How to Disconnect Auger - Analog Breckwell P23

[Snowflake]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post but I've been lurking here for a while. My husband and I bought and installed our first pellet stove last winter and we love it. Sadly we didn't know we needed to remove all the pellets from the hopper for the summer and when we went to fire it up after a couple of months down the pellets had disintegrated and thoroughly jammed the auger.

We removed the sawdust as well as we could and tried the manual feed. It tried to feed a little bit and then stopped trying. We would like to disconnect the gearbox from the auger so we can test the motor and see if we burnt it out, but we can't figure out how! We've tried removing multiple likely-looking screws but so far the box won't budge. Does anyone know how to disconnect it? I'm attaching pictures of the setup. It is an older Breckwell P23 with the analog circuit board.

Thank you!
Johanna

 

[jtakeman]

Should be a set screw in the collar that holds the auger shaft to the auger motor. Collar is circled in yellow and set screw is roughly where the yellow dot is.

 

[Snowflake]

Aha! Thanks so much for your quick reply. There is a screw in that collar. Unfortunately it's in the back, not the front. Off to try removing it...

 

[Snowflake]

Uff da! We got the motor off, and after taking it apart (which probably wasn't necessary) and putting it back together AND tightening the wire connections on the high temp thermodisk (which was necessary), we determined our motor is okay! Hurrah!

With the motor removed we were able to turn the auger shaft 360 degrees, but not past 360. That is, one rotation, but not a second one. We turned it back and forth a bunch of times and that wiggled a bunch more sawdust and pellets out. Then we reconnected the motor and turned it on and...it turned one full rotation, but not a second.

So, this probably a stupid question, but it IS supposed to rotate past 360, right? It should go around and around, not back and forth?

If so, then should we take the motor back off, put channel locks on the shaft, and try to force it past the stuck point?

Thanks.

 

[MSmith66]

chances are you might have an auger jam, sawdust and pellets. I have been able to clear jams from the front of the stove using a very stiff wire or long skinny screw driver by pushing it in the auger shoot, using a mirror and flashlight, shinning the light on the mirror while flashing the mirror up the shoot.

 

[imacman]

I suggest that you remove the motor, and then completely remove the auger. Clean the tube out, shine a light up the tube to confirm it's clean & clear, and then re-assemble.

Hopefully, you put a couple drops of light 20w oil (like 3 in 1) on the motor bearings too.

 

[Snowflake]

Ah we finally got the jam cleared.

We tried using a light and a mirror to look up the feed tube in the firebox, and the bottom of the auger was completely clear. We were trying to avoid taking the auger all the way out because we don't have any silicone to reseal it. And we didn't oil the motor bearings either. I'll have to take it apart again later and do that.

After many more rounds of poking around the top of the auger with a wire and vacuuming, i was finally able to turn it a bit with my fingers and it exposed a whole bunch of black chunks! Vacuumed those out and it was free.

My avatar is our first fire of the season, yay! It's running better and quieter than it did before, too.

Thank you, jtakeman, msmith, and imacman, for your help. Couldn't have fixed it without you!

 

[imacman]

Glad you got it resolved.....(once again), enjoy the heat!