Lopi Leyden Pellet Stove convection blower randomly stopping

[mreortiz]

Hello everyone,

I purcahsed my Lopi Leyden Pellet Stove 4 years ago and I've been very pleased. However, this season I noticed the stove doing something it had never done before. The convection blower will stop blowing for about 5-8 minutes and the start back up. There doesn't seem to be a pattern as to when this happens.

I called the store where I purchased the stove. They asked what my heat and fan settings were. I had the heat setting on level 1 and the fan on level 6. The owner suggested that the blower may have been cooling the flame to a point where it wasn't warm enough to keep the convection blower active. He suggested either lowering the fan level or raising the heat level. Well, I raised the heat level to level 3 while maintaining the fan level at 6 and I still have the same issue. The convection blower will randomly stop blowing while every other aspect of the stove functions properly. And I believe the stop to be plenty hot enough for the convection blower to remain on at all times.

I have cleaned the convection blower recently. I vacuumed the dust bunnies and cleaned the impellers just this past week. Any suggestions as to why this could be happening. I truly don't recall this ever happening the first 3 seasons of having this pellet stove. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

If you haven't cleaned that convection blower and its motor and oiled its motor if oil able your blower could be overheating and shutting down as soon as the motor temperature drops far enough the blower restarts. There is thermal protection for the blower motors.

If the blower motor is oil able they normally need 2 drops every six months and if this hasn't been done you may have to work some oil into the motor by spinning the motor by hand and applying more oil until it spins freely.

 

[mreortiz]

How would I know if the motor is "oil able"? It never mentions that in the manual. And where would I apply the oil. Is there a place Specifically for the oil or do I simply squirt away at the blower where the impellers are? Thanks for the help, sounds like A possible solution!

 

[John C.]

My Avalon has two yellow caps on the motor you pull off and add a couple drops of oil.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

How would I know if the motor is "oil able"? It never mentions that in the manual. And where would I apply the oil. Is there a place Specifically for the oil or do I simply squirt away at the blower where the impellers are? Thanks for the help, sounds like A possible solution!

Normally the motor makers plate will tell you what to use for oil if it is oil able, normally it is sae#20 wt NON DETERGENT oil, which is what is in the 3 in 1 blue and white can or bottle. Always check the makers plate on the motor. The oil ports may or may not have plugs in them there are two and they are in-line with each other along motors shaft one on one end and the other on the other end.

 

[richkorn]

Leyden convection blower is oilable. It has two yellow plugs. Mine were on the bottom. So I spun it around. There is a thread here with pics discussing that. I run my heat and fan at same level.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lopi-leyden-blower-oil-ports.53225/

 

[mreortiz]

Thank you everyone for your postings. I have oiled the convection blower with the 3-in-1 blue can last week. For the first few days it was working no problem. However, the issue has returned and the blower is randomly shutting down again. I always have the fan on level 6 while having the heat between levels 1-3. The shutting off happens on all the levels we use. Could it be that the blower needs to be replaced after 4 years?

 

[nksdad2007]

Have you tried turning the fan down to maybe 4 and see if that fixes the issue? maybe it is cooling the stove off too much?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Thank you everyone for your postings. I have oiled the convection blower with the 3-in-1 blue can last week. For the first few days it was working no problem. However, the issue has returned and the blower is randomly shutting down again. I always have the fan on level 6 while having the heat between levels 1-3. The shutting off happens on all the levels we use. Could it be that the blower needs to be replaced after 4 years?

It is possible that you haven't got enough oil worked into things yet or that the blower is not recoverable.

Have you tried turning the fan down to maybe 4 and see if that fixes the issue? maybe it is cooling the stove off too much?

Could be, but is the convection fan controlled separately from the the POF sensor (I don't know and am too lazy to read another manual to find out)

 

[quickrch]

mreortiz My Avalon did this for the first time yesterday but it didn't turn on again. The stove got hot enough that the dog started barking and it had that chemical smell they do when they get too hot. I wasn't home so they just shut it off until I arrived.

I am about 20 tons in running pretty much non stop for 3 years of winters and I didn't realize I had to oil it. I didn't see it in the manual though I had read about it here. Like you I did a cleaning today and will be putting oil in and starting it tonight again to see how it goes.

Let me know if you find a cause. I'll do the same.

 

[Thomas Curley]

Hi All, old thread here, but wanted to mention i had this very problem on mine about 2 years ago. I found the reason the blower fan shut down intermittently was due to the vacuum tube was clogged right at the point it attaches to the brass fitting on the exhaust blower. I never had the blower stop functioning altogether though. I am now experiencing the noise (high pitched whistle / screech) issue with the convection blower, this is after removing it, cleaning it thoroughly, rotating it so the oil ports face upward, oiling it with 3-1, & testing it's functioning out of the stove. This happens after the snap disk closes & fires up the fan. The noise persists for about 3 to 5 minutes then goes away until the next time i cold start the stove. Guess i can't complain to much, 6 year old stove & the only parts replaced are 2 igniters, the door gasket, & recently one side of the door glass.