castille auger motor noise

[Barrett]

Last night my Castille started making a loud whining noise every few minutes when it was feeding pellets. It also seemed like when it made the noise, no pellets came out.

I emptied the hopper today, except for a handful of pellets and took the side cover off. The noise is definitely coming from the motor. I noticed that if I jiggled the motor when it made the noise it would go away.

I then removed all pellets, and vacuumed out what I could from the auger. It's better now, doesn't do it as much but still occasionally.

Any ideas what's going on?

 

[Shortstuff]

Hard to tell for sure what might be causing the noise, but you may have noticed only a couple or so screws/bolts holding the auger motor in place. My suggestion would be to shut the stove/thermostat off and go so far as to remove the auger and motor assembly which comes out rather easily. The hard part is that you'll have to remove all of the pellets from the hopper first and then the assembly may come out easily. In order to put the auger assembly back in, you may have to remove all the pellets from the auger tube first.

I had one single pellet jamb my auger tube last season which stopped the stove from working. When I removed the auger assambly, a whole bunch of pellets and pellet dust immediately fell out of the opening where it was all packed up because of the blockage.

Anyway, while the auger assembly is out, you can plug it back in (while in your hand) and without touching any of the connections. Then turn your thermostat on and the assembly will turn slowly going through it's startup cycle allowing you to maybe see the reason for the noise you're hearing. A good cleaning, put it all back together and perhaps you'll be all set once again.

Just trying to help.

Steve

 

[GIPPER]

HAD THE SAME THING WITH MY CASTILLE, I WAS BURNING BAYOU'S WHICH HAD A LOT OF SAWDUST IN THE PELLETS. I REMOVED THE AUGER ASSEMBLY AND AT THE TOP NEAR THE MOTOR WAS ALOT OF ASH BUILDUP. THE ASSEMBLY IS VERY EASY TO REMOVE. GOOD LUCK!