Gnome 40 not feeding properly

thurberk · Post by **thurberk** » Sat. Sep. 30, 2017 12:35 pm

I'm finally getting around to cleaning out my stove from last season. Here is a little backstory. Near the end of last season a large chunk of coal got stuck in the feed paddle and burnt out the motor. i replaced the motor and it ran fine for a few days, then i noticed it wasn't feeding right one night. The lit coals werent going down the grate and the unburnt coals were just flowing over the top. After manually dragging the coals down the grate a few times to keep the stove going i noticed the burnt coals creeping up towards the hopper. Last thing i want is a hopper fire, got fed up, shut the thing down for the season.

Today I emptied out the hopper, found another large chunk of coal in the feed paddle :/, thinking the motor was possibly running backwards i turned it on to watch it, but that was not the case. So as i am vacuuming everything out i notice what looks like welding slag on the upper part of the grate. I wasnt very thick but enough to possibly screw up the flow of the coal. Was this my problem? I chipped away most of it but decided to come on here and get some thoughts from you guys. i have some pics too. I took them after i chipped away most of it, but you might be able to see some remnants.

cntbill · Post by **cntbill** » Sun. Oct. 01, 2017 2:54 am

I'm thinking what looked like "welding slag" was probably a clinker that developed because of the stuck piece and created your feed issue. However looking at your photo's I would recommend doing a more thorough cleaning, I.E. at least clean the grate holes with like a 1/8" drill bit, remove the combustion motor and get the fines out from under the grate, but maybe you might want to pull the complete stoker assembly out and make sure every thing is in order. Just my opinion as I am sure someone that knows that stoker better then I will chime in soon...