Englander 25-PVD

[Tymbo26]

I’m new to running an Englander 25-PVD in a home I purchased 5 years ago, I’m not sure the last time the previous owners ran the stove so it’s been untouched for at least 5 years.

The exhaust fan runs 24/7 the second I plug the stove in, all the other functions in the control board seem to be working as they should. Just wondering if anyone else has ever heard of a similar issue and if it’s wrong how to fix it
Thanks,

 

[Ssyko]

How old is the stove, mfg date should be on the decal. If you haven’t read the manual, i would read it and learn it. Manual Here Have you cleaned the stove and pipe? 5 years and the ash sucks up moisture like a sponge! I would clean it all then try a start up run. We can go from there

 

[Tymbo26]

How old is the stove, mfg date should be on the decal. If you haven’t read the manual, i would read it and learn it. Manual Here Have you cleaned the stove and pipe? 5 years and the ash sucks up moisture like a sponge! I would clean it all then try a start up run. We can go from there

Thanks for the reply, it was MFG in 2004, and I have read the manual and didn’t see anything regarding exhaust fan stuck on (which honestly is better then stuck off lol) I took a quick peak at the first piece of flue pipe off the blower and it looked okay, I’ll have to check the rest and the catch tee, how often do the circuit boards fail on these models, when we bought the house I had a guy take a look at it and after looking at the stove for 30 seconds he said circuit boards shot (unfortunately I wasn’t home at the time) and all he wanted to do was sell me a new one which I wasn’t interested, out of boredom the other night I decided to take a look my self (4-5 years after the guy said it was shot) I found a bunch of fork terminals yanked out of the board, after some tracing I got it all hooked up and it all seems to be working great other then the exhaust fan, I’d just hate to burn down the house in the event the board is indeed cooked.

 

[Ssyko]

It tough to call a control board without some serious troubleshooting. Unfortunately your board is not available anymore. So best that can be done is try to repair the board or replace the stove.

 

[Tymbo26]

interesting I thought I’ve found a few online, they’re expensive but available or so I thought, but all functions seem to be working fine to my knowledge so maybe this board will last a life time, and the exhaust blower issue isn’t related, aside for the obvious (a short cause by owner, over heating, wrong voltage wired to it) what would cause such a board to fail, can it just fail from old age alone? And again I appreciate your time and knowledge, another question I have is what should the max surface temp be external front and top, it’s not listed in the manual and with no temperature range I have no idea if I’m over firing at any given time, I know my wood stove is safe up to 600 degrees external temp but no clue about this pellet stove.

 

[johneh]

I would not worry about overheating the stove
Pellet stoves are equipped with an overheat snap disc
which will pop when and if there is a failure which allows
the stove to overheat. The High Limit switch shuts the
stove down by stopping the auger motor from supplying pellets to the fire

 

[Ssyko]

They still make the control board but the programming is different from what i understand, now if you found a newer board and was identical to yours you could swap the programed chip over and be ok i would think 😎

 

[Ssyko]

Im not a 100% sure if englander stoves exhaust fan runs for 15min when plugged in. Quads do. Eric my have some more to add to this.

 

[Tymbo26]

Im not a 100% sure if englander stoves exhaust fan runs for 15min when plugged in. Quads do. Eric my have some more to add to this.

I’ll double check now that I’ve cleaned the s*** out of the flue and stove, but mine seems to run forever

 

[Ssyko]

If it runs continuous it is probably a triac that failed closed.

 

[Tymbo26]

If it runs continuous it is probably a triac that failed closed.

Is that a component of the mother board? And is it fixable or worth fixings or something worth being concerned about

 

[Ssyko]

Yes its on the control board. ive changed many, but you gotta have a lil soldering ability. But can be done

 

[Tymbo26]

Yes its on the control board. ive changed many, but you gotta have a lil soldering ability. But can be done

That’s great news it can be fixed, is it safe to wait till winters over

 

[Ssyko]

I suppose as long as your not on a thermostat and there is somebody around to make sure your house dont burn down. If any other triac fails closed it could be bad.

 

[ericofmaine]

I could be wrong, but unless it was upgraded, he has the older control board that I THINK was pot and dial based. Englander did have an upgrade for it.

I had the opposite problem on mine where the wiring to the combustion motor shorted and took out the triac that controlled it. I got around this by making a cheater chord and plugging it directly into the wall (the motor is 120 VAC) and ran it that way for the rest of the heating season. I was able to replace it but be careful as the components are surface soldered and it is VERY easy to pull the trace up. This, assuming you have the new style board. A picture would help.

Finally, to answer Ssyko's question, the fans don't run when first plugged in.

Eric

 

[Ssyko]

Thanks Eric, im sure i will forget it😂. I got rid of my englander 4 years ago so i haven't kept up on them.

 

[Tymbo26]

I could be wrong, but unless it was upgraded, he has the older control board that I THINK was pot and dial based. Englander did have an upgrade for it.

I had the opposite problem on mine where the wiring to the combustion motor shorted and took out the triac that controlled it. I got around this by making a cheater chord and plugging it directly into the wall (the motor is 120 VAC) and ran it that way for the rest of the heating season. I was able to replace it but be careful as the components are surface soldered and it is VERY easy to pull the trace up. This, assuming you have the new style board. A picture would help.

Finally, to answer Ssyko's question, the fans don't run when first plugged in.

Eric

Eric I appreciate the info,

I’m assuming you want a picture of the back?

