Yet another PDVC-25 Auger Issue (No Top Auger)

[Floodx4]

2006 Englander PDVC-25
Problem: No Upper Auger

Went to fire up the stove, and found top auger to not be working. As soon as hopper was empty, auger started spinning. Since it still had the original motors, I just decided to do a 'refresh'. Ordered 2 new motors, and new bearings. Replaced the motors, and it fired up just fine.
Noticed that my room air blower was very weak, so after about a 2 hour burn, I shut it down.
Today, I pulled the room air blower out and cleaned it. (It was nasty! And fully explains why it was blowing weak)
Reassembled everything, and now I am back to no top auger.

I have:
Cleaned Everything
Checked, and bypased the Vac Switch.
Swapped motor leads. (Both motors good, both augers spinning with no binding)
Checked, double checked, and triple checked every connection on the board.
Factory Reset procedure
Checked Mode, Confirmed Mode D
Diag Mode. Confirmed no Top Auger control in Diag.

I am assuming the worst ... its the board. I just wanted to make sure there is nothing else I can do, check, or verify before I spend $300+

 

[Ssyko]

Make sure your hopper lid is snug, hopper switch is intact and working. door gaskets are sealed, exhaust pipe is clean. Englander is not a big vacuum stove so the least lil bit of leakage will let them fail. They really like to be clean!!

 

[Floodx4]

Make sure your hopper lid is snug, hopper switch is intact and working. door gaskets are sealed, exhaust pipe is clean. Englander is not a big vacuum stove so the least lil bit of leakage will let them fail. They really like to be clean!!

No hopper switch on my stove. Not sure if it just didn’t come with one, or if it has been removed.

I had wondered about the door gasket, but wouldn’t bypassing (jumping the wires from the vac switch) eliminate this as a possibility?

The stove is definitely cleaner than it has ever been. Only thing I have not done is leaf blower trick. While I had the augers out, I took that opportunity to super clean everything. I have a small, flexible hose that I sent through every crevice. Combustion blower is visually clean, pushing plenty of air out. Intake is pulling a good vacuum. Room air blower is spotless. (Removed, cleaned, and installed with new gasket)

Only thing that is preventing me from just ordering the new board (other than the obvious, cost), is the ‘randomness’ of the failure. Original motor really seemed like it was just weak. (Didn’t work with hopper full, worked fine when load was removed). New motors worked fine after replacing, and burned great for at least 2 hours.
Only thing I can think of is that removing the board and moving it out of the way to pull the room air blower did it in. I was as gentle as possible, but it is 20+ years old, so it’s a definite possibility, I guess.

 

[Ssyko]

yes jumping the vac switch does eliminate the vac switch but i didnt know about the hopper switch. if you have cleaned behind the impingement plate that is their major issue. now you say the combustion motor is moving a lot of air, did you use a manometer to test this? 25PDVC and PDV are notorious for a weak vacuum system. have you tried to run the stove? it is a possibility to have corrupt programming but is is rare. the only way to get them now is a new board. I dont know if you can even get a board programmed for your stove. i would call englander support and talk to them. let us know how you make out.

 

[ericofmaine]

I just looked and the board isn't available, at least through Englander. You might get lucky and find it somewhere else? As for trying in diagnostic mode, did you try swapping your wiring between motors and confirming that then the top one was working and that the bottom one now wasn't? I would also trace your wiring all the way back to the board and also confirm continuity. Trying to look at all of the easy stuff first.

Eric