Englander 25-PDV Upper Auger Jams Daily

[BenM]

So, can we assume that the direct wired lower auger is continuing to run w/o any jams?

I thought I had updated the thread, but apparently I didn't. Unfortunately, it jammed after only a few hours being directly wired. I felt the motor while it was running (lower auger motor) and it was quite hot. I am going to try to walk my wife through swapping the two motors since the one that is currently on the upper auger motor is the newest one and is one of the Gleason Avery manufactured motors. I would have put it on last time, but I assumed they were a poorer quality motor since the first one broke its gear train the second time the auger jammed. I'll keep updating, but the stove is currently sitting cold with a pellet jam that my wife can't fix until the weekend. She's a nurse and works 12+ hour shifts, so she can't do anything with it until her day off.

 

[smwilliamson]

I deal with this issue quite often. What Mike from Englander is saying is true. You need to loosen the two allen set screws on the auger shaft, with the motor shaft set collar on the auger shaft, slide the pivot bearing back against the set collar, THEN tighten the pivot bearing's two set screws tight. This will enable the auger to freely turn without hitting the plastic seal AND allow the auger to "knock down" fines which it is trapping at the fore end of the feed chute.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

when the feed chute was jammed with pellets did you see anything in the chute itself which may have caused pellets to catch? were the surfaces relatively smooth? im starting to wonder if we have something in the drop chute which is catching pellets and filling up behind the stoppage , when this is the case the lower auger would just feed out as if the off button was pushed the upper would be impacted cause the pellets would have nowhere to go, the upper auger would simply drive them up against the front of the top tube.

when you get home, pull the lower auger again and very closely examine the drop chute , an inspection mirror would be helpful (mirror on a stick like a dentist uses) let me know what you find. might be a bad casting, if so fixing it may be a bit more involved but can be done.

 

[BenM]

I deal with this issue quite often. What Mike from Englander is saying is true. You need to loosen the two allen set screws on the auger shaft, with the motor shaft set collar on the auger shaft, slide the pivot bearing back against the set collar, THEN tighten the pivot bearing's two set screws tight. This will enable the auger to freely turn without hitting the plastic seal AND allow the auger to "knock down" fines which it is trapping at the fore end of the feed chute.

I just wanted to update this thread for all those who helped me and for anybody in the future who has this problem. I apologize for taking so long to respond, but I have been out of town a lot.

As it turns out, smwillamson was correct. The problem was that the auger was not spaced correctly. When Mike had originally suggested that I adjust the auger toward the back, I interpreted that as toward the back of the stove, leaving more space between the end of the auger and the end of the feed tube, when he probably meant I should adjust it toward the back of the feed tube/ front of the stove. What I ended up doing was loosening the set screws on the pivot bearing, then installing the auger, then sliding forward until it contacted the end of the feed tube and rubbed lightly. I then tightened one set screw and removed the auger so I could tighten both set screws and then reinstalled/realigned the auger. It has since been working flawlessly.

Again, thanks to everybody who helped with this problem, and thanks to smwilliamson for explaining what the issue is and how to correct it.

 

[Don2222]

Ok, Guys

To set the spec.

Where should the pivet bearing and auger collar be in relationship to the end of the Auger? See Green Arrow.
Should the auger collar be even with the end of the Auger,
Or in back by x inches?
Or in front by x inches?

Yellow arrow shows one of the two pivet bearing allen head set screws.
Red arrow shows auger shaft collar bolt that holds motor to auger.

 

[Don2222]

when the feed chute was jammed with pellets did you see anything in the chute itself which may have caused pellets to catch? were the surfaces relatively smooth? im starting to wonder if we have something in the drop chute which is catching pellets and filling up behind the stoppage , when this is the case the lower auger would just feed out as if the off button was pushed the upper would be impacted cause the pellets would have nowhere to go, the upper auger would simply drive them up against the front of the top tube.

when you get home, pull the lower auger again and very closely examine the drop chute , an inspection mirror would be helpful (mirror on a stick like a dentist uses) let me know what you find. might be a bad casting, if so fixing it may be a bit more involved but can be done.

Hi Mike

A few weeks ago I had to fix the top auger binding.
To ascertain all the complexities in this dual tandem auger system, I only removed the top auger, cleaned and smoothed the auger and the auger chute, then sprayed the top auger and chute with dry moly and re-installed the top auger and slapped a brand new Gleason-Avery motor on it. To my surprise, nothing changed and the top auger still kept binding when the stove was fired. So I shut down the stove and removed the bottom auger. It was black as night with carbon even though it turned ok. I then proceeded to totally clean and smooth the bottom auger and chute, then sprayed them with dry molly. The stove has been working fine ever since! Goes to show both augers must be clean and turning freely according to their best specification especially the bottom auger!