Drolet Eco-45 Combex blower DIY replacement

[TTSProd]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post so I hope I've followed the proper forum etiquette!

Last October 2012 I bought and installed an eco-45 pellet stove and the first winter it worked great! This year not so much, it seemed to be putting out less heat than last year and a couple of times on startup after cleaning it would scream like a banshee for ~20 seconds then start normally. Well, I shut it down for cleaning yesterday and now it will not do anything when I power it up except produce a quiet hum, like the blower is trying to fire up but can't. Other than that hum, nothing, none of the fans even spin up. After a certain amount of time it quits with a "P" (Pressure Switch) error. I checked the pressure switch and hose, I checked for power at the combex blower. All seems as it should be.

I contacted SBI and the technician I spoke to was excellent! He asked me to manually try and spin the Combex blower and judge how hard it was to move... it was VERY stiff. He said the Combex blower is bad and they are sending a replacement under warranty... Awesome! Unfortunately labour is NOT covered!

Here is where I need some help. I've taken out all of the screws that hold the blower and I can see there is some sort of high temperature sealing compound that is black in colour bonding the blower to the air intake that is welded to the stove. What is this stuff? Is there an easy way to remove it? Maybe I'm not supposed to have to remove it and I'm going about this all wrong?

Any help on this would be very much appreciated!

Ken

 

[TTSProd]

I figured it out... thanks for all your help.

Ken

 

[hodson]

Hey Ken, i now have to remove my blower assembly and am looking at the same problem. It would be great if you provided some info on how it went.
thanks

 

[TTSProd]

Ok, I'll do my best.

Looking at it from the back of the stove, the Combex blower is mounted by 6 or 8 screws on the right (combustion exhaust side) two of which are inside the "cleaning access" port as mentioned in the manual. On the left (air intake side) there is only one screw holding it in place but the whole air intake side of the Combex blower (as well as that one screw) has been very generously covered with a compound called Mill-Pac Black making that one screw VERY hard to find. The screw was higher than I expected and it is accessible from the left side so thats a good place to start chipping away at the Mill-Pac. The stuff is really hard, I mostly used a flat tip screwdriver and a hammer and it took HOURS! To say it was unpleasant is a huge understatement. Once you have disconnected the power and sensor connections, removed all the screws, and chipped away a significant amount of the Mill-Pac, grab the blower by the motor and try and wiggle it up and down (or towards you, away from you... but not side to side). No movement? Go back to chipping Mill-Pac and/or check for any missed mounting screws. Little bit of movement? Keep wiggling, it will come out eventually.

A note on build quality here. I have to question the wisdom of essentially gluing a part like this into the stove. Once I got my blower out it became clear why Mill-Pac was the best (cheap) solution. The mount that is welded into the stove on the air intake side, was designed too large to mate cleanly with the Combex blower. There is a huge gap that had to be filled with something and my guess is that Mill-Pac is cheap compared to having the mount modified to actually fit! It really should have been designed the same way as the combustion exhaust side, 2 mating plates that screw together with a gasket between. No wonder they warranty the part but not the labour.

I called Drolet (SBI) to ask what I should use to reinstall the blower because Mill-Pac is just not available at any of my local stores. He told me I could use +1000 degree black silicon. I was a bit concerned because the Mill-Pac is much tougher than the silicon so I left the back and sides off so I could visually inspect the connections after heating the stove up a few times and everything seems fine.

My stove now runs better than it ever did. Much quieter, the glass stays cleaner, burn pot does not fill with ash as fast. I think now that the Combex blower that was originally glued in to this stove was junk.

I tried to be as thorough as possible, hopefully it is at least somewhat helpful to you.

Ken

 

[hodson]

thanks a million Ken,
I ordered a new unit this morning so i hope to see it in a couple of days. thanks for the great detail!