Life span of an auger motor

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Flem

Member
Dec 12, 2009
131
Western MD
Anyone know about how long I can expect an auger motor to last? Mine is about 9 years old and seems pretty "tired".
 
If you got 9 years out of an auger motor, you are
BY FAR the exception more than the norm.
I've seen em fail within the first 3 weeks of usage,
& most of em only make it
about 1/2 as long as you've had yours.
Consider yourself lucky!
 
All over the place from what I gather.
Talked to a guy yesterday who replaced his first auger in his 6 yr old PDVC .
I`ve also read threads where an auger went bad right from the git go.
 
I too don't think you could pin a date on it. Depends on amount of use and how hard its been used. Wonder if they actually have an average live or overall hours rating?

But if its tired and you think its slipping(shaded pole motors slip or stahl with age)? Replace it. There are several after market available. Gleasen Avery being the best built unit. Has roller bearings instead of sleeved bearings. Prices are reasonable. You can keep the old one for a spare.

If you need a link? Let me know.
jay
 
Mine lasted 10 years on my Whitfield.
 
I got 15 years out of mine burning 5-6 tons a year.
 
11 years on my whitfield still turnin strong!!
 
jeeze i cant even get mine to last a year......whats the catch lol
 
10 Yrs on my 2000 Enviro EF-2 FS.

(at least I think it is the original) I bought the stove used in 2007

I pulled it apart last year when I fixed an auger brass (bottom) bushing squeak. I smoothed it's surface.
The motor looked good inside.

It just keeps on moving the pellets up the tube.

---Nailer---
 
Anyone have a Harman auger go bad on them? how soon?

Also, does the fuel matter? I'm assuming average wood pellets, not other fuels like corn or cherry pits.
 
Stentor said:
Anyone have a Harman auger go bad on them? how soon?

Also, does the fuel matter? I'm assuming average wood pellets, not other fuels like corn or cherry pits.

I'm on 9 years so far with my Harman. Auger motor is original. I'm on my 2nd combustion motor and 3rd distribution/blower motor.
 
My Whitfield Pellet insert is a 1995 model same Auger Motor , same Combustion Fan, and same Convection Fan from the day they were made... I burn about 5 months out of the year. 3 ton. You just have to love those older Whitfield's I do!!!!!
 
Whatever you do don't touch it, you must be blessed. Aside from luck who knows but it's nearly always less than that. I found nearly all my failures to be caused by the aguer getting stuck , jammed on some foreign object. Ah the hazards of burning corn. I did lose one a couple years back from a piece of pellet mill shrapnel. They tend to pass random pieces of crushed stone a lot like a kidney stone too. With the age of that one you have there it might be a good idea to have a new one on hand for that inevitable day. It beats trying to round one up in the dead of winter.
 
About 3 years after I bought my Enviro Empress, the auger motor started to make a whiny straining noise after a half hour of use, and the fire would go out as no pellets were dropping.
I called the technician who examined it, cleaned it thoroughly, but no improvement.
It would run almost indefinitely on low, but anything higher and it started failing again after about 1/2 hour.
Turning it off for a bit and then restarting it resets to "normal", until 1/2 hour goes by on anything other than low.
Now it even fails on low after a few hours.
My guess is that the auger motor is failing, and I've asked the technician to order one. Have I jumped the gun?
 
Pete, I don't think you jumped the gun. I've taken apart a lot of these gear reduction auger assemblies to find various reasons for failure from plastic gears,no grease, bad grease,worn shafts etc. Auger jams are almost certain death. Makes me want to coat my Harmans auger flights with graphite paint to see if I can make them last longer since I won't have to fire them for week.
 
4 years in my Quad, easy fix four screws, but if you get the parts from a quad dealer it comes with a bunch of other stuff u don't need(unless there is more then the motor broken) Next time I will just buy the motor from somewhere else
 
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