My augur is DOA!

That happened to me once. There is probably a better way, But this is what I did.
Got a thin, long handled screw driver and kept removing the old pellets until I could see the auger.
Then, went at the auger from the inside (chute area) with the screwdriver.
Every now and then I would turn on the juice to see if the auger would turn. When it wouldn't turn, I would immediately turn it off.
Eventually it freed up.

I've tried the first part, Freebird, but can't see how to approach the augur from inside the FE.

How do I get access to the augur from the inside?

Anyone else have any other ideas? Thanks much.

Kerry,
You may have to remove the auger motor. Then, using channel locks or stilson wrench, rotate the auger shaft clockwise to back the auger out. The auger tube can be then be cleaned.

Call Tony at 1-800-423-0698. He might have heard of this before.

Thanks, all! I will try these things.

This may sound really dumb, but i'll bet if you wet those pellets in the auger again they will at least loosen enough for the motor to turn it.

Just a thought

My thoughts too stilleating, but I don't know if anyone has tried that method.

Most methods I hear involve brute force and power tools.

Kerry, did Tony give you any thoughts?

Take the unit apart (pull the entire motor off the auger, that will leave the auger inside the smoke pot). Pull the smoke pot out of the FE completely.

If I was going to do the wet method of removal, I'd probably remove the igniter before I did it.

I would put a little water into the trough to see if they loose up. Just don't let them dry again.

Good luck

The water idea is good ONLY if pellets have swollen to maximum. They expand about 5x in volume. Methods above are your best course of action. You won't do this again! But you will be cooking again!

I seems to me, even if the water softens the pellets to the point that the auger can turn, you will still need to remove the auger and clean the tube walls of pellet-crete. I can testify that pellet-crete left on the tube wall will cause jams.

I'm embarrassed to say that I just NOW fixed my FE100's frozen augur. But smoke is billowing out and I'm ready to cook!

Thanks for all the help. I called and talked to Bill at customer service and he was very helpful. Once I got the motor off I couldn't make the augur budge so I used the advice to try water. Ran boiling water through the augur while tipping the FE back. Clamped on some vice grips and started reefing on the augur until it came loose. It took literally 30 minutes of tugging and twisting before the augur finally broke loose enough to be removed.

Once out, I reamed the augur sleeve with a paddle drill bit (a very long one) and a metal skewer. I then blew the sleeve out with my leaf blower, cleaned out the burner and box, reassembled the augur and motor, fired it up, dumped in some pellets and, BINGO, smoke.

Thanks to all. I'm a happy man.