Blower for Avalon Ranier

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Bs6440

Member
Nov 29, 2013
3
NH
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?"
 
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