My auger just started making an intermittent squealing noise while it is dropping pellets. I would rather not replace the entire auger assembly. Any thoughts or advice as to what might actually be worth replacing? I was thinking maybe the nylon bearing or the nylon bearing plate.
squealing noise from auger assembly -Classic Bay 1200 Free standing
- Thread starter alastair
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Did you try spraying aerosol graphite into the auger area? It's quieted down my auger in the past although if bearings are failing it's not going to solve the problem.
Hello alastair, welcome to this forum. Like many of us, you must have been 'lurking before posting' since you joined last year ! 
Lots of Quad folks, and CB owners in particular here to help. Noises during the auger turning always seem to make the motor suspect. CB 1200's in particular seem to have a history of auger motor failures, for whatever reason.
It's still worth ruling out an auger obstruction as a possible cause of your squeal before you start 'throwing parts at a problem" (been there, done that ........). Sometimes, 'if Murphy takes the day off',
a simple fix is all it takes, so start with the simple stuff ! Another member posted a thread a couple days ago that had a spoon end up in the hopper, and then into the auger - it's amazing what can get in the hopper by mistake.
If you have a small mirror, hold it at the bottom of the pellet drop chute inside your firebox and shine a flash light beam off the mirror to look up the chute and see if there is something blocking it at the top. You can pull all the pellets out of the hopper and look up the bottom of the auger screw and see if something is obstructing / binding it up.
If you don't see anything obviously obstructing the auger on either end, on most Quads it's generally not a major deal to take the auger assembly out to check for any possible obstruction in the middle of the tube, as well as 'bench test' the motor function to see if it reproduces the sound you're hearing.
The auger assembly is held in by two bolts on fixed screws that mount the auger bracket to the stove body - I found a couple pics of it below, as well as a diagram of the auger parts, that are on pg 43 of your manual. (broken link removed to http://hearthnhome.com/downloads/installManuals/7014_179.pdf)
With the auger out you can check the allen head set screws that hold the auger screw to the auger shaft and the collar shaft to make sure they're not loose, or stripped. Assuming you've got some electrical knowledge, and are comfortable not 'defibrillating' yourself
you can *carefully* hot-wire your motor once it's out of the stove to 110 V power, using a cannibalized extension cord jumper. If your auger reproduces the squeal out of the stove you've confirmed it's the motor going bad.
With any electrical troubleshooting, remember to UNPLUG the stove before disconnecting any wiring, to protect you and your $$$$ control box !
Good luck, and keep us posted.
Lots of Quad folks, and CB owners in particular here to help. Noises during the auger turning always seem to make the motor suspect. CB 1200's in particular seem to have a history of auger motor failures, for whatever reason.
It's still worth ruling out an auger obstruction as a possible cause of your squeal before you start 'throwing parts at a problem" (been there, done that ........). Sometimes, 'if Murphy takes the day off',
a simple fix is all it takes, so start with the simple stuff ! Another member posted a thread a couple days ago that had a spoon end up in the hopper, and then into the auger - it's amazing what can get in the hopper by mistake.If you have a small mirror, hold it at the bottom of the pellet drop chute inside your firebox and shine a flash light beam off the mirror to look up the chute and see if there is something blocking it at the top. You can pull all the pellets out of the hopper and look up the bottom of the auger screw and see if something is obstructing / binding it up.
If you don't see anything obviously obstructing the auger on either end, on most Quads it's generally not a major deal to take the auger assembly out to check for any possible obstruction in the middle of the tube, as well as 'bench test' the motor function to see if it reproduces the sound you're hearing.
The auger assembly is held in by two bolts on fixed screws that mount the auger bracket to the stove body - I found a couple pics of it below, as well as a diagram of the auger parts, that are on pg 43 of your manual. (broken link removed to http://hearthnhome.com/downloads/installManuals/7014_179.pdf)
With the auger out you can check the allen head set screws that hold the auger screw to the auger shaft and the collar shaft to make sure they're not loose, or stripped. Assuming you've got some electrical knowledge, and are comfortable not 'defibrillating' yourself
you can *carefully* hot-wire your motor once it's out of the stove to 110 V power, using a cannibalized extension cord jumper. If your auger reproduces the squeal out of the stove you've confirmed it's the motor going bad.With any electrical troubleshooting, remember to UNPLUG the stove before disconnecting any wiring, to protect you and your $$$$ control box !
Good luck, and keep us posted.
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Thanks for all the help and yes, I have been reading the forum for quite some time. Normally when I have an issue. I used the help previously to figure out a vacuum switch problem that was just a blocked tube.
