Breckwell Combustion Blower Question

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Roadstar

Member
Mar 11, 2011
155
Puyallup, WA
Greetings to all.

I’ve been lurking here on and off for a while looking for answers to all my pellet stove questions and have finally decided to register and unload, but not all at once.

I own a Breckwell P24I. I do not remember when I bought it but it was a long time ago. The serial number starts with ‘WH 94’ so 1994 seems about right, if that’s what the 94 signifies. It does not have an igniter. It might even be the last year Breckwell produced a non-igniter stove.

Since I’ve had this stove I have gone through four convection blowers and still have the original combustion blower, hard to believe and it scares me. My questions relate to the combustion blower.

I purchased a replacement combustion blower a few years ago thinking if the current one ever goes belly up I could just take the old one out and slap the new one in, just like I do with the convection blower, no so. The combustion blower I bought is the typical Whitfield-Breckwell combustion blower as seen below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Breckwell-Pelle...876?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255e4a905c

My first question is in regards to the tube/port that is coming out from the exhaust end of the unit. If you scroll down the page listed above and look at the photo above the guy (Jason) crouching next to his stove this port is on the left hand side of the photo, next to ‘3 ½ inches’. My current combustion unit does not have this. What should I do with this port, leave it alone or block it off? What is it for?

My second question is what is the unit called that connects to the combustion blower exhaust end to the chimney tubing/pipe and where can I get one? One end is a rectangle that connects to the combustion blower and the other end is round that connects to the pipe/tubing that goes up the chimney.

Most people, I suppose, just use the old one (and I may have to) but if and when the current combustion blower bites the dust (always on the coldest day of the year) I do not want to cut the silicon off the old one and seal it to the new combustion blower. I have read here that removing that unit, whatever it is called, if it was sealed with silicon, and mine is, is a real PITA.

Thanks
 
Pulling the old adapter off is really not that bad. Just pulled an original combustion blower off of a 1996 Englander (US 25-5670) last week. New blower came in yesterday (from CSH inc.) and took all of 10 minutes to pull old adapter off of old blower, scrape off the old, put silicone on it, and slap it in. I am test firing it now as we speak. Its sitting outside the garage purring along. Items like those were designed to be re-used. Unless there is serious damage to the product and must be replaced. Good luck.
 
Please post picture of your current combustion blower setup.

Normal practice is to replace the motor unit and to not pull the housing it is mounted on. There should be no silicone in that case, just a lytherm gasket.
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
Please post picture of your current combustion blower setup.

Normal practice is to replace the motor unit and to not pull the housing it is mounted on. There should be no silicone in that case, just a lytherm gasket.

Smokey is right , you do not do not need the blower housing. I have purchased the same blower and only used the moter. It should fit on your stove.
 
The part you are referring to is called a snout. that is what connects the fan housing to the exhaust.

The other port you are describing is for a pressure line to a switch. It will be positive pressure in that lcation and you would want to seal it up with high temp RTV silicone as you will not use it in your application.

If you have gone through four convection blowers chances are good that your control board is bad. The board is most likely sending a modified sine wave to the motor and is damaging the coil in the motor.

Jason boasts himself as the "The worlds #1 Pellet Stove Technician" from his website pelletstovepro.com but had no idea what the brown wire from St. Croix combustion motor was for nor can he answer why one might go through 4 motors is so many years...other than to say whatever he sells you will be better than what you have.

His moniker for his forum from his site is CEOROCKSTAR.

A little humility please.

my 2 cents
 
Thank you all.
This post is supposed to have pictures at the bottom so if they are not there somebody screwed up.

DexterDay:

It’s good to hear you didn’t have any problems removing the old adapter. I assume the old adapter was sealed with silicon. I just might try it since I’ll have all summer to do it.

SmokeyTheBear:

The pictures were kind of hard to take since the insert is installed and running and space is short. Probably not what you wanted to see.

Msmith66:

I really want to replace the combustion blower housing because, as you can see below, the old housing uses tabs to fasten the unit to the stove. The newer design has a flange and once I purchase the proper gasket should provide a better seal. The current blower uses a rope/cord between the housing and the stove. Every year after cleaning I use scotch tape to hold the code in place while I reattach the housing.

