It's been a hot and busy summer but now I have to force myself to think about the cooler weather. Last winter, the steam boiler for my upstairs apartment started leaking. The boiler was a 25 year old Weil Mclain and I knew I was on borrowed time. By the time the heating season ended, the boiler was steaming and leaking like a sieve. I looked at boilers from Home Depot ($3000 and I install) and three local companies ($8000 to $10,000 installed) and was depressed that I was going to spend a few days doing the install by myself. Moving an old 700 pound boiler out and a new 700 pound boiler in was my biggest concern. My brother in law had a friend who owned a heating company and he contacted me and offered to help. He said he would buy the boiler at his cost and help me with the removal and install. I took apart the old boiler and he had his two "kids" come and remove the old hulk, then they moved in a brand new Burnham boiler and set it in place. My cost was $1700! By the time I was done with new piping and controls plus a few hours of his labor, I had a new, running boiler for $2500. (Phew!) Now that that is done, I can start on my stove. Next week I will be visiting Don2222 to pick up my high capacity blower and a bushing for my auger. I may even pick up a new control panel face if I have enough money left. Then I'll completely disassemble the little guy, take it outside, and get it super clean and lubed up for the heating season. Yee Haw!
Nice to see you Chandler! Remember pics of the stove running with the new High Amp High Performance Exhaust Blower!
Nice to meet you too Don! I am working on it right now. Panel decal is done and blower going in nicely. I may or may not do the auger bushing. The old one is still tight but it's nice to have it just in case.
I am installing a new Convection Blower into this Baby and blasting out the ash chambers with a compressor today. Good to have the auger bearing as a spare.
Hello After installing a new Convection blower, I found the high limit snap disc tripped. I removed the wires and checked the switch with my meter and found the switch was open. So using a screw driver. I reset the snap disc. You have to press a little harder on these snaps to reset them. So I put one wire back on and when I put the other back on, when I got close, I forgot I had the stove plugged in and I got zapped. So I unplugged the stove and connected the wire back. Then I plugged in the stove and when I pressed on there was no juice! Everything was fine but when we wired the new shop, we did per the new codes and put all new GFCI outlets in. Well the outlet that the stove was plugged into, the GFCI tripped and stopped the current flowing through me! My instinct is to let go of the electric wire and that also stops the current flowing through me too. Since this has happened to me many times before on non GFCI outlets and I let go, I am still alive. So does this really save lives? Probably for people who freeze and keep holding on, I do not know for sure. The GFCI outlets do really work and now I do believe in them. They do not stop current from going through you but they do kick in and limit how much current going through you!! Anyone else have this happen??? Anyway, Stove is working fine and since the vacuum switch was marginal. I installed a heavy duty Cleveland Controls all metal vacuum switch like the old Whitfield’s use with 10-32 nuts and 1/2” long bolts, washers and lock washers. See pics!
So.....the blower was installed, the stove cleaned and after installing the new panel for my control panel, I went to reinstall it. I had unplugged the stove before working on it but what I didn't know is my wife plugged the surge protector back in so she could plug in a fan for the dogs. I plugged the panel in and went to align it so I could put the screws in and I heard a snap. The kind of snap a fuse makes when it blows. I looked and sure enough, the stove was plugged in. I tried a new fuse but of course that didn't work. Back to see Don for a new control panel. Now the stove is done. Runs like a champ and has enough airflow to float the pellets. This week I will remove the venting and give it a good cleaning and I'm ready for winter.
Hello Most of these digital panels are very sensitive and easily get wiped out if they touch the body of the stove (Ground) with power supplied to them. The most famous one is the control panel on the old Pelpro Pellet Stoves. I removed the right Side Panel on a stove plugged into a power strip where the on/off indicator light was burned out. The damper rod is located way too close to the control panel and as I started pulling the side panel off, the damper rod came out of the hole in the side panel and hit the control panel and Zap! I saw a spark and that was the end of that control panel!!
Hey Chan, There is a ceramic fuse built into the board that may have also popped. I can take a peek at it and see if we can make it a spare for ya. Send me a PM if you want me to check it out.
Although the pic is a bit fuzzy, do I see oiling ports on that convection blower??? If so, did they get 2-3 drops of 3 in 1 ?? (3 in 1 Blue can preferred)
Oh yeah. I remove the blower(s) yearly and clean them and lube the bearings with synthetic oil. 10 years old and still purring. I think the exhaust blower's inner bearing was getting a bit worn though. It started making a bit of noise once or twice a day. Not a squeal but more like a rumble. I figured it was due to the heat. It was lubed just like the others. Now that I have a nice new blower with lube holes, I'll get at least another 10 years plus out of it.
Finally finished my cleaning. The last thing to do was clean the venting. Usually I do the leaf blower thing but once a year I clean it-clean it. Because of the way my venting is set up, it's easy to remove the whole thing and bring it outside and really scrub it clean. A quarter twist outside removes my 1 foot of pipe and the 45 elbow and cap. Back inside I loosen the hose clamp and slide the T off and slip the elbow at the top out of the pass through. Oh, and I replaced the old surge protector as a "Just 'cause" . Bring on the cold weather!
