Classic Bay 1200 auger failure

[kinsmanstoves]

do you have a hopper lid switch?

 

[ryanf289]

its bypassed with a fridge magnet

 

[kinsmanstoves]

was it bypassed prior to the issue? If so check it.

 

[ryanf289]

No, only while trying to diagnose it.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

I would put some attention there to see if this was the problem. The switch stops the auger.

 

[St_Earl]

does this mean i owe you $5 now, kinsman?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

I will look for that post where you said I will take that bet. Hold on.

Eric

 

[kinsmanstoves]

my money is still on upper auger jam. just not sure if i wrote clearly enough in my first reply that it was the inner drop chute i cleared eventually.
i was a little non specific with my words. ( see second reply)
in any case, i hope ryanf get's it sorted soon.
i was so relieved when mine started working again. felt the oil heat for one blast and was reminded of how much it sucks.

* i only learned this yesterday when my dealer talked me through it on the phone. so now my dealer is one for one on service.

Not here, sorry

 

[ryanf289]

I pulled the control box, just to see if there was anything obvious. But because the plastic is opaque i couldn't. When I re-installed the box and plugged it back in, a blue led flashed. When I turned the thermostat on, the auger started feeding again. Now It seems to be working again, with a nice fire in the pot.

 

[St_Earl]

great news. except i suppose it would be nice to know what happened as well.

glad you're up and running again.

* gonna bookmark this for the advice given.

 

[ryanf289]

Thank you both for your help. But yes I wish I knew the cause too

 

[rparker]

it's possible there was a loose connection? unplugging and plugging back in amy have fixed it for the time being. I had a number of strange issues with my CB1200 when I first got it and finally fixed them by tightening all of the spade connections with a pair of needle nose pliers.

 

[Don2222]

Wired thermostat, the call light is on and the exhaust fan starts. Not a problem with the vacuum, perfect continuity on the vacuum switch while running. All of the snap disks test good. The only things left on the troubleshooting list are feed motor defective or control box defective.

Can I go into the control box and use a jumper to determine whether or not the feed motor works? Then that would leave only the control box.

Best way to test the feed motor is with a line cord. The part that usually fails here is the capacitor. Although when it fails the auger runs in the reverse direction!

 

[Michael_J]

I found this post while troubleshooting the auger issue on my CB-1200. I was sure it was a problem with the auger motor (~$190) or the control box (~$250). I tested the auger motor after removing it from the stove and it worked fine. I found the problem to be a loose set screw where the motor fits into the auger. It took a while to find the problem and I offer it here since I did not see it in the posts.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Wired thermostat, the call light is on and the exhaust fan starts. Not a problem with the vacuum, perfect continuity on the vacuum switch while running. All of the snap disks test good. The only things left on the troubleshooting list are feed motor defective or control box defective.

Can I go into the control box and use a jumper to determine whether or not the feed motor works? Then that would leave only the control box.

How are you checking the 'perfect continuity' on the vacuum switch while running? Are you measuring 120 volts from its output to ground? Or are you disconnecting the wires and putting an ohmmeter across the terminals and reading zero ohms?

 

[tjnamtiw]

Glad you got it running. Often, one step in diagnosing problems is often to remove and replace the control box (with the stove disconnected). I guess it worked this time!
One other thing. If you bypassed the hopper lid switch with a magnet, that means your hopper lid was open. Earlier you said that the hopper was empty during the troubleshooting. You would never get enough vacuum to pull in the vacuum switch with that situation. You never said anywhere that you jumpered the vacuum switch so it might pay you to rethink your troubleshooting routine for the next time.

 

[weldingrod]

I have a Quadra-fire 1200-I pellet insert which is about 10 years old. It has been bullet proof and never gave me any problems until this year. I was having an issue where everything seemed to be working fine except for feeding pellets. After several hours of troubleshooting, I found that my thermocouple was defective... ( the wires are supposed to be soldered\welded together inside the thermocouple cover.) This sits right above the fire-pot and measures the flame heat. When I pulled the cover off, I found the wires were no longer connected. I was able to squeeze the wires together tightly enough to make contact and the feeder started feeding correctly and the stove fired up. I ordered a new thermocouple ( $110.00 ) and replaced it ( about 15 minutes ) and everything has been perfect since.