Exhaust fan on Napoleon NPI-40 making a noise.

[Cavedweller]

THAT IS EXACTLY IT THE SAME NOISE MY STOVE HAS. I am going to do the same thing and video my stove to show how it can sometimes be quiet and sometimes make HORRIFIC noises! EXCELLENT IDEA!

 

[Saltair]

Yep thats it...

I spoke with the Napoleon Sales Rep and got the same question about the cleanliness of my chimney. I had a stainless liner installed for the stove exhaust, the chimney itself is sealed of with fireproof insulation, and the hearth and firplace firebox were rebuilt this summer and the firebox is clean concrete. My fan is not getting ash in it. I am getting my seconded replacement fan as well as the other parts that have failed. I should have them in about a week. As I posted above I cannot get labor covered in my warranty so I will have to install them myself. This is not really a problem, but given the trouble I am having you woud think Napoleon would want an authorized tech to install the parts. who knows...

 

[kh395269]

Like de ja vous. Same here too. The noise just rings your ears. It's awful. Thanks for posting! Great idea! No one can deny a problem after seeing that.

 

[kh395269]

I also got my replacement part on Friday. We will be installing it hopefully tomorrow. It is different then the one currently installed.

 

[j00fek]

same exact problem here, but with the exhaust fan

 

[kh395269]

My husband just fixed the exhaust fan - a day early The new and different fan is much, much quieter. Now, it makes the blower seem like is loud. Hopefully, that is not defective as well. My husband said the old version was definitely and clearly incorrectly designed and should be recalled. It should have never made it through quality control. The impellar (sp?) is clearly backwards and cannot be reversed, and that is root of the problem. The stove is even operating better overall (airflow is much more noticeable). We are hoping it will now operate cleaner as well.

 

[Cavedweller]

the blower fan has been my problem all along. hope my exhaust doesn't go next. if my blower fan ever quiets down enough i might be able to tell about my exhaust. good luck

 

[edcherylx]

OK.. tech guy came out today... he did not replace the fan, but instead simply took off the black outer ring that is mounted on the blower fan. He is wondering if that is the problem as it seems to have a tight tolerance against the moving fan blade part. He stated that he has replaced about 15 fan motors himself and decided that if he simply replaced this one again, we would still be in the same boat because its the same fan.

Oh And guess what? There was NO ash in the fan at all, what a surprise. So running the stove again to see what happens. Right now hearing only the normal air flow noise which is nice and quiet... ahhhh. Will post later with an update.

 

[edcherylx]

Well that didn't take too long to act up again... here is my new video of the stove after the attempted repair of removing the outer black ring from the blower motor.

I'm really at a loss as to what we should do.... we are thinking about asking if we can return this stove for a credit towards a different model.

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[Saltair]

Good Luck with the exchange. after what I was told about my warranty I dont hold out any hope that I will ever be able to exchange this stove. It is so frustrating the stove has run quite all evening, but last night it was driving be crazy. I am still waiting for my second replacement convection fan. If yo move forward with your plan to exchange to stove let us know how it plays out...

 

[kh395269]

Well, I am frustrated as well.. My exhaust fan is operating much better and quieter with the new design. However, now my front blower is definitely making a bearing noise now. I think it was just drowned out before by how bad the back motor was. I've sent a note to Zoobler to see if they have a different replacement warranty part for that one as well. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Cavedweller]

I cant say i am surprised ...... Sorry to hear about it...

 

[edcherylx]

Latest news is... fan will be replaced again today. I got a call from the New England Napoleon sales rep - so that was nice that they are getting in touch and keeping up with the problem. However, it may do the same thing within 1-2 weeks and start making noise as the problem has not been identified and fasco has not provided new fans which fix the problem yet. I did learn that the free standing pellet stoves have a fan that runs at 1600 rpm while the inserts fan runs at 3000 rpm's and perhaps this is why only the inserts are having a problem. Will keep everyone posted on the sound of the 3rd fan. E&C;

 

[Cavedweller]

Is it possible to get your contact information for the New England rep as I am from New Hampshire as well.

 

[edcherylx]

Hi, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh a nice and quiet fan (so far). This is NICE, we really do like the stove.. it's nice looking and we are toasty warm running it at about 2. But the fan problems are just making the experience tough to take. Right now we can barely hear the stove running at all. It's sooooooooooooo quiet!! Good timing with this bitter cold coming.

Cavedweller - all I have is an email for the Naploen rep... if you send me a note to edcherylx@msn.com - I will respond with that email addy.

Oh we did get another note from Wolf Steel which we feel is really out of line and took us by surprise. We are really unsure why they are being so difficult. I guess they don't understand the possibility of a bad "batch" of fans, we never intended to state every single fan is bad, we only stated there must be a bad "batch" of fans out there. Oh and also so funny that they "doubt" this web site has any complaints. AH! Let them just read it. Here is the email text:

Hello again;

Frankly; we will not state as you have suggested that the fans are bad, because they are the exact same fan as is used in 99.9% of the pellet-stove manufacturing industry. This is not a product that only Napoleon pellet stoves utilize. So if your statement were true, every customer of a pellet-stove manufacturer would have the identical problem. We seriously doubt that this website you continually reference has such complaints.
Ultimately until either what you claim, or what we've suspected, is proven or disproven, there is little else we will be able to provide for you via email. We will continue to work with your dealer in assisting them with any assistance they require in service, or providing replacement parts they may require. They will work with us in determining the cause of the issue you've encountered and servicing your needs as necessary.

Take care,
-Wolf Steel Technical Dept.

Obviously their in denial about anything that could be faulty in their stove. He still tends to believe the "dirty chimney" story although it has been "disproven" by the Napoloen authorized repair man who inspected our noisey fan and found no ash build up. Time will tell what happens with this new fan.

