St Croix Auburn Auger Isuues

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Chevyman22360

Member
Jan 3, 2014
7
South Dakota
I have a St Croix Auburn stove, this is my second one that I purchased to heat my 24x30 garage. It was manufactured in 10/03. The stove does not seem to auger enough corn in to keep the flame burning good. It will stay burning but the fire is about as high as the firepot, and does not produce much heat. Also the heat settings 1-4 don't seem to matter as far as augering any more corn in. If I sit by the stove and babysit it and manually feed corn in, it will burn really good. I completely cleaned the stove inside and out with compressed air. Any idea what could be wrong? Thanks in Advance!!
 
Is there a thermostat? If not, the connections should be jumpered together - check your manual. It sounds like the stove is just idling. Is it in manual mode? (I'm assuming it's like my Afton Bay…)
 
Is there a thermostat? If not, the connections should be jumpered together - check your manual. It sounds like the stove is just idling. Is it in manual mode? (I'm assuming it's like my Afton Bay…)
I think you hit it right on the head. I did not receive a manual with this stove, but from what I can find, the power button is blinking which means it is in thermostat mode. I do not see anywhere where a thermostat should be hooked too. On the board itself? Nothing on the back of the stove, like my other one. Has a different control panel. Thanks for your reply!!
 
Your 'stat connection is a pair of terminals on the rear of the stove. You can find your manuals here: (broken link removed to http://stcroixstoves.com/pellet-stoves/manuals.htm)

Your control panel should have a switch to select the mode of operation. Is yours in "manual"?
 
You might not have a switch on control if it was an 03 model. I have a lancaster (same stove different shape) I bought in 05 and they did not have the switch on the panel yet. There is a black and red spring loaded speaker looking terminals on the back side of stove. Put a jumper wire in them and it should fix the problem for ya. Flame at burn pot height is just right for low. And i assume you meant to say 1-5 heat settings, cause that is what they have. On 5 (or high) it will shoot flames to the plate in the top plate under the tubes. I am new here but have been burning corn in my lancaster for over 8 years flawlessly. I buy my corn from the elevater in my gravity wagon and just dump it in, no cleaning or nothing. I have put about 50 ton through it and only thing I have done is replace exhast fan last year and room fan this year, clean it and take outside once a year and use air compressor in spring.
 
folks 2006 afton bay st croix starts, runs fine good flame nice and sharp. flame just slowly goes away down to hot ambers in pot after an hour to hour 1/2 no matter what setting it's on. cleaned the thing 3 times very well. tested pof switch with jump still same issue. per st croix control board is issue has anyone seen this before? had a tech at house he was stumped too feels st croix is right and board is bad.
 
I had the same problem. It was the auger motor running way too slow because it needed oiling. I watched the auger motor and noticed it was turning slow. It's supposed to turn the auger at 2 RPM. Hold the auger button for 30 seconds and see if the auger makes one complete revolution. If you can reach the auger motor shaft, see if it turns very freely, or seems sluggish. I forget the exact number, but my auger was turning something like 1 1/3 RPM. Doesn't sound like a big difference, but it is. I got a deal on a new motor, so installed it, then found oil holes on the old motor that were not visible when it was in the stove.

You can time the auger on times by watching the light (not the same thing as RPM). The specs are in the manual, such as 1.5 seconds of every 11.5 seconds on low. That would point you towards the board or the motor.
 
hi all,

i put in new board and still have same issue. the one tech i talked to said the auger light should stay on for 11.5 seconds on number 3 setting and it it's only on for 3 seconds at a time. i'm starting to lean to the augur motor maybe slowing down or has a dead spot in it.
 
No way auger is to stay ON for 11.5 seconds. Maybe 11.5 of OFF and then 3 ON time, but 11.5 ON, it can not burn that much corn.
I'm sitting here with mine on setting 2 and its on for about 2 and off for about 10
Kinda hard to help when you don't answer questions that are asked though.
 
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to answer your question the burn pot in empty, the stove shuts off after it cools down and number 3 is blinking. it's like the auger is not dropping enough pellets and two techs i've talked to are clueless and couldn't help. i am returning the board as they will refund me and i ordered an auger motor. it's 10 years old and for 70 bucks i'll replace it for the hell of it because that's old for any electric motor being used 5 months out of the year.
 
No way auger is to stay ON for 11.5 seconds. Maybe 11.5 of OFF and then 3 ON time, but 11.5 ON, it can not burn that much corn.
I'm sitting here with mine on setting 2 and its on for about 2 and off for about 10
Kinda hard to help when you don't answer questions that are asked though.


i spoke with st croix the gear box and or auger motor sound like they are having issues. could be worn gears slipping could be dead spot in motor or motor slowing down. i am replacing on friday i'll let you know. thanks for your replies. also, one other troubleshooting step i press and hold the auger feed button and sometimes the augers spins..sometimes it does not. it should always spin when you press that button it's manual feed. so thinking now that the motor itself has a dead spot and or shorting out.
 
