Breckwell 2000i Convection fan replacement w/Fasco - Help!

One of our Breckwell P2000i stoves (1 upstairs, 1 downstairs) has, I sure, a bad convection fan.

We run both stoves from Nov. - Mar. every year. The upstairs one has been a dud from day one. We run it on avg. ~5 hours a day, as the downstairs stove provides enough heat to get by, unless it's really cold or windy outside (large drafty old house).

In 7 hears, we've gone thru 3 control boards, a combustion blower, an auger motor, 1 hi-temp disc & 2 remote thermostats on this stove. The downstairs stove is a year older, with a slightly different design for the burn pot & fire chamber, and except for the igniter burning out after running for 59 straight hours on a portable generator during the infamous Dec. 2008 ice storm, it's never given us any problems.

We're careful not to let fines get into the hopper, and I even use the ash vac to get any strays between fills. I'm picky about the cleanings, too, inside & out - they look showroom new when I'm done w/them. I also replace the door gaskets every Fall, and we keep them unplugged & stocked w/Damp Rid all summer to prevent rusting during humid spring & summer weather.

Original dealer closed 3 years ago & local guys won't service Breckwell, so I've been doing the maintenance for both stoves on my own. I do a major, pull everything out & vacuum/brush the chassis, fan blades, vents, oil stuff, etc. after every ton. We burn 6-8 tons of New England Wood pellets each winter, maybe 3 in this stove, and the rest in the downstairs stove.

Two days ago, the convection blower on the upstairs stove quit - no slow down, no awful sounds, etc. - just stopped like someone flipped a switch. Auger motor was still going, feeding pellets, combustion motor was working fine, and no error codes on the control panel. The blower has been making plenty of noise lately when it starts up until it gets good & hot, figured the bearings were going, as it sounded just like the last time, so it wasn't a surprise.

Only 1 dealer in the area had the part - they all said they'd had several people buying replacement Breckwell motors over the last few weeks, and their stock was depleted. 1 dealer had a Fasco motor & said it was the aftermarket replacement, so I grabbed it. However, there are a few differences, so I'm not so sure it will work. I've seen other posts that mention using Fasco motors in the Breckwells, but it's a different part #. I can't find this model # anywhere on the Web, even on Fasco's site.

The aftermarket is Fasco Model #7021-11408, 115v, 1.5A, 60Hz, 3000 RPM, and 1/50 HP, Single Speed, Class "B" - no info on CFM on the part or on the box, and it has 1 green ground wire & 2 black wires w/female spade connectors. Label on the box says this is a Shaded Pole, Clockwise Rotation, Thermally Protected, Ventilation Open, Sleeve Bearning, Wheet 4 1/4" x 2". Also has two other #'s on the label - CA08 and 61224317-1, and another label that says "11408 BW Convection Fan".

The old motor is made by McMillan Industria de Motores in Mexico, Model # 8211715077, 115v, 1.26A, 60Hz, 3000 RPM, 1/40 HP, Class "B", and lists the Customer Part # as BRP A-E-033 (matching all the manuals I have, part lists on Breckwell & other sites, etc.). It has the same green ground wire, but the other wires are Red, with a covered Male spade connector, and White, w/a covered Female spade connector. Can't find any info on this motor anywhere on the Web, either. This isn't the one that came w/the stove, it's one that the dealer installed when the original died 3 years ago. Don't know if the original was also a McMillan, or what the connectors on the original looked like.

Except for a slight difference in width of the sleeve (slightly longer on the Fasco), the external appearance is identical, and the mounting plate & holes line up perfectly to the old one.

Here's what I need to know:

1 - My stove has 2 fan speeds - High & Low. The Fasco is labelled single speed - what's going to happen when the temp. rises and the stove tries to kick the Fasco into High?

2 - Any problems with the slight differences in amps & horsepower? My old dealer gave me a couple of pages from the Breckwell Dealer Digital Troubleshooting guide, and it lists the specs for the Convection Blower as 1.5 Amps, so I'm thinking that this difference might not matter - but the horsepower - I don't know.

3 - I assume the wires on the McMillan were colored differently, and had different connectors, because they shouldn't be interchanged. If I replace the connectors on the Fasco to match the ones on the McMillan, or use a Molex connector, then do I need to worry about which is which? And, if so, how do I tell, since they're both black?

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. If I can't figure this out soon, I'll return this one & order the Breckwell OEM part, or try to find a local place to rebuild the old one, depending on the cost.

Thanks - Rebecca

Wow! Thanks for the fast responses.

I didn't bother hooking up the old motor directly to 120v, as I attached it to the leads on the downstairs stove to test it out - and it didn't work there, either. And yes, I did get it from a dealer, but it was a *very* young guy who told me it was compatible, and he didn't seem too confident in that, though. I think he was probably the owner's kid home from college & helping out in the store.

