GREAT way to get all pellets out of hopper!

[Tonyray]

Last heating season the pellets I used had a very rough texture, 3 times I failed to catch the pellets hanging up and the stove( USSC 6039) went out. Over the summer I cleaned hopper real well and applied the UHMW tape. Start of this season I filled hopper and let stove run the hopper out, it worked with only a handful left in bottom. I refilled and did it again just to make sure, it once again emptied the entire hopper. Great works. Fast forward to first real cold snap, stove is running on Heat Range 5 constantly. Auger gets jammed can hear motor trying to turn auger. Have had this stove for 13 years and only one jam and that was a nail from a pallet. This stove burns everything I have ever put in it, water damaged pellets, lots of fines, corn, wheat, barley and cherry pits nothing ever slows it down. So I am thinking something in pellets or corn jammed auger. I hit off button and start emptying hopper, I get about half way and auger starts bumping pellets like it does on normal shutdown. I figure jammed object must have cleared, push on button and refilled hopper. Two hours later jammed again. I hit off, start emptying hopper and again half way it starts bumping pellets. I let it complete shut down, empty hopper, pull auger and vacuum out tube. Put auger back in refill and start stove. 5:30 AM next morning wife gets me up auger jammed again, I open door tap auger and it starts turning, 745am jams again. I then think maybe auger motor has gotten weak after 13 years. 2 hours to replace auger motor, restart stove. Runs good until 900 pm jams again, I have a new auger that I bought 10 years ago, so I decide to switch augers out. With new auger fire looks like it is burning on HR1 when stove is on HR5 auger barely rotating then jams. Shut down, empty hopper again and put old auger back in. Standing there thinking what could it be. The only thing different is the UHMW tape so I remove all uHthe tape, refill light and now has been running 6 days non stop no jams fire normal. Guess tape worked to well and tried to slide 60 pounds of pellets and corn into auger all at once. Could never figure out why engineers put low angles in the hopper, maybe to slow the flow of fuel down.

Interesting battle you had. What does UHMW stand for??

 

[tlc1976]

Ultra high molecular weight. It’s very dense and tough material.

I would think that engineers design the hopper with the shallowest slope that will flow under most conditions. With that, they can maximize the pellet capacity vs the physical size of the stove.

Really there shouldn’t be too much more weight on the auger from pellets, as the hopper surface is still carrying the bulk of the load, and the auger opening is still the same size with the column load above it. Perhaps your auger bushings are worn, and that little bit extra makes the auger bind?

 

[ARC]

auger bushings are worn

No auger bushings or one big one depending on how you look at it. Motor bolts to stove frame, auger conects to motor with coupler held together by pellets pushing back on auger, auger sits in 11 1/2 inch long X 3/8 inch thick metal pipe/tube that ends above burn pot. 3 inch cutout in tube/hopper for pellet feed. No squeaking from auger as it turns.

 

[tbear853]

I've never had this problem with buildup on the hopper walls or sticking pellets. It will empty 100% on its own, even a couple months ago when I forgot to put in a bag before going to work. Does a certain pellet do this more than others, softwood maybe?

Mine has always emptied clean and dry too, even at half full, no fines of pellets ever stick to the hopper walls. I wouldn't want wax build up to change that. I burn premium hardwood pellets from CST, they are from a mill in West Virginia. Even with occasional use of other "off brands" (ie: not my regulars), I never had them or their fines stick to the hopper walls.

Every year without fail, I start the stove with the pellets from the last season still in the hopper, absolutely no reason to remove them once dumped in the hopper except by fire.

Just thinking, I often read posts about fines and the need to clean them out, but since 1992 I've never had them accumulate, maybe some pellets are dryer, less likely to stick to parts? My hopper looks like others, sloping bottom, vertical walls ... feed to a square opening, a standard smooth galvanize looking treatment over tin ... never been wet ... not going to get wet either.

I do try to always use the red shut down button, but in the years of use there have been a few shut downs just due to lack of pellets in the hopper. I endeavor to not allow that to happen, better at it since retired. My auger is totally horizontal from the gateway ("pusher block" I think it's called, opened by a roller bearing on the activating arm riding a cam on the auger shaft, so it's always timed with the auger) at the bottom of the hopper into the burn pot, no slope.

 

[Tonyray]

Mine has always emptied clean and dry too, even at half full, no fines of pellets ever stick to the hopper walls. I wouldn't want wax build up to change that. I burn premium hardwood pellets from CST, they are from a mill in West Virginia. Even with occasional use of other "off brands" (ie: not my regulars), I never had them or their fines stick to the hopper walls.

Every year without fail, I start the stove with the pellets from the last season still in the hopper, absolutely no reason to remove them once dumped in the hopper except by fire.

Just thinking, I often read posts about fines and the need to clean them out, but since 1992 I've never had them accumulate, maybe some pellets are dryer, less likely to stick to parts? My hopper looks like others, sloping bottom, vertical walls ... feed to a square opening, a standard smooth galvanize looking treatment over tin ... never been wet ... not going to get wet either.

I do try to always use the red shut down button, but in the years of use there have been a few shut downs just due to lack of pellets in the hopper. I endeavor to not allow that to happen, better at it since retired. My auger is totally horizontal from the gateway ("pusher block" I think it's called, opened by a roller bearing on the activating arm riding a cam on the auger shaft, so it's always timed with the auger) at the bottom of the hopper into the burn pot, no slope.

I burn top of the line softwoods. That said, I think this issue happens more often with soft Woods. I haven't burned hard Woods for so long that I can't remember if they ever funneled or not in the hopper. Even Douglas firs will hug the sides in my hopper.. my fix is to fill at half empty and not let it get too low...

 

[tbear853]

I think I'd try wiping the hopper down on the inside with an alcohol based degreaser ... or even just alcohol ... and let dry to remove any aquired waxes or other contaminates next time it's empty. There is no reason for dry wood pellets or fines sticking to clean metal.

 

[Tonyray]

I think I'd try wiping the hopper down on the inside with an alcohol based degreaser ... or even just alcohol ... and let dry to remove any aquired waxes or other contaminates next time it's empty. There is no reason for dry wood pellets or fines sticking to clean metal.

will give it a shot next time...