I stopped pouring pellets into the hopper early on because it makes too much dust. I hold teh bag upright and cut the length of the bottom. Sometimes there is not enough room in the hopper for the whole bag, so I let it sit on top of the nearly-full hopper. This occurs mostly when it's around 0F outside and I'm going to work and there's less than 14 hours of pellets in the hopper, yet not enough space for an entire new bag. In this case I did this on my way out the door while my wife was asleep. She never checked it in time to get the bag out. I've had the bag nearly empty itself on a few occasions, but it's never been picked up by the auger before.
I came home from a two-day trip and found the back 6" of a pellet bag sticking out of the auger pickup/hole. So I knew SOMETHING was wrong. My wife didn't have any real information. She said she just unplugged it.
After I got the bag out, I started up the stove, but the auger would not turn at all. I figureed the auger motor/gear box was shot. (I hooked it up directly to wall socket power and it didn't run. I opened the gear box and the drive shaft from the motor didn't apppear to connect with the first gear, which was nylon. I figured it had stripped because the bag locked the auger.)
I researched, purchased and installed an equivalent auger motor/gearbox from Merkle-Korff, and it didn't run either. (They were really helpful matching specs from the original part to the one listed below) Then I got out the electrical circuit tester, and finally found the auger wasn't running cause it wasn't getting power. so I started testing all the switches between the box and the auger. I finally figured out it was the flow switch. Which really pissed me off cause I'm a lot of time and money in this and the flow switch was working fine less than 48 hours prior. Enter the pipe cleaner. I was unable to get a hold of my dealer and hand't discovered this forum yet, so I was feeling around in the dark.
It was after discovering the problem and just before closing the stove up that I got he shock. To this day I am unsure if the auger binding fried the board or if I myself did it.
As far as my wife: she fessed up, so there wasn't much to say.
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You can NOT purchase the motor/gearbox in your stove directly from MK (in lots of less than 1,000 give or take)
(I drive old cars ie 1977-1991, I live in an old house; I NEVER pay for OEM when I don't absolutely have to, which is why I pursued the whole getting-the-part directly from MK. It also cuts out Travis and my dealer as middle men...)
IF you want to order the gear box directly from Merkle-Korff, the information is listed below. You WILL have to make one modification- drill a seat hole in the flat of the output shaft for the allen screw in the auger. Should be able to do this in 5 minutes using the original auger as a model. I'm assuming the shaft is hardened, so you're gonna need a sharp drill bit. Drill press handy but not necessary.
B1445UI is the motor/gearbox I got from MK. The RPM is the same (1.1) The start-up torque is a little higher, and the running torque is a little lower. It was $83 shipped. That saves you about $40 over the best OEM price I found on the net. It's less than half of what my dealer quoted me.
http://www.merkle-korff.com/index.asp
Product Name: GF 4400 Series, 115 V 60 Hz, CW facing output shaft Product Description:
Type : Zinc die cast AC gearmotor
Voltage : 115 VAC 60 Hz
RPM : 1.1
Start Torque (in-lbs) : 150 <-------------- These two numbers
Run Torque (in-lbs) : 175 <-------------- really impresed me.
Impedance Protected : Class B : (130°C)
Overhung Load (lbs) : 7
Bearings : Self-aligning sintered bronze with large oil reservoir Termination : Spade terminals Duty Cycle : Intermittent Rotation : Unidirectional : CW facing output shaft Mounting : All positions Agency : UL/ CSA/ CE Unit Price: $73.18 Units Per Package: 1 Package Type: Corrugated Package Price: $73.18
Quantity: 1
Total: $73.18
