Auger jam? LIL HELP?

My stove appears to have an auger jam going on. I have checked the vacuum line, appears to be clear. I took every pellet out of the hopper and had the stove running on pellets I put in the hopper by hand. The auger appears to be trying to turn, but it can't. I have tried clearing the auger with a knife. Any suggestions on how to free it up?

I never had any problems with my wood burning stove. Clean it and it kept running. Ran it for over seven years here at this house and loved it. Then upgraded to my gasification boiler so that I could heat the entire house, garage and DHW with wood. Clean the boiler, and it keeps running. I have had more problems with this pellet stove than I care to talk about. Granted, many of them were because I apparently was not cleaning thoroughly enough. But it still can not be denied that the pellet stoves are much more finicky and labor intensive to keep running.

 

Gas...if you take the back cover off of your stove, you would need to loosen the two set screws that are on this collar and back out the auger.....BUT I believe it will bottom out on the oak intake pipe (at least it does on my stove) but you might be able to finagle the jamb out. Don't forget to unplug the stove.

 

Thanks SLVRBLKK. You've been helpful to me many times this season. I kept digging a little here and there at the bottom and top and eventually got it. The stove is running again. P.I.A. I must say. I'm considering going to heating with wood at the camp next year. Someone might pick up a pellet stove cheap! LOL

 

What was it...just pellets were stuck?

 

Apparently. I've had more issues. Mostly just because of dirty burning pellets I guess. But I'm just use to burning wood. Simple. Clean out the ash pan. These pellet stoves are too finicky!

 

They are a lot of work but I still love mine, especially the family.....they are spoiled!

 

Gas I am glad you got the jam fixed. I have had my fair share of struggles, and I almost threw the pellet stove out the back door twice. Do not give up on it yet, they are great heaters, and once you get all the kinks worked out, it really is not much work to them, except for a quick cleaning each week. I am not familiar with Englanders, but did you have a lot of fines in your hopper? I am in the same boat, love the pellet stove, been warmer then I have ever been, but If my health was good, and I had the proper place for a stove I would probably be burning wood myself.

 

I did have a fair amount of fines in the hopper. I believe one thing that will help me is to burn better quality pellets. Unfortunately, there is not a good selection of quality pellets in my area. I need to find a good quality pellet that I can buy fairly close by the house and buy 5 ton for next year.

But, here is what I am thinking of doing. I have a Pacific Energy wood stove in the basement of my house that I use to burn in. I upgraded to a gasification boiler and left the wood stove there for back up. I have a generator for back up though. The wood stove is there in case things got real bad and the electricity was out for a long time. I guess I am thinking longer than three weeks. I usually have enough gas on hand to get through three weeks. This generator will run the well pump, wood gasification boiler, refrigerator, and the Television. Alternating the boiler and well pump is the easiest thing to do. So the chance that I would need the wood stove is pretty slim. I am thinking of taking that wood stove out of the house and moving it to the back room of the camp. The pellet stove is in the front room. This would let me burn wood there when I wanted to or when it was convenient, and still give me the convenience of running the pellet stove. The biggest convenience of the pellet stove being that it can be loaded and left for longer periods of time. But the wood stove fuel is cheaper and the stove is less labor intensive. So having the option of both would be good. Especially if we lost power at the camp. I have no back up for power lost at the camp right now. I think I need to move the wood stove down there.

 

I think that is a amazing idea. Burn wood why your there, save a few dollars. The pellet stove will be great for keeping the chill off, and pipes from freezing and such when your not there. I think you have a good resolution. Also have you looked into the pellet vacs these guys make. It might help you get the fines out of the pellets?

 

?

 

Check with Imacman, pretty sure that he has made one. There are posts on "another" forum

 

I know not of what you speak.

 

I posted a video to show you what I speak of ! Also I wanted to add in addition to pellet stoves being a lot of work, I think it also depends on the type of stove you are using. Englander is a top notch company, that is made in America, and they are keeping many folks warm. Pellets stoves are kind of like buying a vehicle, you have the base model, and then you have the next model with all the bells and whistles. I know many of these guys with Harmans, and Quadrafires, and Enviro could go a month without touching there stoves, other then filling the hopper. So with that being said I think once you get the hang of it, and get use to its kinks, you will have no regrets on your purchase. Sure you may have to do a little more cleaning, but like I said there a good stove. Going from a wood stove to a pellet stove is a big leap of faith for anyone. You are not relying on any mechanics or power to heat your home, and when you make the switch it is a big change. I hope this makes a little more sense, If not I am rambling! I also give mad props to Englander because look at Imacman, he is in New York where it gets cold as chit, and he has the Englnder stove keeping him and his family toast warm.

 

You are rambling. I am in the coldest part of New York, thankfully I am just keeping the camp from getting too cold. The more I think of what you said ....... I think Imacman creates some of his own "heat" between what he eats and all the beer and what not. Talk about supplemental heating! Let's just hope for his family's sake his "heat" smells like roses.



No, really. Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.

 

HEY!! I resemble that remark!

Seriously though, the vacuum system in the video above works very well. I have one. Just don't pour the pellets in too fast, or it can clog in the small feed tube below the "hopper".

I also added a piece of PVC to partly cover those holes on the upper part....just turn it to cover them to "fine tune" the amount of vacuum. You don't need a big shop vac, or else you'll start pulling pellets into it instead of just dust/fines.

The whole thing coast about $20 including the cheapie Wally world plastic bowl. You can save $$ by not adding the top 180 degree elbow & extra pipe I have. None of the joints needed actual PVC cement (except siliconing the bowl).

 

Is that all? I know someone who burned 66 bags w/o ever opening the stove......and could have gone longer. And it wasn't any of those brands.

 

I am usually cleaning my stove every three or four days. Dam cheap pellets probably. Always seems like the hopper gets choked up and the pellets are then backing up and falling off the sides, etc. Then I have to shut the stove down and clean and ............