Fireplace Xtrordinair -large hybrid flush fan issues

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clydesdale

Member
Mar 8, 2016
171
New York
My FPX flush hybrid is making a lot of fan noise. It sounds like it is going to crap out on me. It started yesterday and I will be removing the face and looking at it later today. Anybody have experience on life expectancy of these? They are not cheap. I am hoping it just needs cleaning, but it does not sound like that. Anybody have experience with these or comments? It is 6 years old. Thanks.
 
Might be the bearings. I'd pull it and clean it. Try lubing the bearings. Sometimes it doesn't help, sometimes you can get enough oil in to fix the issue for a bit.
 
If it hasn't been cleaned in 6 yrs. then it is overdue. If the bearings are shot, then this is an alternate source for replacement.
 
I have cleaned them before. Cleaning did not solve my problem this time. I spoke with the fireplace blower company you linked and they do make a motor, but it is "clocked" differently and will have to reroute wires. You also have to remove the old motor and put the new motor on the old housing. This requires drilling rivets and screwing the new one in place. So, not an OEM plug and play. But, there customer service is awesome and they are working on a plug and play replacement. But the won't help today. I am going to try lubing the bearings. The blower place gave me a lot of good info. They are great.
 
Update- With the help of Jason at Fireplaceblowersonline, I pulled the rubber cap off of the end of fan. Inside there is a brass bushing that had some dried up grease. I cleaned it up and put some fresh wheel bearing grease in there. The fan has been silent for 24hours. I will certainly buy from these guys when the time comes. They are working on a direct replacement blower for this unit.
 
Just replaced my stock blower this morning. Old one just rattle and vibrated all the time at this point

Replacement does seem like a quality unit and makes me feel like I have a new woodstove again. :)