Auger getting stuck

[wbwhit]

Hi everyone,

I've had my 1100 pro series for a couple of years now and haven't had any issues with it until very recently. I made the mistake of cooking in a light drizzle and the pellets ended up getting wet and clogging the auger. I pulled the auger out and cleared the tube of all the compacted sawdust. However, when I went to use the grill today, the auger would turn for a while and then stuck on the dry pellets, always in the top left corner of the attached picture. Has this ever happened before to anyone? I think I put it back together properly after I cleaned the auger but I've never had an issue where dry pellets caused the auger to get stuck.

Also, is the auger motor supposed to be free floating? I've noticed this after I was putting the auger back in, and it also seems to be a bit noisier now, like you can hear the motor moving when the auger turns, which I don't recall hearing before. Could this be part of the problem?

Thanks!!

 

[MikeInFla]

Not sure why it is getting stuck, maybe there's a pellet swelled up in there somewhere. Yes, the motor free floats. It's supposed to do that to protect it from breaking in the event the auger jams.

 

[wbwhit]

Not sure why it is getting stuck, maybe there's a pellet swelled up in there somewhere. Yes, the motor free floats. It's supposed to do that to protect it from breaking in the event the auger jams.

Thanks. That makes sense about the motor. I’m at a loss as to why it’s jamming. It’s always a few pellets in the left corner where the arrow points in the picture. A quick pole with a screw driver dislodges them and the auger continues to work but gets jammed again after a few minutes. Just not sure what could be the cause after the grill being basically trouble free the last few years I’ve had it?

 

[depush]

My relatively new PB700 auger jams in the same place. It's unreliable. I've changed pellet brands, but it seems the design is flawed. Not sure what to do at this point. Perhaps I'll try closing off the access to the auger near the front so pellets can only load into the back half of the auger to avoid pellets from getting caught in the corner. Dunno. I use hardwood pellets, but it should handle hickory or it's of little use.