What stove has the least amount of Auger Jams?

[Don2222]

Hello

My guess would be the new Travis Avalon AGP with the separate holding area for a finite amount of pellets to drop into the bottom feed auger.

The Quadrafire Auger is good but just had one jam on a 6 year old Santa Fe and I do not know how that happened. However I did pull it out and cleaned it and used emory cloth to make it smooth and then sprayed the dry moly on it so it would be good!

What is your experience?

 

[chimneylinerjames]

I have had a Mt. Vernon for 5 yrs, never had a jam. Used Lignetics pellets mostly.

 

[subsailor]

Fourth year with my Harman without one.

 

[AlaskaAviator]

I've got about 50,000 hours on a couple of Magnum 3500s and had one jam up from sawdust getting packed in the auger.

 

[Don2222]

Fourth year with my Harman without one.

Harmans are good, I worked on a 6 year old Harman Advanced that finally did get an auger jam. The auger had alot of carbon build up on it and the auger motor was 6 years old.

 

[Don2222]

I have had a Mt. Vernon for 5 yrs, never had a jam. Used Lignetics pellets mostly.

Quads are real good and easy to pull the auger for cleaning. Did you pull the auger and clean any carbon off it?

 

[DexterDay]

I have several stoves and know of about a dozen people who have stoves (lots of Quads and Englanders) and none have had an auger jam?

Are these fines related? Or pellet length? Or a combination of both?

 

[The Village Idiot]

I've got about 50,000 hours on a couple of Magnum 3500s and had one jam up from sawdust getting packed in the auger.

Yet another perfect example of why it's good to clean pellets.

 

[Pellet-King]

15 years on a Whitfield, what's a auger jam feel like?, is it you wake up with a cold house kinda feeling?
Get a real stove!!

 

[Don2222]

I have several stoves and know of about a dozen people who have stoves (lots of Quads and Englanders) and none have had an auger jam?

Are these fines related? Or pellet length? Or a combination of both?

My neighbor had the top auger in the 25-PDVC binding and I found an extra long pellet bridged in between the top and bottom auger chute. The Breckwell jams I have been fixing seems to be due to the overwhelming amount of fines in the FSU pellets.

 

[papa bears stove]

Unlikely the Palazetti stoves would ever get a auger jam as they use a star wheel at the bottom of the hopper that will actually cut pellets if needed. This design is also good as the star wheel also provides consistent pellet length.

 

[Bioburner]

Avaitor probably is to busy trying to keep the stove fed, cleaned and fired to have to worry about cleaning his pellets too. I'm glad I retired my magnums. Good design for the time.

 

[rich2500]

7 yrs. With my englander and only ever 1 jam,don't clean my pellets but once ever 2 weeks I let the hopper get empty and vac out the fines

 

[343amc]

I'll stick my neck out and guess stoves that are maintained best are least likely to have an auger jam. Buy poor quality pellets or pellets that got wet, dump them in the hopper, or ignore your stove season after season and you get what you get.

I haven't had any issue with my 6041, but I did have bridging issues in my Eclipse stove more than once.

 

[chimneylinerjames]

Did you pull the auger and clean any carbon off it?

Nope, but it is now on my to do list.

 

[Augmister]

Quad since 2006, no jammin'. I vac out the hopper after every one ton burn with my big Rigid. Will look into pulling the auger ....

 

[DexterDay]

Quad since 2006, no jammin'. I vac out the hopper after every one ton burn with my big Rigid. Will look into pulling the auger ....

With a Quad, its not necessary to pull the auger. Its a spring style auger.

No worries. Just keep vacuuming like you have been. Something thats worked for 6-7 seasons cant he wrong

 

[Eatonpcat]

Only year number 2, but so far no jams...Unless you count the blackberry jam my wife made this year!!

 

[gfreek]

With a Quad, its not necessary to pull the auger. Its a spring style auger

''

Whats the design on that and how does it work??

 

[DexterDay]

Its a Spring. Literally.

The motor is at the top (under the square cover) unlike most stoves (top feed) that have the motor on the bottom of the flight and push the pellets up (and fines drop down through bushing)

This has a sealed bottom and auger pulls the pellets up to the drop chute. No contact with flame, no need to scrape carbon (there is none)

The drawback to this flexible system is that fines are left at the bottom and will eventually slow pellet feed and in extreme cases, stop pellet feed.

 

[SXIPro]

13 consecutive jam free years on my Harman.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

I have had a Mt. Vernon for 5 yrs, never had a jam. Used Lignetics pellets mostly.

I am curious how much cleaning you do.
I have been using a Mt. Vernon for a little over a year now. I have burned about three tons of pellets that ranged from horrid to good. Lignetics were extremely dusty and I only burned about a half ton of them, but I have never let the hopper burn down to empty, and I have never vacuumed fines out of the bin or chute. I have seen fines trickling down the chute along with the pellets and never thought twice about it.
The only feed problem I have ever had is with some pellets that were over 1.5" that blocked the chute.It was easy to clear and hasn't happened again since I realized what junk Infernos are. They actually burned fairly clean, they just didn't give much heat.
So I am wondering, is the Mt. Vernon's feed system just really forgiving, or am I pushing my luck?

 

[chimneylinerjames]

I am curious how much cleaning you do.

I would lean to forgiving after learning alot on this forum. I have never vacuumed out the hopper, yep this is my 5th year. I have let the hopper get empty, and there is never anything to vacuum, very very little dust. I know people will be all over me for not vacuuming the hopper out but never had a problem, so that must say something. Lignetics do give a fair amount of ash but I like the heat they give. I used Bear Foot and New England before and I liked Lignetics best for the most amount of heat output.

 

[movemaine]

I would say a Harman - I've never had a jam, and have never had to sift pellets or worry about long pellets. The Harman just cranks them in the pot, no issue.

 

[Flammam]

19 years on my Austroflaam never a auger jam. Clean the hopper once at the end of the season.