Stuck or non-turning auger issues

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miggiethor

New Member
Jan 2, 2014
1
NH
I have a 5 year old Magnum Countryside stove that never gave us any problems until a nail went into the hopper last year. The auger stuck, and I got the nail out and the stove continued to work, but it never sounded right after that. Several months later, the auger stopped for good. I had a tech replace the auger and all was good for almost 2 months, and then the problems began. Even though we are using the exact same pellets as always, the auger jams every few days--the tech tells me it's jamming on the fines. He thinks that the motor is bad and can no longer push through the fines. I have had some concerns about his level of expertise so for the past few weeks, we have just been getting into a habit of vacuuming out around the auger after every 2 bags of pellets. I did this today, started the stove, and all was feeding fine, but then after about 20 minutes, it stopped feeding. I could still hear the auger motor inside the stove, but the pellet feed into the stove did not appear to be turning. Normally, when the auger jams, you can hear the jam, but this wasn't a jam. I opened the stove and found that the auger was spinning inside and the fan was on. While I was looking at it, the pellet feed started turning again and the pellets began feeding into the stove again. Does anyone have any opinions about whether or not this is the motor, or what else could be going on?
 
I would pull the auger and check for burrs or other damage. Empty you hopper before you do this. Once you drop the auger plate you will get a mess of fines and maybe a surprise. Put it back together and tighten the set screw good against the flat spot on the auger. If it works fine, good. If not spend 70 bucks and replace the motor. Make sure it is the proper rpm and rotation direction.
 
The gears is the gearboxes are of plastic. Don't give you many chances in jamming. Maybe the auger came out of the floating joint from the motor? Could be a failing snap switch. Some of the motors were of poor manufacture too.
 
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