Englander 25-pdv igniter issue

[jwoot]

Hello!

I am having an issue with my Englander 25-pdv stove lighting the pelletes. When I go to start up the stove it *should* feed a certain amount of pellets and then the igniter will heat up and start the process. The igniter never kicks on and the fire never starts. If I start the fire manually {fire gel} everything runs fine.

I called Englander and got a replacement igniter and swapped it out with the old one... however the problem still remains. I did doublecheck all of the connections on the mainboard and everything has been cleaned {including around the igniter } I will call them again next week but I was wondering if anyone might have any insight of what is going on.

While I am at it...I have one other question involving daily/weekly cleaning. During the course of the week we are running the stove almost 24/7. We will stop it for an 1/2 hour or so twice a day and scoop ashes to the side. About every three or four days I will shut it down for a few hours {complete cooldown} and vacuum out the ashes. I will also pull the plate from behind the burn box and vacuum everything that I can get to {including plate}. About once a month I will open the cleanout t on the vent pipe and vacuum out what I can. This spring I will completely tear the stove down and clean it well. I am just wondering... am I missing anything that I should be cleaning on a more regular basis? Once again..any insight would be appreciated

Thanks as always...

~J


Stoves..

Englander 25-pdv in the house
GloKing P100f in the shop ..10 degrees outside... 75 inside. Gotta love it
6 tons of pellets for this year... 2 down 4 to go

 

[speedoboy31]

your maintenance schedule looks good. i recently went through the same igniter problem-----not under warranty anymore. i jumped the gun and guessed at the igniter without testing it-----my bad. it turned out to be the control board. just like you, all but the igniter worked just fine. got a killer deal on an almost new board in the hearth classifieds. problem solved.

 

[packerfan]

Sounds to me like you have a good cleaning routine. I vac out the ashes once a week myself on my englander. I would suggest also doing the leaf blower thing, it works great. I clean mine out with the leaf blower after every ton or so.

There is no need to shut it down during the day to scoop the ashes to the side. Things will be just fine if you do it while it is running, and only have the door open a minute or 2. All you need to do is find something metal with a long enough handle so that you don't burn your hands while cleaning the burn pot when the stove is running.

 

[jwoot]

yeah...I kind of figured the board might be the next step. On the bright side I now will likely end up with a spare igniter. Fortunately my stove is still under warranty. Thanks for the info.

~J

 

[jwoot]

One question... I keep hearing about the "leaf blower trick". I have searched for it...but all I seem to find are pages that are referring to it and not the actual method of how to do it. Can someone point me in the right direction for this?

*disclaimer*
I am told that I have a talent for missing something that is completely obvious

 

[imacman]

One question... I keep hearing about the "leaf blower trick". I have searched for it...but all I seem to find are pages that are referring to it and not the actual method of how to do it. Can someone point me in the right direction for this?......

The original thread:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/29847/

 

[Smudge88]

There is no need to shut it down during the day to scoop the ashes to the side. Things will be just fine if you do it while it is running, and only have the door open a minute or 2. All you need to do is find something metal with a long enough handle so that you don’t burn your hands while cleaning the burn pot when the stove is running.

I use a Hamburger Flipper (Steel)for mine...Works great and I don't need to shut it down!

 

[jwoot]

I confess...I don't *always* shut it down to do this ...during the day my wife cleans it out and she feels better {read safer} shutting it off for a bit. I have two young daughters and we have made a big production on safety and the pellet stove. If I opened the stove while it was on and they saw it...I would be lectured for at hour on safety That said...if there are a *lot* of ashes built up from the burn time I do shut it off for a bit to give it a better cleaning/scooping.

For the scooping I bought a 5$ metal shovel from l0wes. The shovel was originally 5 inches wide.. but I was easily able to bend it down to 4 1/4 inches wide with a anvil and rubber mallet. It has worked really well....

As for the leaf blower trick...that is clever. Is there any need to worry about stressing the gaskets or exhaust motor in the stove?

~j

 

[speedoboy31]

definitely add the leaf blower to your schedule. pulled both blowers out yesterday for cleaning. my room blower was 3/4 clogged(been a season and a half).my combustion blower was almost not in need of any cleaning at all. i credit the leaf blower trick for this. i try to run the leaf blower about once a month.

 

[Phatty]

i shut mine down till the flame goes out and use a pair of pliers to pick up the wear plate and dump it to the side put it back and hit the on button