Auger Squeal on P61A

[Drivr]

Last night the Auger started squealing on my new P61a. So I did a complete cleaning and made sure to get any carbon near the auger. Refilled it and it still squealed. Called the dealer and he told me to pull the auger and check the tuibe. Sure enough once I had the motor off and the auger out on the burnpot end of the tube about 1/2" inch in was a build up of carbon and what looked like hardened pellet dust. A real pain in the butt to clean out. Now I am just guessing here but I bet it is mostly caused by fines. I dont sift the NEWP's I just dump the bag in maybe I should start.

What do you folks use to sift pellets?

 

[swalz]

Last night the Auger started squealing on my new P61a. So I did a complete cleaning and made sure to get any carbon near the auger. Refilled it and it still squealed. Called the dealer and he told me to pull the auger and check the tuibe. Sure enough once I had the motor off and the auger out on the burnpot end of the tube about 1/2" inch in was a build up of carbon and what looked like hardened pellet dust. A real pain in the butt to clean out. Now I am just guessing here but I bet it is mostly caused by fines. I dont sift the NEWP's I just dump the bag in maybe I should start.

What do you folks use to sift pellets?

When I do my weekly shut done to give my stove a good cleaning I take a long flat head screwdriver and scrape that area. I get the auger out of the way by using the test feed to turn it so the end is out of the way. I use a chisel to get the carbon off the burn pot and on the outside of where the auger is, works well just wish the chisel had a longer handle.

 

[GVA]

sounds normal to me
checking the tube was to see if the buildup was back farther, like about halfway.......
make sure the area at the discharge of the auger tube (the bottom of the burnpot) is clinker free.

 

[lecomte38]

I built a special tool to scrape inside the auger tube. ( large bent screwdriver ). I clean my insert once a week. It seems to build up more in the tube when it is running on low.

 

[freebird77]

swal,
P61 here. You can get the auger to turn by test mode, even if the stove is not running?