Lopi Pioneer Bay convection blower tear down

[Griny]

Lately I have been hearing weird squeaking sounds from the pellet stove at start up when the the convection blower kicks in.
And I mean only at start up, the first turn of torque.
Sounded like a squeak from the rubber grommet that the impeller is connected to the main output shaft of the motor.
But first things first, I had it set up in the vise to run it and maybe see what is going on, where the actual squeak is coming from. I really couldn't figure out where it exactly came from so I disassembled the motor so I could get better access to the bearings and lubed them first (with mineral oil)
Assembled the whole setup figuring that the lube would have fixed it... But I was wrong again same damn squeak.
After 10 mins of starting and stopping and even putting talcum powder on the rubber parts the squeak was still there.
Sometimes when the motor turned on the squeak persisted a little longer or didn't stop after I aggravated it a little more by slowing down the impeller with my finger
Then I decided to take a closer look a the rotor in the actual motor. I found out that the axle was loose in the rotor and gave me a high pitch squeak when turned by hand.
I figured that maybe an epoxy glue that can handle high temp to get the rotor not to move on the shaft anymore, actually its a bronze bushing where the axle is pressed in and the bronze bushing moved around in the rotor to be exact
So I set out and got me some JB weld since that has helped me before with high temp situations, all Im hoping for is that it isn't throwing it out of balance too much.
After a few hours of curing the rotor is back in and running again with no squeaking anymore

I didn't get the picture from before I put the J B weld on it

This is the angle to put it back on the grommet, easier than to take the motor off and install

Back together

This pellet stove is six seasons old now and some signs of wear and tear are showing, I think that the bearings are still fine but the pockets where the bearing sits in is getting dry. It seems that most of these little bearings have a piece of cloth or sponge kind of material to retain lube and I guess after a couple years they tend to be dry. Nothing in the manual tells you to lube these bearing or have them serviced.
When the lube runs out, your out of luck and buy a new one is what Im getting out of this
From before I cleaned

The heat sink I put on there (with JB weld) last season to cool it down some because it got really hot and I figured cooling it would prolong the lifespan and I'm a firm believer of fixing things that really have life left and making them live longer, clearly Lopi isn't out to do that. The temp before was about 210F and after was about 160F

 

[imacman]

Nice job, and I like the heat sink. I hope you lubed the bearings & shaft w/ some good 20w non detergent oil.

 

[Griny]

Nice job, and I like the heat sink. I hope you lubed the bearings & shaft w/ some good 20w non detergent oil.

Thanks for the heat sink comment
Those bearings are lubed with mineral oil

 

[imacman]

...Those bearings are lubed with mineral oil

By "mineral oil" I hope you don't mean automotive motor oil. These motors are supposed to be lubed with non-detergent oil.

 

[Griny]

By "mineral oil" I hope you don't mean automotive motor oil. These motors are supposed to be lubed with non-detergent oil.

Swan mineral oil lubricant laxative

 

[imacman]

I would NOT be using that on an electrical motor. Get 3 in 1 oil in the blue can....it's made specifically for electric motors.

 

[Griny]

I would NOT be using that on an electrical motor. Get 3 in 1 oil in the blue can....it's made specifically for electric motors.

Okay why would I not use mineral oil on electric motors? is the flash point to low, the viscosity not right?
I see that the 3 in 1 is formulated for use of electric motors, did you use it on these kind of bearings?
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 90% of all motor oils mineral oil, that includes the 3 in 1 blue can.

 

[imacman]

The point is, you have NO idea what the SAE weight might be, nor do you know what the flash point is, or anything else for that matter. Yes, all non-synthetic oils are mineral based AFAIK.

And YES, the 3 in 1 oil in the blue can is made JUST FOR these types of bearings.

 

[DexterDay]

Very nice thread and write up... Love the heat sink. Awesome idea.

 

[heat seeker]

Very nice thread and write up... Love the heat sink. Awesome idea.

+1!

 

[OwlNinja]

Hi, sorry to bump this thread, but I have exactly the same issue.

After a bit of faffing, I can remove the blower, but how do I go about disassembling the motor itself?