Hi, I bought a Napoleon insert last April and installed it this past September. We have only been using it since it got cold this year. I'm using Pennington pellets which unfortunately we really detest already, since the are loaded with dust like you wouldn't believe. the only good part is I only paid $224 for them back in the summer. We clean the stove out everday. However, our exhaust fan has developed a noise. I hope it is not on it's way out yet. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I have e-mailed Napoleon yesterday, but so far no response. I'm not sure who to go for service since I purchased this on the internet from Zoobler. I would think it should be covered by warranty. Any suggestions? Hopefully, it is just a simple tweak or fix. Thanks, Kim
Exhaust fan on Napoleon NPI-40 making a noise.
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Sounds like a possible faulty combustion blower motor- not difficult to replace but is covered under the two year electrical warranty to the original purchaser. I've had a couple with the same bearing/bushing noise.
I have the same stove. Also, I think the same noise. Fortunately for me, the noise is intermittent.
I contacted two dealer about this issue. One contacted a Napoleon rep who reportedly said that they had a very few stoves with that problem. He suggested I take of the left side panel and check for a pinhole leak somewhere between the blower and the exhaust pipe. The other dealer felt it might be related to some form of air obstruction. He suggested I check my clean out tee for ash. Now, I have no idea why the noise comes and goes, but I do know that if I turn off the stove and let it sit, that when I turn it back on, the noise is gone. So far it has been gone for a week and I must admit, I haven't done anything to correct it. I am thinking that when I get a little more motivated. (no longer able to hear the Tv) that I will first try the leaf blower thing. Sounds to me like the best way to clean everything out.
If you find a solution, please post a follow up.
thanks
I contacted two dealer about this issue. One contacted a Napoleon rep who reportedly said that they had a very few stoves with that problem. He suggested I take of the left side panel and check for a pinhole leak somewhere between the blower and the exhaust pipe. The other dealer felt it might be related to some form of air obstruction. He suggested I check my clean out tee for ash. Now, I have no idea why the noise comes and goes, but I do know that if I turn off the stove and let it sit, that when I turn it back on, the noise is gone. So far it has been gone for a week and I must admit, I haven't done anything to correct it. I am thinking that when I get a little more motivated. (no longer able to hear the Tv) that I will first try the leaf blower thing. Sounds to me like the best way to clean everything out.
If you find a solution, please post a follow up.
thanks
I also have an NPI40 and the convection fan alternates between quiet, annoying, and cant hear the tv. A local dealer has ordered a new one under warranty. I have not been impressed with the quality of this stove, but it looks nice. I have spoken directly with Napoleon service and they would not help me. I was told that because of the type of appliance it is it required a certified service tech and was refered to local dealers.
I also have a Napoleon npi40 installed in October 2008, bought in summer. Have had extensive problems with noisy blowers sometimes intermittent, other times annoyingly constant. I am scheduled to have my 4th blower installed next week. noise is often times unbearable. Napoleon will give you no answers only to contact people you bought stove from who don't seem to have any better answers. Spent to much money to be this dissatisfied with the stove. not recommended..
I still haven't ordered my new part. I just filled out the paperwork today and realized I need the darn serial # which we will have to pull out the stove for. The noise seemed to get better for a while, but now it has been undearable the last two days or so. It's to the point of driving me crazy, it's so incredibly annoying. That's awful that is could be replaced 4 times and still have a problem. At the time I bought this stove, I had a choice between this one and a small Breckwell for the same price. I'm thinking now I surely should have went with the Breckwell. Since I bought this off the internet, I have to go back to the original seller to get my warranty parts. I also contacted Napoleon and they are not very helpful with anything. It should be that any local dealer should be able to handle the warranty repair. It's obvious this company doesn't have a clue when it comes to customer service. And, if they know they have a problem with these blowers, by now they should be shipping out an improved model. I'm also very disappointed. Is there any one out there that has been problem free with their exhaust blower? 
- Kim
- Kimkh395269 said:Is there any one out there that has been problem free with their exhaust blower?
I've been running my NPS40 for almost two months now without that exhaust blower noise problem, at least not yet.
