Installing a new combustion motor in my VF-100

[Vouty]

I am new to posting here; however, I have read many.

My combustion motor died after a couple of days of making noise. The replacement came today. Are there any pitfalls that I should be aware of during installation? My VF-100 stove is from 2008 and this is the first part to fail. I clean it weekly during the season and take it apart and clean it after the season ends.

I anticipate just unscrewing and unplugging the old motor and plugging in the new. I am at work, so I am hoping the wires and connections are the same. It is part # EF-161A.

Any advice will be helpful. Thank you

 

[Lake Girl]

Sorry no one got back to you - Welcome to the forum. Do you have a new gasket to replace the old one?

 

[Vouty]

Sorry no one got back to you - Welcome to the forum. Do you have a new gasket to replace the old one?

Thanks. Yes, it came with a gasket. I installed it last night, but it has a slight vibration that the original motor did not have. I am not sure if I can remedy it or if it is defective. I did post this new issue. Thank you for your reply and welcome.

 

[Lake Girl]

Is it OEM or aftermarket? Have you tried searching the threads to see if there are suggestions to troubleshoot. I have seen comments on blades being slightly off that can create an imbalance. Hopefully someone will chime in...

 

[Stevekng]

Thanks. Yes, it came with a gasket. I installed it last night, but it has a slight vibration that the original motor did not have. I am not sure if I can remedy it or if it is defective. I did post this new issue. Thank you for your reply and welcome.

I have a VF 100 and have replaced my fan. Did you clean out the chamber behind the motor when it was off? Ash build up there will shorten the motor's life. There shouldn't be any vibration if the motor was oem. Did you replace the whole unit or just the fan and the motor. I replaced the motor and cage as one unit. That Might be your problem if you just replaced the motor. There are supposed to be rubber dampening washers between the motor mounting screws and the fan cage. Also, the oem gasket is the only one I would use. The aftermarket ones are flimsy and too thin.

Your fan lasted about as long as my original one did. If you haven't replaced an igniter yet, let me know. It's a real bear to swap out.

 

[Vouty]

I have a VF 100 and have replaced my fan. Did you clean out the chamber behind the motor when it was off? Ash build up there will shorten the motor's life. There shouldn't be any vibration if the motor was oem. Did you replace the whole unit or just the fan and the motor. I replaced the motor and cage as one unit. That Might be your problem if you just replaced the motor. There are supposed to be rubber dampening washers between the motor mounting screws and the fan cage. Also, the oem gasket is the only one I would use. The aftermarket ones are flimsy and too thin.

Your fan lasted about as long as my original one did. If you haven't replaced an igniter yet, let me know. It's a real bear to swap out.

Thanks. My igniter failed early this year. I've been using a torch to start it. I believe that motor was OEM as it came in an Enviro box. The box however, look a little beat up. Maybe during shipping. It only had paper packing. It was the cage and the motor as one unit and it came with a gasket. I have contacted the seller and I am hoping he swaps it out.

 

[Stevekng]

Thanks. My igniter failed early this year. I've been using a torch to start it. I believe that motor was OEM as it came in an Enviro box. The box however, look a little beat up. Maybe during shipping. It only had paper packing. It was the cage and the motor as one unit and it came with a gasket. I have contacted the seller and I am hoping he swaps it out.

Have you tried to remove the igniter yet? The screw is the same size as the ones that hold on the back panels. Usually they are rusted but if you are able to get some WD-40 back there you can let it soak and eventually work them loose. A mirror and a small ratchet did it for me. Once you get that off, you have to thread the two leads through to the back of the stove. I taped the leads to a piece of wire coat hanger and that did the trick. If you have someone to help from the back of the stove it helps a lot. If you hire someone to do it make sure they have done this before. They can wreck the stove if they are hackers.

 

[Vouty]

Have you tried to remove the igniter yet? The screw is the same size as the ones that hold on the back panels. Usually they are rusted but if you are able to get some WD-40 back there you can let it soak and eventually work them loose. A mirror and a small ratchet did it for me. Once you get that off, you have to thread the two leads through to the back of the stove. I taped the leads to a piece of wire coat hanger and that did the trick. If you have someone to help from the back of the stove it helps a lot. If you hire someone to do it make sure they have done this before. They can wreck the stove if they are hackers.

I haven't attempted it yet. Maybe at the end of the season if I get this motor issue straightened out. Thank you for the advice.
Have you had any other issues with this stove? I am hoping that it's not one thing after the other from this point on. It has been an
excellent stove, working almost non-stop from Late October to April each year since 2008. I am thinking of stocking up the other motors, but not sure
if that's a good idea or not.

 

[stovelark]

Hi Vouty, you have the sister to the Meridian (Enviro) stove. The EF161A is the improved higher rpm motor, check and see if an impeller got knocked out of alignment, should be no roughness when it runs. You got a workhorse there too, always good to have spare parts on hand, then you never need them. Clean her out good each year, you got 10-15 more seasons to go from her. Good luck

 

[Vouty]

Hi Vouty, you have the sister to the Meridian (Enviro) stove. The EF161A is the improved higher rpm motor, check and see if an impeller got knocked out of alignment, should be no roughness when it runs. You got a workhorse there too, always good to have spare parts on hand, then you never need them. Clean her out good each year, you got 10-15 more seasons to go from her. Good luck

Thanks. I do like the stove and clean it weekly and take it apart at the end of each season. One question, do you know if there is a way to clean the heat tubes other than with a brush from inside the stove? I seems like there is ash somewhere as it comes out when I slide a putty knife between them. Although, I take the brick panel and the panels out at the end of the year as well as the motors, I am always wondering if I am missing anything.

