St Croix Hastings Auger/Board/Mystery Issue

[Lizzryba]

Hi everyone- long time lurker here! I’ve learned a lot from reading this forum and it’s helped me many times but now I’m stuck and I’m hoping someone can help! It’s a bit of a long story....
I have a 2006 St Croix Hastings pellet stove. At the beginning of the season my stove was working fine and then one night my auger seized and it turned out that my motor was shot so I ordered a new one.
I received the new auger motor and went over all the components and everything looked good and I re-installed it all and fired it up. It started for a few minutes- lit the fire- starts to omit a bad burning smell and then the fuse blows. I unplugged it, and the auger motor was really hot- I figured, after looking at everything and not seeing any issues, it was a fluke with a bad motor- spoke to the parts place and got it exchanged.
Before I re-installed the new motor I was lurking around and saw a post about how it’s imperative that the bushing in the mounting plate is affixed and not loose cause it will cause resistance on the motor- sure enough mine was loose. I figured alas! That makes sense. Resistance=higher amp draw=overheating=blown fuse.
I got a new mounting plate, installed it and the replaced motor, stove starts up, lights, burns for a few minutes and bam it blows the fuse again. The auger motor was turning fine and feeding pellets at a normal rate(I was watching it the whole time). The auger motor was a little bit warm this time but nothing like the last time. Nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. I replaced the fuse and it happened again, except now, after replacing the fuse, this time now when I press the ON/OFF switch on the board it flickers but won’t start. I’ve confirmed there is power going to the board and the fuse is fine.
The new motor is a different make but, according to the parts place I got it- it’s an OEM replacement for this pellet stove. I don’t know if the previous motor was original- the stove was here when I moved in. In comparing the motors, they’re both 120V - and there is a difference of 0.09A between them. I don’t expect 0.09A difference to impact this stove that much. (Right?)
I’m at a total loss here and freezing cold! The stove is clean. Really clean. I promise it’s clean. I went through it top to bottom before the season started- learned that the hard way last year. Venting is clear- including coming out from the stove.
I’ve been looking at posts and nothing that I’ve seen is comparable. Is my control board shot? Does anyone have any crazy idea what could be?
Thanks for your help!

 

[Ssyko]

I'm pretty sure the first auger motor and bearing did most of the damage and it more than likely did some damage on the control board. can you ck voltage to the auger with the stove off and then when its on? oh yeah No 0.09a wont be an issue

 

[Lizzryba]

I'm pretty sure the first auger motor and bearing did most of the damage and it more than likely did some damage on the control board. can you ck voltage to the auger with the stove off and then when its on? oh yeah No 0.09a wont be an issue

Volts to the auger when it's on is 122V (I don't think thats high enough to justify thinking that a resistor on the board might have gone?)
Managed to get the stove to start again and stop flickering- cleaned up the fuse holder.
Eliminated any other shorts in the system as I disconnected the leads to the auger motor, started the stove, and it didn't blow the fuse and ran until it stopped itself since there was no fire.
Last ditch effort -I have the old "original" motor I pulled out of it still- it's got a flat spot but still will work for "pulling at straws" testing purposes- hooked it up- no issue at all, stove fired up and ran until the motor hit the flat and stopped. Hard to imagine that I got 2 bad motors in a row??
I'm thinking that it's not the control board since the original motor is working.
Still at a loss here- checked the ohms and I've blown through 2 motors now and reluctant to get another one from the same spot and other places seem to use the same motor as apparently it's the OEM replacement to the part number listed for the motor in the manual.

 

[Ssyko]

it wont be a resistor that goes. triacs and optoisolators can be shorted with voltage or ameprage spikes. with the stove plugged in and not turned on/in operation is there any voltage to the auger motor. if there is low voltage it will slowly cook the windings in the coil. if not then another new motor

 

[jzm2cc]

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any mention of oiling the upper bronze auger bushing. That's usually the one that drys out from the heat from the fire and binds up the auger in my experience.

 

[rickwai]

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any mention of oiling the upper bronze auger bushing. That's usually the one that drys out from the heat from the fire and binds up the auger in my experience.

I agree. Also check wiring that goes near Auger motor. There is some wiring that can get pinched over time between the motor and the bracket as the motor runs. My buddy changed his auger motor then had fuse blow. We found it is easy to pinch wire during motor replacement

 

[Lizzryba]

I agree. Also check wiring that goes near Auger motor. There is some wiring that can get pinched over time between the motor and the bracket as the motor runs. My buddy changed his auger motor then had fuse blow. We found it is easy to pinch wire during motor replacement

Absolutely. The upper bushing has been oiled and I did look for a pinched wire after I installed the first replacement motor but the reason I don’t believe it’s a pinched wire is last night after the 2nd replacement motor blew the fuse, I installed the original motor and it ran completely fine (until the original motor stopped due to the flat spot). Wiring was completely the same and nothing looked like it could be pinched.