Just wanted to touch on the heat output as well. We have about a 1500 sq ft home. the stove is rated for 2000 sq ft and the heat surely does not drive you out of the room on cold days. again very disappointed with this stove and it appears NAPOLEON is not quick to respond to any of the problems. however when I spoke to NAPOLEON one time the girl did say they were receiving several complaints about the blowers and having many problems with them....
are all of these stoves new models this year? i just started mine for the first time yesterday,so no noises yet.i talked to 3people that install these stoves and theyve all said good things about tech guys at napoleon.i dont think this stove can heat a 2000 sq feet house only max 43000 btu,s. have you put thermometor in heat tubes and checked this for output. turned mine upto five last nite and it was 220 degrees,and 170 on three.good luck to all i will be watching for fan noise.
I have the insert and have run it about 2 months now. I also hear the exhaust blower make "slow oscillating bearing whine". It might last two minutes, then goes away. Having been around different fans all my life, it is definitely bearing noise. Sometimes due to dirt or otherwise poor quality control in the bearing races. Could also be that as the stove heats up and gets the bearings up to a temperature and tolerance, then they behave themselves. I haven't pulled mine to see who makes the blower (hopefully not made in China). If I have issues, I'm going through Zoobler first.
As for heat, mine will smoke you out, but remember it's all about feed rate. If you need 42,000 BTUs out of your stove, be prepared to feed it 5lbs/hour or 3 bags a day. 8000BTU/lb x 5lbs = 40,000BTUs, Any stove would need that.
On setting 2-3, it's warm with a small flame; on 4-5 it's hot with a tall flame. When it's 25-30 degrees out, I heat a 1700 sq. ft. two story on a little more then a bag a day. 76 in the stove room and 67-69 in other rooms. I have a center hall stairway so the heat rises nicely. I also run it 24 hours a day; this way you never let your house cool down. Remember your house acts like a thermal battery;don't let it get too cold.
Craig
As for heat, mine will smoke you out, but remember it's all about feed rate. If you need 42,000 BTUs out of your stove, be prepared to feed it 5lbs/hour or 3 bags a day. 8000BTU/lb x 5lbs = 40,000BTUs, Any stove would need that.
On setting 2-3, it's warm with a small flame; on 4-5 it's hot with a tall flame. When it's 25-30 degrees out, I heat a 1700 sq. ft. two story on a little more then a bag a day. 76 in the stove room and 67-69 in other rooms. I have a center hall stairway so the heat rises nicely. I also run it 24 hours a day; this way you never let your house cool down. Remember your house acts like a thermal battery;don't let it get too cold.
Craig
Hi Craig,
I agree with the heat output. We also rarely go over a bag a day and heat a 1650sq ft ranch with out many problems. The farthest bedrooms stay at about 68, where as the adjacent kitchen is usually 72. We use a small suspended fan in the living room door way pointing down the hall and a fan near the unit blowing it to the doorway to move the heat down the hall. The unit has been heating are house ok, but this is the first stove I have ever had, so I don't really have anyting to compare it to. The only thing I don't care for is that it does get really dirty pretty quickly, but I think that is the poor Pennington pellets we ended up with as well. We have been sifting the sawdust from them to help the process, but we still find we need to clean the pot and the window everyday to keep it running clean and efficient. As for the blower, my husband is an auto mechanic and he also says it's a bearing noise. It started out very intermittent, but it is now more frequent and constant. Also, for us it gets worse the more time it is running. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it also seems worse on colder evenings. I love running the stove but we have actually stopped running it the past few evenings. The noise has been keeping me awake at night, and I can sleep through most anything.
