Hope you got all your feed problems fixed. I have an Auburn and using corn I've never had feed rate problems. Pellets on the other hand don't feed as well.

The bearings went in my fan so it needed to be replaced. If the fan seems weak I would pull it out and clean it (compressed air works well) as the vanes tend to collect a lot of dust. Also beware that as the stove feed increases the fan speed I believe also increases.

To dump ashes or cinker in the auburn you push in a rod which inserts a rake in the top of the firepot to scrape and hold the hot coals. Before doing this I generally dump a 1/4 cup of pellets on top of the fire and let them start burning before pushing in the rake, this insures you don't lose your fire. While the rake is still inserted you pull a lower rod which pulls the bottom out of the fire pot allowing the ashes to fall into the ash pan. Push the bottom back into place, pull the rake out, the coals fall into the fire pot and the fire continues. Depending on how high of heat your running will determine how often ashes ( when using pellets) or the clinker when using corn will need to be dropped. On average I need to drop about every 3 days.

I've had an Auburn for around 8 years now and it has been a great stove. The only part I've replaced in this time is the fan that circulates the room air. As any stove the routine maintenance is important. I've burned both pellets and corn in it without any problems. When using pellets you remove the fire pot shield and drop the ashes the same as a corn clinker.

I was curious as to whether it's possible to add the third ash trap behind the ash pan, to older Auburn stoves? It seems this would be a much easier way to clean that area of the stove rather than the cable and drill method.

Hey Krooser, When I purchased my Auburn 7 or 8 years ago I ordered the pellet pot so I could burn both corn and pellets. In earlier times St Croix offered a pellet pot that was quite shallow with a grate and a scrapper to scrap ash into the ash pan. I've tried using this pot with very little success as it tends to overload. On newer stoves, St Croix has gone to the old corn pot style ( rectangular deep pot) with removable side extensions for pellets. I've since modified my old corn pot by cutting off the side extension so that I can burn pellets safely and fabricated a new removable set so that I can reinstall for corn.
Hope this helps.

The washer goes on the bottom end of the auger shaft, between auger flytes and motor coupling.

Mine developed a high pitch squeal just before the convection/room blower crapped out.

I replaced my convection/room blower last year. The new replacement unit uses a different style motor and plastic fans. The new unit is much quieter than the old unit ever was.

Hi Woodnmetalguy. I have a St Croix Auburn and I purchased a used Xantrex XS400 pure sine inverter connected to a deep cycle battery to use as backup. I have a battery tender connected to the battery to keep it topped up at all times. This inverter was from a boat and automatically switches to battery when the AC power goes out. I've had to run on battery several times and had no issues.
What ever way you decide to go just make sure it is a pure sine system.