Whitfield II-T Trouble Shooting

[Hawkeye411]

I have a Whitfield Advantage WP2 stove from 1994 so I believe that it is the II-T model.

I have been having the following problem and I am trying to determine what replacement parts to try.

When the stove is full, the auger stops turning. If I have a small amount of pellets in the stove it works OK.
I am guessing that the auger bushing is wearing out or the motor is getting weak. From what I understand, the motor won't simply get weak. It will either turn the auger or it won't. SO if I go with trial-and-error, I might as well try the cheapest repair first.

I am having trouble figuring out what replacement parts to order.

The brass bushing that is on the end of the auger (the end that is closest to the motor) that slips into the end plate ... is it called the Auger Oilite Bushing? I have attached a picture of an auger to this post.
(broken link removed)

Also, what exactly is the Auger End Plate (w/nylatron bushing). Is this a replacement for the brass Oilite Bushing?
(broken link removed)
Would this be the plate that is located at the end of the auger that the brass bushing slips into, located between the brass bushing and the auger collar (with set screw)?

Cheers.

 

[lpgreg]

Sorry can't help alot but I have a website and a article you can check out. He calls it an auger flange. Greg
Auger getting Jammed

I just wanted to let you know about my adventures with my Whitfield Pellet Fireplace Insert. It is a 1992 advantate II or III. The motor turns the auger for a while and then it seems to jam up. I pulled the auger out and saw that there was no debris getting in the way. Reinstalled and put in new pellets and the same problem returned. I noticed that the problem was worse when the hopper was full. When it was almost empty, it seemed to operate ok, just a little slow. If I reach back and pull the motor/gearbox over, it will dump a pile of pellets. Although, it took a lot of strength to pull it off the stop bar. Once I got some play, it would move pretty freely. Once the motor turns back around it will jam after about 30 seconds.
Mike, one guy on your site seemed to have a similar problem and found the fix by replacing the bushings. My bushings looked good and I did not see any groove. I called Lennox and their tech person, Randall was easy to reach and helpful. He told me to get all the pellets out of the hopper, remove the motor and than hit the auger shaft with a hammer a few times. This would pop the upper bearing back into place and would most likely fix my problem. He also told me that they do not sell the upper bushing which can not be removed, only the lower one which comes with the plate.
So, I emptied the hopper and removed the auger again just to double check that everything looked normal inside. Then reinstalled it and hit the shaft with a hammer a few times. This did not seem to fix my problem. So, I ordered the lower bushing with plate from Lennox. The new plate is "upgraded" with a plastic bushing that has a nut on the back side. My old bushing wobbled in the plate so I was happy to see that it could be locked down. I am not sure how long that plastic bushing will hold up, but we will see. The bushing seemed to be installed backwards on the plate. The nut was on the inside of the plate so that, once installed, the pellets were getting crunched up against it. Mike, I found a picture on your site that showed the nut on the motor side of the plate and reinstalled it correctly. That seemed to do the trick.
I have run the stove for 24 hours now and it seems to be working great. The lower bushing and plate is called the Auger Flange and cost me $77 with shipping to my local store. The plate even has a small piece of foam on it which seems to cut down on the noise of the motor. Thanks for all you help both of you.

http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_pellet_stove.htm

 

[Mr Whitfield]

Your Auger motor has a thermal overload, if the auger motor get to hot it will shut off, With a lite load the motor will work fine, when it under a heavy load the motor will over heat and stop, once the auger motor cool's it will work until it get's hot again. I think you need to replace the motor...

 

[Hawkeye411]

Your Auger motor has a thermal overload, if the auger motor get to hot it will shut off, With a lite load the motor will work fine, when it under a heavy load the motor will over heat and stop, once the auger motor cool's it will work until it get's hot again. I think you need to replace the motor...

Hello,

It doesn't actually stop trying to turn. I can hear the motor turn on but the auger stops turning. When I clean all the pellets out of the hopper, the auger is stuck and I need to manually force it to turn until it frees and begins it turn.

Thanks for the information in the post 2 above! It appears that I should order the flange. I guess I'll go with that one first. Has anyone replaced the flange? Is it a replacement/upgrade for the brass bushing? I wish I could see a picture of it!! When I get the part, I'll post a picture for future reference.

Cheers.