BK fan?

[tarzan]

just purchased a BK princess and am waiting (technically) on side shields and cooler weather to light my first fire. Is there any way to manually test the fan just to make sure it works while I wait?

 

[tarzan]

Ok, looking behind the stove I see that I could bypass the rheostat fairly easy. Probably just going to wait.

 

[jeff_t]

If you pull the blower off with the rheostat, you can just put a hair dryer on the snap disk.

Actually, I thought I read that they were eliminating the snap disk. Try just turning it on first.

 

[tarzan]

Thanks for the advice. You may be correct about the snap disk but my new BK has a manufactured date of April,2009.

Funny story. When I was stove shopping in 2010 I came VERY close to buying a Princess Parlor model from the same shop this one came from. When I seen that date it occurred to me there's a very good chance it is the exact same stove.

 

[webby3650]

It will have the snap stat if its from 09. Just use a long lighter and give it a little heat right on the button without getting any wires hot. It won't take much heat.

 

[tarzan]

Thanks Jeff T and Webby.

BTW, snap disk, fans, and rheostat all working fine after what I can only assume was over 5 years setting idle.

 

[jeff_t]

I bypassed the snap disk in mine last winter.

On one of those ridiculously cold days, I cleaned most all of the ashes out because I needed the extra capacity. Given the location of the snap disk, behind all of the relatively cold wood, it was taking forever to turn the blowers on. I had a 600°+ stove top, but the blowers would run for maybe a minute, then shut off, and I was losing temp fast. So, I took it apart and wired them directly to the rheostat.

I never have the stove get cold enough for them to shut off on their own, except when we're out of town for a few days. And if I'm letting the stove go cold, I'm not running the blowers anyway. I really haven't missed the snap disk at all.

By the way, my stove was purchased new in '11. It was built in '06.