7 years ago we bought an avalon ranier. We love the stove. The blower blows - not in a good way. I'm an engineer and looking at this blower design I'm amazed. How could you screw up a simply design this badly? Was it intentional? Two fan motors? Really? I guess they wanted redundancy so the wood stove may be space qualified for use on the space station . . .
Very loud and no dust protection which pretty much ensures dust will enter the drive assembly and, over time, kills the motor. Finally, one of the motors died. I toyed with the idea of redesigning the entire blower unit to use a single motor to drive both tangential fans but instead just found the motors for $50 each (which still seems high but whatever). The stove shop wanted $420 for a new unit telling me that the motors are not replaceable. I laughed and laughed. Then I realized he was being serious. In any event the motors are Fasco 7055 1046. Rotom.ca sells a comparable unit. I know there is a fireplaceblower website that sells replacements also. I added low friction dust seals to my Rotom motors. Contrary to the stove shop guys assertion, the motors are easily replaceable. Cut wire feeds, drill out the rivets, add a couple male/female connectors to the feed wires, reassemble. I used the opportunity to clean and inspect everything. Also I balanced the fans and added hybrid ceramic bearings because, you know, if it is not over engineered it is not engineered. Now that baby spins
Now - much more efficient and silent - I mean really silent. Ahhh - the quiet contentment that comes with repairing something yourself and over engineering the chit out of something.
Now my wife gets to hear the phrase that she dreads hearing - "What else can I fix around here?"
Very loud and no dust protection which pretty much ensures dust will enter the drive assembly and, over time, kills the motor. Finally, one of the motors died. I toyed with the idea of redesigning the entire blower unit to use a single motor to drive both tangential fans but instead just found the motors for $50 each (which still seems high but whatever). The stove shop wanted $420 for a new unit telling me that the motors are not replaceable. I laughed and laughed. Then I realized he was being serious. In any event the motors are Fasco 7055 1046. Rotom.ca sells a comparable unit. I know there is a fireplaceblower website that sells replacements also. I added low friction dust seals to my Rotom motors. Contrary to the stove shop guys assertion, the motors are easily replaceable. Cut wire feeds, drill out the rivets, add a couple male/female connectors to the feed wires, reassemble. I used the opportunity to clean and inspect everything. Also I balanced the fans and added hybrid ceramic bearings because, you know, if it is not over engineered it is not engineered. Now that baby spins
Now - much more efficient and silent - I mean really silent. Ahhh - the quiet contentment that comes with repairing something yourself and over engineering the chit out of something.
Now my wife gets to hear the phrase that she dreads hearing - "What else can I fix around here?"
