Need a replacement blower motor for Vogelzang 2500 add-on wood furnace

[stephenpick]

Hi there,
I'm wondering if by chance anyone has experience with this furnace. I've been really happy with it, but last week one of the two blower motors went out. I cannot find a replacement motor ANYWHERE but rather only the entire blower assembly (the motor, the fan, the sheet metal housing) at a price of $290.
Attached is a photo of the motor (with the capacitor and fan still attached, but removed from the sheet metal housing).
Any suggestions on other options, or do I just have to bite the bullet and buy the complete assembly?
Thanks!
-Stephen

 

[Dakotas Dad]

I would start by googling any of the groups of numbers on the motor..

 

[Fsappo]

I would start by googling any of the groups of numbers on the motor..

That's exactly what I do. Someone walks in with a blower, I take it, google for a couple of minutes and find what they need "usually" If not, I tell them to buy from manufacturer. Some decent sites that cross reference. I tried to do it for you, but could not make out the numbers,

 

[stephenpick]

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm usually pretty savvy at finding replacement parts (non OEM or from ebay/non-manufacturer), but unfortunately I haven't been able to track anything down for this one. And it doesn't help that I don't know anything about motors/electrical

There's a "File" number and a "Project" number, and of course the AC, HP, etc. specs, but no model or part number. Googling the file number brings up the complete blower assembly on both the Vogelzang and a different site, but nothing else that I can make sense of, but again, I don't know much about motors and have never seen one with a capacitor attached. I found other blower motors but they look quite different from the one out of my system and have no description or hint that they are at all compatible with the Vogelzang one.

I suspect I need to buy it direct from Vogelzang, but thought it was worth a quick ask incase this is some simple motor people are familiar with buy labeled differently.

I don't expect people to research this for me, but if anyone has better understanding or wants to do some detective work, here's the info from the only sticker I can find on the motor itself:

File # E221176
PROJECT 07 CA31851
2500-51
AC: 120V/60Hz
2A 1/6 HP
A0 T.P.L.
12µF/250V
2008.6.1.

Thank you again for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

-Stephen

 

[Fsappo]

I'm gonna google for exactly 3 minutes and give up! That's what this world of technology has turned me into!

 

[Fsappo]

This it?

http://mobilehomefurnace.com/zcart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=&products_id=15682

 

[Dakotas Dad]

I didn't think to ask, are you sure it's the motor, and not the cap?

 

[stephenpick]

Fsappo, thank you for looking for that! It looks like the shaft dimensions are correct but the motor diameter looks off. They list it as "Housing 5" diameter x 3-7/8" deep" where mine is only about 3.5" diameter. It also says it rotates counter clockwise when looking at it from the back, while my motor has an arrow sticker (which I assume is the rotation indicator) showing it rotates to the right or clockwise when looking from the back...

I'll check out the physical dimensions inside the furnace blower housing (which fits both blower motors) to see if a 5" diameter motor would fit. It appears that the brackets for the motor are just simply welded on to the motor (and very sloppily at that) so I could probably rig up a different motor if it physically fits.

As I mentioned, I don't know much about electrical... Mine is listed as 120V/60Hz, but the one you posted is 115V/60Hz (if I'm reading it correctly). Does that matter? Am I understanding it correctly or am I way off?

And finally, I thought about the capacitor briefly, but because I've never seen a capacitor on a motor before I just assumed it was all part of the motor. However, it would be easy to disassemble the this loose motor and see if the capacitor is simply plugged into the motor. If it is I could easily swap it to the currently working motor (the furnace uses two identical blowers side-by-side) and see what happens.

My biggest worry is that if I install a motor that does not match the current motor it might be too strong or too weak, and, I'm just assuming here, the more powerful one could put stress on the weaker one since they are both blowing into the same duct. Or am I again over thinking this?

Thank you again! By the way, what key words did you use to find this? I wonder if the 115V is what was always throwing me off...

-Stephen

 

[Dakotas Dad]

110, 115, 120v are all the same thing. The truth is, it's supposed to be 120v. I once had it explained to me about how the other names came about.. but it's nothing to worry about.

