Lopi Leyden Blower Oil Ports

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Dr_Drum

Feeling the Heat
Jan 7, 2009
366
Saco, Maine
Originally, I didn't think my Leyden's convection blower had any oil ports. Toward the end of last season I noticed it did, but they were pointing down. I took out the blower and oiled it and put it back in for the remainder of the season. With the ports pointing down I doubt my bearings got much oil, and it was apparent that most of the oil had dripped out. Today I took the blower out, removed the comb fan, removed the motor from the scroll cage and rotated it up so that the oil would drain toward the bearings. It was a fairly simple process. Look at yours first of course and if ok great, maybe mine just got assembled by an idiot?

Below shows the complete blower, the scroll cage with the comb fan removed, a picture of the original orientation of the oil ports pointing down, a picture of the motor rotated and the new oil port orientation, and the modified blower reinstalled.

After you remove the blower you will need a T-20 torx bit to remove the comb fan, the collar is not an allen set screw. Under the comb fan are 4 hex nuts (11/32" socket drive) that attach the motor to the scroll cage. Be careful, under the washers are rubber gromets with small spacers in them. Pull the motor away from the scroll cage, rotate the motor (clockwise in my case), realign the holes and reattach the nuts. Put the comb fan back on and reassemble. I only rotated it slightly, and it did not put the oil ports on the top. I preferred the port angled.

Anyway, that's all I have, just wanted to share, pay back to the forum, and maybe help someone out before their blower craps out.
Mike -
 

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Nice tip, Thanks for sharing! You done good.

If you need to replace that some day. I can help with a cross for you. You just need to post the numbers off the blower housing. But I have seen that one and should be able to get you an aftermarket that will bolt in and perform just as good as the OEM. :)
 
Mike,

Thanks for the pics and instructions. Mine is cleaned and already to go for the season but I think I'll do this next Spring. I wonder why Lopi (Travis Ind) and even the dealer say that it's "not serviceable"?

So the motor sits in some sort of housing? And you can spin around the motor in that housing so the oil port is pointing up?

Thanks Man.
 
richkorn said:
So the motor sits in some sort of housing? And you can spin around the motor in that housing so the oil port is pointing up?

Well, sort of, the motor housing itself has 4 studs that line up with 4 holes in the scroll cage part. I just rotated the whole thing. It's really easy when you see it in front of you, but hard to explain.

Jtakeman, thanks, and when it fails I know who to contact.
 
smwilliamson said:
Mine are upright.

Mine are down and it's the second blower; first one got real noisy, probably needed a few drops of oil!!!

I think I'll take that baby out and spin that motor upright this weekend.

What the recommended oil - like 2-3 drops of 3-in-1 in BOTH yellow plug ports?
 
richkorn said:
What the recommended oil - like 2-3 drops of 3-in-1 in BOTH yellow plug ports?

The best would be the 3 in 1 oil in the Blue can...that's meant for electric motors, but I've used the "regular" red can version and it seemed to do fine. Basically any 20w non-detergent oil will work, AFAIK.

www.3inone.com/products/motor-oil/
 
imacman said:
richkorn said:
What the recommended oil - like 2-3 drops of 3-in-1 in BOTH yellow plug ports?

The best would be the 3 in 1 oil in the Blue can...that's meant for electric motors, but I've used the "regular" red can version and it seemed to do fine. Basically any 20w non-detergent oil will work, AFAIK.

www.3inone.com/products/motor-oil/


Cool, thanks.
 
richkorn said:
imacman said:
richkorn said:
What the recommended oil - like 2-3 drops of 3-in-1 in BOTH yellow plug ports?

The best would be the 3 in 1 oil in the Blue can...that's meant for electric motors, but I've used the "regular" red can version and it seemed to do fine. Basically any 20w non-detergent oil will work, AFAIK.

www.3inone.com/products/motor-oil/


Cool, thanks.

It's actually printed on the motor label. Mine says to use SAE 20, that's a straight 20 weight oil, as Mac states above, not 5 or 10W etc.
Mike -
 
Dr_Drum said:
It's actually printed on the motor label. Mine says to use SAE 20, that's a straight 20 weight oil, not 5 or 10W etc. as Mac states above.
Mike -

Same thing stated differently. SAE20 = 20w.
 
imacman said:
Dr_Drum said:
It's actually printed on the motor label. Mine says to use SAE 20, that's a straight 20 weight oil, not 5 or 10W etc. as Mac states above.
Mike -

Same thing stated differently. SAE20 = 20w.

