Hi I am new to this forum so I may ask dumb questions but here goes. I have a 7100 that I have burned corn in for 7 years and really never had a problem. This year with corn being so high priced I bought the Sparta system to change over to pellets. In the 7 years of corn I never took the auger a part, but with pellets I am constantly removing the auger to clean the jam. I have tried two types of pellets both jam the auger. I have replaced the auger with the recommended one for pellets but I still have jams. What is wrong? I only need to run pellets until the end of December than I can run corn that I saved from Last year. Can anybody help? Talked to sparta they said try different pellets.

The first thing I would do is check for an obstruction in chute with a mirror.
I don't see any other problem it could be. I have 4100 but it just can't hardly happen unless the chute is plugged or auger is running backwards and I don't know how that could happen.

I have checked nothing I can see, should the auger have over a 1 inch travel going into the tube? That doesn't seem right to me. I am burning corn now with no problems. Guys I need more help.

the 7100 guys can help you. I'll be interested to know what they figure out. Please explain exactly what you mean when you say 1 inch travel.

From the collar that is bolted to the auger shoot, the auger can move about an inch in and out (towards the shoot and away from the shoot.) I didn't think that it should be able to move that far. I have a call into Nesco they have called back yet.

Are they going to like answering questions about Spartas stuff?

I don't know but I will try. I haven't told them it's a Sparta system.

Actually the auger probably is Nesco I suppose since they are a dealer eh

I'm not familiar with the 7100 since I have a 4100, but I have had issues where fuel does not slide down the feed chute smoothly and could cause backup/jam issues. What it seems to be is sometimes during my high wind conditions which cause the flame to back up into the feed chute, it seems to deposit soot and who knows what else. I've ordered a draft kit hoping to prevent this in the future, but the soot buildup seems to slow fuel down and I've had to clean it out a few times. I tried a used toothbrush, but that's not stiff enough, so I pulled out a copper scouring pad and rubbed it around in the tube as far as my fingers go and after that a lot of gunk comes off and fuel falls down freely again.

Not sure if this is your issue, but if the flame does occasionally go up into the fuel chute or is dirty with soot and doesn't feel smooth if you put your finger up there (while the stove is cold of course ), that might be it. Corn being heavier than pellets may not be as adversely affected, but may not come down as fast as normal.

Also, the fact that there's play on the auger (at least on my 4100) indicates that the bushing is clean so that's a good thing. I've seen my auger start binding up and it will travel up and lose that inch and then I have to take the auger/auger motor apart in order to clean gunk out of the bushing and reassemble it. Another indicator I've seen of a clogged bushing is that fuel feeds much slower (putting it on 10 suddenly seems like it's feeding at the old 1!)

These two things are part of my monthly/bimonthly maintenance.

It jammed at 2am this morning, after removing it I looked up into the shoot and it was clean. I installed the auger for pellets again on the motor, I had the original auger in it to see if it made a difference, it didn't. I think now I know why the bushing on the auger has to move because when it starts to jam it tries to back it's way clear right. So that bushing now spins on the shaft freely, I made sure of that. Reinstalled everything so pray it works. Bob