Lopi Yanke Bay Insert - Buzzing Noise

[chris_v]

Hi,

My wife and I just purchased a Lopi Yankee Bay insert on Saturday to replace the Avalon 900 we had previously. The new stove is great, except for a very annoying, and loud, buzzing noise when the stove is operating at either of the two highest settings. The noise is intermittent, but can last for a few minutes at a time before going away and then coming back again. I think it is coming from the heat shields between the top of the firebox and the hopper. It seems like the driving cause is the small vibration caused by the convection fan, but I'm not quite sure. It's really hard to tell exactly where the noise is coming from. When it's running at a low or medium heat setting, the stove is pretty quiet, and sounds normal - regardless of the convection fan speed.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue, and if so, what was done to solve it? I put a call in to the dealer, but have not heard back yet. I installed the stove myself, and I would like to take care of this as well if it's a fairly simple fix.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[hearthtools]

There is a lot of excess sheetmetal on that stove
but sometime it is the Surround panel that is vibrating.
Try pushing the insert back more to put pressure on the panel


If it is not the panel
there is some sheepmetal plenum chambers on the back side of the fire box that the convection air runs through
when the stove heats up some times they rub were the separate pieces are screwed together.

Try poking around and push on the metal parts and see where it is coming from
you can normally fix it with a screw.

Or it could be a blower out of balance

 

[chris_v]

Rod,

Thanks for the quick reply. I know that it's not the surround panels as I had them off while running the stove to try and locate the noise. I've already spent a couple of hours trying to fix this as it is a very annoying noise. I am thinking it might be those plenum chambers you mentioned. How would I access those to see if it is the issue? Do you happen to have a service manual for this stove? Also, how would I tell if the blower is out of balance? It does have a small vibration to it, but I assume that some vibration is normal in a blower of this nature.

Thanks!

 

[Shane]

Alot of times to rectify that problem I'd take a pair of 4" handseamers and bend the mounting flange on the blower back 1/8"-1/4".

 

[chris_v]

Thanks for the advice. I think I now have the buzzing all fixed. When I got home from work, I checked the insert and it was off-level some, but it was sitting pretty firmly on the hearth. I proceeded to pull the insert out and have a look at it. I took your suggestion Rob, and checked the plenum for the convection air. I found a little slightly loose sheetmetal, and a bead of RTV seemed to make it quiet down. I also took your suggestion Shane, and bent back the blower flange some, even though there was some clearance between it and the plenum. While I was back there, I did some more tapping around, and found a sheetmetal heat shield between the exhaust duct and the hopper that was most likely causing a majority of the buzzing by hitting the exhaust duct in one area that I did not notice yesterday. I cut a piece of silicone stock I had, put some RTV on both sides, and wedged it in between the heat shield and the duct. I also unscrewed the brackets on all the heat shields and put a bead of RTV between them and the mounting surface to make sure they were secure. I also spoke to a tech at the place I bought the stove, and he suggested to make sure that it was level as he has seen this cause some buzzing in the past. When putting it back in the fireplace, I leveled it better as well, and now it is now much more quiet. It's just a gentle hum as it should be, not an annoying buzz. I am glad that it seems to be fixed, but at the same time, it's frustrating to have to do all this to a brand new stove. Being an engineer, I definitely saw a few things I would have done differently. Thanks again!

 

[galen]

Chris, I just bought my Yankee Bay Saturday also. And also installed myself. I too had buzzing sounds and found that the stove was not level. I have a natual rock fireplace and was very hard to level. I installed the leveling bolt that normally goes in the rear, in the front. Raised the right side a 1/4 inch and the buzzing is gone. Also the piece of metal strap at the very back of the stove that had the control panel mounted to during shipping was very loose. So I spent a 1/2 hour just tightening everything with a nutdriver. I have the remote thermostat and logs. It says to burn a bag of pellets first before installing the logs. This bad boy is crankin.

 

[hearthtools]

Note:
Travis Employees dont Get mad at me for telling the truth.