I took the auger out and there weren't any obstructions. I took the motor off of the "gear box" assembly and put power to the motor. The squeal reproduced itself. I took the advice from sandpipe about the spray and but sprayed a minuscule amount of teflon silicon spray on the shaft end on the motor (not the end with the sprocket) and the squeal disappeared and has been gone for 24 hours at least. I was shocked that it worked. Is it possible that a small amount of dust or something got into the motor via the shaft?
When I took everything apart, I noticed some sort of gear lube or grease in the gear box. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what to put into the gear box? Also, I couldn't find anywher
I took the auger out and there weren't any obstructions. I took the motor off of the "gear box" assembly and put power to the motor. The squeal reproduced itself. I took the advice from sandpipe about the spray and but sprayed a minuscule amount of teflon silicon spray on the shaft end on the motor (not the end with the sprocket) and the squeal disappeared and has been gone for 24 hours at least. I was shocked that it worked. Is it possible that a small amount of dust or something got into the motor via the shaft?
When I took everything apart, I noticed some sort of gear lube or grease in the gear box. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what to put into the gear box? Also, I couldn't find anywher
Thanks for the update, alastair. Once the bearings start to go, which is why I'm guessing you're seeing the gear lube oozing out, it seems the motor 'isn't long for the world'.
From the 'Quad wizards' like kap and TJ's posts, among others on this site, it sounds like the temporary motor shaft 'lube fixes' just prolong the inevitable, for auger and combustion / convection blower motors alike, unless they have the factory designed capability to 'owner service' them, ie oilable ports.
It seems, whether by planned obsolescence design or not, most pellet stove motor manufacturers don't make owner serviceable motor components, short of having to break them down and replace bearings / windings, etc. Certainly above my 'pay grade' !
That said, as soon as you buy a replacement auger motor to have on hand for when your's finally dies, your teflon spray fix will allow your stove to run the rest of the season, or longer !
Unless of course, you don't get a replacement one, then the auger will die on a - 10 F morning, the same morning your whole house heating source decides to crap out !
'Murphy is with us' on every stove intervention, unless we get lucky and he 'takes the day off'. LOL
Good luck on your Quad, and keep us in the loop.
From the 'Quad wizards' like kap and TJ's posts, among others on this site, it sounds like the temporary motor shaft 'lube fixes' just prolong the inevitable, for auger and combustion / convection blower motors alike, unless they have the factory designed capability to 'owner service' them, ie oilable ports.
It seems, whether by planned obsolescence design or not, most pellet stove motor manufacturers don't make owner serviceable motor components, short of having to break them down and replace bearings / windings, etc. Certainly above my 'pay grade' !
That said, as soon as you buy a replacement auger motor to have on hand for when your's finally dies, your teflon spray fix will allow your stove to run the rest of the season, or longer !
Unless of course, you don't get a replacement one, then the auger will die on a - 10 F morning, the same morning your whole house heating source decides to crap out !
'Murphy is with us' on every stove intervention, unless we get lucky and he 'takes the day off'. LOLGood luck on your Quad, and keep us in the loop.
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Just an FYI alastair, wanted to pass along this hvac thread I found on-line about a Quad owner who had an auger / hopper fire, apparently caused by the gear lube leaking out of the auger, similar to what you and others have mentioned, when the auger begins to make unusual noises. http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?157841-Quadrafire-Castile-Pellet-Stove-Problem/page3
An auger / hopper fire would certainly get my attention !
Kap and other Quad'ers on here can chime in on how often they have seen or heard of the problem of the auger gearbox lube leaking down the auger tube and / or the pellet drop chute and igniting the sawdust fines. All the more reason to pre-sift pellets, especially the high dust level brands !
That might influence your decision of if / when to replace your auger motor sooner vs later.
An auger / hopper fire would certainly get my attention !
Kap and other Quad'ers on here can chime in on how often they have seen or heard of the problem of the auger gearbox lube leaking down the auger tube and / or the pellet drop chute and igniting the sawdust fines. All the more reason to pre-sift pellets, especially the high dust level brands !That might influence your decision of if / when to replace your auger motor sooner vs later.
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Having the same screeching noise with our Classic Bay 1200...replaced the auger motor 2 years ago...Is this going to be an ongoing problem? Stove is only 4 years old...WTH!! Gonna take the auger apart...what type of lubricant should I use and where should I put it?
Knock on pellets here - I've got 14 years now on my Castile's OEM auger and convection blower motors, and got 12 years out of the combustion blower before it had to be replaced.
I'm guessing "they don't make 'em like they use to".
Similarly, I just did the annual maintenance on my 1994 production year Bock oil burning hot water heater. I know I won't get 20 years out of the next DHW heater I'll replace it with when this one finally dies.
