I burnt mostly all pellets last year and I would get the same thing, usually used a screwdriver and gently tapped it with a hammer to chip the stuff out with no problem. My burn pot has the 2 flat bars across the bottom, yours may only have one depending on age.

I would usually notice a air flow problem when it would do this, either the wind direction or the stove being loaded with ash in areas you can't see to prevent smooth exhaust flow. Keeping the air wash area super clean (mine would get loaded with corn in the bottom tube)and adjusting the ash dump doors make a difference also. The beginning of the year I had a terrible time burning corn with a heavy mix of soy beans, long story but that's how I ended up with all pellets.

Be happy to tell you the different ways I found to clean things out if you want me to, guessing you already know if you have one of these.

tfgrower wrote:


First time I used the quote option so I hope it shows up OK.

We do have penty of insulation, just would be happy with it being about 90 in here and melting the roof off so I don't have to shovel it Actually we put new windows in the basement and the rest of the house this summer, can't believe the difference in heating compared to last year. Good strong East wind like we have now would have had the LP tank on it's knees by now.

Wouldn't make my wife happy, but I would MUCH rather be warm than shovel snow!!

Last months storm they were calling for 7-9" w/40 MPH winds, everybody was shutting things down and getting all excited.

I reality, we had 10-15 MPH winds and got almost an inch of snow. They have been just terrrible at forcasting things here this year, consistantly off 10-15 degrees on temps.

Comes down to I'll beleive it when I see it If they get it right, good deal, we're in for a good storm and it's been a while since I've seen 16" of snow in one snowfall, I'm sure my 5 year old will love it.

My stove just shut down finally and time to figure out why I'm not getting any airflow, got to have heat in the 'storm'! Have to get it good and warm in here to melt all the snow offf the roof so I don't have to shovel it on Wed.

If you do get lots of snow in your area stay safe and warm!

I hate it when the corn runs out!

Glad to hear all is good with it, I have been battling air mixture and such constantly this year for some reason. Keeps loading up the burn pot with ash, burning a mixture of pellets/corn/soy beans.

Out of curiosity, what motor did you put in? Was it the new Jackyl style? I don't think they move as much air as the original model that came with my stove. Mine is 01 so you may have had the Jackyl motor to start with. They made a design change somewhere down the line, not sure if it was just the motor of if it was in the blower housing itself.

Sorry about the delayed response...

There are warnings all over the kind you buy for swimming pools and the silicon sand you use for sand blasting that the silicon has been found to be linked to Alzheimers.

Not sure if the connections are proven, but why take the chance by breathing the dust? If you can use it on your corn and keep the dust down or not breath it during application, I wouldn't be afraid to use it.

So a baby seal walks into a bar and the bartender says "What'll ya have?"


The baby seal replies, "Anything but a Canadian Club!"

Do you clean your corn at all? I almost have to stick by my original reply in that you are having a problem with your auger gearbox. Have you ever replaced it?

I remember having a similar problems before mine went out completly, I had even taken it off trying to shim it up because the plastic gear gets worn and if you push up on the motor shaft it would catch and run again for a bit. With mine I figured it was working OK until it would get a peice of stalk or cob in between the auger and the tube and put just enough added stress that it wouldn't turn it. Push on the bottom of the motor shaft and see how much play there is, mine is about a year old and there is about 1/16" up and down play.

The only other possibilty would be the corn is too dry? (Based on your plier test) Hope you get it figured out soon, it's no fun not being able to start it and walk away.

I had even turned my feed rate up as high as it would go and that didn't do anything to help it.

The only problem with Diatomaceous earth is it's safe yes, but it does contain silicons, be careful breathing the dust.

Good idea though, I will try that this year if I have any left. I have a hopper right outside the basement door and learned the hard way that you don't want to bring any in and let it get warm in an open container!

I stored about 80 bushel in my gravity box inside my pole barn over the summer. There were times when I would walk in and turn the light on the moths were thick in there. Naturally there is all the residue left on the top couple inches of corn in the wagon and the outside of the wagon looks like it's coated with silk.

I hear of a lot of people that have good luck storing it over the summer but guess a lot depends on the moisture content. I didn't have so much of a problem the previous year, maybe 20 bushel.

Glad to see I'm not the only one with a dog that likes corn.

I left a bucket sitting by the stove last night that was about 1/2 full, (1/2 empty for some) and realized that the dog wasn't upstairs like normal. Went downstairs and sure enough, there she was eating all my corn. Cheaper than dog food, just don't like the 'end' results.

( I mentioned the 1/2 empty becuase myself, I would like to be an optimist but I doubt if it would work out )

Glad to hear you got it going, no fun without it.

Never had this problem with mine, (other than a bad motor) but it's good to know so I have something to check if I run into a similar problem.

Do you clean your corn or run it as is from the mill? I run mine through a screener I made and it takes out a lot of the fines but there is still some in there. They seem to flow up the auger tube and burn just the same.

I can't clean my stove without having my daughters stupid dog (Black Lab) there pestering me getting in the way until I vacuum her off good with the shop vac.

Then she sits there waiting until I drop a kernel of corn which she considers a treat. (Sure don't smell the same on the other side) As my 4 year old daughter says, "Dad, if she eats corn she'll turn into a corn dog!" Maybe I told her that you are what you eat one too many times?

Don

If it's not your auger motor, then I would have to agree with you just got a bad batch of corn with a high moisture content or the exhaust fan is plugged.

This year I had to replace my exhaust blower motor, it finally gave up. I had to clean the new one recently, the problem I had was that it got too much soot built up on the fins and in the area it sits in and just didn't push enough air to keep a fire going. It was strictly my fault as the corn I bought last year was mixed with about 30-40% soy beans (not my choice) and it burned great last year. Now that I got further into my wagon it is a lot higher concentration of beans and it got too much 'oily' soot build up in there. It is becoming a hassle because I have been mixing it with pellets trying to get it right.

You may have to take your exhaust motor off and clean all that out good, brush the fan off and try again. The new motor I put on was the Jackyl motor style and it's kind of nice because you can loosen 5 screws and pull the motor and fan at one time out of the housing rather than the whole housing assembly.

Don

I had that with mine last week but I had a different problem, got dirty on the inside of the exhaust blower motor fan and surrounding area and just wasn't moving enough air. My fault for using left over corn with a high concentration of soy beans.

I had it last year with what you are talking about and it was my auger motor. It's not easy to detect because it would run normal but I finally did see it skip and found it to be the problem, it just wasn't skipping alll the time. I had to order a new one from Multi Products in Wisconsin. It was cheaper than from AES, they want to sell you a bigger motor with a new auger and all that for about $1,000 or so. Naturally this happened in the coldest stretch of the winter.

Don