Vibration problem with wood pellets stove

[Katchina]

Hi there oversea fellows,

I'm writing this from Belgium, Europe, where I currently own and use an Italian-made wood pellets stove. Brand is Extraflame, model is Bella Lux. I'm not sure they export to the US, so this may be completely unknown to all of you.

The stove has a noise problem which I'm trying to get feedback for. When I have gathered enough opinions and feedbacks from other users, then I will get in touch with my vendor. So, the problem is that some components inside the stove start vibrating every once in a while. Of course when they do, it's "in sync" with the ventilation and the pellets "endless thread" engine. The problem gets worse with time, meaning "once in a while" is slowly becoming "most of the time".

I have posted a video that illustrates the problem (sorry about the French subtitles, I should have known better and used two languages, but this was originally meant for some French-speaking fellows). Here it is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybii7zObKyo

I would appreciate any feedback.

 

[drizler]

Open it up and look for something adrift in there. It sounds like something isn't bolted down. Mine came that way with some fancy clamp holding the blower motor in place. It was hanging there completely free and made less noise than that. Just watch the moving parts and listen around. You can maby even grab and shake a few things to see whats loose as well providing you unplug it or watch for live voltage and moving finger crunchers. These stoves suffer during shipping sometimes and the extent they go to save a nut and bolt can be pretty cheesy sometimes.

 

[dubbz]

That tinny clicking sounds like 1 of the vanes of the impeller is touching the inside of the housing of the combustion motor.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

im hearing 2 noises that shouldnt be there, 1 is the auger , sounds like the auger motor has somthing loose touching the magnetic part of the motor, the other sounds like either a loose cooling fan on one of the blowers or maybe even the main air mover in the room air blower. i may edit this a few times as ive only listened once. question for you in the mean time, does the second noise start when the unit is turned on or when the room air blower starts, if when room air starts , does the air speed control change the sound or pitch of the noise when it is adjusted up or down?

EDIT: one is definately associated with the feed auger, the other is a blower, question again, the second part of the clip , both noises are literally gone, what was changed between the first and second part (i couldnt decypher the captions, took spanish in school not french)

 

[GVA]

This sounds like a top feeder and it sounds like the pellets plinking into the burn pot. To me at least the normal sounds that can somewhat be heard..
The first part Does sound like auger related as I heard a groan in there between the plinks, which could be a gearmotor, or a...... what the heck are you burning problem, those sparks that are shooting up the whole time are fines that are igniting you have alot of fines in your pellets... I've had a couple of odd squeeks and squeals on mine and found a ton of fines in the auger area (but it was alot of fines). And some wet pellets..
The other noise (constant ticking) does sound like distribution blower on high and the other half of the video is the blower on low, Just like Mike I didn't take French either.... sorry..

But on the blower it could just be out of balance a bit if it is a fairly new problem and the stove has been used for awhile the fins could probably use a cleaning, Do you have pets?

 

[Katchina]

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback.
And again, sorry for the French subtitles.

First part of the video you can indeed hear two noises. Here is what the captions read :
- Vibration with Extraflame Bella Lux pellets stove
- One can clearly hear : continuous vibration (in sync with fans)
- And also : periodic vibration (in sync with the auger)

Later on, it reads :
- A few minutes later, no change in burning intensity and settings
- No more vibrations, only blowing sound from the fans
- Normal dilatation-induced sound, or loose component ?

About the noise :
- I know the video doesn't exactly reproduce the sound. Well, it's only a cheap Kodak digital camera, not pro-level audio recording equipment.
- It sounds a lot like two metallic part vibrating next to each other. By the sound of it, I'm not quite it'd from the engines themselves. I suspect a slightly loose part that vibrates too much because of the vibration from the fans and auger motors.

So, to answer your questions :
- There is no change in burning or fan intensity between the two parts of the video. They were taken only a few minutes from each other. That's the whole deal, the sound comes and goes at random. At first I thought it was related to dilatation of different parts ocuring at different paces.
- Specifically, the blower is on high in both videos. There is no difference.

About the pellets :
- I'm burning some fairly good quality pellets, mostly made of "deciduous" wood, and a little pine tree wood. No remaining dust in the bags and while pouring them in the pellet container. I've always had those little sparks, and they seem to cause no problem in the short term. Although this is an entire discussion altogether, I would like to hear more about this and what problems it shows and/or may cause.

My vendor is coming today, I'll ask him to check the noise sources, and also what's his take on this sparks and fines issue.

Thanks again.

 

[restorer]

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback. And again, sorry for the French subtitles.

First part of the video you can indeed hear two noises. Here is what the captions say :
- Vibration with Extraflame Bella Lux pellets stove
- One can clearly hear : continuous vibration (in sync with fans)
- And also : periodic vibration (in sync with the auger)


Later on :
- A few minutes later, no change in burning intensity and settings
- No more vibrations, only blowing sound from the fans
- Normal dilatation-induced sound, or loose component ?

Don't speak French and hardly speak English. Do speak noise. The auger related noise seems to be a scraping as the auger turns. a rubbing, but not a grinding. My guess is the auger bolts or the motor bolts are not tight and they on occassion rub. Check the tightness of all bolts on the auger and the algnment. If the motor and end brackets are loose, you will need to align the wohole assembly.

Second noise is much more difficult. There is vibration in your circulation fan. That vibration is setting of a loose fit vibration or an overly tight vibration. If there are two fixed panels that do not move and are screwed or bolted together, check tightness (this would be a loose panel vibration). If you have moving parts, this could be something tightened too tight and is causing the bracket or mount to vibrate. The answer here is to check that all bushed or insulated contacts are properly tightened.

You certainly are not going to go through your stove and tweak all connectors, so do what I do. Make sure your motors are isolated, particularily the circulation motor. Any connection that is one fixed with another separate fixed part will be a problem.

From my own experience I have a problem with the exhaust connection. The stove is fixed and the exhaust pipe is separately fixed. Occassionaly it sounds like an International Harvester Combine on it's last legs. Solution is, a sharp rap on the corner of the stove, if it gets worse, two raps on the other side. If it isn't better, I grab the back of the stove and jerk it a little.

Well, you farm family mid-staters caught me, that's the same as adjustment by ball peen hammer.

Shucks......