firemaker pellets causing auger jams in MT Vernon AE

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globewyre

Member
May 24, 2008
87
North, NJ
I got my first auger jam last week with firemaker pellets. I cleaned the stove and it still came back. I thought it was the stove, but I ran out to walmart at 10 pm and picked up pennington pellet and they worked. I burned a couple of bags of firemaker earlier in the season and they seemed fine. I don't see alot of large pellets but when I cleaned the stove there was a lot of pellet dust around the auger. I got a ton of these pellets mid January. I was hoping the auger jam was temporary problem with these pellets but it jammed again last night. For now I am picking up other brands to mix with these pellets. I will probably need to shift the pellets until they are gone. Atleast I was surprised my local supermarket had cleanfire pellets for sale. I was able to get pellets at 6 am on a Sunday. Another bonous is I can try Cleanfire pellets, before ordering from woodpellets.com
 
Sift and break the long ones and you won't have a jam. I have yet to have a jam with mine , same auger.
 
globewyre said:
......Another bonous is I can try Cleanfire pellets, before ordering from woodpellets.com
I'm just finishing the last 4 bags of the ton of CleanFires I had in the basement as we speak. Clean pellets, low fines, burn good. 3 tons still in the shed.
 
I have burned a lot of really bad pellets, real long ones, small broken up pieces and ones loaded with fines. I never sift and have never had a problem (knocking on the wood table right now) with my AE. Every few cleanings I let the hopper run dry, then stick the vac hose down in the hopper hole and up in the drop chute. This takes care of all the fines that can build up in the auger and cause problems. Those firemakers must be REALLY bad!
 
globewyre said:
I got my first auger jam last week with firemaker pellets. I cleaned the stove and it still came back. I thought it was the stove, but I ran out to walmart at 10 pm and picked up pennington pellet and they worked. I burned a couple of bags of firemaker earlier in the season and they seemed fine. I don't see alot of large pellets but when I cleaned the stove there was a lot of pellet dust around the auger. I got a ton of these pellets mid January. I was hoping the auger jam was temporary problem with these pellets but it jammed again last night. For now I am picking up other brands to mix with these pellets. I will probably need to shift the pellets until they are gone. Atleast I was surprised my local supermarket had cleanfire pellets for sale. I was able to get pellets at 6 am on a Sunday. Another bonous is I can try Cleanfire pellets, before ordering from woodpellets.com

Used my Mt. Vernon AE for 2 yrs. now and Firemaker has been the best pellet for me. That is the only brand I used last year. Hot, low ash and no problems. Penningtons jam my auger.
 
smwilliamson said:
Have you played with restricting the feed plate? Perhaps less pellets crowding the gate would help?

don't think a mt vernon AE has a restricting feed plate.
 
Ahh, Those Firemakers mustn't be any good, You better give em to me. :cheese: (just kidding)!

Does the Firemaker brand have a PFI label on the bags?
 
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