If you have not worked with a cap before, be careful, they are "storage devices" and if shorted WILL bite you, even if not hooked to anything live. Their use with electric motors is to store and hold some amps to help with the "starting load" that all electrical motors have to overcome to get the motor turning.

 

[stephenpick]

Thanks Dakotas Dad. I'm a tiny bit familiar with capacitors but have never worked with them. Is there a safe way to discharge them prior to swapping them? I've worked on home electrical (basic outlets and light switches) without cutting the power, is this the same idea or will I be shooting sparks with the capacitor? I haven't had a chance yet to see if the capacitor is simply plugged in or if it's soldered to the motor wire. If it's simply plugged in can I just carefully unplug both and swap them?
Thanks!
-Stephen

 

[Huntindog1]

Try Granger company

http://www.grainger.com/

 

[jrems]

Just find a local place that rebuild electric motors. Many times starter/alternator rebuilders also rebuild electric motors. I have 2-3 shops within a 20 min drive that do this. I'm sure you have some too.

 

[Fsappo]

Just find a local place that rebuild electric motors. Many times starter/alternator rebuilders also rebuild electric motors. I have 2-3 shops within a 20 min drive that do this. I'm sure you have some too.

Great idea! How much do they normally charge? Enough less than the $250 he was looking to spend for a new one?

 

[I.a.burk16]

Hello, I'm trying to find the same motor and condenser, we bought our house with the same wood stove. I've been searching for a couple hours on Google but unsure what would work. Any help would be appreciated.

Also the link provided in this thread was a dead end, being the product is unavailable.

 

[Chris Aven]

Hi there,
I'm wondering if by chance anyone has experience with this furnace. I've been really happy with it, but last week one of the two blower motors went out. I cannot find a replacement motor ANYWHERE but rather only the entire blower assembly (the motor, the fan, the sheet metal housing) at a price of $290.
Attached is a photo of the motor (with the capacitor and fan still attached, but removed from the sheet metal housing).
Any suggestions on other options, or do I just have to bite the bullet and buy the complete assembly?
Thanks!
-Stephen

I just went through this looking for motor could not find a motor that was match to the existing motor. I had to bite the bullet and by the whole blower assembly. This next summer I'm going to reconfigure the blower intake sheet metal housing and use an old furnace squirrel cage blower. It may cost me a little making new sheet metal air intake but its ridiculous that ya can't find just a replacement motor for this blower.

 

[WillyWish]

I just went through this looking for motor could not find a motor that was match to the existing motor. I had to bite the bullet and by the whole blower assembly. This next summer I'm going to reconfigure the blower intake sheet metal housing and use an old furnace squirrel cage blower. It may cost me a little making new sheet metal air intake but its ridiculous that ya can't find just a replacement motor for this blower.

Since my search for the same replacement brought me here, I'll share my experience if it helps anyone in the future. The motor itself, I couldn't find anywhere either. The entire blower (80594) direct from US Stove is $349, so that was a bit of a turn off. Fleet Farm has it for $240 and Rural King has it for $200. My local fireplace store wants $449 for the unit, so that's not happening. I ended up buying the wrong blower (80600) I found at pellethead.com for $189. The flange is too big. I'll modify the sheet metal next summer to make that one fit because of my own mistake, but in the interim, I just went looking for blowers to match the flange I have. Because my 2nd blower is loud and obnoxious, it also is probably getting close to life's end, I'll make my mistake work. I found a Dayton 1TDR9 blower (NBK is the knockoff brand I got), which fits the flange pattern, for $90 delivered off of ebay. Granted, it is only a 463 CFM blower instead of the 550 CFM for the USS, but it is good enough for my purposes, and it is a lot quieter than its predecessor. It just installed it last night. My wood furnace blowers are wired so I can turn one off if I want. With only a single 550 CFM running for a few weeks now, probably longer, as I don't really know how long the one was bad, unless it gets below 20 degrees outside, it keeps up just fine. I'm going to baby sit just running the 463 by itself during the day, with the main furnace fan also running on low.