Profile 30 Rattle

[jjdesch]

the ash pan in my freestanding Whitfield Profile 30 has developed a rattle that seems to be induced when the combustion blower changes fan speeds. Seems to be random (but annoying as hell) in operating mode, and happens fairly consistently in the last 7 minutes or so during the shutdown cycle. I have checked to see if the ash pan was seated and latched properly. It seems to be, there really are no guide rails to miss. I am going to try putting a brick in the pan to see if the rattle goes away, and have called the dealer for warranty service (this was a new install this past august). The dealer said he had to "research" into this before he will authorize a service call and will call me back tomorrow - he better not leave me hanging.

Could the combustion blower have come unbalanced and loose?

 

[jjdesch]

ok, here is an update. I originally thought the rattle was coming from the ash drawer - then I thought it might be the hopper lid, the reason being that I could sometimes get the rattle to stop by putting some pressure on these parts. However, I have narrowed the culprit to the ash slide cleanout plate. I can get the rattle to stop everytime, if only temporarily, by tapping on the underside of the slide plate with the scraper tool.

My question now is - how the hell do I tighten up this slide plate to get the annoying rattle to stop permanently? So much of this stove seems to be put together with pop-rivets. I have tried spraying some of this:

(broken link removed to http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/how_to/4290386.html)

and will see what happens. BTW, this stuff looks like it might be just the thing to slick up the inside of the hopper. It sprays on wet but quickly dries to a super slick gunmetal grey. Gonna try a little on the auger too.

One more tip - go to walmart and buy one of those cheap-ass gun cleaning kits (8 bucks). The 20 gauge brass bore cleaner is great for giving the heat exchange tubes a good cleaning where the scraper does not reach.