Blower Speed Control - Paging All of You Electrical Wizards

[BrotherBart]

The 30-NCL has a fantastic blower on it and that is one of the reasons that it beats the heck out of an insert where I have it located half-in and half-out of the fireplace. Problem is that the blower is mounted low in the back on the heat shield which is also the duct up and over the top of the stove for the air. All works great except that getting cheek to cheek with 455 pounds of six hundred degree stove to reach between the fireplace wall and around the back of the stove to adjust the reostat up or down ain't a lot of fun.

I am wondering if putting a motor speed adjuster like you can use for routers inline in the power cord would damage the reostat or the motor. What I would like to do is plug the blower power cord into one and the speed control into the outlet. And have the luxury of being away from that beast when I adjust the fan. But I don't know squat about electrical stuff and don't know if I will hurt the reostat or the motor.

BTW: I was worried that the blower being back there in the fireplace would over heat the thing. Convection up through the heat shield is so good that even with the fan off I can reach back there and the blower housing is cool as a cucumber.

 

[GVA]

Just off the top of my head I would say you could add a remote reostat of variable transformer or maybe even a potetiometer to the setup depending on the setup that is there.
If it is a variable speed then it is most likely a shaded pole motor..
You could probably do it if you matched the pot and resistor at the motor with a new one remotely mounted and cranked the one on the motor up fully, although you may have to remove or bypass the pot that is there......
I'm no longer the techno geek that I once was, but it should be able to be done.....

 

[begreen]

I don't have the wiring diagram handy, but I would probably dismount the current rheostat and wire it in a handy box to a more convenient location nearby. It shouldn't take much more than soldering a 3 wire cord to the current location to extend the rheostat. Of course, there goes the warranty on that part, but the convenience sounds worth it. Mike, what say ye?

 

[jjbaer]

I think you need a fan or motor control unit to adjust the speed. I put a fan controller ($7) on my old Bick Stove and it worked well. It changed my 3-speed blower into an infinite speed controller....had a little noise in it but it worked.

 

[Gooserider]

Sounds like a question for Mike, as he would be able to tell you what the motor spec is, (and might even have the right part for sale, I would if I were in his shoes)

That you have an existing speed control tells me you should be able to make some sort of controller, but just what sort depends on the type of motor you have. I would probably be inclined to look at re-locating the existing controller, they really shouldn't be put in series anyway, and relocating it will involve the fewest parts and the least expense, while guaranteeing you are using the right controller type. Should be doable, but you will find it easiest if you have a schematic, which is also a "Mike" question if it isn't in your manual.

If figuring out the wiring isn't something you are comfortable, get me the schematic and I'll see what I can do with it.

Gooserider

 

[begreen]

Even without a schematic, connecting terminals of the rheostat to a hunk of cable to the same terminals should be just a matter of soldering or spade lugging and keeping the terminals in correct order. This seems like a pretty simple problem. From looking at the parts, this may just be a 2 wire cable. The AC-11 rheostat seems to be sold as an independent item as well and appears to have only 2 wires.

 

[Gooserider]

Even without a schematic, connecting terminals of the rheostat to a hunk of cable to the same terminals should be just a matter of soldering or spade lugging and keeping the terminals in correct order. This seems like a pretty simple problem. From looking at the parts, this may just be a 2 wire cable. The AC-11 rheostat seems to be sold as an independent item as well and appears to have only 2 wires.

Agreed in theory BG... If I was there in BB's living room I could probably fix it in under 30 minutes, most of which would be spent in getting tools out and other setup stuff...

But I'm not there, and haven't seen the actual unit, which makes life a lot harder. Since we haven't figured out how to do file transfers of stoves yet, I'd want the schematic just so that I could modify it and show just what to disconnect and how to do the rewire.... BB would have to do the actual work, but with the schematic I could hopefully give him clear enough instructions to follow even though he doesn't know electrical stuff that well.

Gooserider

 

[BrotherBart]

Thanks guys. I know that I could take the reostat out of the blower housing and extend the wires. The reason for the question was that a plug in motor speed control costs ten bucks and does not involve taking the top plate off of the chimney, lifting the liner, moving 500 pounds out of the fireplace, taking the blower apart, putting the stove back in, lowering the liner and reconnecting it to the stove and resealing the top plate.

Plugging the blower power cord into a speed controller and the controller into the wall kinda sounded easier.

