Yearly cleaning, did I miss anything?

[BaldAssCat]

Hi All,
I guess I should introduce myself first. I’m pretty new to pellet stoves but I did have a coal stove growing up. I may go back to that if I can find a good supplier of stove coal some day. I’ve been lurking for a year now and haven’t had to post because any question I had was already asked and answered. This is a great site with a lot of knowledgeable people. Thanks for everything you’ve posted so far.
I just finished what I think is a good yearly cleaning on my Summers Heat 55 shp-22. I’m looking for a sanity check on my work.
Here’s what I’ve done
Normal cleaning and scraping of the firebox
Brush the soot out of anything I can reach with a brush and vacuum
Did the leaf blower trick, very nice by the way.
Ran a brush down the chimney pipe
Cleaned the dust out of the convection blower motor, the exhaust blower motor and the electronics
Removed and cleaned both blowers
Removed, cleaned, greased (high temp grease) and resealed (high temp RTV) the augers.
Cleaned out any dust from the inside of the stove and airways
Resealed the exhaust with high temp RTV

Beyond this I have 2 questions.
The bearing on the lower auger moves in directions other than around the shaft. Is that normal? If not can I leave it until it’s noisy or should I replace it as soon as I can?
There were very small iron beads sitting in the chimney near the exhaust. They weren’t perfectly round and were different sizes so I don’t think they were bearings. I’m assuming they came off of the cast augers and made their way there to settle in the low spots out of the wind. Am I wrong on that? Should I be looking at the motors for bad bearings?
Thanks for any help

 

[imacman]

In general, the cleaning sounds like you got everything covered. As for the bearing "play" and the "beads", those might be best answered by Mike Holton if he sees your post.

My suggestion is to go back and edit the title of this thread to something like "Yearly cleaning of Summers Heat 55 shp-22....did I miss anything?"

 

[letsblaze]

I also have some play in my Englander auger also, I can move it up and down even after the back collar is tightened. it is rubbing a bit on the inside of the auger sleeve on the bottom and it looks to have been doing this for awhile.

 

[rich2500]

the bearing movement is normal,had the same beads in my stove but no clue what they are from

 

[letsblaze]

how do you stop the auger from dropping down and scraping the lower chute and wearing down the auger itself?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Have you checked the alignment procedure there should be a procedure in it to lock things once they are aligned.

 

[rich2500]

like smokey said you can align the bearing housing to make sure the auger is not binding up at all but the bearing still pivots in all directions in the housing,it's designed like that to help eliminate jambs.If your getting a squeeking sound from the auger rubbing the tube adjusting should stop it.

 

[rich2500]

see for auger alignment inst.
http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/PU047040_augermotors_replaceandalign.pdf

 

[letsblaze]

I failed at that, I will have to figure out how to do so.

 

[letsblaze]

Thanks Rich for the link, How far out does everyones auger stick out of the feeder pot or is it flush. mine was out about an 1/8 of an inch before I tore everything down to clean and now it's damn near flush with the face. Does that make a difference since I don't see it working as a stirrer at all?

 

[BaldAssCat]

Thanks for the help all.

see for auger alignment inst.
http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/PU047040_augermotors_replaceandalign.pdf

Thanks! I didn't do this at all. I'll double check this tomorrow but a quick read over this and I think the upper auger could use it.

how do you stop the auger from dropping down and scraping the lower chute and wearing down the auger itself?

I get a lot of build up on the bottom of the chute so the scraping usually happens on the top.

 

[letsblaze]

AssCat, how far out does your burn pot feeder auger stick out of the feeder pot?

 

[BaldAssCat]

AssCat, how far out does your burn pot feeder auger stick out of the feeder pot?

It's just about even with the end of the feeder tube, maybe a little short. Why do you ask?

 

[letsblaze]

mine was out about an 1/8 or so.

 

[BaldAssCat]

mine was out about an 1/8 or so.

Do you get a lot of build up on the end of the auger?

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I do 2 more things to the blowers
1. Lubricate the shafts with TufOil Lubit-8 which is made for small motors.
If they have rubber oil plugs you can do it by removing them.
2. Coat the fan blades to help prevent soot or dust buildup, I use Spray Dry Moly Lube.

 

[letsblaze]

I did get quite a bit of build up, do you?

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Not as much since I started using the spray. It does help.
Some people use Spray Graphite but I like the Dry Moly better. You can see my comparison video here.

 

[letsblaze]

Do you get a lot of build up on the end of the auger?

I do on the end that sticks out, u?

 

[rich2500]

my bottom auger sticks out about 1/8 inch also,just did an overhaul on my stove with new bearings and auger motors,if I move the auger in any further on the bearing it binds up.I always assemble mine to get the auger in as far as possible but not have any binding.

 

[BaldAssCat]

I did get quite a bit of build up, do you?

I do get a lot down about 1 inch into the chute. I get more with lazy burning pellets than I do with hotter ones. North American pellets had very little and burned very hot in my stove. I couldn't find them this year though so I ended up getting 4 ton of Maine brand, or something close to that name. I tried 10 or 15 bags of these last year and they seem to be ok but I don't remember what the build up on them was.

Hello

I do 2 more things to the blowers
1. Lubricate the shafts with TufOil Lubit-8 which is made for small motors.
If they have rubber oil plugs you can do it by removing them.
2. Coat the fan blades to help prevent soot or dust buildup, I use Spray Dry Moly Lube.

Both good ideas. I lit the stove last night and I'm getting more chatter than usual from the fan. Maybe some oil might help that out.

Hello

Not as much since I started using the spray. It does help.
Some people use Spray Graphite but I like the Dry Moly better. You can see my comparison video here.

Are you using that on the exhaust impeller? I didn't put anything on mine at all and since I'm pulling the back off again anyway to get to the convection fan and to recheck the auger alignments I might as well get this done too.

 

[Don2222]

Yes, I oil both blowers with tufoil lubit-8 (You can use 3-1 oil till you get the tufoil) and spray both blower's fan blades with Dry Moly Lube.