CFM is the same. What you are doing though, is redistributing the air in a different pattern thru the wearplate. If anything, the air going thru any one hole is less now, beacuse there are more holes for the air to go thru, which equals less pressure. I would be interested in experimenting with this myself, but I don't want to have to buy a new wearplate if it doesn't produce good results. Keep us posted on how it works. I am curious as to WHY it works.
Orange Crush CJ-7 said:
When I opened up my wear plate holes I also bloted the Left side hole in the burn pot. This hopefully is allowing more air to be drawn through the holes in the wear plate...
drilled 5-6 7/32" holes around near the center of the wear plate. fitted the plate to the burn pot better(flush to the rails) worked much better and left almost no crusty crap after overnight burn. before fitting the plate flat, i noticed the flame being drawn around the side of the plate. now, the flame is much taller and cleaner burning and visibly being drawn to the burn pot side holes and the wear plate holes---it's pretty even looking all around. i don't know how it would have worked by just drilling or by just fitting the plate better. i suppose it's a combination of each. by the way,i also elongated the slot in the hopper baffle and slid it closed a little more. stove is thermostated @9/9 and lff4 lfa6.
i still wonder if i can benefit from a 4" vent pipe. my elevation is only 700 ft./ well below the limits of 3" pipe, but i wonder if 4" would be better?????
i still wonder if i can benefit from a 4" vent pipe. my elevation is only 700 ft./ well below the limits of 3" pipe, but i wonder if 4" would be better?????
and you are burning the same pellets as before the mod? When I burn hardwood, I get the crusty ash too. It never really bothered me. But If I can eliminate it, all the better. When I burn softwoods, the ash is lighter and blows out of the pot. I get way better heat out of the hardwoods though. I don't know if you would get an improvement with 4" pipe over 3" if your total EVL is less than 15. They designed it for 3" for a reason..... But I also know that some manufacturers want 4" regardless of length. Avalon for example. You may get more "bonus" heat out of the vent pipe if there is any vertical rise inside the house, because the larger diameter pipe will result in slower exhaust air, which would give the hot flue gases longer contact time with the insides of the vent pipe.
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