Just knocked out the area to which we are mount the blower motor on Napoleon 1400

[sstauffer3]

Hi,

We just picked up our Napoleon 1400 and due to a combination of impatience and a poor instruction manual we knocked out the area to which we are supposed to mount the blower. My husband was madder than a wet hen. Just on the female venting side. I am suprised the dealer didn't mount it on the stove since we bought both at the same time. I know, not to the point.
Anyhow, is there any conceivable way of reattaching this piece? It has been knocked out of a piece of steel plate and of course has to bear the weight of the blower and it's mount. I suggested a welder and my husband was not to thrilled with the idea of putting more money into the project. Any help would be appreciate. Thanks

 

[begreen]

Greetings and welcome. You have my utmost sympathy. The manual is very poor for blower installation and the dealer should have mounted it for you. Have you called them?

Don't stress, usually almost anything can be fixed. It may be possible to pop rivet the plate back in place, but not owning the stove I'm running blind without visuals. It's important that you get good instructions. Is there any possibility of posting a picture or two of the current status?

 

[MotoBoyMatt]

Did you end up getting the blower installed? I have the same stove and am confused as to how the blower mounts. Does the bracket bolt to the back of the stove and then the blower mount to the bracket?

 

[sstauffer3]

Hi,

Yes, we did get the motor installed.

Our bracket (held sideways with the long skinny end--about 1 millimeter wide--perpendicular to your face) looks like this:

a 2 inch section going straight down--with three screw holes in a triangular shape
an approximately 1/4 inch section going to the right
an approximately 3/4 inch section going straight down--with three screw holes in a triangular shape

Face the bracket with the 1/4 inch section bending away from you face

Attach the 3/4 inch section of the racket to the back of the blower.
The 3/4 inch section should rest on the back of the blower housing.
The fan part of the blower should face away from the bracket

Attach the bracket to the stove
The 2 inch section attaches the blower to the stove sheet metal
The bracket screw holes will match up to three screw holes on the stove
The bracket should be placed on the outside of the stove sheet metal, not the inside.

For those interested, here is how we fixed the "cut off the back of the stove" problem:
Got a piece of 6 x 16 inch sheet metal of substantial gauge from Big R
Drilled holes in it and the stove for attachment to stove (about 8 holes evenly spaced)
Drilled the three holes for attaching the blower bracket (corresponding to the bracket holes)
Painted sheet metal with stove paint (both sides)
Installed sheet metal
Installed bracket as described above.

This has worked very well. We have had no vibration sounds from the blower motor.
Also the stove heated the entire house last winter (2000) square feet with no problem.
The master bedroom (which was our main concern as far as heat making to the room) was maybe 4 or 5 degrees cooler than the rest of the house and the rest of the house was 75 to 80 degrees. We wore shorts and t-shirts all winter.

My husband has located a source of free wood and we are all set with 4 cords of free wood for this winter. I found us a tree (on the way home from work) and we have two cords of free wood drying for next winter. Don't buy cheap tarps. We found that they did not last.

 

[MotoBoyMatt]

Thanks for the info. Are the three holes in a straight line at the bottom edge of the stove sheet metal used for anything? They are confusing as well as why that panel is "scored" it's like they want you to remove it.

 

[sstauffer3]

Hi,

I can't really intelligently address your question concerning the three holes in a row in the stove sheet metal, because I no longer have the original sheet metal to look at.

Yes, the scoring of the sheet metal is confusing. That is one of the reasons we originally knocked out that piece by mistake.lol

Did you get you blower installed?

 

[MotoBoyMatt]

Yeah, just got it installed tonight. I was trying to figure out if I needed the bracket or not because it's sold separately at (broken link removed to http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5MT-47180) I ordered it Wednesday night and it showed up today. When it said "Dropship" I figured it was coming from china and wouldn't be here for weeks. Turns out it came from www.motorsandblowers.com which is just 2 hours down the road from me in Kenosha WI. It was about half the price of the Napoleon brand blower ($110) and appears to be identical in function. I don't know what Napoleon was smoking when they put the holes in the back of thier stove but there are 3 different triangular bolt patterns that the bracket could bolt to but the lowest one is the only one that works.

 

[MotoBoyMatt]

It seems that the blower increased the output of the stove but it's hard to say whats due to the air flow and what's due to the fact that the stove is being run hotter because the fan reduces the stove top temperature reading.