quadra 7100 woes

RobP said:

Ok I am new to this site. I wish I would have found it a year ago. I have been having intermittent issues with my blower(s). I replaced one of them last christmas for 140.00. One month later (cold as heck in january) it quit. The fireplace store warranted it (2weeks shipping). It was in for a week and quit. (made some smell like burnt plastic). turned it on the next day and has worked flawlessly ever since. Sunday I decided to put in the second blower. (I was stingy and only used one) The new blower 84.00. Fired up the fireplace at 9 am. everything wonderful until 11pm. Both blowers quit and it stunk like burnt plastic. I let it set with both switches off for about 5 minutes, I turned on both switches and only one blower started. I turned it off and let the fire burn out. This morning I checked everything (wiring, blower motors etc. ) Everything seemed fine. I called the company I bought the blowers from and they said I had bad switches. Well, we will find out (hopefully) tonite. I replaced both switches and now we will see. Northern wisconsin is getting cold.

Click to expand...

Wow, sorry to hear about your troubles. I am on my third winter w/my 7100FP and the blower is running as it did day 1. The rheostat/snap disc seems to be operating fine, cutting off when the fire dies down, as does the potentiometer controlling fan variable speed. Something deosn't seem right though, going thru 3 of them???...Maybe have another opinion/electrician look at the wiring? Good luck, please get back to us on what the root cause is/was.

Well that sounds a bit better. Welcome to the site btw RobP. There are a few of us here that are running the 7100FP. Please post pics, we love seeing pics here!

Just to expand on my issues with this unit, I thought I'd post my issues. I have Quadrafire 7100. I personally installed it in 2004. It's been upgraded with the air intake update, new fan shrouds w/ new fans and even new handles on the doors. The problem I have is I can smell what appears to be burning or melting plastic in both my heat zones with it's running on high and really hot. I think each time the fire is on high the plastic fans are heating up and giving off fumes. A few weeks back I pulled the fans for the tenth time or so because I was getting bearing noise. Turns out one of the fan assemblies bearings were on the way out and the other assembly had the plastic fan slipping on the shaft. I Gorilla glued the slipping shaft and disconnected the other set with the bad bearings to get by a week or so. I did a little research and found some replacement fans (not OEM) for under $100 each set. They are made by Fasco and the model is A120. I found them on Amazon. They are two speed motor versus the singles on the OEM. I just capped off the low speed wire. All else is exact. I remounted the end cap shrouds from the existing fans.

Today when I opened it up again to install the new fans, the nonworking failed bearing assembly had melted on the inside fan. I don't understand why they don't have a metal fan rather than the plastic.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my experience and the fan part numbers for the 7100. I think the OEM fans run at least $150-$170 depending on where you shop.

This is fan set #3. Each of the prior units failed and melted...

I am in my second year of burning with a 7100fp, and so far no issues with the fans. (pictures were posted on an earlier post) I do use the blower almost constantly- higher speed during the day and almost as low as it goes during the night. I did notice that if I use the snapdisc option, the blowers seem to "short cycle", turning on and then off after only a few seconds, it seems to take a long time for it reach the kick on temperature, and if the box has a thick layer of ashes laying in it, it will seldom kick on. So that's why I leave the blower on. It's starting to get a little chilly in eastern PA, but the heat from the fireplace definitely keeps the electric baseboard heat use to a minimum. Have a good one!

Greg

A note on the snap disc, you can get a lower temp model. I think I replaced the standard 220F with a 160F so it turned on earlier. You have to have a nice coal base regardless or it will cycle.

It's already cold here in western Nevada. Overnights in the low teens. Lowest yet has been 1°F. I think I've burned 3 cords this season already (mid October)

I did install a electronic timer in place of a toggle switch for the fans. It has settings for 60minutes, 30, 15, and a standard on/off. I feed it and hit 60 minutes. Fans stay on high for a minimum of a hour and the snap disc takes over from there if it is not already on. I have a rheostat on the snapdisc circuit, but the timer is full voltage.

I have a 7100fp, no issues with the fan yet, though it's only the first season with it.

This seems to be a pretty typical failure mode. In anticipation of a failure, is possible to just replace the bearings instead of the whole motor assembly? I haven't seen any pictures of what the failure looks like. What kind of bearings are they?

Not likely. The blower fans are pressed on and being plastic, would break. You have to remove them to get to each bearing on the motor.

I looked into it. But the plastic fans degrade overtime with the heat. Not really worth the effort as you'll just replace the assembly in the end.

I'm trying to see if there is a 3"x3 3/4" fans available in steel rather than plastic. That would definitely extend the life. I think the plastic gets out of balance and wears the bearings faster.