Anyone Upgraded their convection blower?

[Turbo-Quad]

My convection blower could use a little more punch. Anyone ever put a bigger one on their stove?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

J-takeman did https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/67884/

 

[arnash]

Maybe the less than robust air flow only occurs under certain conditions, if so, it's those conditions that need to be addressed. Putting more force behind the air stream, when something during operation is weakening the air stream, would probably improve the strength of the flame but you'd have to start with lower power when the stove is clean, and increase it later. An alternative to replacement would be to find a mini-blower and blow it into the air intake pipe. That would give the same effect.

 

[DexterDay]

Maybe the less than robust air flow only occurs under certain conditions, if so, it's those conditions that need to be addressed. Putting more force behind the air stream, when something during operation is weakening the air stream, would probably improve the strength of the flame but you'd have to start with lower power when the stove is clean, and increase it later. An alternative to replacement would be to find a mini-blower and blow it into the air intake pipe. That would give the same effect.

The OP said "Convection Blower" (Room Air), not the Combustion Blower (Needed for Flame, exhaust, etc)

Turbo Quad- I thought the MT. Vernons came with a fairly large convection blower, I remeber it being larger in CFM than my 1200. I have thought about looking into the Mt. Vernon blower going into the backof my stove. (if compatible?) You would have to do a lot of cross referencing, but there may be something out there. Hope someone can give you more info. Good luck

 

[Pellet-King]

I need a slower blower, mine has plenty of ummph!, unlike other stoves i've felt just a breeze coming out..

 

[jtakeman]

I need a slower blower, mine has plenty of ummph!, unlike other stoves i've felt just a breeze coming out....breAkwell's, enviro's and those cheapy boxy ones at HD, you know who you are...

Most of the Enviro's used the same blower as your whit's. And same goes for the Englander, breckwell and most stoves out there. Whit didn't make the blowers Fasco and A.O. Smith does. And most of the stove manufacturer's just pull them from what these boys have. What get's them is the CFM they select for the stove. And/or how the controller sets the speed. Breckwell's older stoves had a larger blower and you could run said stove all day on max. They dropped the size of the blower on the newer stoves(for some reason, I think it was to reduce noise?) and they will over heat if set on max. But the blower can be replaced with some tinkering/fitting and its back to full blast burning!

If you have to much umph? Slow it down with a rheastat! I am surprised your "dino stove" doesn't have a fan speed control!

 

[perchin]

haha... fast to retract that stuff I see.

The last one I replaced had a lil better CFM, and we love it. Even on our cheapo Breckwell...lol

 

[Turbo-Quad]

J-takeman did https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/67884/

OH YEH! Thats what I'm looking for. Thanks.

 

[jtakeman]

Looking at the stock blower. I would say the fasco A120 or A133 is darn near the same as stock. Do you know what CFM the original is as far as CFM output?

Maybe post the motor numbers.

Fasco's A212 may fit with some work, But it is a bit wider.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

Itink it's 220 cfm but not sure. Dont have it out.

 

[Pellet-King]

Jtakeman, I have 5 fan speeds , seperate from 5 heat controls, if i set it higher than a heat of 3 the fan stays on a 3 otherwise i leave it at the hurricane speed of a 2, i thought all stoves operated like mine, but alot of those newer stoves you cannot adjust your speeds seperately.
Sure the fan's might all be the same, but it's the design of the chamber which determines how much air is blowing out.
I can sit 15 feet away and still look like that Maxell guy sitting in the chair.......

 

[jtakeman]

Jtakeman, I have 5 fan speeds , seperate from 5 heat controls, if i set it higher than a heat of 3 the fan stays on a 3 otherwise i leave it at the hurricane speed of a 2, i thought all stoves operated like mine, but alot of those newer stoves you cannot adjust your speeds seperately.
Sure the fan's might all be the same, but it's the design of the chamber which determines how much air is blowing out.
I can sit 15 feet away and still look like that Maxell guy sitting in the chair.......

Well there are ways to test if the stove's chamber chokes the blower. See my thread for details. I looked like your picture before my upgrade. Now I get pinned to the wall!

Just picking on you. The winnies are probably the most copied stove out there. The newer digital controllers set the speed for you and yes you can not adjust. But with a simple relay and a rheastat there are ways around that issue! Gives full control of fan speed and shuts down when stove does. Only issue I am still working on is forgetting to raise the fan speed when increasing heat setting. Same as your safety.

We should see more user input and control options if we all say we want them. Its like options on the auto's. If there is demand they become standard equipment. So lets start demanding!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Likely some of those dials some of us would like to have would become problematic.

 

[jtakeman]

With todays technology and an external interface. Who needs dials and doodads? Of coarse one would need somewhat of a brain to use it! Ooop!

