Pellet heads!! What's up today?

Thanks for the birthday wishes! My lady is taken Me out this weekend.

It's been warming up, still some cold nights but nothing real bad. Might have put my last bag in two nights ago, forecast is looking decent. I'm ready for some sun and warmth, can't wait to get back up north.

 

WW, I would say cleaning is a good start.

Did it smoke the hopper just once or more than that? Any differences in wind when it happened? Do you have an OAK or is it pulling in house air?

 

Yum , and every meal is better with Beer

 

I have the SBI Osburn 7000, the same manufacturer just a different product with more bells and whistles. I gave up on using really dirty or dusty pellets for the trouble they cause. The pellet dust builds up in the auger tunnel. I would suggest this is possibly the issue. As it burns back into the auger chamber it may be the cause.

I blow out the chamber during proper cleanings and I found I need to keep a strong air flow with the combustion and exhaust fans. Over all this does what we wanted, but it is a beast at best.

 

Hmmm. This year I am getting quite a bit of black buildup on the fire bricks and walls of the fire box. Mostly during low burns and cleans up on high burns.

New gaskets, cleaned stove and piping and the pellets are OK.

I am thinking I have a weakening combustion blower but do not have a magnahelic to measure. Unit is 10 years old so combustion blower would make sense here.

Wonder if you are having similar issues?

 

Does your exhaust blower have ball bearings or bushings ??? The bushing motors need to be oiled a couple times a year...
I use 3 in 1 blue top can oil in my exhaust fans...
A motor that's getting dry will slow down and cause issues.

 

Negative pressure in the house.

Installation in your general environment is at all limits for the stove anyway.

 

Same on the Harman. I'll give it a shot though

 

I was having the same issue last year. Changed both door gaskets last summer, no longer an issue for me. My stove is the same year as yours and I, too, suspected my combustion blower but it seems OK this year.

 

Changed the firebox gasket a month ago. Didnt do the ash pan though.

I cant imagine the ash pan wears much as it isnt opened/closed anywhere near as often but maybe?

 

Yes,some versions of your stove have 2 exhaust/combustion blowers.Having never worked on one,I cannot help.But,seems like you have figured it out.

 

Happy Birthday MikeSs

 

X2

 

Many DRAFT/EXHAUST fans were are of the ball bearing design and do not require oil.

Many of the older stoves like our Whitfield Advantage have Oilite (Oil impregnated bronze) bushings in the draft fan motors and require a few drops of light Hi heat type oil every few months.

Another thing to pay attention to...VERY IMPORTANT

The draft/exhaust fan (Has the impeller in the exhaust flow) run on a regulated voltage that is "usually" controlled based on the heat setting (Higher fuel feed...higher voltage "faster fan speed"
It is not uncommon to have the speed control (Triac) on the control board go south and play nasty games with the fan speed...

When you toss in a fresh fan BE SURE YOU PAY ATTENTION to the new fans activities and make sure that it is not behaving the same as the old one.

Removing the old fan and checking it for free, smooth rotation is a good starting point...

If the fan runs rough/noisy then it is used up and needs replacing
Also if the fan is stiff when cold then the bearings grease has hardened up...same end result...motor has given its all.

Didn't I read that the stove is fine on HIGH heat position ?????

Might be a good idea to check the voltage at the fan WITH IT RUNNING.

Back probe the connectors at the fan (USE ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS WHILE HANDLING LIVE VOLTAGE) Voltage at the fan is probably in the 70 volt range on low and then goes up as the heat setting is increased.

Every stove is slightly different, and unless you can get a copy of the tech manual it's a guess as to exactly what the Manufacture had as a setting.

Generally though the 70 volt range is probably about right on low.

If the Triac fails/has failed the power feed can be real strange....from odd voltages to only half wave (Looking at the power on an oscilloscope the 120 volt AC is a nice wave form that curves from baseline to above the line..then below the line. (Alternating current)

A triac control chops off segments of each part of the wave in equal parts above and below the line... this give the motor a "little shot" of power...The segments have to be in exactly the same part of the corresponding wave or the motor will be noisy.

If one segment is weak the speed can be way off as well.
A failure of half the wave form will usually keep the motor from running.

Testing must be done with the motor running...
A basic VOM will work fine Digital or analog... (Small hand held multimeter)
Harbor freight sells some fair ones real reasonable

God luck...BE SAFE

 

Yesterday was productive on the Munchy.
Dug out the BAD AZZ mag drill (Had not used it in years) this bad boy is just plain heavy.. so rigged it with the tractor and got it up on the frame.....

Drilled the bolt holes for the main shaft bearings with ease...
Welded the shaft into the rotor assembly.

welded the impact bars (1/4 inch round rod) to the rotor assembly at 4 postions.

To achieve a nice clean fit and good clearance control against the anvil I tossed the rotor back in the lathe and machined the OD of the bars to get the clearance down to about .150" .

The rotor is large enough that it will not clear the carriage on the lathe, so a workaround had to be done..... a long boring bar in the tool holder and machine to just beyond center and then flip the rotor end for end and machine the other side... A ROYAL PITA but it got the job done.

A good close up shot of the finished impact bar and the anvil
The welded front surface has the weld all the way across the face and the trailing surface is skip welded just for stability.

I got the beast bolted back in and the pulley bolted on.... Sitting there looking at it....I was curious... I grabbed a couple handfuls of half shells and then spun the rotor pulley by hand and tossed the shells onto the top of the rotor..

KARUNCH...... All sorts of nice little pieces flew out the bottom..

Today the plan is to get after the design on the sheet metal hopper.

Pretty simple arrangement with a couple baffles to stop shells from flying out the top.
Attaches to the frame with four 1/4" bolts

Getting real anxious to see this BAD BOY doing it's job...

 

X3 !!