Earth Stove BV 4000C Blower Repair

[gmonia75]

First time poster- hope I'm posting in the right place..

I have an older (70s or 80s?) Earth Stove that I believe to be model BV 4000C. We had a contractor come out to look at it and the blower specifically to see if we could get it repaired. He took a quick look and noted that some parts were melted through and others totally blown- like the fan disc (low limit disc F 110-20). He said the company is out of business and he can't get parts and recommended installing a whole new fireplace insert!

SO, I did some research and found the manual (https://manuals.fire-parts.com/aws-assets/lennox-bv4000c-2-bv4000c-2_install-pdf.pdf?inline=true) and ordered both the blower assembly and disc. I absolutely zero experience in this area and very minimal electric, but from the wiring diagram I was able to hook it all up. I plugged the blower in and nothing happened. After more googling and help from this site I decided to bypass the rheostat and the blower fans both started up! Now I have two main questions:

1. Does this mean the old rheostat is out? do I need to order a new rheostat or will the blower turn on when the stove reaches a certain temperature if I wire it as I had it before?

2. The wiring diagram seems to have the fan disc located at a point just in front of the fans in the center of the assembly (and this is how it was on the old unit- just kind of hanging there in front). This seems like very odd placement to me and there is a small hole in the fireplace insert where I think it should go and where it would be attached to the body of the firebox. I've read that it absolutely should be placed there to operate, but this goes against the wiring diagram and where I believe the original had it located. (Hard to tell for sure as the contractor pulled it all apart quickly and left it a puzzle for me to reconfigure.

I'll attach some photos for reference. Any help is very much appreciated!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Bypass the temperature sensor. If your stove isn’t burning it’s most likely not hot enough to turn that switch on.

 

[gmonia75]

Bypass the temperature sensor. If your stove isn’t burning it’s most likely not hot enough to turn that switch on.

I have the rheostat already bypassed and then I tried bypassing that sensor too and now the blower will just run continuously if plugged in. Shouldn't the on/off switch still work to shut it off? I guess I'll try bypassing the temp sensor only and connecting the rheostat.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The snap disc/temperature sensor is an on/off switch. If the stove isn’t hot, the switch stays off.

If you directly wire the blower to the plug, there are no longer any switches and the blower will run at max speed.

The rheostat is another type of switch. You can run them in parallel, but if the stove isn’t hot enough to turn the temperature switch on, the circuit is still broken.

 

[gmonia75]

The snap disc/temperature sensor is an on/off switch. If the stove isn’t hot, the switch stays off.

If you directly wire the blower to the plug, there are no longer any switches and the blower will run at max speed.

The rheostat is another type of switch. You can run them in parallel, but if the stove isn’t hot enough to turn the temperature switch on, the circuit is still broken.

Okay, thanks for that information. It's helping me to understand, but I am still wondering if the rheostat needs replacing or not. If the snap disc is bypassed the blower should run when both the rheostat and the on/off switch are turned on right? when I had it set up that way nothing would happen. It will only turn on with rheostat bypassed.

From what I'm understanding it seems that it might need replacing, so I ordered one to replace this one and it will be here Wednesday.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Provided that the rheostat is not adjusted so that zero current goes through it should run. Think of a rheostat as a hose spigot regulating the flow of water. It’s not just an on/off switch, it has the ability to change the amount of water flowing out.

 

[gmonia75]

Provided that the rheostat is not adjusted so that zero current goes through it should run. Think of a rheostat as a hose spigot regulating the flow of water. It’s not just an on/off switch, it has the ability to change the amount of water flowing out.

It doesn't run, so I will try the replacement. By on I mean that I turned it to the right and heard a click, but it doesn't run at any speed. I bought a cheap replacement on Amazon because I had trouble finding anything else, so hope that it will work.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Let us know how it turns out!

 

[gmonia75]

Will do- thanks again for the info