My exhaust blower on my Mt Vernon pellet stove went gunnybags at the 8-year mark (started screeching punctuated by other raspy sounds). I purchased this replacement exhaust blower as it was slightly cheaper than I could get elsewhere. When the box arrived the flange of the fan-cage was sticking out the side of the box and was slightly bent. This did not pose a big problem as I simply took a pair of pliers and bent the thin sheet metal flange back straight. Unfortunately the white felt "gasket" that came with it had been torn in two in several spots as it had been sandwiched between the bottom of the heavy fan housing and the packaging box. The only packaging that had been put in the box was packing-paper and the weight of the fan was too much for the paper to have any dampening effect. Thus, the heavier fan jostled all about in the box during shipment protruded through the side of the box and tore the gasket up. After straightening the fan housing I was able to also patch the gasket back up. After assembly (see below) I was somewhat disappointed to hear than the fan had a harmonic "rumble." The rumble lasts for about 1 second and then is replaced by a second of relative quiet at which time the rumble resonates on again and so forth. Thus, while my stove is on I can hear a huuuuuuuuum.................huuuuuuuuuuuum.......................huuuuuuuuuuum etc. It is only somewhat irritating, but adds to the overall noise the stove makes in the corner of my living room. The box from the seller contained one complete exhaust fan, one white felt gasket and an instruction sheet for "how to" go about changing out the old fan with the new. The instruction sheet was adequate except that it left out that you need some high temp gasket cement (or similar product) to properly seal the friction-fit between the fan housing and the exhaust port on the back of the stove. I was able to get a product at my local hardware store called Meeko's Red Devil Gasketing Cement & Stove Sealer that I used for the purpose.
I have only average mechanical capability and the whole disassembly/reassembly process took about 2 hours and fifteen minutes. You have to take apart most of the back half of the pellet stove in order to replace the exhaust fan. The instructions were adequate but I took additional notes to remind myself which colored wires go back onto which electrical component etc. It was at times a frustrating journey that required double-jointed wrists, midget hands and patience. The biggest hang up you will encounter is removing and replacing the screws that connect the exhaust blower to the stove. Not a lot of room for a ratchet inside the stove cavity. Accordingly, the top right screw was the biggest bugger. An open-ended 7/16th wrench was the only tool to use and you can only get about 1/10th of a turn of the screw per twist of the wrist. Patience grassshopper.....in ten minutes you will have the screw out. On reassembly I would suggest only slightly tightening the other exhaust fan screws first as getting the "big bugger" screw started is difficult (you have so little finger room between the auger chute and end of the screw) and you need all the play you can get to achieve getting the screw threaded back into its hole.
Good luck weekend warriors!
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
The blower was hard to find for this model of pellet stove (5) five years old.
Went in OK and now I need to find a control box for the stove.
Isn't that life... But the fan is good...
No comments:
Post a Comment