Figure I'll eventually have the old one rebuilt & keep it on hand, as odds are I'll need another one eventually. Guess I'll be swapping out the leads & installing this baby tonight.

Thanks again - Rebecca

I'm quite happy w/the new Fasco -* much* quieter. So much so, that I'll probably swap out the one downstairs to match. After a few min. on high speed w/stove set @3, I did notice a very faint "new" odor, just like my electric baseboard heaters smelled when new till the finish "cured". I'm not concerned - the longer the stove runs, the fainter it gets, and it's barely noticeable now.

Since I had the stove pulled out, figured I'd check & clean the combustion motor & fan blades.....big mistake.

The gasket between the fan & blower housing fell apart. And, the seal to the flexible vent pipe was compromised - again. This has been an ongoing issue since the stove was installed. Chimney cleaners, dealer techs, etc. - all tried different ways to seal it that would allow it to be removed for cleaning when necessary, usually they used clear sealant, but it never lasted long.

Local dealers were closed, and those I reached didn't have the gasket in stock. With a Nor'easter arriving late tonight w/15" for us, I needed to get this stove running by tonight, so I could run it on generator if we lose power, as it's our only means of keeping the kitchen pipes from freezing. The dealer/owner @Lunker's in Ashland (appropriate name) was a great help over the phone, though. He suggested trying HVAC suppliers, as they might have something similar I could cut down to size. He just won a new customer, even though he's + 1 hour's drive away.

Got a 24"x24" sheet of compressed fiberglass for $28 @ B&B Supply in Leominster. Burn-proof, used on gas & oil furnaces to keep super-heated air, soot & harmful gasses from leaking out. Seems identical to Breckwell gasket material. Took 5 min. to make a new gasket, and I also traced the openings & made one for the connection to the vent pipe. Both gaskets work great - no air/soot leaks, no heat damage, odors, etc. I can held a damp white cloth ~1 inch. away from the vent connection, and didn't see any trace of smoke or soot - none this morning, either.

I can get about 12 more of both gaskets from the same sheet - big savings. Rubber anti-vibration mounts & nuts attaching blower motor to the plate had worn, allowing the nuts/bolts to vibrate slightly, causing an annoying buzz that used to drive us crazy. I grabbed a few small metal washers, covered them with a piece of scrap gasket material, and placed them between the rubber mounts & the nuts. This stopped the movement, absorbed the vibration and stopped the noise.

Stove's been running continuously on 3 since 7:00 pm last night. Was so quiet that both woke up several times thinking it was out. Between all this work, and new glass & door gaskets, it's running better than it did when new. Hardly any ash, consistent flame, and using fewer pellets.

An update.....Stove seemed to run okay after using the Fasco replacement for the Convection blower - for a short while.

Then, we had frequent issues with the stove shutting itself down due to overheating. Always seemed to be an issue w/too much heat behind the stove (it's an insert). Pulling it out about 2" on that side or removing the top part of the shroud seemed to resolve this issue.

However....we noticed that the fan never seemed to kick up to high speed automatically - does fine when we manually switch the speed, but seems to always stay on low, no matter what setting the stove is on, or how hot it is. And, we once came home to find the upstairs about 90 degrees and the stove seriously overheating - a roaring fire, could smell the heat & scalded pellets in the hopper when I walked in the door. Was so hot, had to put on long fire-proof gloves and use a pencil to hit the off switch on the control board, and set up a summer fan to blow on the stove to cool things down. Emptied out the hopper & checked the pellets - found some of them "scalded", color had started to change from the heat.

Don't understand why the stove didn't automatically shut down when the temp got too high this time. Needless to say, we don't run the stove unless someone is awake & in the room now. Finally found a dealer who agreed to send a tech out, he said there was nothing wrong, and that everything checked out fine.

I'm still not feeling good about this. Based on other posts for similiar issues, I'm guessing it's one of 3 things: 1) This motor just isn't right, and I need to get one matching the original specs, 2) a thermodisc is bad or 3) the controller board is bad.

Haven't had any other issues that would leave me thinking it's the control board - it at least appears to be working fine. Here's my question: How can I narrow this down? I'm not an electronics guru, but have a father who spent many years professionally repairing electronics - tv's, radios, and computers, so he knows how to test out the circuits, measure current, etc. I really don't want to take a guess on this, since both the control board & blower are expensive, and this is really a safety issue - don't want the place to burn down.

Any suggestions you have would be great. As a refresher, this is a Breckwell P2000I from installed new, buy a dealer (who is no longer in business) in 2003, inserted into a brick fireplace, vented about 15' to the top of the chimney.

Thanks - Rebecca