Auger Jam....Mt Vernon AE.....Need Help

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LMPS

LMPS

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Dec 12, 2010
395
Coastal, Maine
Hi All,
Need some help. I fired the stove up for the first time today and had a fire going then the stove through an error message- Auger Jam. I did use a bag of pellets that were damaged in shipping and had some larger pellets, I thought I had gotten them all out but must not have. Anyways, I have cleaned out the hopper twice and there is no jam with the Auger in that area. I used the vacuum and stuck the hose up the drop tube to try and get at it that way. No luck

On start up when the auger trays to start I am hearing some popping/cracking and it is not dropping pellets.

So, anyone know how to clear an Auger Jam? Any help would be appreciated, I leave Monday for a week on business and really want the stove running for the wife while I am gone. Thank you
 
Try a metal clothes hanger? Or a long handled screwdriver into the drop tube.
 
take off the right side panel (sheet metal part) looking at the stove you will be able to see the feed motor it is held in with two screws top and bottom remove the screws and you will be able to move the auger in and out a bit dont take it out to far, because it is still attached to the board. if this doesnt work follow the wires back towards the left side of the stove and there will be a connection that you can separate so you can take the auger ass. all the way out.
 
Much appreciated. Tried the coat hanger and got some out but much be more of a jam as it did the same thing when I restarted it.

I will try taking the screws out tomorrow........want to watch the Red Sox game.......don't need the stove tonight....wife can keep me warm tonight ;em

Thanks for the quick replies
 
I undid the screw holding the auger motor in and moved in all around, up down, sideways, tapped it off the sides of the drop tube.
Started it back up and same thing happened. Before I go to the extend of tracing the wires and removing it completely I was wondering if anything else could be causing this besides a jam? Just seems to me that after moving the auger around like I did that any jam would have been resolved.
Any other thoughts on this? Thank you
 
You most likely need a new rotation sensor. Top of the the auger assembly there is a proximity sensor that counts voids I a round metal plate and therefore knows the auger is spinning. $52 dollar part that should t be there to begin with. Welcome to the world of mt Vernon sensor failure.
 
smwilliamson said:
Your auger motor could also be spinning backwards. If you are hearing a clicker noise that could very well be it. The spring should be spinning CCW looking at the motor shaft
Click to expand...

This sounds more like it, as after the motor clicks on, and the auger seems like it is trying to spin and I hear a clicker noise.
Any suggestion on how to fix this?
 
Replace the sensor as scott said also may need to replace the motor if you have a dealer near that can come plug in and test the motor it will be the fast's way to get to the bottom of it.
 
Ok we took out the auger and as suspected no jam. Seems the motor is fine as the auger is spinning fine. So seems to the sensor.

Is there any way to jump/bypass the sensor to test it?
 
Any suggestions on where I can buy a rotation sensor?
 
Try Buy the Fire Oxford ME or you can also try stove world.com
 
Ok I have tried these. Any other suggestions on were to fine this part? What is the exact name of it? Sorry, for all the questions
 
i think they call it an optical sensor.
 
LMPS said:
Ok I have tried these. Any other suggestions on were to fine this part? What is the exact name of it? Sorry, for all the questions
Click to expand...
You can google the part number, 7034-038 and that should get you some results.
 
Coastal Maine covers lots of real estate. Quad dealers I know of.

207-622-6040 augusta
207-846-9030 yarmouth
207-947-7072 bangor
 
What year is your stove? My brand new mt Vernon had a bad optical sensor last year. I spoke with a rep from quad and it sounded like they have had a few issues with the sensors. Luckily its a cheap and easy fix but there must have been a bad batch or defective line of them. I replaced mine and it fixed the issue immediately. The faulty sensor I replaced was clean. I had only put 1 ton through the stove.
 
I all sorry for the delayed response I have been away on business for a week. I got the new sensor on Friday and put it in. FIXED! Got Fire now! Thank you so much for all your help, much appreciated.
The stove is a 2008 MT Vernon AE and its the first time this part has gone.
Again appreciate all the help.
 
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I've got a weird problem. My Mt. Vernon AE works fine for a week or two and then I get the auger jam message. If I take the auger out and clear the hopper, the stove then works again for a couple of weeks before the auger jam happens again. My pellets are fine (I have a Castille that eats the same pellets and never gives me any issues). I can't believe I accumulate that many fines in a couple of weeks. I can usually get the stove to start if I reset it (unplug it) a couple of times, but I'm just wondering why I get the message so frequently. I've had the stove for 3 years now and this problem has just developed in the last couple of months. One more thing. The problem seems to happen after the stove has been off for awhile and is turned back on after not running for at least a day. When I come back from being gone, and turn on the stove, that's when the jams seem to happen. Once I get the thing running again, it seems to stay running, even after the autoclean cycle.

Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
 
Peter, might suggest starting a new thread you might get a better response.
 
Peter,

If you don't get some decent ideas in the next day or so, I think I would call Quad or a local dealer. I'm no expert on the AE despite owning one as well, and other than a bad / misaligned auger the only thing I can think of is that the fines are sort of gluing together from sitting for so long (and that's admittedly a stretch).

It seems the two variables that correlate are time stove is inactive (supporting something with pellets / fines adhering to each other) and temperature (doesn't happen once you get the stove going). I wonder what would happen if, when you next return, you did a manual start of the stove (handful of pellets added to pot with a little fire gel and a match)? That would warm it just a little to start.
 
I had a customer with the same problem this week. first time working on one of these way over done on sesors stoves.. he kept getting auger jam messages so when I ran the stove I seen the auger turned one way for the first then rotate the other way.. the motor stayed on for a few minutes but no pellets feeding.. I pulled the optical sensor off and it was clean. put back on and same thing but after a few cycles the stove started feeding but I did not note the rotation of auger..
Is it normal for it to rotate one way then the other way on start up?

the stove worked ok for a few days then auger jam code again. then he got it to work again. and has been working for a day

do we need a Optical sensor or the control board giving wrong direction
also when I was there the thermostat board kept going to some weird info screen that I cant find in the manual
 
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