PDVC vs PDV

[cdodge04]

Hey guys,
I did a search and didn't come up with anything. Just wondering how the two stoves compare? I know I have read that they are basically the same stove, just differ mostly in the space they will heat. I've been running my PDVC and am very happy with it, but I am going to return it this weekend(see my other thread for reason why).

I'm wondering if I should pick up the PDV when I'm there. My house is roughly 1300 sq ft, but I'm only renting right now so the house isn't my permenant residence. I'm thinking about picking up the PDV so that when I move out and into my own house I have the bigger stove incase I end up in a bigger house. How do the stoves compare consumption of pellets wise? I'm assuming that if I got the PDV I could adjust the LBA and the LFF to make it run lightly and not over heat the house and to slow the consumption of pellets so that it runs very similiar to the PDVC.

Any particular reason to stick with the PDVC over the PDV?

Thanks for info guys
Chad

 

[cdodge04]

Hmmm nobody here that has gone from one model to the other? I'm on my way to Lowes in the morning to get a new stove...you guys sure aren't helping me decide which to pick up ;-P

 

[crausch]

I hope someone will help you out with your pellet consumption question and which stove to buy. Out of curiosity I looked at the manuals to see if any differences jumped out at me. They seem fairly similar. The wiring diagrams looked identical. I compared the parts lists and it looks as though the only differences I could see (other than maybe trim) was the following...The PDV had:

- Nickel or brass louvers
- Different burn pots
- Newer convection blower
- Different auger bearing gasket
- Remote thermostat vs wall thermostat

I'll be upfront with you, I know nothing about these stoves, but since you have had no replies yet, I thought I would help point you in some areas that you might want to look at and compare to your current stove. Good luck!

 

[MCPO]

My neighbor kinda wishes he bought the smaller one since the larger one puts out too much heat even on low.
We think that the smaller one might run at a lower level and use less pellets and yet throw enough heat when it really gets cold...

 

[cdodge04]

Couldn't you turn the LFF down on the PDV to consume less pellets? Say on the PDVC you have the LFF set on 4...on the PDV couldn't you put it on say 3? I would assume there would be a setting on the PDV to make it even to the PDVC consumption wise?

Hmmm..Mike where are you big guy?? haha


Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[cdodge04]

Anyone with a PDV want to weigh in on how many tons they burned last winter? Approx. bags per day? With the PDVC I've seen people use between a bag and 2 bags a day depending on how cold it gets and how warm they like it...me I'm happy with it being around 70, thats more than comfortable for me.

I've searched through a lot of threads on here and just haven't seen any concrete answers to any of my questions...I'm sure they are there but there are sooooooooooo many threads to search through!


-Chad

 

[packerfan]

I burned about 3 1/2 tons here in wis. last year. I usually run the stove 24/7 once it starts to get a little cooler outside, and burn anywhere from less than 1, to 2 bags per day when it is colder outside. I try to keep the house around the 70 degree range.

If I was gonna exchange the stove, I probably would go with the larger model 25-pdv. It has a larger hopper, which is nice, and it will heat a bigger space as well. It was mentioned that a future move is possible, and I think that I would rather have a stove that throws off more heat, rather than a stove that might not be able to keep up with my needs.

As far as pellet consumption goes, I'm not sure, but I think the controls may be the same on both stoves. You may be able to find out more about this on the englander website, or maybe someone that knows for sure will chime in.

 

[cdodge04]

Ah, just what I was looking for. Thank you much Mr. Packerfan! If you use between the 1 to 2 bag range that seems right in line with what PDVC users seem to be doing on the colder days. I do like the idea of the larger hopper and the added sq footage should I need it. Unless someone posts something very detering, I think I will pick up the PDV tomorrow morning.

Now Mr. Packerfan if only we could convert you over to the Patriot side of the field ....

 

[sydney1963]

Our house is 1500 sq ft. and this stove so far I can only put on 1 or 2 setting and end up shutting it off before bed or middle of the night because it gets too warm. Heats the whole house. 40 lb. hopper is no problem to keep filled. Just fill it in morning and at night (not empty), no big deal.

 

[cdodge04]

Thanks for the post Sydney. Your house must be much better insulated than mine Sydney. I run mine on 1-3 or 2-4 most of the time and my house never really seemed to get that hot. It is by no means cold in the house, but definitely not blasting me out . The hopper size isn't a huge deal to me, the only up side is that I can sometimes spend a lot of time away from home. There are days when my work keeps me over night down in your area of the woods. Having the larger hopper would help keep the stove going during that long haul when I can't be home. The extra square footage is also a plus as I will be moving out of my current residence at some point, I just rent the place I'm in now. Who knows what the future may hold in regards to the size of the house I buy/build...Whatever the wifey wants the wifey shall probably have! If the bigger stove can be tweaked down to consume the same amount of pellets as the PDVC and put out equal heat, might as well get the bigger one.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

well, the last 2 posts really say it all in my opinion.

first post , the member is getting a lot of heat (actually a lot more heat retention would be my guess) and the second is stating that he isnt getting the same performance but did state that our first poster must have better insulation.

the bottom line , simple , as our second poster alluded to and i expect is true , the first poster may well have a better insluation factor. he may also have a house which is more open and better suited for a point source heater like a wood or pellet stove.

