Cleaning carbon from auger

[dennism]

After scraping the burnpot on my Harman with my scraper and a flat blade screwdriver, I find that I can't really do much with those two tools about the carbon build up in the auger tube and on the auger itself. I thought about just burning it off periodically with a butane pencil torch. Is that a reasonable thing to do? It won't get too hot and damage anything will it? Do other people do this or am I overthinking by doing it at all? Thanks.

 

[Mt Bob]

I usually don't worry about it except end of the season cleaning. Bent screwdriver. But, end of the year,or 2, cleaning, pull auger, clean on wire wheel on bench grinder,hone the auger tube(or sand). If the buildup is not much, to where the carbon could hit,causing the dreaded Harman auger squeal, it's really not that important. Also depends on how many pellets you burn, and the quality of the pellets. I think it has been 3 years since last did mine, and I haven't scraped either in that time.

 

[Washed-Up]

If it’s only the end of the auger, a dremel and a few wire wheels will do the trick

 

[dennism]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I won't worry about it until the end of the season. Clearly, pulling the auger is going to be the best approach, but I don't want to do that during the heating season if I can avoid it. I do have a Dremel and a wire wheel, so I may give that a try. Is the butane pencil torch a bad idea?