When the large version of the travis stoves first came out.
Every stove I had and installed sounded like a Air craft carrier.
8 of them. Buzzing sounds and rattles.
I called them on it and they said
Never had any complaints.
I took video of my showroom stove with sound and emailed to me

One customer I gave them 3 different stoves after I did a lot of RTV on all the metal parts but still had some noise.
waited a few months and called Travis to see if they came up with a fix and still was told I was the only one complaining.
Well about 9 months latter they send out a Mass bulletins
that there was a Blower retrofit kit to remount the blower so it does not touch the stove.
They never called me just a mass bulletins.
Every Astoria I have sold makes some kind of noise. Im not happy but if someone wants one they get it.

 

[galen]

I looked at the way the blowers were mounted on several stoves before I bought, simply from all the issues I read on this forum concerning noise with stoves. I watched this stove burn for over two hours on the show room floor. No noise. I also looked at the fan mounts. The Yankee Bay I bought Saturday has gussets between the fan and mounting bracket. I would say that Travis has addressed this issue, with no complaints from me so far.

 

[chris_v]

The noise issue make me wish I did a little more research before buying. However, I was in a tough spot because the convection blower in the old Avalon 900 we had was on its last let, and my wife wanted something more reliable and easier to start in the event I'm not home when a problem comes up. I was attracted to the Yankee Bay because of the large hopper size, and also because I thought the brand had a good reputation. Overall the build quality seems pretty good, except for the loose sheet metal parts. It is definitely easy to use, and heats very nicely, so I'm not too disappointed by it all. I do want to go back at a later date and try to level it a little better, and also put some silicone pads under it to help dampen the noise further. I'm also thinking of lining the interior fireplace brick with fiberglass acoustic insulation because it definitely seems to amplify the noise some. I also found that the ash pan seems to resonate as well. I taped some small pieces of rubber underneath it and it quieted it down noticeably. I suppose it's possible I just got a stove with some parts a little out of tolerance. I guess that's just how it goes.

On a different note, I too got the remote thermostat. It's a generic Skytech model, and I'm quite disappointed with it. The temperature it reads is generally too low by 4-5 degrees. It reads 65 when the boiler thermostat on the wall reads 70. I definitely want to return it. Any suggestions on a different brand to try? I may just wire it in to a thermostat on the wall and get rid of the remote all together. I really wish they did the thermostat control on the stove differently though. From a control standpoint, it seems like they could have made a unit that would just vary the heat output to "lock in" on a temperature, like the cruise control in your car does, instead of doing an on-off cycle like a normal thermostat.

 

[galen]

Hmmm, My remote was made by Travis Indusdries. It works great. Didn't you get a wall mount thermostat with your stove? They are suppose to come with one. The remote was an option.

 

[chris_v]

I guess I will have to try getting that one instead. I take it you had to purchase it separately from the stove?

 

[galen]

Yes the remote was an option Chris. But the stove does come with a wall unit with the purchase of the stove.

 

[chris_v]

Well, I just called the dealer and they want $229 for the Travis remote, versus the $150 I paid for this generic Skytech junk. They said they sell the Skytech units because they are less expensive. Do you mind my asking what you paid for the Travis remote?

 

[galen]

PM me your number. Be glad to discuss it, but not on world wide forum.

 

[hearthtools]

Hmmm, My remote was made by Travis Indusdries. It works great. Didn't you get a wall mount thermostat with your stove? They are suppose to come with one. The remote was an option.

Travis does not make the remote
I think they are made by Acumend and branded with Travis name then Marked up in price because of the Travis name.

3-4 deg offset is normal for all thermostat. Is your Heater thermostat in the same location and hight as the remote control units.
you just have to compensate for it.
You can also adjust the SWING of the on and off of the remote
You can call the toll free # on the instrustions and Skyteck will help you out.
You dont get that with any other Remote company.

