How troubleshoot combustion fan?

[pelletpot]

My combustion fan sometimes will not start up it just buzzes. Other times it starts up and runs fine. Sometimes it starts up runs fine shuts off in a few minutes. If I hold the start button down long enough I can usually get the fan started and running no guarantee that it will stay that way...... when it has trouble starting it's pretty noisy with the buzzing and stuff trying to start but once it gets started it's not noise anymore and seems to run fine. No guarantee on how long it will run. If it makes it past 5 minutes it's usually good for the duration till I turn it off..... and of course the stove will not burn without the combustion fan working..... how do I troubleshoot to find out if it's the actual fan that's having problems or some component that controls the fan thanks for any help

 

[kappel15]

What brand stove do you have?

 

[pelletpot]

1993 FireFox Lopi ...manual start.....it ran all night last night perfectly. No noise no stopping...all fine. Ya just never know though when you go to start it up if it will start perfectly or if the exhaust/combustion fan will just BUZZ.. I discovered yesterday if I hold the start button down for extended time (20 secs or so of horrid buzzing) that fan will eventually get going and run smoothly. At this point I would like to know if it is the fan motor or some other component that controls the fan.

 

[kappel15]

My guess would be bad wire connections, or dirty motor, or bearings going. But I don't know this stove. kap

 

[pelletpot]

My guess would be bad wire connections, or dirty motor, or bearings going. But I don't know this stove. kap

Thanks going to check wiring and switch motors (if I can with parts stove) 1994 Lopi 400 ps and of course clean the hell out of the motors while i have them out and Lube.

 

[pelletpot]

Okay this is do-it-yourself pellet stove technician has determined the combustion blower motor bearings are going out Parts stove blower wouldn't fit.....New motor ordered.......bummer .....certainly glad I got an excellent excellent deal on the stove because when you start buying parts it's not so excellent. I have used it for 1 year but still no one likes o buy parts lol

 

[jzm2cc]

I wouldn't be surprised if that vintage stove had a motor with oil ports for bushings instead of ball bearing. Worth looking for oil ports on the ends motor, typically capped with rubber plugs. Buy a bottle of small electric motor oil, a few drops in each port might revive it.

 

[kappel15]

Glad you got it figured out anyway. Clean the old one and try to lube it. May work in a pinch for a back-up, in an emergency like now. kap

 

[pelletpot]

Thanks, yes I did that is in in the stove right now seemingly working fine at least for now lol but that is it's history it would fool you by working great then not working so great but yeh is heating the upstairs right now and new one will be here in probably a week or so