Also,I understand there’s a snap disk(or should be, I don’t see see one) in place to protect against over firing , but what is the temperature of the 25-pvd? What should I be looking for at low and high fire? I have my bottom 3 buttons at 1-5-1, and burning hard wood pellets, but at heat range 5 out of 9 my stove surface temp is right at 300, and aiming an IR thermometer down the blower tube / heat exchanger I’m getting about 350 but have no idea the proper range for this stove. Can I crank it higher or should 5/6 be the max?
Again I appreciate all the help, and apologize if these are stupid questions, I’m new to burning pellets, and with it being an older stove I’m paranoid of making a mistake to ruin the stove or worse my house and family.

 

[ericofmaine]

Tymbo,
Can't comment on the temps of the stove as I've never checked mine. That said, during this cold snap, I'm running 8/9 but typically 7/9 and on a thermostat. My bottom buttons (I think, I'm not at home so I can't check) are 5-4-1. The top / front of the stove does get hot to the touch but not enough that I won't sit on top for a few minutes to warm up after coming inside! Low fire I have just enough to keep the stove going, maybe an inch high? On the higher end, maybe 3 to 4"...
Something else to look at if you think the stove is getting to hot would be the room air blower. If yours is like mine, there is a screen over the squirrel cage that will clog with dust and pet hair and reduce the amount of heat exchanged. On that note, these stoves like to be CLEAN. If you haven't done it, perform the leaf blower trick on your stove. Look on you tube for some good videos explaining it. I'll crack the stove door just a little to avoid damaging the vacuum switch.
As for the picture, even better would be the control board. Any other questions, fire away.

Eric

 

[Tymbo26]

Eric,
I did clean the snots out of the stove and flue pipe from the stove to where it enters the chimney. And did the leaf blower trick but didn't think of the pressure switches....YIKES....hope they're still good, I think they are. I'll look at the house blower but I don't remember seeing anything like a screen on the open side of the blower. I don't think the stove is over heating, I'm just trying to squeeze some more heat out of it if without damage if possible, this week is no joke lol. I do still have to pipe the fresh in, and hopefully get to it tonight. The previous owners must have just ran the stove with out it. I just hope that doesn't change to efficiency, I'm pretty impressed with the heat output with the upper auger being at its lowest setting and heat range rocking around 4/5 on a regular winter week, getting just about 24 hrs out of a 40 LB bag of hard pellets. This week I've left it at 6 too scared to go to 7 but an extra degree or two at night would be nice.

Thanks again.

 

[ericofmaine]

No worries. If you want some more heat, consider the burn pot modifications:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/troubleshooting-help-with-englander-25-pdvc.185407/
I get more heat at the cost of dirtier glass. I'll take the heat, thanks. Englander insists on having the outside air kit (OAK) installed and does help from what I've seen. Why use the air you paid to heat for the fire then send it up the chimney?
I'm also burning 100% softwoods and get more heat and less ash than the hardwoods I used to burn, or even the blends that are out there. YMMV of course, but I think you'll be happy.
I think you'll be fine at 7, just crank the blower up to get the extra heat out. If you're nervous, just linger by the stove.

Eric

 

[Tymbo26]

No worries. If you want some more heat, consider the burn pot modifications:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/troubleshooting-help-with-englander-25-pdvc.185407/
I get more heat at the cost of dirtier glass. I'll take the heat, thanks. Englander insists on having the outside air kit (OAK) installed and does help from what I've seen. Why use the air you paid to heat for the fire then send it up the chimney?
I'm also burning 100% softwoods and get more heat and less ash than the hardwoods I used to burn, or even the blends that are out there. YMMV of course, but I think you'll be happy.
I think you'll be fine at 7, just crank the blower up to get the extra heat out. If you're nervous, just linger by the stove.

Eric

Why use the air you paid to heat. so simple yet overlooked, I never thought of it that way and will definitely being piping it tonight with that in mind. I'll also try the burn pot Mod, if it means more heat less pellets. Again, I wicked appreciate your help and time. Hopefully with some TLC and this forum I can nurse this stove along for quite a few years.

Tym

 

[Tymbo26]

Any harm in running my bottom 3 numbers at 1-5-1, I don't see anyone running those numbers. I think the stove is running good, but honestly I don't know what good is, I just figured if I can maintain a one-inch flame at the lowest heat range and a big flame at heat range 5 then i'm doing good and don't need to turn the upper auger value up. burn pot seems full every 8 hrs or so. Ill update operation after OAK is installed for those that care.

 

[ericofmaine]

I think those only affect burn settings 1 and 2, but it might be all the ranges. I'll have to dig back through but somewhere I have an email from Mike at Englander explaining this better.
That said, if you can maintain a flame at 1, so be it. I'd just be concerned that you're sending too much heat out the stack with the air at 5.

Eric

 

[Tymbo26]

I think those only affect burn settings 1 and 2, but it might be all the ranges. I'll have to dig back through but somewhere I have an email from Mike at Englander explaining this better.
That said, if you can maintain a flame at 1, so be it. I'd just be concerned that you're sending too much heat out the stack with the air at 5.

Eric

I did look into burn pot mods, and a lot of people recommend stuffing steel wool in the left and right air holes below the wear plate, are you familiarly with this mod and what are your thoughts? What mods have you done to improve efficiency and heat?

 

[Ssyko]

I have done them all 👍