Could someone post a picture on where I should spray the teflon silicone spray, please? I have a quadrafire Classic Bay 1200...thanks for your help! I am trying to hold off till the end of the season to replace the auger motor...
the squeeking is intermittent at this point...could it be the bushing?
the squeeking is intermittent at this point...could it be the bushing?
QuadraFireClasBay1200
New Member
Hi everyone I'm new to the forum I have a 2012 Quadra Fire Classic Bay Stove and just today it started making a loud vibrating noise which happens about every 8 seconds stop for 5 seconds then repeats all over again. Only when dropping pellets. ? I'm not sure if it's the Augar or Augar Motor. I did clean out all the pellets from the hopper and Augar shaft thinking there was a blockage still making that noise. . I have never opened up any covers to the augar. Was wondering if I posted an audio file would somebody know where the noise is coming from. Now that I'm checking I don't think u can post an audio file in here any help would greatly be appreciated. I'm just trying to get thru the winter season before going crazy with it. I do get it serviced yearly but that just seems like a glorified cleaning job that I slready do. I haven't really had to replace anything till this year which I replsced the thermal coupler because it crack. I have a 1200 square foot ranch home and this stove heats my whole house without using any other heat source. Would anyone mind sharing an email address so maybe u could here the noise yourself. Thank to to everyone in advance.
Have you tried pulling one of the wires on the vac switch(which shuts the auger off) to make sure it is the auger? And with your timing, is it doing it every time it drops pellets? When you cleaned the hopper out, did you notice if the auger is touching the bottom? Allen screw also could have came loose that holds auger in place and it is slipping. kap
QuadraFireClasBay1200
New Member
Hey Kap thanks for getting back to me. I don't wanna sound dumb but what is the vac switch ? Where is it located ? Now that u point out the augar did seem very close to the bottom atlmost like there is a mark from touching ? It seemed like it was only happing when pellets are dropping. I'm sitting in front of it now and that noise has stopped for about 10 mins now.
QuadraFireClasBay1200
New Member
Thanks Kap im gonna do alittle more research. Thank you again for your time. So far so good hadn't made that noise for almost 1 hour now. Will keep ya posted.
Hi, Q-FCB1200,
Go to the 2:20 min point of this Quadra-Fire You tube troubleshooting video and you will see the vacuum switch. Kap mentioned temporarily removing one of the 2 electrical wires that go to the switch (doesn't mattter which one) when the vibration starts up, which will shut the auger motor down, and your noise should quit if it is the auger that is causing it.
If that is the source of your vibration, as kap said your auger shaft set screw may have loosened, which is what holds the auger shaft tight to the auger motor. In that same video, immediately after they show the vacuum switch they remove the auger cover, (you'll need to empty all the pellets out of the hopper) which accesses the auger motor and the bolts that hold it in.
Unplug the stove first, then loosen the 2 nuts that mount the auger to the bracket that holds the auger in place. Look at thread #4 for the middle pic I posted above that has the 2 yellow arrows, which point to where the nuts / bolts are located.
Be careful taking the nuts off, or use a magnetic socket / driver if you've got it, so you don't loose the nuts to the bowels of your stove. Once those are off you should be able to pull the whole auger motor and shaft out enough to see if the set screw that holds the auger shaft has loosened. In thread #4 is a parts diagram of the feed motor assembly that illustrates how all the parts go together.
Good luck !
Go to the 2:20 min point of this Quadra-Fire You tube troubleshooting video and you will see the vacuum switch. Kap mentioned temporarily removing one of the 2 electrical wires that go to the switch (doesn't mattter which one) when the vibration starts up, which will shut the auger motor down, and your noise should quit if it is the auger that is causing it.
If that is the source of your vibration, as kap said your auger shaft set screw may have loosened, which is what holds the auger shaft tight to the auger motor. In that same video, immediately after they show the vacuum switch they remove the auger cover, (you'll need to empty all the pellets out of the hopper) which accesses the auger motor and the bolts that hold it in.
Unplug the stove first, then loosen the 2 nuts that mount the auger to the bracket that holds the auger in place. Look at thread #4 for the middle pic I posted above that has the 2 yellow arrows, which point to where the nuts / bolts are located.
Be careful taking the nuts off, or use a magnetic socket / driver if you've got it, so you don't loose the nuts to the bowels of your stove. Once those are off you should be able to pull the whole auger motor and shaft out enough to see if the set screw that holds the auger shaft has loosened. In thread #4 is a parts diagram of the feed motor assembly that illustrates how all the parts go together.
Good luck !
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QuadraFireClasBay1200
New Member
Thanks Q-FCB1200 that video helped a lot. Thanks again for trying to help me out will keep ya posted
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