 

[hearthtools]

Sky tech Support
1-888-672-8929
8-5 Eastern time.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Sky tech Support
1-888-672-8929
8-5 Eastern time.

rod, ya beat me to it, we carry a skytech remote as well , usually do not have issues , one time i had a customer who called skytech about an issue while i was on the phone , the tech at skytech asked me a couple questions about the operating system, then a few to the customer , and ended up squaring the customer away , before the phone call was over , i was quite impressed with their tech support. i'd say call em up , likely they can straighten out your issue

 

[chris_v]

Since you both speak so highly of Skytech, I'll give them a call and see if I can figure out a solution before bringing the remote back to the store. On a related topic, how long can I expect the igniter to last if the stove is being used on the auto thermostat setting? I see the igniter as being the weak link in this sort of setup.

 

[hearthtools]

Travis stoves have no exact life on the ignitor span
I seen them go out in less than a year and I have some that are 10 years old.

Back to the remote
2-3 deg is not that big of a deal and not uncommon for any thermostat.
but you might be having a problem with the operation because of
Battery life
Location: Mounted to hi or to low, Cold air or hot air blowing on it, To close to the heat source.

Might have it located near your Return air on your furnace and if you are running your furnace it might kick the stove thermostat off.

There is a SWING adjustment on the remotes
this the the about of degrees it waits for it to change to on or off.

 

[chris_v]

I realize that there are a lot of factors that go into what the remote reads for a temperature. Having it sit directly on a table that is cooler or hotter than the room could definitely affect it, as could being in the sun, or an area with poor air circulation. I may need to investigate at which locations in the house it seems most accurate. I guess I just don't like the fact that it seems unpredictable based on where the remote is located. I don't mind it being inaccurate as long as it's repeatable so I can correct for it, but it does not seem to be very repeatable. Considering that it would only take me an hour or so to set the stove up on a programmable wall-mounted thermostat, I may just do that.

 

[colforbin923]

Thanks for the info in this thread guys, I too had the annoying buzzing coming from the convection fan. I think I was able to nip it in the bud by bending the bracket a little as well as putting a small wad if duct tape in between the fan and the bracket to do some crude vibration isolation. I vacummed all the dust bunnies out of the fan, noticed when I put my hand inside of it though that the fan was a little loose on the motor shaft, not sure if this is by design but bending the bracket a little bit hopefully may keep it from creeping back and forth on the shaft and rattling (if it was). If its not I may be up fo fan replacement in the near future. Now...onto finding a good wireless remote stat for this stove, any updates on the skytech, acumen or travis wireless stats would be appreciated.

 

[hearthtools]

Travis used way to much sheetmetal on all the newer pellet stoves
we been having this problem for the past 6 years.

 

[colforbin923]

Hmmm, My remote was made by Travis Indusdries. It works great. Didn't you get a wall mount thermostat with your stove? They are suppose to come with one. The remote was an option.

Travis does not make the remote
I think they are made by Acumend and branded with Travis name then Marked up in price because of the Travis name.

3-4 deg offset is normal for all thermostat. Is your Heater thermostat in the same location and hight as the remote control units.
you just have to compensate for it.
You can also adjust the SWING of the on and off of the remote
You can call the toll free # on the instrustions and Skyteck will help you out.
You dont get that with any other Remote company.

Does anyone know if the Travis remote accepts a schedule ?? Does anyone know where I can find a spec sheet for the travis remote, I'm going to pick up one used but want to make sure it has all the bells and whistles I'm looking for.

 

[chris_v]

I totally gave up on my wireless remote and just wired the stove to a programmable wall thermostat and it works great.

 

[hearthtools]

Hmmm, My remote was made by Travis Indusdries. It works great. Didn't you get a wall mount thermostat with your stove? They are suppose to come with one. The remote was an option.

Travis does not make the remote
I think they are made by Acumend and branded with Travis name then Marked up in price because of the Travis name.

3-4 deg offset is normal for all thermostat. Is your Heater thermostat in the same location and hight as the remote control units.
you just have to compensate for it.
You can also adjust the SWING of the on and off of the remote
You can call the toll free # on the instrustions and Skyteck will help you out.
You dont get that with any other Remote company.

Does anyone know if the Travis remote accepts a schedule ?? Does anyone know where I can find a spec sheet for the travis remote, I'm going to pick up one used but want to make sure it has all the bells and whistles I'm looking for.

I think that is an Acumen remote