 

[Stevekng]

Thanks. I do like the stove and clean it weekly and take it apart at the end of each season. One question, do you know if there is a way to clean the heat tubes other than with a brush from inside the stove? I seems like there is ash somewhere as it comes out when I slide a putty knife between them. Although, I take the brick panel and the panels out at the end of the year as well as the motors, I am always wondering if I am missing anything.

There is a place where ash builds up. There is a ledge where the tubes meet the front of the stove inside and above the fire box. I use a scraper tool that came with my quad castile to push the ash to the sides and out. A small enough vacuum tool would be able to get it too. I wire brush the outside of the tubes with a steel wire brush and a small one to get between the tubes. When you take the back panels off make sure you vacuum in the chambers at each side and the hole in the middle. Your routine cleaning should include cleaning the ash out behind the two circular plates on the brick panel. An angled vacuum nozzle or a finger to pull it forward so you can get at the ash will do the trick. Also, if you ever get an igniter working again, make sure you clean out inside the tube opening often. A build up of ash will plug it up and cause the unit to overheat and fail. The control circuit board should be blown off with computer air spray monthly and try and keep dust to a minimum inside the back and sides of the unit.

Put high temp never-seize on all the screw when you take them out and on the igniter screws especially. A spare igniter is a useful thing but they are pricey. They can take time to ship too. I don't keep spare motors because the bearings start chirping before they fail. When I hear that I will order.

I hope all this helps.

 

[Vouty]

There is a place where ash builds up. There is a ledge where the tubes meet the front of the stove inside and above the fire box. I use a scraper tool that came with my quad castile to push the ash to the sides and out. A small enough vacuum tool would be able to get it too. I wire brush the outside of the tubes with a steel wire brush and a small one to get between the tubes. When you take the back panels off make sure you vacuum in the chambers at each side and the hole in the middle. Your routine cleaning should include cleaning the ash out behind the two circular plates on the brick panel. An angled vacuum nozzle or a finger to pull it forward so you can get at the ash will do the trick. Also, if you ever get an igniter working again, make sure you clean out inside the tube opening often. A build up of ash will plug it up and cause the unit to overheat and fail. The control circuit board should be blown off with computer air spray monthly and try and keep dust to a minimum inside the back and sides of the unit.

Put high temp never-seize on all the screw when you take them out and on the igniter screws especially. A spare igniter is a useful thing but they are pricey. They can take time to ship too. I don't keep spare motors because the bearings start chirping before they fail. When I hear that I will order.

I hope all this helps.

Thank you very much. I am doing all that cleaning. It is nice to finally know.

May I ask one last question (sorry). I've heard of people that have their stoves cleaned at the end of the year by a Stove Shop (professional). Do they do anything more that I would i.e. test the motors or parts? Is it worth paying them?

 

[stovelark]

The detailed list of cleaning you are reading about here is the required cleaning. A lot of professional cleaning guys don't know the nuances of every stove out there. You should expect them to, but if they don't sell and service your model of stove, be careful of whom you hire. After the year end cleaning, I always touch up the interiors with paint to prevent any rusting and put dessicant inside for moisture absorption. If you do, put it in the burnpot- it reminds you visually to remove it in the fall.... Good luck.

 

[Vouty]

The detailed list of cleaning you are reading about here is the required cleaning. A lot of professional cleaning guys don't know the nuances of every stove out there. You should expect them to, but if they don't sell and service your model of stove, be careful of whom you hire. After the year end cleaning, I always touch up the interiors with paint to prevent any rusting and put dessicant inside for moisture absorption. If you do, put it in the burnpot- it reminds you visually to remove it in the fall.... Good luck.

Thanks Again. You have been very helpful. I appreciate it.

 

[Stevekng]

The detailed list of cleaning you are reading about here is the required cleaning. A lot of professional cleaning guys don't know the nuances of every stove out there. You should expect them to, but if they don't sell and service your model of stove, be careful of whom you hire. After the year end cleaning, I always touch up the interiors with paint to prevent any rusting and put dessicant inside for moisture absorption. If you do, put it in the burnpot- it reminds you visually to remove it in the fall.... Good luck.

Most of what I related was not included in the list of required cleaning when I bought my stove in 2006. The points I brought up were mostly things Ipicked up on my own while doing my own repairs and cleanings. Perhaps Enviro (VistaFlame) has updated the cleaning procedure since 2006.

 

[stovelark]

Hi Stevekng- No Enviro hasn't updated it. I was referring to vouty getting all this knowledge on this forum. Most of my own knowledge has been by cleaning each mfr's stoves over and over. I haven't cleaned many Harmans and yes they are my weak spot on cleaning knowledge. Good luck to you.