Whitfield Advantage Auger Problem

I wish I could analyze all the possible reasons that your stove is not feeding pellets down the chute from your description but I am afraid that there are lots of possible reason and solutions and further examination would be necessary to avoid “throwing parts at the problem” which might not resolve it and create further frustration.

Do you have a manual for the stove? Often troubleshooting symptoms is covered in these. There may be a technical manual that goes beyond the owner’s manual.
email me directly for a copy, include exact model and serial number so i send the correct book... [email protected]


Have you emptied the hopper to see if there is a pile of sawdust on the bottom? The auger cannot feed sawdust only clean pellets. This is the simplest solution and most common problem.

remove auger motor, how does it bench test??

if it works fine on the bench, check auger and bushing to be sure the auger spins freely when pellets are removed from hopper

checked your pressure switch?? a temp bypass can easily eliminate the pressure switch as culprit.

Most of the Walk through help is linked in the yellow sticky pages at the top of the pellet room
and also direct linked in my signature line.

Pull the stove back and remove the rubber hose of the pressure sensor located in the left rear above the combustion blower, if it starts to feed your exhaust pipe is clogged.

Mines making a hell of a noise, letting it run out and shutting down as we speak, hopefully just a bushing, sounds like marbles, or a real bad bearing, loud vibrating sound when it turns

feed motor bad, pressure switch eithe bad or hose/fitting /housing port blocked.

No power being fed to the motor

Do the things suggested above and then if no go check to see of the motor is getting power when the light blinks on. If not find out why not.


Snowy

Well took stove apart which was a good thing as i've burned almost 2 ton since last cleaning, removed auger and motor, bushings for auger shaft were ok, top is brass bottom is plastic material, applied some teflon grease to the top bushing, looked dry and starting to discolor shaft.

Took apart auger motor, always read on Butkus.org not to but heck i'm a Master Auto Tech, rebuild complex transmissions for a living whats a few gears?

Looks kinda like a watch in there with about 5-6 gears, grease in there was minimal and mostly dried out/hard, as i removed individual gears and turning them i could hear squeaking took them all out and cleaned up and applied some good red high temp bearing grease in had in my garagae, actually took a few attempts to get it all tegother properly but it all went well

Reinstalled it ,cleaned stove, fired the auger to on and at first it appeared that auger wasn't spinning cause it was so quiet but you have to look close with a flashlight , it only moves very small increments.

And now .....WOW!! can't believe how quiet it is, all these years dealing with loud vibrating motor!!

Years ago i added rubber pad to the side where it lays against the auger plate cause the small factory pad wears out quicly, also the nylon washer that wears and causes the shaft from the electric armature to drop has held very well.

So all you guys with noisey auger's just need some grease!!

PM me and i'll do it for you or if you have unwanted motors i'll buy them from you.

garys314 said:

Cleaned out hopper. There was a lot of sawdust. Hopper is now empty. The auger will not move by hand. I guess it could be stuck. Did my best to try and remove as much as i could. Large area covert by metal cover that i could not get off. Probably something stuck under the cover.

What next?

Thanks in Advance,

Gary

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are you shure the auger motor is getting power? and trying to turn?
Did you go to the steps in the Help pages linked on my signature line?

you are not going to be able to move the auger by hand with the motor attached.
Remove the motor and try to back out the auger using Pipe wrench or Adjastable pliers
and or you can remove the motor then remove the 4 nuts holding the end plate to the hopper and pull the auger out.
But dont do this unless you are sure the auger MOTOR is trying to turn the auger.

garys314 said:

Time for me to get an expert in. Thanks everyone for trying. Not the mechanical pro that you guys are.

Gary

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Most anyone that can turn a wrench (and remember to unplug the stove) and do this.
there are photos and step by step checks here.
Copy from the Yellow sticky help page.
My pellet stove stopped feeding pellets
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13499/

1 allen screw to remove motor and collar, 4, 7/16" nuts to remove auger and cover, should not be stuck, could use a screwdriver to pry cover off....really shouldn't be hard to remove.