Englander EPI25 auger jams

[sandman20]

Hello all

New guy on this forum looking for some help. Just had a Englander 25EPI installed a week ago and have had constant auger jam issues. I've tried different pellets Inferno=auger jam, Green Supreme = auger jam, Energex= auger jam, vermont = auger jam. Supprisingly it di run all last weekend without one using some Tractor supply pellets (Not sure of brand). This week, it jams after running about 4 hours. The first jam I removed the auger motor to inspect and reinstalled. I unjammed it the other times by tapping lightly on the auger tube with a rubber malet and then pushing the auger with my thumbs back toward the auger motor. Usually it pops backward about 1/8" and it frees it up. I'm pretty frustrated at this point since it is new and we had it professionally installed. Not sure if Englanders are just an inferior product or there is some manufacturing defect in play here. I thought maybe there is a rough surface or weld the pellets are catching on. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as this is our primary source of heat. It replaced a coal stove (Which never failed;-))

 

[imacman]

Try removing the auger motor and auger. Look up into the tube w/ a flashlight and see if some of the early pellets (terrible Infernos) are mashed up against the top.

Make sure the auger motor/auger connection is tight. There also may be a way to space the auger back a little bit.

If you can't get it resolved, I'd give Mike Holton & the Tech guys at Englander a call Monday. You could also try contacting him on the forum through a private message (stoveguy2esw).

BTW, as mentioned, the Infernos and Greene Supreme are below average pellets. The Vermonts are the best of the bunch you mentioned. be curious what the ones from TSC are.

 

[sandman20]

I did talk to Mike yesterday (Great guy!) and he gave me some things to check. That included pulling and inspecting the auger and auger tube. It is definately getting worse as the stove will run for less time after I unjam the auger. Getting pretty darn frustrating since it is a brand new stove. I did notice that there is a lot of back and forth play in the auger. I'm not sure just how much there is supposed to be but I'll check the connection later today. We are getting out of work early due to the impending blizzard here in RI.

 

[sandman20]

Found the problem. There was weld spatter inside the auger tube. The tip of the auger flight was beat up pretty badly. I could visually watch the auger jam. Sometimes it would snap by it and others it would catch and bind. As it is nearly impossible to file the weld spots where they are located (I tried, believe me!!) I ground the end of the auger flight about 1/16" which also cleaned up the mashed up area. I filed everything nice and smooth and reassembled. So far so good....been running for about 9 hours straight with no jams. Really disappointed in englander qc at this point. You'd think that critical operation areas would receive more inspection than this unit apparently got. I don't think anyone should have to work for hours on a brand new stove to make it work. If it wasn't for the fact that we have a blizzard underway here, I would have pulled the unit and returned it to home depot for a refund. On the upside, this thing really heats the house now that it runs for more than a few hours. Mike, please take note of my findings and let the folks in QC know.