With the season still going here, I decided to clean the Prodigy 2 tonight as we are now entering the time of year that we use it the most (The shoulders, or the off and on season)
Well the exhaust fan has been making a nasty ratttling noise in there, so I decided to take a look and see if I could fix it without tearing the "Little Child" apart.
The fan on these little beasts is located in the exhaust housing which is astride of the center of the hopper.
The vent goes out the top rear.
The fan motor is in a little compartment off of the RH front of the hopper area and has a small open frame motor in there with a shaft thats about 4 plus inches long.
The exhaust fan is in the housing and a cooler fan for the motor sits in a venturi housing just outside the exhaust housing and it pulls air past the motor from an opening on the RH side of the stove.
The fan was originally installed way too close to the RH side of the housing and ony had about 1/16" clearance.
If the stove was leaned on when filling it, the chassis would move just enough to cause the exhaust fan to hit the side of the stove, making a nasty rattling scraping sound.
Also the entire assembly was setting up a harmonic droning noise due to accumulations of carbon on the blades.
OK
Tonight I removed the access plug and went to work with a brass brush and cleaned all the crap off the blades until I got it well cleaned.
I carefully scraped all the carbon from behind the blades but even then the clearance was not enough to really fix the issue.
Went and got some long T handle allen wrenches from my tool box and set about working to remove the single set screw that held the blade to the shaft. "Yeah Right" after all these years and smoke and hot and cold and such, oh and two chimney fires too.
I carefully cleaned the allen screw out until I could get the proper one to fit all the way in.
Next I applied a liberal amount of "Skunk Piss" (penetrant) to the area and waited a bit.
well I really did not figure there was much chance of getting that screw out, at least not with things still usable afterwards.
I inserted the wrench well and tried a test "TWIST" and no go. The wrench twisted a lot and I was getting nervous, so I let up.
went and got the propane torch that I use to light the stoves and heated the area around the screw quite well.
OK now the house really stinks from the burnt penetrant thats smoking.
One more try and I pushed the limits as far as I figured I dare, all of a sudden "POP" I swing the flashlight in there and WOW< COOL< the screw is loose.
The next thing is will the fan turn on the shaft ?????
The outer cooling fan has a smaller screw and it happened to be aligned with the one inside, WOW another good thing.
I inserted a T handled allen into that one and then wiggled the exhaust fan back and forth and with a little bit of that the fan worked right out and away from the casting wall. YESSSSSSSSSSSS.
Secured the set screw and finished cleaning the area up.
With the entire assembly cleaned and back together its all ready to go.
I was not looking forward to having to remove the entire exhaust casting to get to the fan.
It now runs nice and smooth with WAY less noise and vibes and does not scrape the inside of the housing any longer.
The house is still a tad warm as the large whit has been running all day.
with it shut off now I will fire the little fellow here in about an hour or two and let it run for the night.
Looks like other than the usual deep cleaning and oiling, I will not need to do much to the little stove before it is let sit for the summer.
I am thinking seriously about ordering a new fan and motor assembly to have on the shelf.
This is an ODD duck and our friends at wood heat stoves carry these parts.
The Prodigy uses the same feed motor as the advantage, so likely I will buy a spare one of those too.
Definately a great day here at my house.
Been lamenting on this issue for some time and really did not want to tear into it.
The worry was, "if I break the thing" its down until I can get parts!!
Well all the worry is over now.
Have a nice Easter fellow Pellet Piggies.
Snowy
Well the exhaust fan has been making a nasty ratttling noise in there, so I decided to take a look and see if I could fix it without tearing the "Little Child" apart.
The fan on these little beasts is located in the exhaust housing which is astride of the center of the hopper.
The vent goes out the top rear.
The fan motor is in a little compartment off of the RH front of the hopper area and has a small open frame motor in there with a shaft thats about 4 plus inches long.
The exhaust fan is in the housing and a cooler fan for the motor sits in a venturi housing just outside the exhaust housing and it pulls air past the motor from an opening on the RH side of the stove.
The fan was originally installed way too close to the RH side of the housing and ony had about 1/16" clearance.
If the stove was leaned on when filling it, the chassis would move just enough to cause the exhaust fan to hit the side of the stove, making a nasty rattling scraping sound.
Also the entire assembly was setting up a harmonic droning noise due to accumulations of carbon on the blades.
OK
Tonight I removed the access plug and went to work with a brass brush and cleaned all the crap off the blades until I got it well cleaned.
I carefully scraped all the carbon from behind the blades but even then the clearance was not enough to really fix the issue.
Went and got some long T handle allen wrenches from my tool box and set about working to remove the single set screw that held the blade to the shaft. "Yeah Right" after all these years and smoke and hot and cold and such, oh and two chimney fires too.
I carefully cleaned the allen screw out until I could get the proper one to fit all the way in.
Next I applied a liberal amount of "Skunk Piss" (penetrant) to the area and waited a bit.
well I really did not figure there was much chance of getting that screw out, at least not with things still usable afterwards.
I inserted the wrench well and tried a test "TWIST" and no go. The wrench twisted a lot and I was getting nervous, so I let up.
went and got the propane torch that I use to light the stoves and heated the area around the screw quite well.
OK now the house really stinks from the burnt penetrant thats smoking.
One more try and I pushed the limits as far as I figured I dare, all of a sudden "POP" I swing the flashlight in there and WOW< COOL< the screw is loose.
The next thing is will the fan turn on the shaft ?????
The outer cooling fan has a smaller screw and it happened to be aligned with the one inside, WOW another good thing.
I inserted a T handled allen into that one and then wiggled the exhaust fan back and forth and with a little bit of that the fan worked right out and away from the casting wall. YESSSSSSSSSSSS.
Secured the set screw and finished cleaning the area up.
With the entire assembly cleaned and back together its all ready to go.
I was not looking forward to having to remove the entire exhaust casting to get to the fan.
It now runs nice and smooth with WAY less noise and vibes and does not scrape the inside of the housing any longer.
The house is still a tad warm as the large whit has been running all day.
with it shut off now I will fire the little fellow here in about an hour or two and let it run for the night.
Looks like other than the usual deep cleaning and oiling, I will not need to do much to the little stove before it is let sit for the summer.
I am thinking seriously about ordering a new fan and motor assembly to have on the shelf.
This is an ODD duck and our friends at wood heat stoves carry these parts.
The Prodigy uses the same feed motor as the advantage, so likely I will buy a spare one of those too.
Definately a great day here at my house.
Been lamenting on this issue for some time and really did not want to tear into it.
The worry was, "if I break the thing" its down until I can get parts!!
Well all the worry is over now.
Have a nice Easter fellow Pellet Piggies.
Snowy
