I learned a lot of valuable info here prior to selecting my new Lopi Leyden wood stove, including tips in re-doing my hearth and connector pipe. I've had only three fires in the Leyden this season (still slightly warm in NC), but quickly discovered one quirk that I just couldn't live with. I purchased the Lopi blower for the Leyden and found it to be unbearably noisy even on the lowest speed. So, today I set out to find the source of the noise and fix it.
To begin with, this is a beefy blower, mounted in a formed sheetmetal box that mounts below the stove's rear heat shield (hangs from the shield on 3 bolts). There are two squirrel cage fans (driven by one motor) that suck air in through 5 large holes in the sheetmetal housing and those holes are covered by a piece of steel wire mesh mounted inside the housing. The first thing I did was to rap on the stove heat shield with the finger tips, and I was greeted with a variety of metallic noises coming from multiple locations. There turned out to be two sources of noise, but spread out over a wide area.
One source was the stove heat shield itself and the other was the blower housing mesh over the holes. In the case of the shield, the lower part that the blower housing bolts to is secured to the main part of the heat shield with 6 steel pop rivets. All of the rivets were improperly installed, resulting in some space in places between the main shield and the lower part. To correct this, I first removed the heat shield (four bolts) and then drilled out the rivets. Next, I replaced the rivets with short 6-32 screws with a nut and lockwasher. I drilled an additional hole in the middle of the horizontal edge where the shields meet and put an extra screw there. That completely quieted the heat shield.
The other problem was in the blower housing and requires removing the blower assembly from the housing. Both the thermostat and power leads have connectors on them, so I just disconnected those. Then I removed the four nuts holding the motor shock mount screws and was able to slide the assembly out of the housing. Rapping on the housing with the finger tips resulted in an annoying buzz, which was coming from the steel protective mesh. The mesh is one continuous piece that they bent around three sides of the housing and spot welded to the sheet metal walls of the housing. The mesh extends far beyond the welds and that's where the buzzing was coming from. I removed the mesh completely, and found that is most easily done by gently prying up around the welds with a wide blade screwdriver, breaking the mesh wires at the weld. It's a good idea to wear leather gloves while doing that.
After reassembling the blower and mounting it on the stove, I can rap anyplace on the heat shield and I hear no resultant rattles or buzzing at all. Of course, I'm left with some unprotected holes in the fan housing that I suppose could become home to a mouse one of these days. If that's a problem for you, it wouldn't be difficult to build screens that you could firmly bolt or rivet to the outside of the housing.
The Lopi blower sends substantial hot air into the room even on the lower settings. If you stand about two feet from the front of the stove, the two air streams hit you in the face so you'll have some idea of the exit angle of the air. The blower kit includes a speed control mounted in a small box that can sit on the floor behind the stove (AC line goes through the box) and a thermostat that wedges between the flue and the heat shield. So, you can leave the blower set to the speed you want, and it won't come on until the stove warms up a bit.
Hope other Lopi Leyden owners find this useful.
Floyd
Angier, NC
To begin with, this is a beefy blower, mounted in a formed sheetmetal box that mounts below the stove's rear heat shield (hangs from the shield on 3 bolts). There are two squirrel cage fans (driven by one motor) that suck air in through 5 large holes in the sheetmetal housing and those holes are covered by a piece of steel wire mesh mounted inside the housing. The first thing I did was to rap on the stove heat shield with the finger tips, and I was greeted with a variety of metallic noises coming from multiple locations. There turned out to be two sources of noise, but spread out over a wide area.
One source was the stove heat shield itself and the other was the blower housing mesh over the holes. In the case of the shield, the lower part that the blower housing bolts to is secured to the main part of the heat shield with 6 steel pop rivets. All of the rivets were improperly installed, resulting in some space in places between the main shield and the lower part. To correct this, I first removed the heat shield (four bolts) and then drilled out the rivets. Next, I replaced the rivets with short 6-32 screws with a nut and lockwasher. I drilled an additional hole in the middle of the horizontal edge where the shields meet and put an extra screw there. That completely quieted the heat shield.
The other problem was in the blower housing and requires removing the blower assembly from the housing. Both the thermostat and power leads have connectors on them, so I just disconnected those. Then I removed the four nuts holding the motor shock mount screws and was able to slide the assembly out of the housing. Rapping on the housing with the finger tips resulted in an annoying buzz, which was coming from the steel protective mesh. The mesh is one continuous piece that they bent around three sides of the housing and spot welded to the sheet metal walls of the housing. The mesh extends far beyond the welds and that's where the buzzing was coming from. I removed the mesh completely, and found that is most easily done by gently prying up around the welds with a wide blade screwdriver, breaking the mesh wires at the weld. It's a good idea to wear leather gloves while doing that.
After reassembling the blower and mounting it on the stove, I can rap anyplace on the heat shield and I hear no resultant rattles or buzzing at all. Of course, I'm left with some unprotected holes in the fan housing that I suppose could become home to a mouse one of these days. If that's a problem for you, it wouldn't be difficult to build screens that you could firmly bolt or rivet to the outside of the housing.
The Lopi blower sends substantial hot air into the room even on the lower settings. If you stand about two feet from the front of the stove, the two air streams hit you in the face so you'll have some idea of the exit angle of the air. The blower kit includes a speed control mounted in a small box that can sit on the floor behind the stove (AC line goes through the box) and a thermostat that wedges between the flue and the heat shield. So, you can leave the blower set to the speed you want, and it won't come on until the stove warms up a bit.
Hope other Lopi Leyden owners find this useful.
Floyd
Angier, NC
