My Whitfield Advantage II insert motor shaft will not turn

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nick2196

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 16, 2009
16
Maryland
Hey everybody. I have an issue that is driving me crazy. When I fire up my whitfield 2 insert, the red feed light turns on in the front of the control panel, but the motor does not turn. Thinking it was time for my auger motor to blow, I bought another one ($135). However, this did not fix the problem. I can turn the auger no problem with my hand. If I disconnect the auger motor from the auger itself, the shaft still does not turn.

Has anybody else had this problem?
 
Are you trying to turn the auger motor shaft? They have a huge gear reduction inside and are nearly impossible to turn.
 
Check your exhaust, if it's blocked the auger won't turn. When was the stove last cleaned, I'm talking super cleaned. This is a pressure switch problem. Check the schematic (wiring diagram), if its not the pressure switch it the Hi temp switch. Most likely it's the pressure switch.
 
nick2196 said:
.....If I disconnect the auger motor from the auger itself, the shaft still does not turn......

Do NOT try to force the auger by manually turning the output shaft by hand, or with pliers, etc......you can very easily strip the gears inside.
 
On my old Whitfield Advantage II the grease in the gear box had turned to wax. The gears could not turn. If you run out of other options be sure to check this.
 
greenlaser said:
On my old Whitfield Advantage II the grease in the gear box had turned to wax. The gears could not turn. If you run out of other options be sure to check this.

According to the OP, he installed a brand new auger motor, plus he disconnected the auger from the motor, and nothing changed.....he has an electrical issue, not a problem w/ the grease.
 
Just thinking between the auger and motor is the gear box. He needs to do more testing to narrow down the problem. It took me a long time and a lot of testing to check out the gearbox on my stove. He has not mentioned the gearbox. Is he removing the motor from the gearbox or taking off the motor gearbox assembly. I'm not sure. Just said if all else fails be sure to check the gearbox. Maybe he lost the washer spacing the motor from the gearbox.
 
mine did the same thing if you open the left side panel and you should see a hose running from the exhaust pipe to a switch,unhook the hose(dont run with it unhooked very long just to make sure it works) and if it works you need to clean out your stove pipe,it is a pressure switch that will turn off the auger when there is to much back pressure.
 
Yup it was the pressure vacuum that keep turning off my auger. Try disconnecting the hose from the vacuum for a short period of time and se if the auger turns. Cleaned out the exhaust and plugged back in the vacuum and it works great. Saved me another $135 for a new auger.......
 
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