 

[Cavedweller]

My repair man also found no evidence of a dirty fan either. Although really how dirty could the fan get in three days which gas been about the average time and certainly well under a week before the new fan acts up.

 

[kh395269]

Napoleon must be feeding the same garbage to Zoobler about people not keeping their units clean and that is the source of the problem. Hence, my recent response from Zoobler:


"On the new issue of the convection blower, we are so sorry to hear of the problem and we are here to hep you through to a resolution. The issues you are having may be contributed to excessive dirt, dust or ash built up on your blower fan blades. Was the firebox thoroughly cleaned of all ash before the insert was installed? Are there pets in the home? Their hair, along with drywall dust, ash, etc. can cause issues to blowers that are not properly cleaned and maintained.A replacement convection blower is also available for a resolution the current issue via the same process."

Are they kidding? The problem is with the bearrings, not the fan itself (except we did determine that the impellar is backwards on the exhaust fan) and my unit couldn't possibly be kept cleaner then it has been. We just started using the unit at the end of Sept. We run it no more than 12 hrs a day. We've used maybe 1 1/2 tons, we clean the pot and stove itself everyday, and the whole thing has been taken apart and fully cleaned per specifications now twice in addition. This is crazy.

 

[edcherylx]

Wow... yup, same stuff from zoobler... I mean where did they expect the stove to be installed? In a dust free environment of a hospital? What a dumb excuse for why a fan is failing, and even if there is a remote possibility that it is failing because of some dust or pet hair, then it's because of a poor design. I see zoobler stated there is a replacement fan, hope you are able to get it and things work out. The stove does work nice and is pleasant when quiet... it was 3.5 degrees out this morning, but 66 in my house with running the stove all night.

Day 2 - fan is still quiet!

 

[edcherylx]

Hi, Just an update... Day 5 and the fan is still really quiet.... we are finally enjoying our stove!! We are also praying the quietness lasts this time.

Reflecting back on the experience we are very dissapointed in Wolf Steels handling of this situation. The place we bought the stove from was at least trying to be helpful, although they do have a service problem in that it should not take 4 weeks to get someone out to us. But Wolf Steel repeatedly refuses to admit there is a problem with the fans, they couldn't even say "we will look into it" or "perhaps there might be some problems, we are looking into it" or "we are investigating" - any of those responses would have been better than, it's your fault, you have a dirty chimney.

Will keep everyone posted.

 

[pinetop12]

I have the day off so decided to come to Hearth.com and see the Napolean line of pellet stoves had beeen discussed here...
You guys had some great posts and the factory responses from Wolf?/Napolean/ were pure 'Bush-world ' in how they thought of their customers. The company responses in email form? were reprehensible. I am kinda disapionted cause I was /interested in a Napolean I have looked at here locally/ LA Maine. But reading these posts and how Wolf responded....
Its like they are unaware the internet exisit and consumer advocation is in play. The days of handling customers in a isolated fashion are mostly gone . -- 'do you have a cat or dog? this could be reason our fricking stove is not working,, WTF.
I am still at a loss to understand how they could treat customers who bought there stove as such simpletons.
I an;t very smart but i can read ,and I have read enough here to move on to another brand of Pellet stove.

Thanks guys.

 

[roushpwrd]

Does anyone here have an 800 number to Napoleon. We too are having a tremendous amount of issues with our stove. It is a Napoleon NPI40. For example, loud fan running at whatever speed it feels, auger not feeding pellets, control panel door broken and as for the highly recommended porcelain reflective panel....we don't like it. It is already flaking, warped and reflects nothing as we were told it would. (by this I mean we were told it would make the fire look larger and push the heat out into the room when in fact the heating tubes are where the heat comes from). I have called the stove shop where we made the purchase many many times only to get an answering machine. This stove is only two months old....customer service is poor. If I didn't care about the cost of the stove, I would leave it on their door step for others to see. The purchase was made in NH and I am considering calling the Attorney General, BBB and any other consumer protection advocates. This is ridiculous. We feel so alone and as if we are fighting a losing battle.......

 

[Cavedweller]

I have never seen an 800 number for Napoleon, however their number can be found on the front of the manual you got with the stove or if you go to the website you can download the manual and the number is on that. I hope you have better luck with them then the rest of us...

 

[Saltair]

No 800 number and they do not like talking to the retail customer. My retail outlet went under so I was directed to a different shop. When the treated me very poorly I was able to get someone at Napoleon to talk to me, but it was not what I was hoping for. Dont get your hopes up...

 

[roushpwrd]

I have never seen an 800 number for Napoleon, however their number can be found on the front of the manual you got with the stove or if you go to the website you can download the manual and the number is on that. I hope you have better luck with them then the rest of us...

Thank you...I did see the number on my manual. I have called my dealer many times with no luck...I always get an answering machine. I see that it is going to be cold again at the end of the week here in Massachusetts....I may call the Attorney General on them to get what I need. I don't want to however I don't want to heat my home with electricity either. That brings me to one more thing....this stove seems to have a hard time heating when it is really cold outside. I do realize that it takes more to heat colder air but my home is very airtight and this stove still seems to be heating poorly. I did email the manufacturer one time asking what the MSRP for this stove was and they directed me to a dealer. Does anyone know what the MSRP is for the NPI40? I just wonder how many of us overpaid for a terrible stove.

 

[roushpwrd]

Well....with a little determination, I have obtained an 800 number. I haven't called it yet however I plan to if I don't get a call within a half hour from them. My dealer, who finally answered his phone said he was having the tech support call me. Prior to hanging up, I got the number. I don't know where this location is however I will give you all the number anyway....I am in New England so this could possibly be a local number. Here it is anyway....800-873-1330. Good luck!