Having issues with Englander Hopper in regards to pellets sticking

Is there any tips on how I can keep the pellets in the hopper flowing easy and freely in to the auger. I have notice that my fire will die out because the pellets in the hopper do not make it to the auger. I find myself having to push the pellet in positioin or sometimes the pellet gets suck and I have to stick my hands through the pellets to reach the bottom of the hopper to free up the pellets. Any good tips on how to resolve this or must I babysit my stove?

clean out the hopper, then take a scotch pad (dishwashing green scrubby pad) rub the surface of the hopper down with it , then wipe the hopper down with powdered graphite, makes it slick so the pellets will slide

There was an entire therad about this over the winter. But at the moment I can't find it.

yeah , i rememeber that thread, just knee jerked the answer off the top of my head, there are several suggestions on stuff to put in hoppers to make pellets slide, silicone spray, pam cooking spray, wax paper works well too. the graphite is what ive used before and it works well

Speaking of graphite.... I bought a graphite SPRAY from gainger that you spray on and let it dry. It is supposed to stick for quite some time. That stuff might work pretty good. I imagine it would make a little odor the first couple burns but that should go away.

if it makes an odor im sure it would be from the propellant or somthing , graphite is a totally inert substance , it cannot burn and i havent ever smelled anything from it , used to like to heat it with a torch (pencil leads) and throw them around , fireworks man lol ive been a pyro too long

Things to avoid are packing pellets, letting a single fill expect to migrate to the auger, and thinking that the hopper can move pellets.

When you fill the hopper, don't pack the pellets. Don't jam as much as possible in the space available. Packing may lead to bridging of the pellets. That will result in a void in the feed stream. Occasionally during the day, I will check the hopper and with my hand scoop the pellets to the center. The pellets are irregularly shaped and can stick in a structure that will not fall to the auger. A little encouragement will go a long way to smooth operation. If your stove has anything but a conical feed to the auger you will not have a smooth flow of material. The sarcasm is that there are no smooth feed conical hoppers I am aware of. Correct me if I wrong. That said, massaging your hopper is the pellet burners equivalent of the poker in the fire of the wood stove burner.

Now it may be true that you can not get it burning in a typical wood stove, but it can burn.

http://www.npp.hu/tortenelem/balesetek3-e.htm

Actually it does not take a reactor accident to do it but it is a good attention getting example.

I think I rtemember the post. It was posted this year ,One suggestion I remember,was to still wool the hopper and give it a good coat of car wax
and make sure you buff of any extra

Thanks guys I appreciate all the follow ups I will try these things and get back to all with my findings.

I spent about half an hour trying to find that post too, it appears to be gone forever!

ETPHONE where in Mass are you located?

I've been having this issue too. If I don't push the pellets right before I go to bed or sleep a little later than normal I'm fireless when I get up. I just tried the wax paper thing. Hopefully it will do the trick. The inside of my hopper is painted, and slightly rough yet since it's new, so maybe it will smooth out over time.

I lined my hopper with aluminum muffler repair tape. Its worked for a year. But you still have to check the hopper a couple of times during the day and give the little fellas a push.

Wow Ms Fix It....you dug that thread out from the dungeon.....2007...LOL.

But it all still applies. The graphite should work well, but see how the wax paper does. Personally, I think Englander should either leave the hopper surface bare metal, or at least use regular gloss paint in there.

The Astoria I had previous to the Englander had bare metal and the pellets almost all slid into the auger by themselves.....maybe a handful didn't.

Try getting the Scotchpad and smooth the paint out. Even a 100 grit sandpaper pad would work......just make sure to vacuum out the dust before refilling.

my 25-pdv has the same issue and I never spent the time to do something about it.

I agree with mac, Englander knows about this so why don't just put any paint in there or paint it with a very glossy paint. This should be addressed at the factory, not by the owners.

..

What kind of pellets are you burning? I found that I had that problem burning bayou pellets! All the other pellets have been fine.

You could buff the hopper walls with some ultra fine steel wool, just watch out for the iron and paint dust, it can go really puffy if it reaches enough heat.

What no suggestions about retro fitting steeper side walls, well after all it is a DIY stove.

Yes, the Englanders are more of a DIY stove, but retro-fitting the hopper isn't what I'd call DIY, unless your in the sheet-metal fab business. Probably void the warranty too.

And besides, doing that will reduce the amount of pellets it will hold (same thing would happen on any stove)......in that case, I might as well just make it a point to check the hopper more often, and push the pellets to the center.

Gee if you take the time to make the side walls steeper you could also make the hopper larger.

Hey, macman, warranty, damn there ya go spoiling a Bears bit of fun.

Maybe if enough noise is made they'll actually fix the issue. I'm sure Mike wants to know of any issues and should be doing the "screech mode" routine back at the plant after all having his phone lines burning out on a regular basis isn't conducive to taking afternoon naps.

Smokey, I'd like to see that. Given the same space to work in, raising the sides more toward the center to increase the angle reduces the volume, unfortunately.

If you have some magical way to achieve the opposite, I'd love to see a diagram.

I never said I'd use the same space. I'd just said I'd make the walls steeper and the hopper bigger. The stove just needs a little roof raising. kind of like the one I saw yesterday going out rt 4, someone had their garage roof in the air via a crane and was adding about a 3 foot wall all around. Now 3 feet would make a good sized increase in most hoppers I've seen. ;-P

Pellets not sliding well in hopper…REVISITED…LOL W/ Pics!

Hey, macman, how'd that warranty busting mod work for ya ^^^^^^^ .

GREAT! Problem with that was that I NEVER had to have any work done on that '05 Astoria....EVER....so warranty wasn't a problem! How old is that Saranac??

New August 2008. It is on its second burn pot, second combustion blower, and shortly its third convection blower.

First combustion blower had a blown bearing seal, the convection blower should have sealed self lubricated bearings but don't and is so close to the firebox that it is just about impossible to keep oil in them, they then slowly fail causing eventual thermaling off leading to over temperature shutdown.

The first round of burn pots had too many holes in them and not enough welds. They warped especially if you incorporated the fix for the too many hole problem.

I no make mods while warranty still in force. Would rather see maker fix the causes of problems.