baby countryside auger spins but doesnt drop enough pellets

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woodit

New Member
Oct 11, 2013
10
I bought a magnum baby countryside used, the man said the auger would not work so I got it cheap. I made sure the jumper was set on the 1 and 2 pin on the board. I can see the auger spinning but sometimes it drops pellets and sometimes it dont, I primed the auger the way the manual says, waited sometimes a hour but the fire almost goes out. I took the auger out and checked the shoot, theres nothing in there. The auger light comes on for 3 seconds at the longest and stays off for about 7 seconds, sometimes it drops pellets sometimes it wont drop pellets until the flame almost goes out. I have cleaned everything I could, if I hold the auger button down it will build up enough pellets to get a good flame. Im not sure if it has the correct auger in it, does anyone have a picture of what the auger should look like?should the auger motor be 2 RPM? mine is and its pulling .4 amps, the rating is .59 amps
 
Sorry you're having problems and welcome to the Forum! Silly question...Are you sure the auger is firmly connected to the motor and not slipping on the shaft? If you have removed the auger, I'm sure you must have split the motor from the auger shaft but I had to ask. I was thinking of a pellet bridge but seeing as you have removed the auger, you must have emptied the hopper and, obviously, the auger tube is clear as you stated.

The other test I can think of is to hard wire the auger motor to 120 volts and see how it feeds.

My stove is on low right now. It runs for 1.4 seconds, then is off for 10.

Lots of knowledgeable people here and a few (like me) with a Baby. We'll figure this out.
 
Sorry you're having problems and welcome to the Forum! Silly question...Are you sure the auger is firmly connected to the motor and not slipping on the shaft? If you have removed the auger, I'm sure you must have split the motor from the auger shaft but I had to ask. I was thinking of a pellet bridge but seeing as you have removed the auger, you must have emptied the hopper and, obviously, the auger tube is clear as you stated.

The other test I can think of is to hard wire the auger motor to 120 volts and see how it feeds.

My stove is on low right now. It runs for 1.4 seconds, then is off for 10.

Lots of knowledgeable people here and a few (like me) with a Baby. We'll figure this out.

Yes Im sure the auger it self is spinning, I didnt hard wire it because I can see it moving, what Im not sure is it the correct auger and is the motor correct at 2 RPM. The guy I bought it from worked on it until he gave up, Im not sure what he did or if he put the right parts back in it.
 
It certainly seems that the auger is operating properly. On high, my auger runs for 3 seconds and is off for 7, just like yours. That rules out the control board. What it doesn't rule out is the wrong motor. I am not sure what RPM my motor is. I will try to snap a picture of the label and see what it is. My understanding is the RPM is marked on the tag on the motor. Now this is a really stupid question but I wonder if the auger is rotating in the right direction? I wonder if it would feed any pellets at all if it weren't? The rotation cannot be changed electrically but the motor can be disassembled and reassembled to reverse the rotation.. Here's a link to one thread on that.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...1-need-to-reverse-rotation.47549/#post-595725

Can you tell us what direction it's rotating? Looking from the back, towards the auger side of the motor?
 
I talked the factory rep and verified the correct rotation is counter clockwise which is what mine is doing.Does yours drop pellets everytime it turns?
 
Ok...Yes, mine drops pellets every time it rotates. Mine is a 2 rpm motor. It's a pretty simple system. The pellets are picked up from the bottom of the hopper by the auger, then are carried up the auger tube where they drop down the feed chute. If you're not getting enough pellets on high feed to even keep the fire going, I can only think of a couple things that it could be.
1) Pellets bridged at bottom of hopper. (Ruled out)
2) auger not rotating or rotating in wrong direction. (Ruled out)
3)Clog in auger tube or drop chute. (Ruled out)

Now we go to the speculation part. You mentioned that the previous owner messed with the stove. I wonder if he replaced the auger with one that is the wrong diameter. The pellets would just slide by the flights unless there was a large enough pellet to be carried up.
Maybe there is a deformity in the auger tube allowing the pellets to ride between the auger and the wall of the tube.

Once more guys get home from work I'm sure they will chime is and come up with more ideas. We'll figure it out
 
looking from the back it would be clockwise, but looking at the shaft it is counter clockwise, What do you think would happen if I put a 4 rpm motor in it. the temperature coming out of it is bearly over 100 degrees and the fire is small.
 
Mine rotates the same way. I would think we need to figure out if there is another problem before going to a faster motor.
 
Ok...Yes, mine drops pellets every time it rotates. Mine is a 2 rpm motor. It's a pretty simple system. The pellets are picked up from the bottom of the hopper by the auger, then are carried up the auger tube where they drop down the feed chute. If you're not getting enough pellets on high feed to even keep the fire going, I can only think of a couple things that it could be.
1) Pellets bridged at bottom of hopper. (Ruled out)
2) auger not rotating or rotating in wrong direction. (Ruled out)
3)Clog in auger tube or drop chute. (Ruled out)

Now we go to the speculation part. You mentioned that the previous owner messed with the stove. I wonder if he replaced the auger with one that is the wrong diameter. The pellets would just slide by the flights unless there was a large enough pellet to be carried up.
Maybe there is a deformity in the auger tube allowing the pellets to ride between the auger and the wall of the tube.

