Vermont Castings Winterwarm Small blower issues

We have a Vermont Castings Winterwarm small. Last year, we'd experience a slowing of the blower while in use. The winterwarm small has a rheostat on the blower. Our rheostat wasn't turning by itself, so I assumed a failure to either the switch or the blower itself. This fall, we had the switch replaced (about $200 for the switch and service time.) The blower has been fine for about 2 months. Now it seems that the blower is only running at 60% speed.

We are frustrated with our local stove shop. Following the switch replacement, they had to return twice as the liner was blocking the damper door from closing. I took care of it myself the third time and noticed they forgot to re-attach the surround correctly. I've called the next closest to describe the issue and they won't call back. I've submitted 2 requests on the Vermont Castings site for them to call me and they haven't. I've searched the internet for anything describing how the blower system works and how to remove it or test it. The list of parts for the VC Winterwarm small only has the steel/iron parts, but no electronics.
The user guide to the stove also mentions a thermometer in regards to the blower, but doesn't say what it does or how it affects the blower.

Can anyone provide me with insight on how the blower system on this works? Are there diagnostic directions anywhere? Are there directions on how to pull the whole unit out to get to the blower? Where can I purchase a new blower, if I need one?

Thanks
Mike

I'd like to get to the blower and such. I didn't watch the install and can't find any descriptions online about pulling the unit.
I've seen how to slide the surround back. At that point, is the unit just sitting there? Is it as easy as disconnecting the flue and sliding the unit out to get to the electronics (blower and such)?
The flue is attached with a couple self threading screws. When we had the switch replaced, the flue was down too far and our damper door wouldn't close. So, that makes me wonder what keeps the liner from sliding down any farther? Is is supposed to be self supported in my chimney?

I'm a proficient diy-er so with a good description, I'd love to pull this thing out to test the switch and fan motor.

Thanks!

BeGreen - thanks for the reply. When you say "raise the liner a few inches", do I just grab the liner and push it upwards? Won't that push everything up and out the top of the chimney, including the cap?

Does someone here know how to put more than one picture from your hard drive into a post?

I pulled the insert out last week and blew out the fans with compressed air. I have a pancake fan on both sides. They spin freely. On the fan, it stated 39watts at 115 volt 60 hz.
Directly in the back, where the electric enters the insert is an electrical bus. The common from the cord is shared by both fans. The hot (black wire) went to the switch (rheostat) off the first bus and returned to the second bus that then powered both fans.
I moved the blade connector for the power directly to the second bus (since the fan stated it ran directly off AC power). The fans now fire right up and blow faster than they ever have. Most of the time we'd run at full speed anyway.

I can post pics one per post, but if you know how to post more in one post, let me know.

Thanks for your assistance,
Mike

I'm not trying to put an installer/repair person out of a job, but will document what I did here. This is a Vermont Castings Winter Warm Small.

1. The setup before starting.


2. I removed the plate at the top of the door (it just lifts off) and slid the surround straight back.


3. This shows the liner connected to the stove. I also turned the mounts 90 degrees for the front plate to show how deep to put the insert back when I'm done. In the back left and right are two boxes. They are where the two fans are located. The box you see is a duct to direct the air from the back to straight out the front.


4. BeGreen recommended sliding a piece of sheet metal under the front leveling feet so that it doesn't scratch up the hearth. Great idea! Also, my liner woudn't budge so I slid the insert toward me and shimmied the liner out. Then rotate the unit some for access to the boxes in back. Here I remove four screws from the sides of the box and lean it back.


5. After leaning back the box. Here is what you'll see. The exact same is on the other side. With vacuum running to gather dust, I used an air compressor to blast the dust and fuzz out of the fan blades. The box fan is ebm-papst St. Georgen. The number on it is RG 125-19/06. The fan size is about 7 1/8 x 7 1/8 x 1 1/2 deep. The screw mounts in the corners are about 6.5" center to center from left to right and up and down. The air enters at the center of the fan is exits straight up.


6. Here is a pic on the back of the fan in case you ever need to replace it.


7. Here is the electronics at the back. My rheostat (reostat) switch at the front seems to be reachable from the bottom but would require me to flip the insert on it's side and remove about 10 screws. Too much work. I'll short around the switch since we run on full fan all the time and put the power cord on a surge protector with on/off switch. Access this electrical bus in the back of the insert by removing the 6 screws around the panel where the power enters the insert. In this picture, the third (3) bus is for the hot (black wire from power). It then goes off off to the rheostat and returns to bus (2). Bus (2) connects to both fans for their power. Bus (3) is the common for both fans.


8. The pic of the back of the fan shows that they can run on direct power (120v 60hz where I am) soooo I moved input power bladed connector from bus (3) to bus (2) where power returned from the rheostat. (see the little arrow in the picture) Now when I plug in the fans, they come up to maximum speed quickly.


9. Reverse the steps to put it all back together and I've just save $200 labor and close to $200 in parts! A lot of this looks obvious or I'm also trying to document in case I need to replace my fans some day!