That is what I would say it is. Did you try what heat seeker suggested in post #8? That will tell you if its thr auger motor.
Does it do this on setting 5 also?

i asked st croix about the oil holes and he said they exist but that's for young motors and if it's 10 years old and i'm going to take the thing out i may as well replace it cause if i put it back in and it's the gear box then i'm just taking it back out again. i may as well replace it. if it were just a year old or something then i would have tried to oil it. they do feel that it's worn out somewhere and logically it makes sense. 62 bucks on ebay for a good one. the gleason brand new. if this is not the issue then at lease i know it 's new.
 
i spoke with st croix the gear box and or auger motor sound like they are having issues. could be worn gears slipping could be dead spot in motor or motor slowing down. i am replacing on friday i'll let you know. thanks for your replies. also, one other troubleshooting step i press and hold the auger feed button and sometimes the augers spins..sometimes it does not. it should always spin when you press that button it's manual feed. so thinking now that the motor itself has a dead spot and or shorting out.
Manual auger button does work for a minute or so after you open and close the door but other than that it should work.
 
Manual auger button does work for a minute or so after you open and close the door but other than that it should work.
you mean it doesn't work after you open/close door? yea i notice when i press it sometimes it spins sometimes it doens't it's hit or miss. last year i did have something jam up my auger and i didn't notice it was jammed until the fire went out. i wonder if that jamming over heated the motor and started this process? i'll never know for sure but if the new motor fixes issue, i'm assuming the jamming of the auger for at least an hour probably was a catlylist to the auger issue.
 
Yes Sir that is what I did mean. Does not work for a minute or 2 after you close the door. I would say what ever jammed the auger is what stripped the gear box or took the toll on the motor as well. I would be pulling the auger while you have the motor and gearbox out to make sure no other damage was done the the auger.
 
i never jumped the high limit switch and i know that controlls the auger but it's either on or off i don't think there's an in between. but i do wonder if i were to malfunction some how could it possibly NOT trip and still some how effect the feeding of pellets? i'll jump it tonight just for shits and giggles but seems it's just on or off.
 
Good time to pull motor and auger out. Top bushing gets beat up from the heat and drys out. Eventually it will seize auger.

Having assembly out makes it easier to power auger motor directly and if good why not repack gearbox with grease to cut down on noise and extend its life.
 
Good time to pull motor and auger out. Top bushing gets beat up from the heat and drys out. Eventually it will seize auger.

Having assembly out makes it easier to power auger motor directly and if good why not repack gearbox with grease to cut down on noise and extend its life.
 
Good time to pull motor and auger out. Top bushing gets beat up from the heat and drys out. Eventually it will seize auger.

Having assembly out makes it easier to power auger motor directly and if good why not repack gearbox with grease to cut down on noise and extend its life.

i pulled out motor and auger last night. even when hopper was empty i could not get the auger to spin every time i hit manual feed. sometimes it did and other times it just made a humming noise. sounded like a dead spot on the motor so i ordered a replacement motor and gear box and will grease up auger bushings before going back in.
 
I've cleaned with leaf blower before with door closed by accident and didn't kill vacuum switch but better safe than sorry i guess.

Can't turn off underline for some reason, sorry.

Versa-grate strokes the bottom plate of the firepot back anf forth. Thinking its about 1/4 inch fore and aft which breaks up clinker and then gets blown out of fire pot. At least thats how i understand it plus my observation.. works pretty darn well on the pellets we burn, we have gone 2 weeks without scrapping firepot before, but usually do it once a week.
 
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I've cleaned with leaf blower before with door closed by accident and didn't kill vacuum switch but better safe than sorry i guess.

Can't turn off underline for some reason, sorry.

Versa-grate strokes the bottom plate of the firepot back anf forth. Thinking its about 1/4 inch fore and aft which breaks up clinker and then gets blown out of fire pot. At least thats how i understand it plus my observation.. works pretty darn well on the pellets we burn, we have gone 2 weeks without scrapping firepot before, but usually do it once a week.


thanks for reply. so i cleaned out room fan last night it was very dirty blew it out with high pressure air from compressor. oiled bearings in auger motor and greased up bushings on both ends of auguer and put it all back together. ran great for 30 mins..flame then began to die again and i noticed the auger light was lighting up but the motor was not spinning the auger. then let it shut down, cool off, and it ran fine again for 30 mins same issue. i jumped the vac switch, still same issue. new auger motor arrives today. i'll put in cross my fingers.
 
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