Englander top auger

[RostaRob]

I'm wondering if you can help me with my Englaner pellet stove. The top auger does not turn. I swapped the wire with the bottom motor and then it turns. I jumped the vacuum switch leads together and it still didn't turn. So it will run if wired up to the bottom auger leads but will not run as wired from factory. It's less than 2 years old and the rubber hoses are sealed and still in great shape. Any idea on what could be wrong?

 

[Ssyko]

Stove needs a thorough cleaning. Check the port the vac hose connects to it may be clogged with ash.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Sounds like your idea of clean and clean and ash free are 2 different animals.... Pretty easy to clean the vacuum port in the firebox, just take your crevice tool and suck it out. I do that every time I clean the interior of the stove. I brush it down inside, clean the pot in warm water to loosen the hard carbon, use a putty knife to help it out, pull all the baffles and vacuum behind them as well. After I'm done (takes about 1/2 hour), I vacuum it again inside and then clean the view glass with Windex and scotchbrite and dry the glass, put in some starter pellets, add a bit of gelled firestarter (no ignotor here), light it and close the door and start the unit on the lowest setting until the room fan kicks in and then I increase the heat range to what I feel is adequate. I do that EVERY week without fail. EVERY month I pull the outside cleanout from the bottom of the transition Tee and dump the fly ash from that. Around January I pull the cleanout from the bottom of the venting outside and do the 'leaf blower trick' on it to sucl out any ash that may be lurking inside. Every spring all the motorized components come out, room air blower, combustion air blower, auger motors and augers and I clean and lubricate all of them and reinstall as well as clean the interior of the stove and use fogging oil in the firebox. Venting comes comlpletely apart and it gets pressure washed inside with simple green and my pressure washer and gets stored in the garage for the following fall.

Been doing that for 20 years now and I never have stove issues, not one. They have to be clean and motors free for them to work right.

None of them is plug and play, never have been but that attitude and poor cleaning habits keep the pellet stove technicians in business so I guess it's not all bad. Making money from customers poor habits...

 

[RostaRob]

Thanks for the info. I did get another tip to bypass the hopper lid switch and that seems to have done the trick. The top auger is now working. I guess I will have to order a new lid pressure switch.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Stuff like hopper lid micro switches I find to be superfluous. Why would you need a hopper lid switch anyway? I always close mine and latch it and not really needed for a negative pressure stove anyway. Burn back isn't an issue or at least a very rare occurrence at best.

Like igniters. Don't need that stuff or want it.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

I suppose it depends on what the design engineers are worried about. My stove has neither switch nor latch on the hopper, and so far we've had no problem with it.

 

[Smokinbubba]

The hopper lid switch is a simple safety feature. It stops the top auger when the lid is open. If the lid is kept open (for a long period of time) there is a possibility for a hopper fire.
My switch went out two weeks ago while I was out of town! Wife called and said the stove quit. Just inside the warranty period. One is on the way.