I agree with the heat output. We also rarely go over a bag a day and heat a 1650sq ft ranch with out many problems. The farthest bedrooms stay at about 68, where as the adjacent kitchen is usually 72. We use a small suspended fan in the living room door way pointing down the hall and a fan near the unit blowing it to the doorway to move the heat down the hall. The unit has been heating are house ok, but this is the first stove I have ever had, so I don't really have anyting to compare it to. The only thing I don't care for is that it does get really dirty pretty quickly, but I think that is the poor Pennington pellets we ended up with as well. We have been sifting the sawdust from them to help the process, but we still find we need to clean the pot and the window everyday to keep it running clean and efficient. As for the blower, my husband is an auto mechanic and he also says it's a bearing noise. It started out very intermittent, but it is now more frequent and constant. Also, for us it gets worse the more time it is running. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it also seems worse on colder evenings. I love running the stove but we have actually stopped running it the past few evenings. The noise has been keeping me awake at night, and I can sleep through most anything.
Does anyone know the return policy on these things and I mean the whole stove. has anyone tried to return theirs? i mean this is getting ridiculous... any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated.. i dont know if NAPOLEON is required to back stoves that appear to be lemons.
PLEASE IF THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE OUT THERE HAVING THE SAME PROBLEMS AND YOU READ THESE COMPLAINTS PLEASE LET US KNOW BY LEAVING YOUR COMMENTS,MAYBE SOMEONE CAN OFFER US A SOLUTION...
As a very satisfied Napoleon dealer, I can tell you that Napoleon does and will take care of their problems. Not sure of how things work with the internet sellers, "Beware of the high cost of the low price" comes to mind. I've experienced firsthand these same troubles with units I've sold and installed, and as far as I can tell, I believe the manufacturer got ahold of some bad fans, because I've replaced such with another reputable manufacturers Fasco motor, and have had no problems since. Just replaced another convection fan last week, under warranty of course. Please keep in mind that Napoleon tech services always responds to the dealers needs asap, as they should and do, because the responsibility lies with the dealer first and foremost. Any reputable stove manufacturer instills responsible service from their dealers, then the manufacturer will stand behind and work out any issues through that dealer. Dealers should be accountable to the customer first, and if they are promoting, servicing and installing quality products, the manufacturers need to stand behind their dealer. IMO, of course. With this being the crazy time of year for us dealers, it is hard to take care of all troubles in a timely manner, but I guess sometimes that is not good enough, which is certainly understandable.
I had the combustion blower and the convection blower changed a week ago. The new convection blower was making noise within 24 hours of installation. I have also lost control of the fan speed. The troubleshooting guide leads you through a test of a temp sensor which I did, and the service tech repeated. The sensor is fine the control is bad. A new one is on order. I have been heating my 1600 squarefoot cape with this stove all winter. When it is really cold outside, single digits, or cool and windy I am lucky to see 65 degrees in the down stairs. I have never checked upstairs, i dont really want to know but its cold. I started with athens pellets, but have switched to other brands that burn better. I have tried numerous fan setups to move heat and cold air around and they mostly just add to the electric bill, which by the way doubled the first month the stove ran 24/7. Most of the heating ability and electric cost stuff wouldn't piss me off as much if the unit itself wasn't made with junk parts. There are only three moving parts in the whole setup and I have changed two of them and one is bad again. I would love to ship the whole works back to Napoleon for a warranty exchange, but dont even know if that is possible. The dealer that sold me the untit was useless and is now out of business which makes him no help at all. I am not likely to get him to return any phone calls since he still owes me parts to complete the installation. I ordered some of these parts elsewhere in october ad am still waiting. At least they are nothing that would keep me from using the stove. Thats my sob story. I could not in good faith recommend this stove or Napoleon to anybody.
i recently checked my fathers fan and his is a fasco, which made some noise but he did a full cleaning the other day and the fan is ok now. i think that i have a lennox, maybe not. ill check tonight.
Saltair said:
Hi, I haven't noticed that much of a difference in the electic bill, but then again I have not been running the unit 24/7, most nights and some days. Has anyone else? Maybe it's your separate fans causing the extensive hike in your bill? This month will be tough to tell with the Christmas lights.
Stove Doctor said:
I'm not sure why everyone is not treated the same when a stove breaks, regardless of where they purchased from. I've only used this a few months. The defect should be replaceable without any question. If your Audi car breaks, you can bring it back to any Audi dealer. You don't have to go back to OR state where you purchased it.
