New to Forum - Thelin Parlor Pellet Input

[Jethro Wood]

I've gained from this forum reading and am paying back as best I can on my experiences with the Thelin Parlor Pellet. I put in this stove in 2005 and have burned about 3 tons per year in it since then. I have replaced the ignitor rod once, and the blower fan assembly twice.

The ignitor burned out after about 4 or 5 years. Not too hard to replace. If it won't light and the rod isn't hot that is the likely problem. Not too hard to replace.

The blower on mine started getting loud after about 3 years (9 tons). Especially loud on low, with a whistling sound. The blower replacement fixed it and made it very quiet, but a bit pricey and not too easy to do as you have to tilt the stove over and work from underneath. The blower assembly is silicon rubber sealed in. Comes out with some vice grips after getting the three holding bolts out. When I replaced the blower assembly the first time I bought the entire replacement assembly and removed the old one. I took the old one apart and found that the Pittman motor bearings and brushes were worn out. I bought new bearings on ebay. The bearings on both the old and the newer model fan that I have are
R4A-2RS Bearing Sealed 1/4"x3/4"x9/32" Ball Bearings

I bought the Nachi Japan bearings hoping they will be more durable. I got the brushes from the local Thelin dealer, there may be other sources, not sure, pipe in if you know of them.

To rebuild the motor you have to remove the fan assembly and the fan that is in the smoke will be hard to get the allen set screw out on. I soaked mine in penetrating oil for several days and then had to heat the area with a propane torch to get the set screw to release. I don't think this is to big of a deal as this section of the fan lives in the smoke discharge all the time. Take the fan and then the lower mounting bracket off. There is a second cooling fan that has a set screw as well. remember the orientation of the cooling fan as it can be installed either way and it should remain factory. Once all of the fans are off of the motor, remove the brushes under the electrical connections by uncrewing the plastic slotted holders. Pull the brushes out. you will find two Phillips head screws on the end of the motor. Take these all the way out. Carefully remove the motor end cap, don't let the spacer washers fall off the shaft as they have an order and you may have several to take up end play. You will find the R4A-2RS bearings on either end of the motor. Pull the case off the motor. Blow out the motor, don't breathe the dust. Tap out and pull off the existing bearings and replace them with new bearings using good mechanical procedures that do not put loads across the race. On one end you will need to remember the pressed in distance on the shaft and get close to that. You can tap this bearing down using a small copper pipe or other pipe that only hits the inner race on the bearing. On the other end the bearing is lightly pressed into the end cap. Once the bearings are replaced, re-assemble the motor case, cap and screws and install new brushes.

My rebuilt fan is running just fine for a couple weeks now and is very quiet. I'm going to rebuild the replacement unit that is now out.

I'm guessing that you can get about 2 or 3 rebuild cycles out of the motor before the armature copper is too worn down to work, then you will likely need a new motor.

If you know of a source to buy these motors please let us know. Would be nice to get the motor alone with out the fans to save some bucks.

On mine the motor and brush part numbers are here:

Pittman
# 14203C708-R6
12 VDC
12-02-10
Dyn Balanced
Ametek Technical & Industrial Products
Fan Assembly Thelin Old PN 43000-120 New PN 00-0005-0009
Brushes Thelin Old PN 43000-34 New PN 00-0035-0042

Best,
Jethro

 

[imacman]

Nice write-up Jethro....I'm sure the other Thelin owners will appreciate it.

PS A couple of key pics would have been nice for those of us that are "visual learners".

 

[ebengel]

Jethro, thanks for the great info. I am on my 5th winter running the Thelin, using about 3 tons per season. I have replaved the ignitor twice and the T1 sensor once. At the end of this season it will be time to replace the rope gasket on the door. I have been wondering when the fan motor would be coming due for replacement, and now I think that whewn it does I will replace it and then rebuidl the old one to keep as a spare. Overall we are very happy with this stove and have been using it as our primary heat source since shortly after it was installed.

