About 5am this morning I heard an annoying squealing noise all the way upstairs in my bed, and I'm not a light sleeper. Duration coincided with the duration that the auger motor runs, and frequency, so I knew what it was before my eyes opened. Not wanting to be annoyed any longer I just shut the thing down, and just got to doing some figuring now.
Emptied hopper, thought something might be stuck in auger....can't see it. I do have a missing pocket knife and a 2 year old so my first thought was the kershaw was being ground into the auger. Well, I can't see it so not sure. Vacuumed hopper out, no change.
Seemed to be coming from the gear box that drives the auger shaft. Didn't feel like ripping it apart so I WD40 the shaft, no change. My stove has direct vent right behind it, it's in a corner, and the air intake flex was disconnected, so I metal duct taped that together. The motor that is right below the intake had the fins all clogged and I cleaned that up, also there is a sensor?? above the intake that has two halves, and they were not together, so I put them together and will order a new one. Wiggled the gear box, unscrewed the gear box but decided not do a full tear down tonight, plugged it back in and it is quiet again.
Problem solved? Maybe? Wishful thinking me thinks.
Can anyone tell me about that sensor above the intake?? It was like a two piece diaphram, hard plastic, no idea how long it's been busted.
My guess is that I should tear down the gearbox and grease it up. Is there a kit I can get to replace the bearings, there was a slight amount of play but nothing that I would expect to cause an issue for such a low speed gear box.
Posting this not only with the hopes of getting some feedback but also to help those with the same problem in the future, maybe, hopefully. I searched and did some reading but was not pointed in any solid direction.
Emptied hopper, thought something might be stuck in auger....can't see it. I do have a missing pocket knife and a 2 year old so my first thought was the kershaw was being ground into the auger. Well, I can't see it so not sure. Vacuumed hopper out, no change.
Seemed to be coming from the gear box that drives the auger shaft. Didn't feel like ripping it apart so I WD40 the shaft, no change. My stove has direct vent right behind it, it's in a corner, and the air intake flex was disconnected, so I metal duct taped that together. The motor that is right below the intake had the fins all clogged and I cleaned that up, also there is a sensor?? above the intake that has two halves, and they were not together, so I put them together and will order a new one. Wiggled the gear box, unscrewed the gear box but decided not do a full tear down tonight, plugged it back in and it is quiet again.
Problem solved? Maybe? Wishful thinking me thinks.
Can anyone tell me about that sensor above the intake?? It was like a two piece diaphram, hard plastic, no idea how long it's been busted.
My guess is that I should tear down the gearbox and grease it up. Is there a kit I can get to replace the bearings, there was a slight amount of play but nothing that I would expect to cause an issue for such a low speed gear box.
Posting this not only with the hopes of getting some feedback but also to help those with the same problem in the future, maybe, hopefully. I searched and did some reading but was not pointed in any solid direction.