Good catch Mac. I guess I should have said "not 5W-30 or 10W-30, multi-weight oils".
Mike -
 
Dr_Drum said:
richkorn said:
imacman said:
richkorn said:
What the recommended oil - like 2-3 drops of 3-in-1 in BOTH yellow plug ports?

The best would be the 3 in 1 oil in the Blue can...that's meant for electric motors, but I've used the "regular" red can version and it seemed to do fine. Basically any 20w non-detergent oil will work, AFAIK.

www.3inone.com/products/motor-oil/


Cool, thanks.

It's actually printed on the motor label. Mine says to use SAE 20, that's a straight 20 weight oil, not 5 or 10W etc. as Mac states above.
Mike -

Well that definitely confirms these type of blowers can be oiled.
 
Just took mine out today and turned motor so oil ports facing up. Directions to do this were perfect - thanks Mike.

I also confirmed with Travis Ind. tech that this blower can indeed be oiled and that's why there are yellow oil plugs. He said if the ports were facing down that was a screw up from blower manufacturer.

2 drops of 3-in-1 blue can sae 20 in each port!
 
Depends on what the manufacturer recommends for your particular motor/blower combination.

On my unit it is every 6 months of use so it isn't really an annual thing.
 
Maybe I can pay back a bit now. I was a refrigeration - A/C - commercial appliance tech for 25 years and have extensive experience with this. Do NOT use any kind of detergent oil in electric motor or fan bearings - and that means pretty much any automotive oil. In my youth I didn't believe it and learned the hard way.

I used the Zoom Spout oilers for years on literally 100's of motors and fans and it works great. The long tube makes it easy to get into tight places. I found that if a motor doesn't have oiler ports, remove it, turn it shaft up and dribble a few drops down the shaft and it'll run into the packing around the bearing and do the job for you. Pay extra attention to the load end of the motor - that's usually the bearing to go.

Hope this is of use to someone.

Lar.
 
biglar said:
Maybe I can pay back a bit now. I was a refrigeration - A/C - commercial appliance tech for 25 years and have extensive experience with this. Do NOT use any kind of detergent oil in electric motor or fan bearings - and that means pretty much any automotive oil. In my youth I didn't believe it and learned the hard way.

I used the Zoom Spout oilers for years on literally 100's of motors and fans and it works great. The long tube makes it easy to get into tight places. I found that if a motor doesn't have oiler ports, remove it, turn it shaft up and dribble a few drops down the shaft and it'll run into the packing around the bearing and do the job for you. Pay extra attention to the load end of the motor - that's usually the bearing to go.

Hope this is of use to someone.

Lar.

That's good info. The exhaust blower on the Leyden does say "NO OIL", but I was going to do what you mentioned anyway. After trying unsuccessfully to remove the set screw from the fan blade collar, I gave up. I still would have had to find a way to access the mounting nuts before pulling the motor out. Way to hard to remove, unless there's a trick I couldn't figure out? Just didn't seem worth the effort with it working properly. I think I'd need to take a torch to the set screw.
Mike -
 
Dr_Drum said:
After trying unsuccessfully to remove the set screw from the fan blade collar, I gave up.
Mike -

Mike, I tried this summer to get that set screw off also to clean out behind the blades and it would not budge.

-rk
 
richkorn said:
Dr_Drum said:
After trying unsuccessfully to remove the set screw from the fan blade collar, I gave up.
Mike -

Mike, I tried this summer to get that set screw off also to clean out behind the blades and it would not budge.

-rk

Is it a Torx or allen head?
 
Torx T-20. Its on real tight and didn't want to strip it out.
 
I think they used a thread-locker like "red" Locktight during assembly? I could see what looked like dried Locktight. Anyway, I gave up. If I would have tried any harder I would have bent the fan shaft and made the thing wobble. If it was assembled with "red" Locktight it must be heated up to remove it with a torch. Mike -
 
Nice info. I'll check miine and report back.
 
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