 

[kd460]

I'm not an electrician by ay means, but, I would just leave the current reostat adjusted to full speed and just use the router control one. Adjusted to full speed, your current reo is probably electrically "invisible" and should be fine. At full power the original reostat is probably not a factor. KD

 

[Gooserider]

Thanks guys. I know that I could take the reostat out of the blower housing and extend the wires. The reason for the question was that a plug in motor speed control costs ten bucks and does not involve taking the top plate off of the chimney, lifting the liner, moving 500 pounds out of the fireplace, taking the blower apart, putting the stove back in, lowering the liner and reconnecting it to the stove and resealing the top plate.

Plugging the blower power cord into a speed controller and the controller into the wall kinda sounded easier.

Yes it probably would be easier, but the question remains, what sort of motor does your blower have? I would repeat my earlier suggestion of calling Mike at ESW and asking him (I'm surprised he hasn't chimed in yet) to make sure it's ok. - just as a for instance, one should not use a router speed control on a "soft start" adjustable speed router, so it's not always an easy question to answer.

Gooserider

 

[Jags]

I'm not an electrician by ay means, but, I would just leave the current reo adjusted to full speed and just use the router control one. Adjusted to full speed, your current reo is probably electrically "invisible" and should be fine. At full power the original reo is probably not a factor. KD

BB - If you get a controller that is designed for the type of motor on the fan (which is very important), then kd is spot on. Keep the rheo on the stove at wide open throttle and it should become (darn near) a straight piece of wire, meaning "invisible" as kd put it. One possible solution to get the proper controller, is to purchase a replacement for your stove and then get a small, two dollar "project box" from radio shack to install the controller (rheo) and wires into. Cut an extension cord (proper wire size please) to the length that you want the "extension controller" to be, using the female end to plug into the existing stove wires and the male end to plug into the wall. Bingo, you made and extension cable with a new rheostat in the middle.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

I'm not an electrician by ay means, but, I would just leave the current reo adjusted to full speed and just use the router control one. Adjusted to full speed, your current reo is probably electrically "invisible" and should be fine. At full power the original reo is probably not a factor. KD

BB - If you get a controller that is designed for the type of motor on the fan (which is very important), then kd is spot on. Keep the rheo on the stove at wide open throttle and it should become (darn near) a straight piece of wire, meaning "invisible" as kd put it. One possible solution to get the proper controller, is to purchase a replacement for your stove and then get a small, two dollar "project box" from radio shack to install the controller (rheo) and wires into. Cut an extension cord (proper wire size please) to the length that you want the "extension controller" to be, using the female end to plug into the existing stove wires and the male end to plug into the wall. Bingo, you made and extension cable with a new rheostat in the middle.

KD and Jags are dead on the money in all respects, if you use an (ac-11) the only thing i would add is that the black wire is toward currant, the white toward the blower. if you use the supplied power cord and cut it , use the black wire of the power cord for signal , and the white to return, the green wire if tied to a box instead of a plug should go to house ground. as KD said, turning the mounted rheostat to full on position will negate it and allow you to control from new rheostat. full on with this switch is simply turning it from off and no more , as it decreases as it is turned further. ideally removal of the rheostat and moving it would be the ideal solution , but we build em heavy at ESW so moving the unit isnt the most attractive way to spend an afternoon. BB shoot me a PM or e mail me if you want to chat this thing out , i'll call you from the house as im not spending a lot of time in my office these days , doing a lot of lab work. no problem calling ya if ya want. i was thinking you would eventually want to do this when i saw what you were doing with the hookup.

 

[BrotherBart]

Thanks Mike. I am just going to pick up a Kane Dial-A-Temp rheostat. Found it on the web today. The same rheostat in a housing with intergral three prong outlet and plugs into the wall outlet. I don't mind contributing to you and Corie's profit sharing but it costs twenty bucks less than an AC-11 and I don't have to whack any cords or splice anything.

BTW: Let me know when you get a chance to talk to Bob about my baffle question.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Thanks Mike. I am just going to pick up a Kane Dial-A-Temp rheostat. Found it on the web today. The same rheostat in a housing with intergral three prong outlet and plugs into the wall outlet. I don't mind contributing to you and Corie's profit sharing but it costs twenty bucks less than an AC-11 and I don't have to whack any cords or splice anything.

BTW: Let me know when you get a chance to talk to Bob about my baffle question.

awwww shucks , i havent yet , and bob will be out of the net for a few days , he lost his mother yesterday. i'll bounce your question off him when he gets "settled back in" . give me a few weeks and i'll get with him on it.

 

[BrotherBart]

Tell Bob I am sorry to hear about his mom.

No problem. It was 96 today so I think the stove has a few days left before it gets lit off again.