CAB 50 convection blower mod

[enumrob]

Hello all, new to the forums. I've had a Heatilator CAB 50 for over 7 years now, this stove has been a troublesome beast but I always get it running and so far this year it's off to a good start. One thing I've always hated is how you can't run the convection blower at a higher speed when the stove burn switch is on "LOW" I made a modification that took less than 15 minutes and cost $33 bucks. Buy these two items Amazon product ASIN B015SLCJ2W AND THIS Amazon product ASIN B07WVGK5PF It's "plug and play"
Take the two power wires from the stove's control box to convection blower, plug blower wires into the harness, be sure to ground it somewhere inside the stove, plug the cord into the variable controller and plug that into an outlet. Now I can vary the fan speed to a higher speed even with the burn rate on LOW. Made a HUGE difference for me anyway.

 

[Ssyko]

You blower will not shut off with the stove is all. You could add a magnetic snap disc next to the convection blower snap disc, in series with your new set up and the blower will auto turn off when stove is shut down or has a missfire

I know what you mean about troublesome beast, i got an emergency call 15 minutes ago, cab50 wont start and stay running gonna finish my coffee first though.

 

[enumrob]

Yes, you DO have to manually control the blower. I may make the other mod you suggested to have it come on and off automatically, that would be really handy. Amazing how much more heat I get with the stove in the low setting.

This CAB 50 has had failed snap disks from the start, Replaced the thermocouple twice, one auger, vacuum switch, two igniters. I complain about it BUT then I remember it s run about 10 months out of the year, I'm in the Pacific NW and it rarely gets real cold here BUT you definitely need to heat your house just about all of the time except in 1 1-2 months of summer. My house was built in 1932 and it's a drafty old house but the Heatlilator has kept if warm for years now. Thanks for the suggestion on the blower snap disc.

 

[Ssyko]

I keep a couple in stock

 

[SidecarFlip]

Ah yes, Chineseum....

 

[lowb35]

How is this mod working out for you? Thinking about doing this myself. Real winter has finally arrived, so medium is sometimes not quite enough, high is always way too much no matter how cold it gets, and adjusting the blower fan but not the burn rate sounds like a good solution. Also easily reversible which is another plus.

 

[lowb35]

I know this is an old thread, but updating it because I just bought these items to perform this mod on my CAB50 and discovered after my order arrived that the variable controller is for brush motors only. I bench tested it with an old convection fan and it works quite well, but I’m not going to install it in my stove since I don’t think it will be good for extended use. I’m going to use another controller instead made for fireplace and stove fans and not limited to brush motors. I also bench tested my setup with an inline magnetic snap disc and it turns on and off as it should. 😁

 

[lowb35]

Update: works great. Also added an inline 3A fuse for safety since the controller I ended up using doesn’t have one. Both this setup and my stove are plugged into my battery backup for when power goes out. Nice to be able to adjust the fan speed to better circulate the heat without burning more pellets than I need. And easy enough to go back to stock if/when needed.

 

[tlc1976]

I did this when I was burning crap pellets. It helped the stove stay running on low. Opening the damper wasn’t the same as keeping the damper turned down, and running the blower on full to increase the air velocity. A bonus was that I can run the blower on high when cleaning, it really helps suck out the ash dust and keep it out of the house.

Another way to have it turn on and off with the stove, might be to plug the blower-to-fan wires (or maybe just the stove) into a smart power strip. Or a similar module where you can set the turn on level. Then plug your blower control into the switched outlet on the strip, and of course your blower into the control.

 

[lowb35]

I’m using a magnetic snap disk installed right next to the existing one above the exhaust outlet and it works great. Only issue is that the one I got turns on at 120F where the stock one does at 110F but it’s really only a few minute delay in turning on vs stock. Otherwise turns on and off with the stove as it should. 👍

Edit—Sounds like you used it for your combustion not convection fan like I am? Though that’s a good idea for cleaning. Shouldn’t be too hard to plug the combustion fan into my set up when I deep clean the stove. 😁