 

[tjnamtiw]

Maybe the less than robust air flow only occurs under certain conditions, if so, it's those conditions that need to be addressed. Putting more force behind the air stream, when something during operation is weakening the air stream, would probably improve the strength of the flame but you'd have to start with lower power when the stove is clean, and increase it later. An alternative to replacement would be to find a mini-blower and blow it into the air intake pipe. That would give the same effect.

You're talking about the Combustion blower, not the Convection blower. Even so, you sure DON'T want to put a positive pressure on the combustion chamber, which you would do in your scenario. Not a good idea unless you enjoy the prospect of carbon monoxide in your house.

 

[checkthisout]

Cooling off the stove too much probably leads to a lot more soot condensing on the heat exchanger.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Cooling off the stove too much probably leads to a lot more soot condensing on the heat exchanger.

?????? Soot condenses???? Soot is soot. It's in solid form from start to finish. It's never a liquid. Maybe you are talking about creosote? A faster air flow through the convection tubes would move the heated air farther from the stove, which is a good thing, and it would also create more of a turbulant flow, which would improve heat transfer, but I don't think IMHO that the tubes would ever get cold enough to condense creosote, if there is any in the exhaust.

 

[jtakeman]

I have not notice any extra soot since my upgrade. No noticable difference at all.

 

[checkthisout]

A higher or lower fan setting on my little Avalon definitely makes a difference in how quickly crud buildings up the heat exchanger. The heater will also burn itself out on low if the convection is higher than setting 1.

Hard to say. Some stoves might be "undercooled" in the first place.

 

[jtakeman]

At 455 CFM mine is definetly not under cooled. I went from 200 CFM to the larger blower and dumped the convection temp by 100ºF

 

[tjnamtiw]

A higher or lower fan setting on my little Avalon definitely makes a difference in how quickly crud buildings up the heat exchanger. The heater will also burn itself out on low if the convection is higher than setting 1.

Hard to say. Some stoves might be "undercooled" in the first place.

I'm not familiar with the Avalon, but if it is like my Quads, as you lower the convection fan speed, you also lower the combustion fan speed, which WOULD slow the airflow through the heat exchanger and allow more time for the ash to drop onto the heat exchanger. Since the soot is suspended particles, they would have more time to drop out of the air stream. It has nothing to do with how hot or cold it is.

 

[checkthisout]

A higher or lower fan setting on my little Avalon definitely makes a difference in how quickly crud buildings up the heat exchanger. The heater will also burn itself out on low if the convection is higher than setting 1.

Hard to say. Some stoves might be "undercooled" in the first place.

I'm not familiar with the Avalon, but if it is like my Quads, as you lower the convection fan speed, you also lower the combustion fan speed, which WOULD slow the airflow through the heat exchanger and allow more time for the ash to drop onto the heat exchanger. Since the soot is suspended particles, they would have more time to drop out of the air stream. It has nothing to do with how hot or cold it is.

I was unaware at first, but the combustion blower on mine does change with pellet feed rate but not with convection fan speed.

It doesn't make sense to me that your stove would change combustion blower speed with convection fan speed changes but I am also not a pellet stove expert.

 

[tjnamtiw]

On my Quads, the feed rate, convection blower speed and combustion speeds ALL change together when stock.

 

[arnash]

"It has nothing to do with how hot or cold it is" Not exactly. If the burn pot air flow is decreased to below the optimal flow for maximum combustion , then the flame won't burn as hot or clean, resulting in more soot being produced because a lower (as in too low) temperature won't fully burn all the mass of the pellets. If the burn pot is so loaded with pellets that there isn't enough heat to ignite them because the pot can't get enough air for such a large amount of pellets, then the soot will be increased compared to a really hot pot with fewer pellets. But if the air flow isn't restricted by ash or the damper, you probably won't see the soot and won't be able to judge the difference. But I'm referring to the combustion blower and the air flow it produces. I can't imagine how the convection blower can affect the temp. in the burn pot. It just cools the heat exchanger at a faster or slower rate.

 

[checkthisout]

But I'm referring to the combustion blower and the air flow it produces. I can't imagine how the convection blower can affect the temp. in the burn pot. It just cools the heat exchanger at a faster or slower rate.

My Avalon has an air hole in the plenum that pulls air out of the ash pan area. This hole is ahead of the inlet damper. It's my opinion that having the convection fan blower speed too high causes the overall stove temp to be much lower and thus air entering this hole is much colder and thus making the burn pot area much colder which leads to the fire burning itself out between fuel drops.

That's the only reason I can think that my stove would burn out on the low setting if the convection is anywhere but setting #1.

That is why I wish I had done better research and purchased the Sel-Kirk concentrical venting/fresh air pipe.