How to burn wood pellets in 2006 Auburn corn burner

[Ssyko]

Im guessing since i just got in from plowing you probably have it all back together again. Did you brush off the squirrel cage? It is looking better but i was really hoping to see i little bit more improvement. You may have to kinda set up a time schedule to keep the fire burning better. If you are running on 2, when it starts to look like its starting to overfill put it down to 1 and let it almost burn out then put it back on 2. Repeat. Your new blower I assume you figured that you have to drill a couple holes for the mount bolts.

 

[Lordtimothy200]

Never worked in Milford nursing home. Worked at least a dozen nursing homes all over Nebraska doing Agency. Let my license lapse a few years ago, still miss it once and a while but then remember the driving, politics and the long hours........I get over the missing pretty quick.

This has been the most interesting thread on the forums for quite some times. Enjoy seeing a person willing to work through problems and see success.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Im guessing since i just got in from plowing you probably have it all back together again. Did you brush off the squirrel cage? It is looking better but i was really hoping to see i little bit more improvement. You may have to kida set up a time schedule to keep the fire burning better. If you are running on 2, when it starts to look like its starting to overfill put it down to 1 and let it almost burn out then put it back on 2. Repeat. Your new blower I assume you figured that you have to drill a couple holes for the mount bolts.

Plowing huh.... Better you than me. I haven't even put the blower on the back end of the tractor yet, though it is ready to go on and the plow is sitting on blocks where it's been since last spring. I did grease the trunions however. Guess I'd better install the front chains, it has to be coming, well, maybe.

When we get it, we get it big time so the only way is the FWA tractor with the 10 foot plow on the front and the 8 foot blower on the back.

I use the tractor every few weeks to replenish my corn / pellet mix from the supersacks in the barn and the skid of pellets. Mix up 4 30 gallon plastic garbage cans of mix, 3 parts corn to one part pellets and set the whole shebang (4 cans on a pallet) up on the deck so I can get to it easily. I bring it in, in a 5 gallon bucket twice a day and dump it in the stove. Consequently, I have to leave the pallet forks on the front loader most of the time but hooking up the plow is easy, it's welded to a 2 pin SSQA plate and 2 hydraulic hoses to hook up for the power angle and I'm good to go.

I'd prefer not to do snow at all but I have to keep my rental drives clean so they can get to work so they can pay the rent....lol

 

[Rxwoman1961]

Im guessing since i just got in from plowing you probably have it all back together again. Did you brush off the squirrel cage? It is looking better but i was really hoping to see i little bit more improvement. You may have to kinda set up a time schedule to keep the fire burning better. If you are running on 2, when it starts to look like its starting to overfill put it down to 1 and let it almost burn out then put it back on 2. Repeat. Your new blower I assume you figured that you have to drill a couple holes for the mount bolts.

I wish! I spent over 2 hours trying to scrape hardened creo-crap out of the impossible to reach exhaust area.
Then I had to clean up and make a "wtf am I doing for supper" run. I just pulled the convection fan, but that's as far as I've gotten for tonight.
Drill holes?? Ugh. Good thing it's supposed to be almost 60 tomorrow.
Considering how much stuff I've scraped out of that exhaust hole area...what does it look like farther in??

 

[Rxwoman1961]

Never worked in Milford nursing home. Worked at least a dozen nursing homes all over Nebraska doing Agency. Let my license lapse a few years ago, still miss it once and a while but then remember the driving, politics and the long hours........I get over the missing pretty quick.

This has been the most interesting thread on the forums for quite some times. Enjoy seeing a person willing to work through problems and see success.

Which nursing homes did you work in? In Lincoln?

 

[Lordtimothy200]

Never worked in Lincoln. Mostly worked at Good Sam's in Bloomfield, Valentine, Kearney basically where ever they needed help.

 

[rickwai]

Rx,
When you were cleaning out the area under the fan, you rereferred the the hard stuff underneath. Did you have a thin layer of black powder ash then hard black stuff underneath that was still adhered really well? Just trying to figure out if the hard stuff is starting to break down yet.

 

[Ssyko]

Rx,
When you were cleaning out the area under the fan, you rereferred the the hard stuff underneath. Did you have a thin layer of black powder ash then hard black stuff underneath that was still adhered really well? Just trying to figure out if the hard stuff is starting to break down yet.

im wondering if it’s getting hot enough! That blower i sent, Static tested on the bench @2.41iwc. Given the amount of space in the path throughout the stove i was hoping to reach an estimated 1.50 iwc at the least. Its got to have some serious chit packed in there somewhere.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Never worked in Lincoln. Mostly worked at Good Sam's in Bloomfield, Valentine, Kearney basically where ever they needed help.