 

[Jethro Wood]

I've got the replacement that I bought tore down in the shop and have the bearings for it now. I'll snap some photos of the rebuild. Too late to get any of the underside of the stove as it is back in service now. Good idea on the photos. I'll work on it.

As far as the stove goes it has been my primary source of heat since 2005. I live in snow country and have lots of power failures. The DC 12V connection that the Thelin Parlor pellet stove offered was one of my main reasons for choosing it. I've run it for 2 days straight on the battery. I use a marine battery, plain old average size and I figure it would run about 3 days on the battery if needed. I think the stove only draws 35 watts of power on battery. Everything works on battery except the auto ignitor which only works if you have 120VAC plugged in working. The stove looks nice and has been good to me. I have a red one with the gold trim so it looks like an old fire station which I love. Most of the time we run on low and a bag of pellets runs about 24 hours on low for me. I have found that the brand of pellets makes a big difference on the cleaning requirements. I'm running mostly Golden Fire pellets and find them to burn with the least ash and smoke on the glass. I'm in the Sierra with plenty of snow. Lucky to have this machine.

 

[ebengel]

I have run mine for 4 days on a group 24 marine battery. With good pellets we also run most of the time on low, and also find that pellet quality has a huge effect on cleaning intervals. The only thing I would like to have is an ash drawer, but there is no place for it on this stove, and I love the look of the stove more than I miss an ash drawer

 

[Jethro Wood]

An update on this to keep some community support for the Thelin Pellet stoves in 2017

The old Pittman motor was in my opinion not very durable in the bearing department. My replacement of the bearings with the best Japanese bearings I could find still would only last for 2 seasons or about 5 tons of pellets for me. I'd be happy with this service life and the replacement except that this motor is hard to get at and requires disconnecting the stove pipe and tipping the stove forward and taking the blower and associated sheet metal apart from the bottom of the stove. Kind of a hard job that could have been easier if the motor were in a different location (IMHO). Looking for a replacement to the Pittman I found that Sierra Products has a ExMek replacement motor.

110556 (broken link removed to http://sierraproductsinc.net/parts-pellet-stoves.php#), All units, Exmek at a cost of $133 plus $22 in shipping from:

(broken link removed to http://sierraproductsinc.net/parts-pellet-stoves.php)

It arrived and I will be replacing my (many times rebuilt Pittman motor with this one and will document the results here at hearth.com. Here are pictures of the Pittman and the ExMek motor.

For future reference the bearings on the ExMek motor are 608Z. Sierra Products sells brushes for the ExMek Motor for $18 a pair at the link above.

 

[Jethro Wood]

As promised here are some photos of the rebuild process on the Pittman motor. I'll attempt to rebuild the Exmek motor when it wears out.

 

[FirepotPete]

Nicely done! I love pictures, like they say, they are worth a thousand words.

 

[ebengel]

Sierra Products is the new owner of Thelin as of last year.

 

[Jethro Wood]

Update and covered with pictures in another thread you can search for Thelin Parlor Pellet. The Exmek motor referenced and pictured above went in fine and is working good two days now. Total cost with shipping is $155. So a bit more money than I think a small motor like this is worth, expecially if it only lasts 6 tons but much better than the other options I have found.

 

[Fishstyx]

Jethro, I very much appreciate the information you've shared here. We have a Thelin Providence insert that we bought in Feb of 2012. Based on what I've read from other Thelin owners, we've done pretty well. We went 3 1/2 seasons burning 4-5 tons a season before our first issue, the bearings failing on the Pittman. I bought a replacement blower motor/assembly off eBay for $250 that had a different motor on it (not Pittman or Exmek) at the end of last season and it just died. This motor was noisy from the start and didn't last a single season. Over the last couple of days it simply slowed to a crawl, then died.

