SHOULD BOTH AUGERS RUN AT THE SAME SPEED?

[denno]

Fierce auger problems, but I'm going to try to ask a simple question for starters. The whole issue has been going for months.

As a qualifier, I have a Superior Biomass furnace, bought from the maker, Ja-Ran. 'Bout 10 years old. Company gone.
I burn corn and wood pellets, a bag to a bag. (The labels specify corn burning; but the advice from the company was that it would take pellets, olive or date pits, and corn.)

Please note that the auger system is two motors, two auger blades, and the pipe. None o' yer vacuum stuff and control panels. A few separate modules probably add up to a simple control panel. I am calling the bin auger #1 and the combustion pot auger #2.

Without delineating all the agony over the last couple months, current consensus is that the fuel supply binds up about where it arrives at auger #2, and the reason may be that #2 is not getting the fuel into the firepot as fast as #1 sends it along the tube.

Both of these motors are 6 rpm. This is not something specified in the skimpy manual and may be an artifact of my inattention or mistake.
Are they supposed to be the same speed?
Would a slower rate #1 possibly fix this problem?

TIA
denno

 

[Whitenuckler]

Fierce auger problems, but I'm going to try to ask a simple question for starters. The whole issue has been going for months.

As a qualifier, I have a Superior Biomass furnace, bought from the maker, Ja-Ran. 'Bout 10 years old. Company gone.
I burn corn and wood pellets, a bag to a bag. (The labels specify corn burning; but the advice from the company was that it would take pellets, olive or date pits, and corn.)

Please note that the auger system is two motors, two auger blades, and the pipe. None o' yer vacuum stuff and control panels. A few separate modules probably add up to a simple control panel. I am calling the bin auger #1 and the combustion pot auger #2.

Without delineating all the agony over the last couple months, current consensus is that the fuel supply binds up about where it arrives at auger #2, and the reason may be that #2 is not getting the fuel into the firepot as fast as #1 sends it along the tube.

Both of these motors are 6 rpm. This is not something specified in the skimpy manual and may be an artifact of my inattention or mistake.
Are they supposed to be the same speed?
Would a slower rate #1 possibly fix this problem?

TIA
denno

If the motors are the same, then they run at the same speed. I don't know if the pitch is different on the vanes. I heard that when pellet stoves have two augers they don't always run at the same time.

 

[denno]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, both motors are 6 rpm. But that may be something I did in replacing both (not at the same time.)
It ran very simply, both at once, for years. Neither ever bound up and stopped to my recollection. New problem.
I'll check the pitch, which I hadn't thought of.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, both motors are 6 rpm. But that may be something I did in replacing both (not at the same time.)
It ran very simply, both at once, for years. Neither ever bound up and stopped to my recollection. New problem.
I'll check the pitch, which I hadn't thought of.

It would be possible to buy the wrong RPM auger motor/gearbox. I think some are 4 and some are 6. There have been cases where pellet stoves didn't work right because of using the incorrect replacement. The direction can be changed at the motor. Jamming of the augers or bad bearings could happen. Also bad auger gearboxes.

 

[denno]

In my perusing of motors they seem to range from 1-6 rpm. I have no way of knowing what the original specs were: there's nothing left of the tiny, independent company. I'm trusting the motors, both recently bought new from Grainger, and Dayton brand.
Been told by one local company that they are more normally 2-3 rpm; but he may deal in stoves, not furnaces.

Just wondering if it is common for both augers to run at same speed; or if there's any harm in trying a slower bin auger.

 

[Whitenuckler]

If were able to find the exact replacement part, listed by your stove model, then you would normally be OK. Do you have the motors that were on the stove when it worked good? I don't see why they would use two different speeds. There might be a timing extension or delay between them.

 

[denno]

OK. Answer surely found.
I googled 3 or 4 brands of corn furnaces' parts lists.
ALL specified 6 rpm pot auger and 2 --- TWO!--rpm supply auger.

Now, then......just for yucks.........
In my search for what was wrong with my furnace I called a good number of furnace stores. If they did deal with corn furnaces they still one and all declined to come look at mine because they were not familiar with the brand and therefore would not be able to get parts.
My explanation that all the few and simple components were off-the-shelf moved not a one of them to agreement.

Fact is, if someone who knew about corn furnace augers had come to the house, I'm betting it would have taken between 30 seconds and 10 minutes to discover that the augers were both running at the same rapid speed.

Other fact is, the clue to the two speeds came from one such fellow, in conversation with a friend of his who is a friend of mine, who was talking to him about my problem, which had interested him; and that said furnace guy was one of the furnace guys who had been most adamant on the phone about not coming to my house to look at the problem.

----------------------------------------------
Whiteknuckler, I appreciate your input and your staying with the problem.

denno

 

[Whitenuckler]

OK. Answer surely found.
I googled 3 or 4 brands of corn furnaces' parts lists.
ALL specified 6 rpm pot auger and 2 --- TWO!--rpm supply auger.

Now, then......just for yucks.........
In my search for what was wrong with my furnace I called a good number of furnace stores. If they did deal with corn furnaces they still one and all declined to come look at mine because they were not familiar with the brand and therefore would not be able to get parts.
My explanation that all the few and simple components were off-the-shelf moved not a one of them to agreement.

Fact is, if someone who knew about corn furnace augers had come to the house, I'm betting it would have taken between 30 seconds and 10 minutes to discover that the augers were both running at the same rapid speed.

Other fact is, the clue to the two speeds came from one such fellow, in conversation with a friend of his who is a friend of mine, who was talking to him about my problem, which had interested him; and that said furnace guy was one of the furnace guys who had been most adamant on the phone about not coming to my house to look at the problem.

----------------------------------------------
Whiteknuckler, I appreciate your input and your staying with the problem.

denno

OK. Answer surely found.
I googled 3 or 4 brands of corn furnaces' parts lists.
ALL specified 6 rpm pot auger and 2 --- TWO!--rpm supply auger.

Now, then......just for yucks.........
In my search for what was wrong with my furnace I called a good number of furnace stores. If they did deal with corn furnaces they still one and all declined to come look at mine because they were not familiar with the brand and therefore would not be able to get parts.
My explanation that all the few and simple components were off-the-shelf moved not a one of them to agreement.

Fact is, if someone who knew about corn furnace augers had come to the house, I'm betting it would have taken between 30 seconds and 10 minutes to discover that the augers were both running at the same rapid speed.

Other fact is, the clue to the two speeds came from one such fellow, in conversation with a friend of his who is a friend of mine, who was talking to him about my problem, which had interested him; and that said furnace guy was one of the furnace guys who had been most adamant on the phone about not coming to my house to look at the problem.

----------------------------------------------
Whiteknuckler, I appreciate your input and your staying with the problem.

denno

https://americasheat.com/post/_docs/Furnace_Manual.pdf

OK - Good. I learned something new. I found something similar. It has two different part numbers for the augers.