Different Auger behavior

[EvergreenJeff]

I have a Mt Vernon Free standing stove that I picked up used. Manual says it is an AE. I have been going through it with this thing. I have been getting the Auger Jammed code on the thermostat.

I pulled the Auger and noticed that it was getting power, but seemed to be clicking in the gears, so I replace the auger and the sensor. The new sensor wiring is very poorly done. I have had to repair the wiring on it since one of the wires just came out of the plug.

So I had the auger fixed, but noticed that the vac switch was not quite getting it done, so I bypassed that and now the auger is turning VERY slowly one direction and then the other at startup. Eventually throwing the "Auger jammed" code. I found somewhere that the auger should turn 2.4 RPM's? It isn't doing that, and so I replaced the power supply thinking that the supply is not giving it the full DC current it wants. (Hind site - Should have tested it first).

I used the old auger wiring plug, stripped the wires and hooked the Black/Yellow wires to a tester and the Red/White to a tester and watched is start up.

At first plug in during the cleaning cycle, I get 0 volts to the RW side and 3 to the BY side.

Autoclean cycle sends 7.8 volts to RW wires and 1.1 volts to the BY wires.

Then when it switches to Startup on the thermostat and I get 0 to RW and 3 to the BY

After about 30ish seconds I can hear the fan pick up speed and then I get is 12.5 to the RW and 3.8 to the BY. Then after a bit it goes to 14.3 RW and 5.8 BY for just a couple of seconds and then back to the first voltages. This seems to be the forward and backwards cycle for the auger to get it to move.

When it finally throws the Auger Jam, it just stays on 12.5 to the RW and 3.8 to the BY but the auger would stop if it were hooked up.

Either I have a bad controller not sending the correct voltage, or the new auger motor is also bad, or something else is getting in the way.

Thanks for any help!

 

[ericofmaine]

My first thought is just what your T-stat says, you have an auger jam. This is exactly what my insert does (forward then reverse) when it is jammed. Have you tried disconnecting the motor from the auger and see if you can spin the auger by hand? Pulled the auger to see what your auger tube looks like?

Eric

 

[EvergreenJeff]

My first thought is just what your T-stat says, you have an auger jam. This is exactly what my insert does (forward then reverse) when it is jammed. Have you tried disconnecting the motor from the auger and see if you can spin the auger by hand? Pulled the auger to see what your auger tube looks like?

Eric

A good thought... Auger tube is clean. I only have just enough pellets in to not set the bin empty code. I found that I could turn the auger but it took a lot of force. Other posts here say that the auger is geared such that it will be hard to turn. How fast/slow does your auger turn? It seems that mine is just turning way too slow. Thanks for the thoughts... I was hoping that someone knew what voltages should be going out to the auger.

 

[ericofmaine]

Did you disconnect the motor from the Auger shaft? it will be extremely difficult to turn if the motor is still attached.

Eric

 

[johneh]

Auger motor runs at 2.4 RPM

 

[ARC]

How fast/slow does your auger turn? It seems that mine is just turning way too slow.

Your auger is a 2.4 RPM but you can only time that if auger motor is running at full speed/power. Quadrafire stoves are hard to test the motor speed, on most stoves you can apply direct 110 to motor to test rpm's you can not do that on Quadrafires. On all stoves with the auger installed the auger motor run at top rpms for short periods, ie heat range one runs 5 seconds on 12 seconds off so almost impossible to tell what the real revolutions per minute are. Here is the trouble shooting guide for your stove not much help with your current problem but still nice to have.

 

[EvergreenJeff]

I am becoming convinced that the auger sensor is the problem. Is there any way to jumper this sensor so that the processor thinks that the auger is good, and keep the auger going? I ran with a small amount of pellets and can feel the auger going one way, then the other a few times like it isn't turning. It should have turned enough to get the sensor to work, If I could jumper that sensor, theen I would be able to verify or eliminate that as the cause of the problem. Since it has 5 wires, 2 on one side, and 3 on the other of that sensor, I don't know what to do with that. One of the wires pulled out of the plug, so I soldered it back in... It isn't the best made part. Is there a way to check it with a continuity tester?