Season 15 with the E100 Wood Gun begins.

[Gasifier]

Tonight I will begin burning for the firewood heating season. The oil boiler has started to turn on too often for my liking.

The other day I installed a new fan motor, new fan ceramic heat shield, and fan assembly gasket. The original motor was still running, but was making some noise and it is time to do some maintenance work to it. The new motor is very quiet. A little more cleaning of inside of boiler tonight and I will slowly bring it up to temperature with some White Ash.

 

[xshmoox]

Motor probably just needs bearings. Fairly simple to do with a puller and can use a toaster oven to heat bearings up to get them on the shaft

 

[brenndatomu]

Motor probably just needs bearings. Fairly simple to do with a puller and can use a toaster oven to heat bearings up to get them on the shaft

Yup, a good motor will last through several sets of bearings, if taken care of otherwise, and not left go "too long" on the old bearings.
And yes to the toaster oven! I keep one on the shelf in the shop, just for bearings!
Also have an old electric stove/oven out there to heat up larger plastic parts, for customizing...PVC becomes very "cooperative" at about 220-240*

 

[Gasifier]

Motor probably just needs bearings. Fairly simple to do with a puller and can use a toaster oven to heat bearings up to get them on the shaft

Yup.

The old, original motor will now become the backup. I bought the new motor a few years ago, when I had some extra cash, and put it on the shelf in the boiler room. Replaced a few electrical parts in the original at that time and kept using it.

Used the small puller to get the fan off the shaft of the original motor.

 

[Gasifier]

Time to move the cold season BTUs under some cover……

 

[xshmoox]

Yup, a good motor will last through several sets of bearings, if taken care of otherwise, and not left go "too long" on the old bearings.
And yes to the toaster oven! I keep one on the shelf in the shop, just for bearings!
Also have an old electric stove/oven out there to heat up larger plastic parts, for customizing...PVC becomes very "cooperative" at about 220-240*

Since we do a lot of bearing replacements on large motors in commercial/industrial hvac world they’ve introduced induction bearing heaters. Although not cheap we have a few at work now and they are awesome has a magnetic temp sensor to place on the bearing you enter what temp you want the bearing to get to and it’s there in about 5 minutes or so depending on bearing size. Really awesome and takes away the chance on the entire bearing not being up to temp and not getting on the shaft all the way.

 

[brenndatomu]

Since we do a lot of bearing replacements on large motors in commercial/industrial hvac world they’ve introduced induction bearing heaters. Although not cheap we have a few at work now and they are awesome has a magnetic temp sensor to place on the bearing you enter what temp you want the bearing to get to and it’s there in about 5 minutes or so depending on bearing size. Really awesome and takes away the chance on the entire bearing not being up to temp and not getting on the shaft all the way.

We have the induction heater, but not that temp sensor...nice!

 

[Gasifier]

I had a problem with the new fan motor on my wood boiler earlier this week. I’ve been working and didn’t have much time to mess with it, but tried a few things. And then I thought of a small business not too far from my house that fixes motors and the like. I pulled the motor off, brought it to them yesterday, they fixed it in a few hours. Capacitor went bad. $89 total charge, with an extra capacitor to take with. I put it all back together and it’s humming along beautifully now. This is a big relief with the colder temps coming. I think I may have wired it wrong when I put the new one on, not sure. Strange thing is it ran for a month, then quit.

 

[Gasifier]

The new capacitor has held up. And I bought a couple for backup. We have had some pretty cold temperatures in Ogdensburg, NY area over the last month. Many nights below zero. So I’ve been burning through a good amount of firewood. The Wood Gun has been doing a great job of heating this big house, garage, and our domestic hot water.

 

[muncybob]

I went to AHS last summer to pick up some parts and while there had them refurbish my spare motor. Replaced some internal parts with "better quality: parts. Just the other day the old fan was making noise, knew the bearings were on their way out. Was glad I had a spare on hand. The new unit starts up pronto (old one had a slight delay) but I hear a hum that is slightly audible in the room above the boiler.

Been plowing through wood too but have plenty on hand. Looking forward to firing up the saw in a month or so as I like to be at least 2 seasons ahead on our wood.