At this point I refuse to pay $500 for a 12v brushed motor and some stamped steel so I've been looking for just the motor and your post had the information I needed. I ordered the 110556. Shipping was a little less and I hope to have it in a week. In the meantime I'm going to go ahead and replace the bearings on the Pittman I pulled out last season, per your information above.

Thanks again for taking the time to share this information.

Update and covered with pictures in another thread you can search for Thelin Parlor Pellet. The Exmek motor referenced and pictured above went in fine and is working good two days now. Total cost with shipping is $155. So a bit more money than I think a small motor like this is worth, expecially if it only lasts 6 tons but much better than the other options I have found.

 

[Fishstyx]

Success. I ordered the bearing, gasket and brushes. Getting the Pittman motor apart was a bit of a challenge. Like Jethro, I had to soak the set screws on the exhaust fan / motor cooling fan in Kroil to get them to losen up. The motor itself was full of about a teaspoon full of metal dust from the worn brushes / commutator. The commutator looks about 50% worn so I don't think I'll get another rebuild out of it. I ended up only replacing the front bearing (on the hot side of the motor near the exhaust fan). The back bearing was fine. This eliminated the need to remove/reinstall the rear bearing which is force fit on the shaft. On the other hand, the front bearing came off the shaft easily and out of the housing with a little heat from a butane torch.

The 110556 replacement motor hasn't arrived yet so I'll go ahead and install the rebuilt Pittman and keep that one as a spare.

 

[Scouse]

Hi Guys, Nice to find a site with knowledgeable people. We've recently bought a little house on the Oregon coast and inherited a Thelin Parlour 3000 pellet stove. Never had a pellet stove before so it was a bit of an adventure getting it going. It really needed some deferred maintenance.
After some work it fired up and we've really got to like it. A real improvement over the electric wall units. Cozier, warmer and cheaper! I first I had this noise that "Really" sounded like a female elephant giving birth. A high pitched bellow that quieted as the stove warmed up. It had to be the auger the way it paced with the turning. After a few days of WD40 on the bearings, each time before lighting, the noise stopped and we really enjoyed the stove. Oh, I had to replace the igniter.



This past week however the fire would quit after a few minutes running, the auger wasn't turning. I tried unplugging the power at night to see if the electrics / mother board would reset...and it did for a couple of days. Then it finally quit altogether yesterday. I took the motor out earlier today, noticed that it was 12V so with nothing to lose I jumped it on the car battery. It worked smoothly and effortlessly. Checked the auger and it spins freely.

So, I'm stymied! (always wanted to use that word in a sentence) I'm at a bit of a loss to see where I go from here. It all runs through some sort of motherboard but I can't see why that would suddenly quit. I plan on just cleaning connections and give it a try before reassembling all the heat shields and covers but other that that I'm hoping the someone wading through my long winded question/description would have any pertinent information or a wild guess on what the problem is.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fishstyx]

It could be the T2 sensor. I believe it's a thermocoupler that indicates high heat in the exhaust flow. If it triggers, it stops the auger from feeding more fuel. The stove repair guy was here today to help me get my rebuilt motor installed (ours is a Providence insert and I needed a lesson in disassembly/removal) and he explained to me the function of the T1 (exhaust flow blockage) and T2 (overtemp). He specifically stated that T2 trigger would stop fuel flow.

Hi Guys, Nice to find a site with knowledgeable people. We've recently bought a little house on the Oregon coast and inherited a Thelin Parlour 3000 pellet stove. Never had a pellet stove before so it was a bit of an adventure getting it going. It really needed some deferred maintenance.
After some work it fired up and we've really got to like it. A real improvement over the electric wall units. Cozier, warmer and cheaper! I first I had this noise that "Really" sounded like a female elephant giving birth. A high pitched bellow that quieted as the stove warmed up. It had to be the auger the way it paced with the turning. After a few days of WD40 on the bearings, each time before lighting, the noise stopped and we really enjoyed the stove. Oh, I had to replace the igniter.



