Auger motor problem, Breckwell P1000 Big E

[Mr. Whippy]

Trying to figure out what is actually wrong with this stove.

A week ago, the Big E stopped running. Removing the control panel, the fuse was blown. I replaced it, tried to start it and it blew immediately. I disconnected both blower motors, igniter and auger motor and the fuse holds. Plugging in one item at a time, the auger motor is the only one that blows the fuse. Putting pellets in the firebox, with the auger motor disconnected, the stove runs (until the pellets are all burnt).

So I figured it was the auger motor. I replaced it, and the new one lasted 1 day and the windings are burnt out (0 ohms resistance). I replaced the new motor with another motor (spare but new) and checked it 3 minutes after start up. It is extremely hot and smells of melted plastic/electrically hot.

At this point, I don't know what is causing this. Could it be the control board?

Also: The auger moves freely and I cleaned out all pellets and dust when I replaced the first motor.

Help?

 

[Mt Bob]

First thing I would suspect is high drag in the auger,probably bad bushings.

 

[Mr. Whippy]

I was thinking more of an undervoltage or continuous load problem. The auger moves pretty freely (I can rotate it by hand using just the clip) and I would have thought it would take a little while to overheat it, just from a little increased drag--again, the auger seems to move pretty freely

 

[Mt Bob]

Or a bad connection.Time to get out your voltmeter

 

[Mr. Whippy]

Just did some testing. The motor always sees at least 20V (Power off, hopper open). when power is on, but no feed, it's seeing ~72V. When feed light is on, it sees ~120V.

Does this seem right? I would expect near 0 V when hopper is open or power button is off.

 

[Mt Bob]

Could be a bad ground inside the stove,could be bad board.BBL,in the middle of a project.

 

[zrock]

I agree should be seeing no voltage when their is no call for pellets. With it seeing lower voltage the motor is always trying to turn

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[heat seeker]

Sounds like a leaky triac, or stuck relay on the control board.

 

[Ssyko]

Just did some testing. The motor always sees at least 20V (Power off, hopper open). when power is on, but no feed, it's seeing ~72V. When feed light is on, it sees ~120V.

Does this seem right? I would expect near 0 V when hopper is open or power button is off.

You are correct in your assumption. What sucks is all the Breckwell boards have jumped up another 100 bucks this year, as if 379usd is not enough now 479 +

 

[zrock]

Should be in my area their is a used brickwell for sale for $500 obo.. i keep thinking of offering them 300 and having it for parts.. I know whats wrong with it and have the parts sitting here as spares for mine.. Look in your local buy and sells might find a used one for cheap

 

[Ssyko]

Exactly what I did. Craigslist got one for 100 bucks with a new board in it, rest was pretty much scrap.

 

[zrock]

this on is in good shape newer than mine.. All thats wrong is it will light and go out.. Think ill give them till after the new year and if its not sold im gonna offer them a few $

 

[Mr. Whippy]

So follow up:

I called US Stove and explained the situation. They sent me a new board and auger motor. It's been running fine for almost 2 weeks. The new board seems to have fixed the problem.