I have already purchased the proper blade connectors to replace the Molex connector that came with the unit. From what I have read there is no male/female wire coming from the motor so as long as each wire gets a different connector things should be fine.

smwilliamson:

Thanks for the terminology. I thought I would have to seal up the pressure port and now I feel more comfortable about doing it. I really didn’t like the idea of soot spewing out of it all winter.

I believe the reason for going through four convection blowers in the 18 years or so since I’ve had the stove is poor maintenance on my part. The original blower motor lasted longer than the next two combined and I believe that was because I was having a serviceman come out every year to clean the stove. I don’t think I did a proper job oiling the motors. To be honest I’m still not sure I know the proper way to oil them.

These Fasco motors use sealed ball bearings and there really isn’t an oil port that I can see on them, although the motor on the new combustion unit looks like it has them. I have been trying to apply a drop or two where the bearings attach to the shaft. I know I use the recommended oil but I guess it doesn’t do any good if it doesn’t get to the right place. It seems I’ve read a discussion here about oiling these motors. I’m still not certain.

I am also on my second controller board in these 18 years. This one will be my last analog board since they no longer make them from what I understand. That is going to be another posted question from me as soon as I can gather my thoughts on it.
 

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I too replaced the housing. In its 15 yrs. It had a good life. Was in pretty bad shape. And yes I used high temp silicone on the snout. (900 degree RTV). I used all new fasteners also. For the blower and snout (flue adapter), the old ones were so rusted, that the threads were almost all gone.
The motor has 2 rubber ports on it, that the oil goes into. FYI
 
That blower doesn't appear to have a removable motor/impeller assembly at least not that I can see.

But the replacement you pointed to does.

Looks like you have to go whole hog and re snout that oinker.

Have fun use some good silicone. Rutland makes a full line, they have a decent 800°F black one.
 
Roadstar said:
Thank you all.
This post is supposed to have pictures at the bottom so if they are not there somebody screwed up.

DexterDay:

It’s good to hear you didn’t have any problems removing the old adapter. I assume the old adapter was sealed with silicon. I just might try it since I’ll have all summer to do it.

SmokeyTheBear:

The pictures were kind of hard to take since the insert is installed and running and space is short. Probably not what you wanted to see.

Msmith66:

I really want to replace the combustion blower housing because, as you can see below, the old housing uses tabs to fasten the unit to the stove. The newer design has a flange and once I purchase the proper gasket should provide a better seal. The current blower uses a rope/cord between the housing and the stove. Every year after cleaning I use scotch tape to hold the code in place while I reattach the housing.

I have already purchased the proper blade connectors to replace the Molex connector that came with the unit. From what I have read there is no male/female wire coming from the motor so as long as each wire gets a different connector things should be fine.

smwilliamson:

Thanks for the terminology. I thought I would have to seal up the pressure port and now I feel more comfortable about doing it. I really didn’t like the idea of soot spewing out of it all winter.

I believe the reason for going through four convection blowers in the 18 years or so since I’ve had the stove is poor maintenance on my part. The original blower motor lasted longer than the next two combined and I believe that was because I was having a serviceman come out every year to clean the stove. I don’t think I did a proper job oiling the motors. To be honest I’m still not sure I know the proper way to oil them.

These Fasco motors use sealed ball bearings and there really isn’t an oil port that I can see on them, although the motor on the new combustion unit looks like it has them. I have been trying to apply a drop or two where the bearings attach to the shaft. I know I use the recommended oil but I guess it doesn’t do any good if it doesn’t get to the right place. It seems I’ve read a discussion here about oiling these motors. I’m still not certain.

I am also on my second controller board in these 18 years. This one will be my last analog board since they no longer make them from what I understand. That is going to be another posted question from me as soon as I can gather my thoughts on it.



I see that. You may want to look around for the "tab" housing. OR better yet call Breckwell and ask them. I don't think that blower will work for you.
 
Roadstar said:
I am also on my second controller board in these 18 years. This one will be my last analog board since they no longer make them from what I understand. That is going to be another posted question from me as soon as I can gather my thoughts on it.

Yes, Breckwell no longer makes the analog board, so you must install a new digital board.

They call it a 'conversion'. I just performed this on a relative's early 1990s stove. It wasn't too bad.

Based on the age of your stove it sounds like you will do the same conversion I did. Feel free to PM me with any questions.
 
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