This past week however the fire would quit after a few minutes running, the auger wasn't turning. I tried unplugging the power at night to see if the electrics / mother board would reset...and it did for a couple of days. Then it finally quit altogether yesterday. I took the motor out earlier today, noticed that it was 12V so with nothing to lose I jumped it on the car battery. It worked smoothly and effortlessly. Checked the auger and it spins freely.

So, I'm stymied! (always wanted to use that word in a sentence) I'm at a bit of a loss to see where I go from here. It all runs through some sort of motherboard but I can't see why that would suddenly quit. I plan on just cleaning connections and give it a try before reassembling all the heat shields and covers but other that that I'm hoping the someone wading through my long winded question/description would have any pertinent information or a wild guess on what the problem is.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Scouse]

That's interesting Fishstyx. Thanks for your reply. Before I put the stove back together I gave it an extra clean out in places I couldn't reach before.
It started up and ran well without problems but it did that the other day and quit then next. I feel good about this time though. Eternal optimist!

Should it stop again I'll make a point of checking both the T1 and T2 sensors. Afterthought, I should check the chimney and check the exhaust flow, making sure that area is not overheating. I had a glitch in the thermostat last week and the room heated up to 80 degrees, (Felt great to me) but that is not the exhaust area.

Thanks again.

 

[rick31797]

I have a pitman motor here that works, but on low setting it was making a noise., if your interested in buying it pm me, i am trying to raise some money to fix my current pellet stove that may need the blower motor replaced...

 

[Scouse]

I have a pitman motor here that works, but on low setting it was making a noise., if your interested in buying it pm me, i am trying to raise some money to fix my current pellet stove that may need the blower motor replaced...

Thanks for the offer Rick but I'll pass. Seems my trouble wasn't the motor itself, it ran really smoothly when I tested it. The stove is running really good right now.

 

[Scouse]

Real men don't need instructions......

Well maybe, maybe not but I'm finding out more things as I look. The info from Fishstyx (F1 and F2 sensors) was certainly relevant. Then looking through the manual I found what really could be the problem from last week.

"The Parlour pellet stove is equipped with a blocked flue/high temp safety sensor that will shut the stove off if there is a down draft, blocked flue, or high temperature condition.
If you install the stove on the side of the house that is hit by prevailing winds (usually 30 to 40 mph or greater) there is a chance that the sensor will be activated and the stove will shut off."

We had winds up to 60mph and gusting..

At least I'm becoming familiar with the stove (R2D2) and it's workings. I'm a retired mechanic, aircraft and manufacturing. Working on it when I have a goal and a fix isn't a problem.

 

[thelin3000needshelp]

Hey everyone I’m stumped right now..

We have a thelin 3000.. we bought it from a guy who was the org owner. It came with 2 other prior auger motors. The problem we are currently having is the auger motor will start up and run for a couple of minutes before stopping. We can click the clean button for a minute then click the low/med/high button again and it turns right back on. This had been the problem with the other two motor so now I’m questioning was it never really the motor to begin with?? :/

 

[Juniah12]

Does anyone have an up to date link where I can get the replacement motor from exmek? I have the Pittman currently and I tried the links to the ‘110556’ motor but they’re outdated. Thanks for any help!

 

[Ssyko]

http://www.thelinco.com/mobile/replacement-parts.php

 

[Juniah12]

http://www.thelinco.com/mobile/replacement-parts.php

That is a link to the $400 entire fan motor assembly. I’ve been there. I’m looking for the $155 motor replacement only. Thanks

 

[backyard stoves]

That is a link to the $400 entire fan motor assembly. I’ve been there. I’m looking for the $155 motor replacement only. Thanks

did you ever get a answer to this question .. im in need of the same part

 

[Murfman]

https://sierraproductsinc.net/customer-support/parts-pellet-stoves/

$212 for the motor

https://www.eastcoasthearth.com/col...ly-w-gasket-combustion-blade-mounting-plate-1

$330 including gasket