Axeman Oddity

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sun. Jan. 03, 2016 8:54 am

My best guess, you have partial blockage at auger pick up opening.
Could be foreign object, mass of unflowable fines, piece(s) oversize coal or even some combination of these.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Sun. Jan. 03, 2016 1:32 pm

Freddy,

Since the auger appears to be clear......

Is there something keeping the auger from turning freely ??? Something just giving a little more friction that normal preventing the auger to turn as it normally did.

On mine, I have a separate gearmotor turning the auger. But I believe yours and the others use 1 single motor and 2 belts. Possible slight belt slippage ??

Rick

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Sun. Jan. 03, 2016 1:46 pm

Been scratchin' my noggin following this one....... Knowing Freddy the way We do,he's pretty impeccable regarding what he owns and does,and uses top-flite maintenance practices to keep it all alive. Rick,the belt slippage idea has merit. All functions intact,but due to slippage,loss is occurring. I know that Mainah's going to crack this nut wide open,it just remains to be seen if he's gonna be using a Mallet or a Jeweler's screwdriver to get it accomplished !

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Sun. Jan. 03, 2016 9:58 pm

Brilliant minds follow like paths..... Just today I did some testing on belt slippage.... there is none! So.... as much as I think there is no blockage in the auger, sometime in the near future I'll weld up a beast of an auger tool and give it a full flossing. If there is some sort of stickly sticker we will break it, mash it, thrash it and clear it outta there!

Post by **coaledsweat** » Mon. Jan. 04, 2016 7:42 am

I have been trying to post a pic of the tool I made but it keeps coming out black, nothing else, when posted. It did ok until the third chunk, needed to break out a big pipe wrench to get that one and it mangled the conduit. Straightened it out and another fight with the last one. Hard to believe a chunk of coal could be that tight in there.

OK, I got it! Guess my camera isn't happy in the cellar! That is 3/4" EMT, twisted it up like a pretzel!

T101X Auger Reamer

.JPG | 213.8KB | 20160104_074439.jpg

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Mon. Jan. 04, 2016 8:23 am

Freddy,

Since my unit uses the separate gearmotor just for the auger this is easy for me.

But can you disconnect the belt for the blower and just run the auger separate for a while ?? You could remove the transfer head top plate and watch the auger tube and see if it keeps feeding properly without overfiring the boiler. Perhaps even shooting a spotlight down the tube to watch it feed.

Rick

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Tue. Jan. 05, 2016 4:39 pm

Good day! Thank you all for the thoughts & ideas. I'm still leaning toward making an auger cleaner ( thanks for the photo, Coaledsweat), but, last night it dipped below zero & today the high was about 15. This morning the beast was full of coal & has remained full all day. It'll be interesting to see what happens this coming week when the temps go back up into the 30's.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Tue. Jan. 05, 2016 5:18 pm

Freddy wrote:.......... It'll be interesting to see what happens this coming week when the temps go back up into the 30's.

Well I would guess you will be outside in a T shirt and shorts !!!!!!!

Glad it filled itself back up. Maybe it used to do this and you never noticed ????

Rick

Post by **coaledsweat** » Tue. Jan. 05, 2016 7:01 pm

They have a massive overfeed designed into it. If it isn't full, there is something up.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Tue. Jan. 05, 2016 7:09 pm

Last guy who came here with a similar issue ultimitly found it to be a loose connection with a wire nut at junction box for the solenoid.