St. Croix Hastings Convection Fan Issue

My stove is making an odd noise, almost like an intermittent sound halfway between a chirp and a grinding noise. I believe the noise is coming from the convection fan. Has anyone ever encountered this issue? It appears to be quite dusty inside of this area, but I am hesitant to start pulling things apart if I do not have to. Thanks!

quite dusty? well, why would you be promted to clean it? the dust is GOOD for the unit, right?

I had to laugh when I saw this, because I have had this issue before and I am having it today and I logged back on to find what happened last time and see what I did.
Some info is here: http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/st-croix-hastings-room-convection-fan-noise.82494/ And if you need to really take apart the fan: http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/too-many-moving-parts-on-these-machines.82198/

But first, are you sure its the convection fan? The combustion fan is right on top of the convection fan and its hard to hear which is making noise. Trust me I was just trying all the tricks aside from hot wiring each fan and I still wasn't sure. Though I am pretty sure its the convection fan.

This is what I would do before takng everything apart. Remove the side panel (with stove unplugged) and vacuum all around the combustion fan. Also vacuum all around the convection fan and through the opening on both. If you have a compressor blow both. Also, when your stove is cool, run the the leaf blower trick. This will clean your combustion fan pretty well for now. This will help if its the combustion fan making noise because ash is making it off balance or interfering with the rotation.

Now if that doesn't work, I would remove the convection fan and vacuum it, brush it and blow it well with a compressor. If that doesn't work, I would remove the combustion fan and clean, brush and blow that with the compressor. I wouldn't rmove that unless you have a gasket, gasket material or high temp RTF to put it back together. (Some people frown on high temp RTF in this application, but it works in a pinch).

Now no matter what, at the end of the season clean both of these fans well as described. Use this manual for reference: http://stcroixstoves.com/pdfs/Other Manuals/Digital Control Board Manual.pdf

OK, I just did everything except remove the combustion fan. I didn't mention how well a nice bottle brush will help as well. No noise at all from my stove now. Try it.

I hope you blew out the motor itself to get the dust out of it. The motor coils need to be clear so they don't overheat.

Yes, I cleaned everything well. It wasn't all that dirty. And now I take back my last post. Its noisy again and sounds like a bad bearing. I will either look into a new bearing or replace the whole unit. And its definitely the convection fan. I am able to shut the convection fan off and see that the combustion fan is still running and no noise. I would love a cheap source for this fan if anyone has one.

Edit: Its quiet again and blowing. I guess I'll have to watch it. I think its only noisy at high speed.

Sounds like you might want to start shopping for a motor, so you don't have to grab one in a hurry when this one does quit.

This is the convection blower that came in my Afton Bay. I'm rather sure it's an aftermarket blower. You might try to source one of these if it will fit your stove.

I cleaned everything I was able to yesterday without much success and a lot of swearing. Not much room to work with behind my stove. Once I was able to put everything back together I found the stove still made the same noise. I am going to retry it again today with some help. Thanks for all the information and ideas above. This site is always so full of information.

Sorry to say, if you've got a bad bearing, all the cleaning in the world won't fix it. Sounds like it's time for repair/replace. If/when you get the motor out again, you could try oiling the bearings, but it may be too late to save them.

Later last night, it got loud. Then it started squealing. I gave it a couple of taps to see if I could help and it quit altogether. I called around this morning and found a guy in Batavia, NY (http://www.wnyfireplaceoutlet.com/) who had the convection blower for $139 in stock and only 20 minutes away. Best price I've seen for it and I got it today. Only had to spend one night on oil heat. I programmed this guy into my gps. He knew what he was talking about when I spoke with him, has the parts to my stove in stock at good prices (I checked up on other parts), and was more than willing to be helpful.

I hope all of this information helped the OP in some way.