Upgrading an old Kozi to be a little more Cozy! More Exhaust power for low drafting!

[Don2222]

Hello

Good clean drafting means more complete burning. A good clean stove is a must and cleaning should always be done first!
However for low heat levels, large fan blades work best. Large blades must be teamed with a higher rated exhaust blower for better torque needed during start up and low drafting!

The new heavy guage universal mounting hub adapts to most stoves.

Has anyone tried this?

In this old Kozi 100, we beefed up the blower and got a better livelier flame on the low heat levels!

Pic 1-3 - Remove the old OEM 1.2 amp exhaust blower
Pic 4 - Upgraded Gleason-Avery blower has 3 female ends
Pic 5 - Put 2 male and round lug ends on.
Pic 6-7 new GA 1.75 amp blower
Pic 8 - Plug in wires and tie down with wire tie
Pic 9 - ground wire to back of stove grill screw

 

[Arti]

I'm confused.. I thought the idea of pellet burning was to save money? If i put a blower in that uses more electric that you think it is better?
I'm thinking that where i live running a blower 24/7 for 5 months a year for less money makes more sense?.

 

[Don2222]

That is a good question. I am not a motor designer but I think the answer here has to do with the impellers slowing down under a load and not running at the lower speed intended because of the current handling capacity now measured in FLA. A 0.1 amp motor would be to low to make enough draft and a 100 amp motor would be way to much, so what are the optimum specs for the most complete pellet burning? I do know Harman went to the higher 1.75 amp blowers for the same reasons in all their stoves.
Maybe a motor designer can help us here but I doubt it because much of this type of information can be considered a trade secret?

 

[Arti]

I'm not familiar with the Kozi however some control boards have a Trim option to adjust for motor speed control.
Low voltage/poor wiring is a big factor in electric motor performance.
It would be interesting to put an amprobe on the stove with the original motor as well as the new one and see if the bigger motor actually pulls more current, a clamp type amp meter is very affordable and would give a little insight to what is actually taking place.
Motor efficiency also plays a big part of the overall picture, just because it consumes more amps doesn't mean that it does more work. Compare this to a car, some use a lot more fuel to do the same job.

A split capacitor motor is generally more efficient however they don't lend themselves to variable speed controls very well, Direct current motors are also more efficient however they are more costly.
In a modern Gas fired furnace variable drive motors are becoming common place however the price goes up considerably. These motors will automatically compensate for dirty air filters etc. and maintain a predetermined cfm of airflow. Seems like that would be an ideal motor for a pellet stove however it would take a fairly simple machine and make it more complicated and expensive.
Sorry about being long winded.

 

[Don2222]

I did some current measurements with a panel meter. The voltage measurements were accurate but the current measurements were not. However I did notice when the control board in the stove reduced the voltage from line voltage for the lower heat settings the current draw went up!
This is why the higher current motor works better for low drafting. Can you explain why?

 

[Mt Bob]

I'm not familiar with the Kozi however some control boards have a Trim option to adjust for motor speed control.
Low voltage/poor wiring is a big factor in electric motor performance.
It would be interesting to put an amprobe on the stove with the original motor as well as the new one and see if the bigger motor actually pulls more current, a clamp type amp meter is very affordable and would give a little insight to what is actually taking place.
Motor efficiency also plays a big part of the overall picture, just because it consumes more amps doesn't mean that it does more work. Compare this to a car, some use a lot more fuel to do the same job.

A split capacitor motor is generally more efficient however they don't lend themselves to variable speed controls very well, Direct current motors are also more efficient however they are more costly.
In a modern Gas fired furnace variable drive motors are becoming common place however the price goes up considerably. These motors will automatically compensate for dirty air filters etc. and maintain a predetermined cfm of airflow. Seems like that would be an ideal motor for a pellet stove however it would take a fairly simple machine and make it more complicated and expensive.
Sorry about being long winded.

Good luck,I agree with what you are saying,have tried to explain it before.By the way austroflamm/rika stoves with ebm/papst motors use an mass air flow sensor,also a hall effect sensor in the motor to overcome the problems you stated,since the late 1980's,still use this system today.Also have trim pot on boards for adj(older ones,newer adj is in the touch screen/controller setup).A basic vfd is maybe 80-85% effic. so if motor is not running full speed,the vfd eats current.I can only believe most stove makers still go with the lowest bid when outsourcing.A lot of stove motors are used in other applications,pellet stove market is small,hard to justify dedicated electrical motors.Even the ebm motors used in rika and a lot of european stoves is an industry standard motor.By the way the ebm motor is a cap motor which is better for vfd.Someone else tried it years ago(whitfield?) and the big thing was putting in a cheaper motor(converting).

 

[Bioburner]

Seems most of the American market is always leaning toward cheaper as consumers balk at stoves going over $3k. I think the Ecoteck Elena was supposed to retail close to $6k. The Bixby was close to $4k several years ago. Both used the pabst, highly controllable and monitored motors. Very quiet and real bearings.

 

[Mt Bob]

Seems most of the American market is always leaning toward cheaper as consumers balk at stoves going over $3k. I think the Ecoteck Elena was supposed to retail close to $6k. The Bixby was close to $4k several years ago. Both used the pabst, highly controllable and monitored motors. Very quiet and real bearings.

I agree.Europe has been way ahead of us in heating for over twenty years.Austros/rikas were 4200 over here.Ecoteck design awsome,would own one,but have been absorbed by palz-whatever the heck that company is.The newer rikas(well new over 5 years ago,european) designed a system that would clean the pot for repeated thermostat starts,they have a grate at the bottom of the pot that rotates and dumps the ashes/clinker into the ash pan,so uppon restart a clean system is there.But on the other hand,they are doing this yet pellet suppliers are held to much higher standards?We have said for years,about cars,europeans design/produce it,the us puts it in mass production,the japanese mas produce it and make money off it.Appears that has changed to china,but then we end up with dispossable stoves.