Girlfriend tried to freeze us out. LOL

Came home yesterday from helping a woodworker buddy build a cannon base. Walked in and found the pellet stove was out. Checked hopper and it was 3/4 full. Convection fan was still running so I know it hadn't been out for long. Figured I had a jam (never happened before) or the auger motor finally went tits up.

Near the end of last years heating season my auger motor occasionally made a warbling/whistling noise in time with the gear motor electric side not the feed rotation speed. Figuring it was 10+ years old and it runs for 7 months a year it was time to replace it. It wasn't dead yet but I didn't want to get caught with no parts.

OEM auger motor (Enviro 50-2054) runs about $375.00 Aftermarket runs $75-$150 depending on retailer and shipping. So that was the plan. Then, one morning in the "reading room" I was looking at the Surplus Center catalog and sure enough they have a 2 RPM gearmotor that I could probably make work ($15.00 + shipping) I said for $15 I could take a chance and bought one. I know the motor Torque is wrong 225 in/lbs vs. 180 ft/lbs OEM(1/10th the torque) but what the hell, worth a shot.

Well spring came and the original motor lasted the season.
Fall came and fired up stove in October and the auger motor was quiet. No warbling/whistling noise until early this week. It started getting more frequent and a bit louder. So when stove died yesterday I was not shocked.

I emptied the hopper and vacuumed it and the lower auger out. After playing with the auger for a bit I began to think I had a pellet jam. I was able to get the motor/shaft turning but it seemed loaded down. When the motor was able to turn it was strong but it kept binding with out some mechanical agitation (light hammer blows). In a Hail-Mary attempt ........ I lubed the lower bushing with dry Graphite and dusted some pellets to feed up the helix. Maybe I could lube my way to success. Woo Hoo!! Success.

That lasted about an hour. Stove shut down again. Emptied the hopper and vacuumed it out again. (Now I'm covered in Graphite) I decide to pull the Auger cover looking for a bad upper bushing or some kind of a jam. Guess what I find......


The problem


Check out where the Auger wore edge and the flight scrapings






There, wrapped around the auger just below the tipper flights was this teaspoon. It was wrapped around the shaft in that area between the top of the helix and the tipper flights. Pretty amazing it made it all the way up the auger feed tube. Even more amazing that I ran it that way for 5 months of stove use. I'm guessing it had been there since last spring. Other than the occasional motor struggling noise the stove ran perfectly.

Pulled it out. Auger seems no worse for the wear. Put stove back together, filled it up and its been running perfectly since last night. Crisis averted (for now)

Ordered an aftermarket Gleason Avery 50-2054 OEM replacement from The Jungle Store $99.00 (free shipping) Be here Monday. Just to have on hand.

Think I know how the spoon got in there. My Girlfriend likes to eat Ice Cream but hates to be cold. So frequently she eats it over the stove. I'm guessing somehow the spoon fell in one night when she checked teh hopper. We have had a talk and will avoid this problem in the future.

Gotta hand it to Enviro for using a really robust motor for the auger.
All is good now,
Thanks for looking,
---Nailer---

 

Good grief!

 

That's an impressive auger! My England stove auger will stall out on a hard pellet.

 

Holy cow!

 

That is impressive !! usually things are not made that well anymore, you would think that company would have used better metal in that spoon Glad there was no serious damage to your stove

 

And that folks is why the caution is in the FM about keeping things like fingers out of the area around the auger when the stove is on.

 

I think you should blame the pellet manufacturer. It's always their fault.

 

Are you admitting responsibility?

 

Always her fault, now if she were your wife, it would 100% be your fault.

 

Lol, it's still his fault,

 

Of course.

 

Tough finding that .001% of all women, that will actually admit it.

 

I know not to comment. Ya can't win this one Pete so cut your losses.

 

Pin this one JT.

 

I married the right woman and she's still too headstrong to apologize and thank me when she's done wrong.

It's ok, we're used to it.

When men mess up, we just go ahead and own it. Like a badge of honor. Lol

 

Oh wow! What a find!