Once more guys get home from work I'm sure they will chime is and come up with more ideas. We'll figure it out


I thought the same thing about the auger being too small and the pellets were bypassing somehow, I took the whole shoot out and inserted a cut up beer can and siliconed it inside the shoot to take up some space and make the interior smoother but that didnt work either.
 
the bushing at the top and bottom of the auger are not really snug, I wouldnt say wore out,but not snug, would that have a effect on the performace?
 
Sounds like you're thinking logically and trying everything. I suppose if everything is working as it should, speeding up the motor would solve the problem. What I don't understand is why yours isn't working when it seems to be exactly like mine and mine works perfectly. Maybe the auger is too short? Would that make a difference, or would it just push the pellets up and down the chute anyways? Weird.
 
the bushing at the top and bottom of the auger are not really snug, I wouldnt say wore out,but not snug, would that have a effect on the performace?
That could be an issue if they are worn out to the point where the pellets roll past the flights but you would see that, cause they would be *really* worn out. Usually if the bottom bushing is really worn, there would be a ton of fines leaking past the shaft and dropping onto the bottom of the stove enclosure. You would have noticed that I'm thinking.
 
I do see some dust leaking into the back of the unit, I think that would be cheap try.
 
Have you done an actual auger rotation count? Ive replaced bad motors on stoves because they were not feeding enough when under load. This stove has a bad country of origin.
 
Good point Bio. It's possible. My stove was made in the USA but some were made in China.
 
An ex dealer told me a pile of the Chinese were torn down and used for parts. Who knows if they wouldn't use those parts in the US stoves. Company just didn't improve product or support dealers.
 
how do you do a count
I just did it. I'm assuming the stove is off so hit the start button and then push the auger button. I watched the set screw on the auger collar and timed one revolution. In my case it was one revolution in 30 seconds so 2 rpm.
 
An ex dealer told me a pile of the Chinese were torn down and used for parts. Who knows if they wouldn't use those parts in the US stoves. Company just didn't improve product or support dealers.
I have heard all sorts of horror stories about these stoves! Of course when I bought mine, I looked at it as an engineer without the backup knowledge of this forum (Otherwise I would have bought an ESW). I saw a stove I could fix and maintain by myself. Remember, this was during the oil crisis when the only pellet stoves that were available were the Big Box Stores or used, and the used were going for new prices. All, and I mean for a 100 mile radius, the dealers around here were sold out and taking orders for stoves for the following year and I couldn't wait a year. Knock on wood, I got a good one, maybe the only good one they made.
 
I live in south east michigan, near Novi, does anyone know of a dealer or someone that has experience with this stove? also what are the good pellets? I bought these at Tractor Supply, I think they are just OK at best
 
Hey woodit, I am in Livonia. I got my burner from a place called pen acres grain in Clinton mich. They are about 30 min west of cabellas. Family business, very good people. Dave is the owner, bob is the installer.
 
I live in south east michigan, near Novi, does anyone know of a dealer or someone that has experience with this stove? also what are the good pellets? I bought these at Tractor Supply, I think they are just OK at best
Personally, I doubt you will get any factory support from Magnum. You may or may not find a tech who is knowledgeable on the stove and willing to work on it. That said, you will get the very best tech support right her :) One of our members, Don222 has a lot of experience with these stoves. I'll give him a nudge and see if he'll join in.

As for pellets, I have found that these stoves are picky. Sure they will burn almost anything, (except Inferno's which were the only pellets that actually stopped burning for me on low) but the ash buildup will choke out the fire. They have a poor airflow design so an ashy pellet will fill the burnpot in no time making it necessary to empty the pot daily. I am burning Vermonts now and have had great luck with LG's, Cubex, Currans....
 
Hello

I would take the auger out and check the auger bushings to make sure they are clean on the inside. The bottom bushing is nylon and cannot be lubricated but the top bushing is brass so clean it well and put a drop of 3-1 oil on the inside. Also clean the auger with a wire wheel on your drill driver and use some dry moly hi temp lube on the auger shaft.

Auger motors get alot of wear in the gearbox and the laminations on the coil windings break down so the magnetic field is not as strong. These two wear problems make the augers weak. I would replace the 2 RPM motor with a high quality Gleason Avery 2 RPM auger motor.

People give up on these stoves many times because the top chamber in the back of the firebox cannot be cleaned. If you drill a hole in the right side and blast it with an air compressor with a basket ball needle and seal it with a sheet metal screw, the stove will run like new.

See my special cleaning video
 
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Hello

I would take the auger out and check the auger bushings to make sure they are clean on the inside. The bottom bushing is nylon and cannot be lubricated but the top bushing is brass so clean it well and put a drop of 3-1 oil on the inside. Also clean the auger with a wire wheel on your drill driver and use some dry moly hi temp lube on the auger shaft.

Auger motors get alot of wear in the gearbox and the laminations on the coil windings break down so the magnetic field is not as strong. These two wear problems make the augers weak. I would replace the 2 RPM motor with a high quality Gleason Avery 2 RPM auger motor.

People give up on these stoves many times because the top chamber in the back of the firebox cannot be cleaned. If you drill a hole in the right side and blast it with an air compressor with a basket ball needle and seal it with a sheet metal screw, the stove will run like new.

See my special cleaning video




Great info, I will do that to night,Im going to order new bearings, where do I get a gleason avery motor?
 
Gleason sells direct, google
 
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