englander stove problems

[bubba377]

new to the site but here is my problem

my top auger motor is not working ! if I take the wires off the bottom auger motor and put them on the top auger motor the motor spins ! so I believe the motor is good ! what can I test or do to find what my problem is? thank you for your time.

 

[heat seeker]

For starters, if you have a switch on the hopper door, make SURE it's being actuated properly.

And, welcome to the forum!

 

[Lake Girl]

Which model? How old? Usually there is a troubleshooting section in the manual...
first, rule out hopper and/or door safety switches. Always unplug unit when working in the cabinet. Wires securely attached with spade connectors and latches are making connections?
When was the last time you did a really good cleaning ... venting and stove internal exhaust passages cleaned? Pulled exhaust blower (new gasket handy)? Cleaned room blower? Motor windings since you're in there cleaning? While cleaning, have you made sure vacuum switch lines are not cracked or broken and that the barb they are connected to is clear (disconnect tube from the switch if you are applying full vacuum suction from the fire box). Check spade connections on those too.
What heat level have you been running at? Possible your hi limit switch has been tripped?

Keep us posted...

 

[Dr.Faustus]

well the bottom auger runs constantly and the top one intermittently. make sure what you are seeing isnt just the period where the top auger isnt running.

if its not that, we know the motor is working. if you have a multimeter you can test and see if the stove ever sends voltage through the wires for the top auger. if it doesnt -
if you have a hopper lid switch, test that. you can either make sure the lid is closed but i like to set my multimeter to resistance and make sure that when the switch is closed, the circuit is closed.
Could also be a vacuum leak. you can test the vacuum switch again with a multimeter. check the hoses too for cracks/brittleness that lead to this switch.

dont prod around with the multimeter set to resistance unless the stove is unplugged. testing for voltage has to be done with the stove plugged in and on. If you arent comfortable doing this kind of stuff, find someone who is that can help you.

Also make sure its really clean as someone else mentioned and the gaskets are in good shape. Dollar bill test the door seals, etc

 

[bubba377]

Stove is about 6 years old . I checked the vacuum hose it was good ! Bypassed the vacuum switch( testing purpose only ) and the hopper switch has been stuck in the closed position for couple years now! Did a full cleaning at the beginning of the heating season ( including new gaskets) burned maybe a ton of pellets so far this year! I did a hard reset on control board this morning top motor turned on initial start up then stopped! Didn't restart . I didn't have time for to much testing before work .

 

[ericofmaine]

Stove is about 6 years old . I checked the vacuum hose it was good ! Bypassed the vacuum switch( testing purpose only ) and the hopper switch has been stuck in the closed position for couple years now! Did a full cleaning at the beginning of the heating season ( including new gaskets) burned maybe a ton of pellets so far this year! I did a hard reset on control board this morning top motor turned on initial start up then stopped! Didn't restart . I didn't have time for to much testing before work .

I do a good thorough cleaning on my PDV after every ton. I think I'd start there. Also, depending on your model stove (I didn't see it mentioned), there are two vacuum switches.

Eric

 

[Lake Girl]

Door and/or hopper gaskets pass the dollar bill test?

 

[Cedarjunki]

Honestly i would be looking into that stuck hopper switch.. maybe it unstuck?

 

[bubba377]

Bypassed hopper switch ! Still same problem ! Model # 25 pvd . tried dollar bill test seal is good.

 

[doghouse]

Have you cleaned the 'door ajar' vacuum port in the stove?

 

[Dr.Faustus]

I would be testing to see if the stove is sending voltage to the motor as it should. you could have a motor that works only intermittently. Careful with the probes and the 120v ac. you could also remove the motor in question, connect it to a test lead and see if it runs long.

Heres a thought too. visually inspect the bottom of the auger motors gear case. last year i had a bizarre problem with the motor working intermittently. Drove me nuts. Turns out after years of the motor sitting on its metal ledge and vibrating, the steel ledge wore a hole in the aluminum appearing gearcase. periodically the ledge would touch the gears and stop it from working. you wouldnt see it by just eyeballing it. i might try to find a pic of what happened....

 

[Dr.Faustus]

OK found it. This is the worn out gear case. Couldnt believe it. Now i've glued some rope gasket to the steel support ledge for it to rest on which i change yearly.

 

[Lake Girl]

worn out gear case

Wow! Thanks for the photo Doc ... Wonder how often that happens?

 

[BUBIBEAR]

Had the same thing happen a couple of years ago . The stove had a dense foam pad on the rest plate under the augers ,to allow the augers to dampen the gearbox when it pick up a long or oversize pellet as the auger tries to cut these pellets the gear box tends to lift up and when the pellet gets cut or crushed it drops down again striking the support plate .Over time the foam or gasket material get cut or worn out . The metal that the gear box is made of a soft metal and after so much wear and tear ,the metal swages out very thin. The case will develop a crack letting the lubricant out and cause the gear box to fail . I check mine often and replace the worn pads with a new piece of slat gasket with double stick tape . No more problem.

 

[bubba377]

I think I found the problem! I switched the auger motors and everything worked for about ten minutes ! Now the original problem motor (now on the bottom auger) quit working ! New motor on order ! Thanks for everyone's help . I'll let you all know if the new motor gives all the problems en it comes in[emoji3]

 

[Dr.Faustus]

I knew it was an intermittent motor problem!

As for my picture: the funny thing is the grease never came out, even with a giant hole on the bottom. if it did, this would have clued me in that there was a problem. I have glued rope gasket to protect it from rubbing but the rope gasket doesnt last too long and i dont want to put anything in that spot that isnt resistant to fire. any thoughts on dremeling a slot in the steel plate so i can run a large hose clamp through that and the motor to get it to stop banging itself on the plate?

 

[Dr.Faustus]

btw these motors are less than half the price on amazon. if you need a link let me know. I paid $58 ish for a new motor, free shipping no tax

 

[bubba377]

New motor didn't fix problem ! I guess I'll call tech support this week