St. Croix Auburn auger not working after hopper fire

Does the auger flight cover come off on that stove? If it does, I'd remove it to give better access.

You could remove the auger motor and work the auger from side to side and up and down a bit to break the crud and then try to spin it or pull it out of the flight for cleaning.

Do not turn the auger motor w/ the vice grips....you'll strip the gears inside. Remove the motor first, then work the auger back & forth. At that point you might be able to "unscrew" the auger back out of the auger flight.

Tar/bug (kerosene or mineral spirits) might help.

If what motor runs?

If the auger motor runs and the auger doesn't turn it can't be the high limit because the auger motor is getting power and the high limit if triped shuts power off to the auger motor. It can be that the auger is no longer coupled to the motor, or that the motor tries to run but the auger is jammed so it can't turn.

What Smokey said.

Also, the high limit is normally closed. You can check it with an ohmmeter (power off, leads disconnected). The little red button should stay in. If the switch was tripped, the red button will pop out a bit. To repeat, if the motor tries to turn, the high limit is okay. You can watch the motor as it tries to run; there will be a bit of slop in the gears, so it will probably turn a fraction of a turn when the power is applied even if the auger is stuck.

You can check the fuse with an ohmmeter, also. I don't have a diagram for the board, so I don't know what the fuse protects. It probably protects the entire circuit board on the 115 volt side. I wouldn't expect it to do much protecting of the motors unless they dead shorted.

You could grab the auger with Vise-Grips through the opening in the bottom of the hopper and try to wiggle it free, but again, don't overdo it as you could damage the gearbox. Just a slight wiggle back and force just might break it free. Best to remove the motor, or just loosen the coupling. If you loosen the coupling, you could be a bit more aggressive in trying to turn the auger.

If you choose to try a spray solvent, look up the drop chute with a mirror, you'll see the end of the auger. Try spraying up there. That's probably where the worst of the crud is, and gravity should carry the solvent downhill along the auger's path.

Okay, I'm out of ideas for now. Good luck!

Actually the first thing to remove is the set screw that holds the auger motor shaft to the auger, when thta has been loosed up enough the auger motor will be able to be pulled off.

Remember all this work should be done with the stove unplugged.

After the motor is off you can then attempt to rotate the auger or remove it from the stove.

The motor has the wires going to it, the silver box is the gear reduction unit (the one you'd damage by forcing the auger to turn). I think that if you loosen the coupling (between the gearbox and auger) the motor will come off in your hand. You can then grab the auger to try to turn it. Be carefull not to damage the area that the coupling goes over.
If you remove the copper colored piece, you could then remove the auger from the stove. That may or may not be necessary in this case, it depends on how crapped up the auger and passage are.
I'm sure that you'll unplug the stove first, since line voltage gets applied to the motor.

ETA: Dang, Smokey, you beat me to it!

Hello Guys!!

I've got a friend that has an Auburn but recently had a small allen wrinch get lodged in the auger freezing it. It must have come in with some corn he was burning. The auguer was dropped down and the piece allowed to fall free. Now he just called and said the motor is moving and making noise. Would this mean his gear reduction unit would be bad causing the motor to move back and forth? I'll have to look it up but I guess the gear reduction unit comes with a new motor?

Thanks!!

AR

Have him double-check that the set screw for the auger is in the correct position and is tight, first of all.

If the motor is turning, and the output shaft of the gearbox is not, the gearbox is shot. They do typically come with a new motor, however. I don't understand what you mean by the motor is moving. Do you mean that the motor is sort of jumping in place while the auger doesn't turn?

You'll probably get more exposure for your problem if you start a new thread, just sayin'.

Thanks Heat Seaker!! I'm going to run by his house this evening and take a look at it. From what I remember him telling me on the phone last night, the motor was making noise and as I think he said had some movement like it would fall back away from he stop as shown in the photo above. Like you said it could be the set screw is loose or the gearbox is shot. I'll report what I see later tonight.

Appreciate the help!!

AR

Heat Seaker, it was very simple. The retainer plate that goes under the gear box was put on backwards allowing the motor to move. He had not noticed it was on backwards.

Thanks,

AR

Glad you got it fixed! And thanks for getting back to us

SmokeyTheBear said:

Actually the first thing to remove is the set screw that holds the auger motor shaft to the auger, when thta has been loosed up enough the auger motor will be able to be pulled off.

Remember all this work should be done with the stove unplugged.

After the motor is off you can then attempt to rotate the auger or remove it from the stove.

Click to expand...

I'm having the same problem with my auger not moving but the motor is working. Two things I'm having problems with:

1. Don't know where the set screw is. The manual said the problem could be the set screw is loose, so try to tighten it, but I don't see anything that looks like a set screw. There's a place on top of where the auger shaft would be (I think), but no screw is visible. Could it have run without a set screw? Couldn't find a screw that might have fallen out.
   
2. I tried to remove the auger assembly that attaches to the bottom of the hopper, but one of the bolts holding it isn't accessible with any of the tools I have.

Any help will be appreciated.

Posting #9 shows the collar that would have the set screw- or sometimes stacked set screws

One allen screw on auger collar and 4 nuts is all thats needed to remove auger. Sometimes the top auger bushing is a bit dry and keeps auger from dropping out easily. Just work it back and forth until it's free.

jzm2cc said:

One allen screw on auger collar and 4 nuts is all thats needed to remove auger. Sometimes the top auger bushing is a bit dry and keeps auger from dropping out easily. Just work it back and forth until it's free.

Click to expand...

Found the right allen wrench, and got the last nut off. Couldn't get the auger all the way out, but got all the pellets to drop. From there it was easy. Now to fire it all up, fingers crossed.
Thanks for all the help.

I would pull auger all the way out to lube top bronze bushing, especially after hopper fire. Bet it's seized and preventing rotation.