Valentine, know it well. I have 2 large 10 point Mule Deer on the wall I shot there. well, just east of there near the dam.

 

[rickwai]

im wondering if it’s getting hot enough! That blower i sent, Static tested on the bench @2.41iwc. Given the amount of space in the path throughout the stove i was hoping to reach an estimated 1.50 iwc at the least. Its got to have some serious chit packed in there somewhere.

Yeah there must be. The vac switch on it is a .1 inwc i think?

 

[SidecarFlip]

im wondering if it’s getting hot enough! That blower i sent, Static tested on the bench @2.41iwc. Given the amount of space in the path throughout the stove i was hoping to reach an estimated 1.50 iwc at the least. Its got to have some serious chit packed in there somewhere.

Sure does. Coagulated, half burnt corn probably. One thing about corn that is bad and that is, if it's wet (over 15% RM and you do get it to burn), the 'carmelization' of the kernels as the start to combusting corn causes a sticky gooey mess and a lot of nitric fumes to be released too. I bet the sticky lumpy mess is half combusted corn that has hardened up over time. Far as I can see, the only way to remove it would be a long HOT burn on straight pellets. High PPH feed rate and as much combustion air as possible.

 

[Lordtimothy200]

Yeah working in Valentine was kind of stupid. They would pay 56 cents a mile + drive time + extra 75 per shift. I would go out and do one shift and drive home. Made more money on mileage and drive time than I did there. Only did it a couple of times, just wasn't worth the boredom of sitting in a car for that many hours.

 

[Lordtimothy200]

You sure there isn't a way to get to that area that likely is filled up? I use a old throttle cable attached to a drill to clean out behind the combustion chamber. Could you come in with the cable from the combustion blower and bust it loose?

 

[rickwai]

You sure there isn't a way to get to that area that likely is filled up? I use a old throttle cable attached to a drill to clean out behind the combustion chamber. Could you come in with the cable from the combustion blower and bust it loose?

Its way beyond the throttle cable trick...

 

[Ssyko]

Well we might have to add a dollar store hair dryer with no heat to the intake and start forcing some high temps

 

[Washed-Up]

Agreed

 

[Ssyko]

OK RX Homework for tomorrow. one each cheep dollar store hait dryer multi speed and tape it to the intake pipe and let her blow. watch the stove while doing this

 

[Rxwoman1961]

Never worked in Lincoln. Mostly worked at Good Sam's in Bloomfield, Valentine, Kearney basically where ever they needed help.

Oh, way too far out West for me.

 

[Rxwoman1961]

Rx,
When you were cleaning out the area under the fan, you rereferred the the hard stuff underneath. Did you have a thin layer of black powder ash then hard black stuff underneath that was still adhered really well? Just trying to figure out if the hard stuff is starting to break down yet.

Yeah, that's kind of it.
The new fan only had thin powdery stuff inside.
But underneath, in the hole, the farther back I scraped, the more hard black stuck on with thin layer of powdery on top.

 

[Rxwoman1961]

OK RX Homework for tomorrow. one each cheep dollar store hait dryer multi speed and tape it to the intake pipe and let her blow. watch the stove while doing this

Got it.
In the mean time, new problem.
Another part fitting issue.
I dont know if you can tell from the pictures. The new fan doesnt fit into the old metal bracket thingy. The fan vent areas dont line up.

 

[Rxwoman1961]

Dang it. The first pic is the old one that fits.
The problem doesnt come through very well on the pictures.
Just believe me. The fans are a bit too far apart. Is there any way too fix this?

 

[Rxwoman1961]

Its way beyond the throttle cable trick...

Yeah, a cable would either just bounce off the hard stuff or get forever stuck in the goo like a mammoth in a tar pit.

 

[Rxwoman1961]

Here, this shows it better.
The old fan and the new fan lined up together.
Am I explaining it right?
So the same thing happens when I try to line it up/ fit it into the sheet metal frame.
One side fits..the other is off.

 

[SidecarFlip]

How does the motor in the center mount to the fan cages? You might have to shorten the mounting brackets (motor to fan) a bit.

Far as the supplemental air as Ssyko suggests, If you have a shop vacuum with the 'blow' feature (as well as the suck feature (mine has that), why not use the shop vac (if you have one with the hose taped to the air intake? That would really provide the combustion air and increase the temps inside. I think the only issue might be actually blowing the fuel out of the burn pot. Could be wrong though.

 

[rickwai]

Where did you buy the replacement fan from?