Hello
Moisture is the biggest enemy of the pellet stove.
These pellets were stored outside on the porch and absorded alot of moisture.
The stove jammed and it was baled and freed, but it just jammed again. The drop chute was completely clogged with pellets and the auger kept cranking and squeezing the pellets at the top of the auger chute until the motor jammed and wore the bearings in the motor until grease started leaking out of the new motor output shaft! The auger motor was a good quality motor that had a new bronze oil lite auger bearing installed earlier in the season. The motor was damaged and the bearing was scored. If the jam and cause is corrected right away then these parts may not have been damaged so heavily. Continued use did cause the damage!
The stove is an older St Croix York and it does have a small opening into the drop chute from the auger flight shaft. I heard this was corrected on newer stoves. However moisture in the fire box from a damp cleaning or damp inlet air or high moisture pellets can still cause this issue in many stoves.
Therefore a new auger motor, auger end plate gasket and bearing was installed.
Has anyone else seen this? See pics below
Click on pic to Enlarge
Pic 1 - Shows pellets fused together and clogging up drop chute completely
Pic 2 - Shows drop chute after clearing pellets by sticking a brush up drop chute in fir box
Pic 3 - shows damaged auger motor, auger bearing and end plate gasket
Pic 4 - shows close up for grease leaking from auger motor output shaft
Pic 5 - shows auger bearing with small gouge rings from auger motor jamming.
On Jan 2, 2017 I had seen a moisture jam. See similar details
I had a new ocurance of a moisture jam today and I was reluctant to call it that until I was 100% sure. In this case it was the top auger in a 25-pdvc that was stuck solid. The first time I went there I pulled the augers and cleaned them thoroughly. The stove was clean and then it happened a couple of days later. The same top auger jammed. This time all the pellets were scooped out of the hopper and by slowly turning the top auger by hand I freed it up so it would wiggle up and down again. The bag of pellets were stored in the garage for about a year and may have picked up some moisture in the hot humid summer. The previous owner brought up bags and stored them in a dry warm closet so there were no jams. I am beginning to believe that any stove can choke on damp pellets and some stoves have a higher tolerance. However if the pellets are damp enough even a Harman P61 may choke and I have seen them not light in a Harman even if they do feed ok.
The augers were clean, the motors almost new and the bearings greased and moving easily.
This is New England near the coast and we do get alot of Damp and Humid air compared to other regions!
Here was the first time I saw this about 6 years ago
The first time we cleaned our pellet stove when it got dirty my wife used a warm wet sponge on the iron fire and put it back in damp!
When my friend first cleaned his pellet stove, he used a warm damp cloth to clean the fire box!
My other friend put in a bag of pellets that she stored in a very damp basement!
Bingo Three ways to cause a pellet stove auger
"Moisture Jam"
They were mostly top feeding pellet stoves and the jam happened at the top of the auger chute just before sliding down.
Moisture is the biggest enemy of the pellet stove.
These pellets were stored outside on the porch and absorded alot of moisture.
The stove jammed and it was baled and freed, but it just jammed again. The drop chute was completely clogged with pellets and the auger kept cranking and squeezing the pellets at the top of the auger chute until the motor jammed and wore the bearings in the motor until grease started leaking out of the new motor output shaft! The auger motor was a good quality motor that had a new bronze oil lite auger bearing installed earlier in the season. The motor was damaged and the bearing was scored. If the jam and cause is corrected right away then these parts may not have been damaged so heavily. Continued use did cause the damage!
The stove is an older St Croix York and it does have a small opening into the drop chute from the auger flight shaft. I heard this was corrected on newer stoves. However moisture in the fire box from a damp cleaning or damp inlet air or high moisture pellets can still cause this issue in many stoves.
Therefore a new auger motor, auger end plate gasket and bearing was installed.
Has anyone else seen this? See pics below
Click on pic to Enlarge
Pic 1 - Shows pellets fused together and clogging up drop chute completely
Pic 2 - Shows drop chute after clearing pellets by sticking a brush up drop chute in fir box
Pic 3 - shows damaged auger motor, auger bearing and end plate gasket
Pic 4 - shows close up for grease leaking from auger motor output shaft
Pic 5 - shows auger bearing with small gouge rings from auger motor jamming.
On Jan 2, 2017 I had seen a moisture jam. See similar details
I had a new ocurance of a moisture jam today and I was reluctant to call it that until I was 100% sure. In this case it was the top auger in a 25-pdvc that was stuck solid. The first time I went there I pulled the augers and cleaned them thoroughly. The stove was clean and then it happened a couple of days later. The same top auger jammed. This time all the pellets were scooped out of the hopper and by slowly turning the top auger by hand I freed it up so it would wiggle up and down again. The bag of pellets were stored in the garage for about a year and may have picked up some moisture in the hot humid summer. The previous owner brought up bags and stored them in a dry warm closet so there were no jams. I am beginning to believe that any stove can choke on damp pellets and some stoves have a higher tolerance. However if the pellets are damp enough even a Harman P61 may choke and I have seen them not light in a Harman even if they do feed ok.
The augers were clean, the motors almost new and the bearings greased and moving easily.
This is New England near the coast and we do get alot of Damp and Humid air compared to other regions!
Here was the first time I saw this about 6 years ago
The first time we cleaned our pellet stove when it got dirty my wife used a warm wet sponge on the iron fire and put it back in damp!
When my friend first cleaned his pellet stove, he used a warm damp cloth to clean the fire box!
My other friend put in a bag of pellets that she stored in a very damp basement!
Bingo Three ways to cause a pellet stove auger
"Moisture Jam"
They were mostly top feeding pellet stoves and the jam happened at the top of the auger chute just before sliding down.
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