Convention Fan Problem.....loud rattling!!

[coopd3ville]

Hi All

I purchased my house a little over 2 years ago and there was a Pioneer Bay by Lopi pellet stove insert installed in the house. It has been great and it heats the whole house very well. However the other day my wife and myself were sitting in the living room and the all of a sudden the stove started making this loud awful rattling noise (it almost sounded like if you have ever had a bad wheel bearing on your car). I took the side panels off so I could see what was going on and the noise was coming from the convention fan. I then cleaned off the fan blades with a q-tip and used some compressed air to blow out anything that was in there. I also put a dash of lubricant on the side opposite of the fan motor to make sure it was spinning smoother. So I started the stove up again and the noise is still happening, there is nothing in the fan making the noise. I may be wrong but it almost looks like the edge of the fan near the motor has a little bit of play when it is spinning, but I may be mistaken.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated as this is a very annoying sound that I really want to get rid of. Do you think that this can be fixed by myself or does it sound like I will need to have a technician come in?

Thanks for any help.
Jonathan (Coopd3ville)

 

[nailed_nailer]

coop,

Nice play on Deval. lol

On my Enviro EF-2 I pull both the convection fan and the exhaust fan out of the stove about every ton of pellets. I thoroughly clean them using a combination of stiff brush, mechanics scribe and compressed air. I do this outside the house and really get all the moving parts clean. It is amazing how much crap gets sucked through them.

On the convection blower there are two oil ports that I re-lube with light machine oil (3 in 1 oil). About 3 drops each hole.

If you are getting a rattle check that the impeller is not hitting anything in the housing. Also check to see if a gasket or something has moved where it mates up to the convection plenum.

I get a pretty good idea of the status of the blower bearings when I use the compressed air. I can tell when they are getting sleepy by the sound of them when spun with air. There should be no radial play on the impeller shaft. And only a bit on the tangent.

Worst case replacement parts a readily available. I would guess less than $150.00 for a new convection blower.

---Nailer---

 

[coopd3ville]

Thanks NailedNailer I will take a look at what you suggested. Im going to take a page out of your book and it apart at the end of the season to clean most of the moving parts.

Thanks again.