Harman Accentra Insert Motor question

[joetiii]

Hello,

Looking to clarify a point on some posts I have seen on his forum regarding a rattly blower motor which has turned into a squeal at times. Those posts have been closed so I can not post my question directly on them.

There are two fans on my insert. A horizontal cage fan on the bottom and a open blade fan up near the exhaust. Someone mentioned that these fans can be lubricated. I have never read this before and the maintenance guide does not show this. Obviously, I would like to try and lubricate them before I have to replace a part. Though I think that the squeal means I have waited too long and the bearings are toast.

Since I can not run the stove outside of the fireplace, I am unsure which fan motor is noisey & would need to be checked and replaced. My rattly bearing noise/squeal only happens when the fan speed is on medium to high. I am making an assumption that the barrel fan is the culprit, since this seems to be what controls the volume of air coming out of the front. I have had an issue with the fan on the exhaust side many years ago and took care of that with a good cleaning and refitment so it did not spin against the housing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Joe

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Find the bearings and soak them with penatrating oil and see if that helps, but I’d make sure the blades are clean before trying anything. The accentra Insert convection blower tends to get overlooked in maintenance and will collect years of crud that makes it get louder and louder.

 

[joetiii]

Well the fan & Motor dropped out pretty easy. There is a little crud on it since I last cleaned and I have to find out where to feed the bearings. Are they needle bearings does anybody know? Have not tried to take the fan off the motor yet..... When I spin it fast, I can definitely hear the noise.

 

[rickwai]

You are wasting your time trying to oil these bearings. If you have the fan in your hand, replace it and forget about it for another 10 yrs. If it is making noise it is beyond oil. These are sealed bearings usually anyway.

 

[joetiii]

You are wasting your time trying to oil these bearings. If you have the fan in your hand, replace it and forget about it for another 10 yrs. If it is making noise it is beyond oil. These are sealed bearings usually anyway.

Agreed... but how do you get the fan housing our from the bottom to replace it?

The fan drops down out of the housing and the wires go through a small hole in the bottom and are not accessable by hand through the small hole. The short and easy is to cut the wires at the motor and get some spade connectors..... or take out the bolts that secure the housing and monkey around inside the bottom of the unit blind trying to detach and reattach the wires on the new motor.

Any experience with the best way?

 

[rickwai]

When you buy the replacement fan it will come complete w/ outer case. Take the new motor and fan blade assembly out and discard outer housing. Dont try to disassemble stove to switch housing. unhook wires from the back side of the stove and tape a thin string to them and pull them down. Then tape to wires on new motor and pull back up and connect. Wires come up thru right near the the auger motor I believe. Pulling wires thru is not hard. I have even lost my string and have used a long zip tie to push up thru.

 

[rickwai]

I have done a couple by myself on the rails. I take cast iron off then I keep 4 pieces of 4x4 about 6" long and block the insert up on the rails. This gives enough clearance to drop the motor and reinstall without having to take the unit out into the room. I usually dont have a second guy to help.

 

[fedtime]

I have done a couple by myself on the rails. I take cast iron off then I keep 4 pieces of 4x4 about 6" long and block the insert up on the rails. This gives enough clearance to drop the motor and reinstall without having to take the unit out into the room. I usually dont have a second guy to help.

When I did mine, I pulled the insert out and leaned it over (door down) on a few bags of pellets. This allowed me to pull the old motor off and install the new one. Fishing the wires through was easy - just a few tries and I had them all through. I did the full job on my own.

One word of advice: I bought an aftermarket fan which has been excellent and was quite a bit less money, but it is far louder than the OE fan at medium and full speed. That may not be an issue in your application, but when I replace it I'll go back to OE to get less noise. The room is small and at full power it is harsh.

 

[joetiii]

When I did mine, I pulled the insert out and leaned it over (door down) on a few bags of pellets. This allowed me to pull the old motor off and install the new one. Fishing the wires through was easy - just a few tries and I had them all through. I did the full job on my own.

One word of advice: I bought an aftermarket fan which has been excellent and was quite a bit less money, but it is far louder than the OE fan at medium and full speed. That may not be an issue in your application, but when I replace it I'll go back to OE to get less noise. The room is small and at full power it is harsh.

The information here is good. One question on the loudness of fan. I have an early stove made in 06. It has always been noisey. The newer stoves are more quiet from what I read. What brand non OEM fan did you get?

 

[fedtime]

The information here is good. One question on the loudness of fan. I have an early stove made in 06. It has always been noisey. The newer stoves are more quiet from what I read. What brand non OEM fan did you get?

It was some time ago, but I'm pretty sure it was a Fasco. Great fan and very reliable, but noisier than OEM for certain.