XXV is making a grinding noise

[tundraSQ]

I am going to guess that is is coming from the auger or the chain area. It seems to be happening when the machine is feeding pellets. Its a low throaty gind of grinding. Not as if somethign is bound up...but close. Like it is trying to chisel out a path or something.

 

[GVA]

Don't guess where it is coming from, take the shrouds off and look and listen.... Then tell us specifics, is it making the noise the whole time the motor is turning or only when the slide plate cam is being moved by the cam follower.
and lastly the burnpot all the way down in the back have you really scraped the char out? I mean really scrape it cause the char will hold back the pellets feeding up and put quite a load on the motor.
check it out and let us know :smirk:

 

[tundraSQ]

Don't guess where it is coming from, take the shrouds off and look and listen.... Then tell us specifics, is it making the noise the whole time the motor is turning or only when the slide plate cam is being moved by the cam follower.
and lastly the burnpot all the way down in the back have you really scraped the char out? I mean really scrape it cause the char will hold back the pellets feeding up and put quite a load on the motor.
check it out and let us know :smirk:

its not grinding the "whole" time the auger is moving...it just sounds like maybe for one revolution? And it does not happen every time the thing feeds...only "once in awhile"..maybe 6-10 times a night. Not real loud ...but loud enough as if somethign is impedeing the path. I am thinking along the lines of what you said...something built up in the mouth of the feed area. I have scraped it out really agressivly...I will do more and see if it changes anything, I will then look at removing the shrouds. If it matters it seems to do it when the room calls for heating....not when it is just maintaining.

 

[tundraSQ]

I took the rear covers off. Alls "seems" well back there. I then opened the door to let the fire die out and pulled all the pellets out of the burnpot. I got a big flashlight in there and did notice lots of biuld up around the "mouth". The stove is only a month old but man does that area look "old". I have gotten in there really good before and just did it agan. Its hard for me to tell what to go after in there. I just dug at everything and tried to break anything loose that should not be there. I got quite a few black chunks free...but this XXV tool is NOT the tool for this job....tomrrow on my list will be to find something else...even a large flat head screwdrive would work better.

Off topic" I also noticed that tapping on the right side of the stove the panel sounds very tight...but tapping on the left side panel it sounds loose....anyone else care to tap on the left side of there XXV for me?

Thanks!!

I will update in an hour or so to let you know if the noise is gone or even different.

 

[tundraSQ]

OK...its not gone...but it is better. So this tells me I am on the right track, and that I have to clean more. Is there any other place to look for something interfering with the auger? I do notice when I pour the pellets in that at the bottom of each bag is about a 1/2 cup of sawdust (fines?). I do not pour that into the hopper, but I am assuming alot of this does make its way into the hopper. I will read the manual more and see what I can find.

thanks!!

 

[GVA]

Well about 2 weeks ago my stove started to squeal and growl.... There was quite a bit of fines (dust) in the hopper First time it had ever happenend.
Every day I scrape the burnpot when I get home from work it's a pain but I seem to avoid the problems that I have had in the past.
Theres several posts here on what you can use to scrape the clinkers out. Bottom feeders such as the harman are different from others like the Quad but if maintained will last for a while

 

[moog5]

Off topic" I also noticed that tapping on the right side of the stove the panel sounds very tight...but tapping on the left side panel it sounds loose....anyone else care to tap on the left side of there XXV for me?

I tapped as you asked on both sides. The right side has more of a hollow sound than the left, but nothing to a degree that I would expect would cause a strange sound.

 

[tundraSQ]

Off topic" I also noticed that tapping on the right side of the stove the panel sounds very tight...but tapping on the left side panel it sounds loose....anyone else care to tap on the left side of there XXV for me?

I tapped as you asked on both sides. The right side has more of a hollow sound than the left, but nothing to a degree that I would expect would cause a strange sound.

I don't think the two are related...I was just curious. This mornign with my stove cool I tapped again...and they both sounded solid. Last night when hot the left sounded WAY different.

 

[TedNH]

Ya need to get in there and REALLY hoe out the burn pot.
I had hard thick carbon down in the burnpot on my stove after just 12 bags of energex premiums.
IM going after it with enough force that Im scared I will damage the auger!

 

[toastyinri]

I had the same problem with my Harman Advance a few days ago. My problem turned out to be in the chute where the pellets drop down. Something was clogging the chute. I had to make a special tool out of a wire clothes hanger and scrap away. I pulled up a lot of pellets out of the chute that were jammed. Then I vacuumed and pulled up more. Finally I reversed the flow on my vacuum (an electrolux) and blew it out.
When I turned on the stove big black chunks "augered" their way out into the burn pot. Also some soggy blackened pellets came through.

I'm using the last few bags of pellets left over from last year and suspect that some of them may have been damp. I'm checking the last few bags carefully for dampness and dustyness before dumping them in. I had one whole bag that was unuseable as pellet fuel, but the cats sure loved it as cat litter

 

[GVA]

I had the same problem with my Harman Advance a few days ago. My problem turned out to be in the chute where the pellets drop down. Something was clogging the chute. I had to make a special tool out of a wire clothes hanger and scrap away. I pulled up a lot of pellets out of the chute that were jammed. Then I vacuumed and pulled up more. Finally I reversed the flow on my vacuum (an electrolux) and blew it out.
When I turned on the stove big black chunks "augered" their way out into the burn pot. Also some soggy blackened pellets came through.

I'm using the last few bags of pellets left over from last year and suspect that some of them may have been damp. I'm checking the last few bags carefully for dampness and dustyness before dumping them in. I had one whole bag that was unuseable as pellet fuel, but the cats sure loved it as cat litter

I don't think you should be seeing black (partially burned) pellets behind the first flight of the auger you could have a gasket leaking on the hopper or slide plate access as another problem allowing the flames to burn back into the auger chamber.
That mystery bag that I had a couple of weeks ago now has me adding another step to my pellet filling. I pour them over my hand while it is in the hopper to judge the amount of fines and inspect for the wet pellets.