And to tell you the truth, I would have loved to buy locally if for one the price was at least reasonable compared to the stove I purchased (which by the way, I purchased for $1450 new(door and surround included)) and the stove guys around here weren't royal jerks, not saying by any means that all stove guys are jerks. When I bought the stove, I was going to have it installed by someone local and no one around here was helfpful at all. in fact, everyone here in CT was down right mean and nasty to me. They also gave me a hard time about selling me their pellets since I didn't purchase a stove from them. It turns out my husband installed the stove without a hitch and saved us hundred of dollars in the process. He will fix it as well. Thank God I have a handy husband or this stove would be pretty much a big pile of expensive, metal junk to me at the moment.
Saltair,
Hard to imagine your electric bill doubled; must be all those fans!
I've put a Kill-o-watt meter on my stove and it only uses about 125W running which is 3KW/day and I pay $.10/kW, so $9/month to run for me.
It would be interesting to see what make, everyone's fans are. Mine is all closed up, but maybe I'll take the shroud off and give it a look. Seems like Fasco is the good one.
Hard to imagine your electric bill doubled; must be all those fans!
I've put a Kill-o-watt meter on my stove and it only uses about 125W running which is 3KW/day and I pay $.10/kW, so $9/month to run for me.It would be interesting to see what make, everyone's fans are. Mine is all closed up, but maybe I'll take the shroud off and give it a look. Seems like Fasco is the good one.
Dear Stove doctor, I actually did purchase my stove locally from a napoleon dealer, my question is this, is napoleon advising there dealers of these problems.. I feel like I am the only one with this problem because they say they have not had complaints from the other stoves they sold at least not about the fans which i find hard to believe since i am now on my fourth (4) fan since oct. the dealer has been helpful as far as replacing them however its getting a little old specially when i see the amount of complaints on the internet. does napoleon take returns on these stoves? do they do recall notices on there defective products.. i did speak to one women at napoleon and she did acknowledge several complaints and problems with the fans. how long does it take for any action to finally get things done... again i say this is ridiculous.....
i just sent an inquiry to napoleon from their website, but i expect a very general answer when i get one. either i get a concrete answer or the stove goes back
I too have brought a Napoleon NPi40 stove over the summer. I installed the stove 2nd week in Oct. 3 weeks later the noise started in the convection blower.Same thing,it would come and go. Called the factory got no response. Called the internet company that I bought it from.They are very helpful so far.The noise is so bad at times that I have had to shut the stove off.I am hopefully getting a new convection blower soon. Napoleon Company is closed until 1/5/09. Will keep you posted. As for the stove itself. I like it very much.I have a 2200 square ft house with an upstairs. Down stairs stays 70 with no problem. Heat comes on upstairs only when it is real cold outside. Upstairs stays about 65. I turn the ceiling fan on in the living room.I keep the pellet feed most of the time between 3and 4
My husband just pulled the problem blower and it's a FASCO W062-0022. Zoobler told me the replacement part was W062-0027. I don't see the 0027 part # listed in the parts catalog. Perhaps it is a newer replacement part, knowing that the current blower is having a problem? Or, now I don't know if Zoobler made a mistake on giving me the replacement #. I will note both #'s on my request, noting the current FASCO 0022 as defective.
Oh one more question, apparently we did not save the part of the box with the serial # to paste on our manual. We looked all over the stove for a number and the only place I see a number is the right handed poanel when you open it up, beginning with NPI. Is that the serial #? It isn't clear - nothing says serial.
PS I also called Wolf Steel and also got they are closed until January 5th.
Oh one more question, apparently we did not save the part of the box with the serial # to paste on our manual. We looked all over the stove for a number and the only place I see a number is the right handed poanel when you open it up, beginning with NPI. Is that the serial #? It isn't clear - nothing says serial.
PS I also called Wolf Steel and also got they are closed until January 5th.
My stove dealer wrote the serial number on the receipt so you may want to check there. also I would make double sure about the part number because my stove dealer has been replacing them with the same model maybe thats my problem 4 blowers later. i will also see if i can find my stove serial number...
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