Rainier blower - When should the fan kick in?

[tcalwillson]

We recently installed an Avalon Rainier insert with the blower which is themostatically controller. The blower usually doesn't kick in for a good hour to hour and a half. This seems way too long, there is plenty of heat to blow out by 30 minutes (or less). Does anyone know if there is an adjustment you can make for this or a way to turn off the thermostat control and just control it manually? Let us turn it on when we're ready?
Thanks

 

[thechimneysweep]

It's been awhile since we sold Avalons, but back then this was a common problem. Because the blower was an optional retrofit, some means had to be found to incorporate a field-installable heat sensor to close the power circuit to the fan motor when the stove came up to temp. This may have changed, but the design of the day was a little stand that looked like a capital "A" with the pointy top cut off, and a snap disc mounted on top of the crossbar, flat side up. To install, you'd slide this assembly into the air plenum under the firebox, then squeeze the two legs of the stand together, which raised the snap disc until it came into contact with the underside of the bottom plate of the firebox. Two wires from the snap disc attached it to the blower assembly, which then snapped into place behind it.

The problem we encountered was, sometimes the snap disc wasn't pressed tightly enough against the bottom plate to get a good "read", so it either took a long time to snap, or didn't snap at all.

Here's the fix: pull your blower, and squeeze the legs of the stand together until the snap disc is touching the underside of the top plate, giving it a little extra squeeze to bend the metal so it will hold firm pressure. While you're in there, make sure the stand is located at the extreme left or right of the opening, out of the airflow from the blower, or the blower will cool the disc and shut itself off prematurely.

 

[begreen]

The blower should be coming on in less than 30 minutes with a good fire going. Usually if it doesn't it's because the thermodisk, snap switch is not making firm contact with the underside of the stove. You can bend it's support tabs inward slightly to press it more firmly against the stove bottom.

edit: Looks like Tom and I co-posted the same solution.

 

[tcalwillson]

Great, thanks for the help. Now, how best do I get in to the innards of the blower to access the sensor? There is a wire mess covering the blower which is below the insert. Do I need to remove the whole insert from the fireplace or just the blower cover? Will I be able to adjust the sensor from below with the stove inplace.

 

[Pagey]

If your blower is like mine, you shouldn't have to take apart the blower itself. See the diagram in this thread:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/61811/

The snap disc is on a separate wire which attaches to the blower.

 

[thechimneysweep]

Again, IF the Rainier blower is still the same as it used to be:

It is not as shown in the diagram in the above link. It is behind the blower, under the firebox as I described above. To get to it, you remove the entire blower assembly, housing and all. It is held in place by two pressure clips at the extreme left and right. To work it loose, you pushed a standard screwdriver blade in between the edge of the blower housing and the stove while pulling straight outward on the blower.