as for the big/little pdv/pdvc question. personally i believe the pdvc is underrated with its 1500 sq ft max capacity. the pdv has a better PM reading and actually came in a bit better in the efficiency testing we did in house. but the design of the pdve actually allows for a higher transfer rate due to a higher percentage of the outer hull(outer skin of the stove) being part of the combustion chamber. the pdv has a bigger blower , but a larger heat exchange setup which actually causes more resistance to the airflow and a wider area for the air to eascape into the room , so the velocity is not hugely higher , actually it feels quite similar in velocity , but the volume is higher so you will still push more air at similar temps into the room. the pdv will do up to 2200 sq ft , but under the right conditions i actually believe the pdvc can do close to that as well. as for the "c model" it was debuted in 1998 and since we have produced almost 90 thousand of them. it might just be the most popular, if not the most prolific pellet stove in use in the United States today. i own one of those 90 thousand myself and have heated my house with it burning approximately 2 ton a season as a stand alone heat source in my home since 2004. the unit has run flawlessly with nothing done other than the required cleaning and a couple gaskets which are wear items anyway.

 

[sydney1963]

Actually, my house rooms are all walled off up and down stairs. I do believe this is a very well insulated house as the person who lived here prior to us was a home builder. Just a guess though.

 

[cdodge04]

Hmmm, interesting stuff Mike. What about consumption rates? Can the bigger PDV be brought down to consume relatively the same amount of pellets as the PDVC?

Now that I've read your post I'm actually considering sticking with this PDVC/SHP10. I'm not sure which route to take...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

EDIT 1: My home is actually very open too. I posted a picture of my floor plan previously...shes got wiiiiiiiiiide open spaces .

EDIT 2: Added that photo of my floor plan.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Actually, my house rooms are all walled off up and down stairs. I do believe this is a very well insulated house as the person who lived here prior to us was a home builder. Just a guess though.

do you have higher temps in the stove room but temp dropoffs as you exit the room (like walking into a wall of cool air?, you might find a few doorway fans will help equalize temps in the house. less open floor plans tend to be less easily heated than open ones and air movement is a real key to equalizing heat

 

[sydney1963]

What I am saying is, yes the room the stove is in is warmer but also it is heating the whole house even though rooms are walled off( no extreme differences room to room). I am very pleased with the stove, not complaining at all. Just giving my version of how it heats a walled off ( my home) vs. open design.

 

[cdodge04]

So I took my stove back this morning. I had every intention of swapping it for another SHP10/PDVC...but I got there and they had SHP22/PDV's for $1350. Of course the stove is used and returned because of a defect. Now myself I immediately said "NO WAY!" I didn't want anything to do with buying a stove that had been returned because of a defect. My buddy that went with me is a gambler, and he was all about buying the bigger stove at such a great price. I spoke to a floor person and then a manager regarding the stoves and they assured me that they had a tech come out and look at the stove and fix any problems that were wrong with it. I'd like to see if Mike can verify that it would be an Englander tech that looked at the stove, or did they just have some yahoo from down the road come look at the stove?

The manager assured me that I get the same warrenty on the used stove as on the new stove. If anything is wrong with this stove I can take it back for a full refund. I've had about zero luck so far this year so it wouldn't surprise me if I bought a lemon...

 

[rap69ri]

I'd take the risk myself. These stoves do put out the heat, of course only if they're working properly, and maintainance is simple. And besides you have the Hearth Forum to help you out

 

[cdodge04]

Stove did pretty good last night, left it on 2-5 and it kept the house at 72-75ish.

I did notice that it doesn't seem like there is any change in the different blower speed settings. My PDVC/SHP10 had noticably louder sounds when the blower was set on 9 as compared to 4, but this stove doesn't seem to be changing....seems to blow at the same speed regardless of the setting.

I also noticed it doesn't seem to be sucking in nearly as much air through the intake. I could stand outside next to the PDVC and hear air being pulled in through it, where as with this one I can't. I unhooked the OAK to see if maybe it had gotten clogged, but this stove doesn't seem to pull in even half the air that the PDVC did. I tried the business card trick and the stove was sucking enough to hold the business card against the OAK.

-Chad

 

[rap69ri]

The OAK sounds good, but the room air fan should make a noticeable change when the speed increases/decreases.

 

[cdodge04]

That's what I thought too Rap...

I'm starting to get a little discouraged. I feel like I'm constantly complaining, I feel like "That annoying guy that always has a problem". I don't want to be that guy! haha

 

[rap69ri]

Somebody has to be that guy ;-)

Contact Englander and go through the steps to troubleshoot the fan issue. If the heat is good and there's no other issues it should be an easy fix. I'd guess it's a board problem myself, but what the hell do I know.

 

[cdodge04]

Called Englander this morning and he said that the blower is doing it's normal thing. I tried to explain that it doesn't do the same thing as the SHP10 that I had, not sure if he understood what I was trying to say. Can anyone with a PDV weigh in here?? My blower doesn't sound any different when I have it set on 1 as opposed to 9!

 

[rap69ri]

Is the air coming out any faster when you increase the fan speed?

 

[cdodge04]

No noticable difference in the air coming out or the noise that the blower makes.

 

[EWILT]

I too have the same issues with the blower settings...if you get the problem resolved please post. My stove is in the basement...1500 sq feet, 50% insulated. I run it on 9 if the stove is on all the time. It does get nice and toastey down there...more insulation will get me more heat I'm sure but if it's on 9 or 4 it seems to blow the same.

EW