HF Warrior Router Speed Control good Tester for Pellet Stove Convection Fans

Hello
Got a 25% off coupon for HF this weekend and found this Warrior Router Speed Control.
Works great on many AC motors and for us works very well on pellet stove Convection Fans.
Has anyone else tried it? I just tried it on a Napoleon PICB Convection Blower, See pics below
The first attachment is the owners manual PDF

 

Not that controller or that fan but I've used those on inline fans and it worked as intended.

 

Will it work? Sure
A good idea? No

 

Hi BB
The Harman already provides a speed control on the control panel for the distribution Fan and the Combustion fan automatically changes speed. Some other stoves do not and it may be useful in bench testing a variable speed blower to check if the blower is bad and not the control board?

 

Yes that is why they say not to run Breckwell boards on heat level 1. I have a better exhaust blower for Breckwells that help alot. Also on the Big the pellets keep bouncing out of the pot without the optional collar bridge. I really like their burnpot design with the burn basket that drops down into an enclosed box with the burn air coming in all around it. The more dynamic flame it creates makes the P22 Breckwell put out 10-11 BTUs more than other similar size pellet stoves with the standard burnpot.
See video in link below
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/KfVgEQcfRr4

 

For bench testing, it will probably be fine. But, for everyday use, no. As the directions say--"Do not use with brushless type motors". Plus, being for a router, it is not rated continuous duty. A better option would be a fireplace blower speed controller. The differences in these cheap speed controllers, between brushed and non-brushed motors, is the timing on the "firing" of the triac. So, when you are testing a motor, and it hums kinda loud, at lower speeds, it is because of this, being the wrong device.

 

Thanks Bob - Very good assessment

 

Several stove controllers have the auger feed and the combustion fan tied together so the fire stays burning and does not burn out too quickly on the low feed setting or choke up with pellets on the higher feed setting.....

My custom controllers use a separate speed control box for the combustion fan and one for the convection fan.

The small stove has the fan speed control from a Lopi or Avalon on the panel and the actual fan voltage can be dialed in per the original Whitfield specs (About 60 to 63 volts) on the #1 setting.
Running shells I fool with the fan speed. Meter on the panel allows seeing wassssup with the voltage and is marked for the sweet spot..

The Prodigy 2 uses the main fan as a combi fan and it shunts a small air supply into the bottom of the fire pot and the rest goes to room air..

A strange lash up....but it works well....

The part number is as follows
Use LOPI OR AVALON stove part # 250-02132.

I mounted the panel and added a "Lock screw" to keep from accidentally moving the knob...

The 250-02132 is a nice durable part......

On the Big stove I used a pair of industrial AC power controls ...one for each fan with panel mounted adjustments that take a screw driver....

The set up om the big stove is set to one setting for all fed settings.....Room fan at 110 volts and the draft fan at 85 volts......Works perfect....

A piccy of the large stove panel AC power controls are RH side lower of the panel.....2" square units

The AC power modules are a lot beefier than needed....but they work great and are easy to get.

SSAC brand phase controls for 120V ac About $45 each....

The small stove panel as completed is sown in (Complete 2A)
The fan speed control is in the panel cover on the left side of the piccy towards the bottom of the pic. (Square box)

Two pics of the complete controller on the Advantage 2T

Yeah.....There is one helluvalota stuff in the box....

A piccy of the panel as it is now with all switches labeled (Large stove)

 

Thanks Snowy your expert input is always a pleasure. I also found that some digital control panels that may have a simple divider network to lower the fan voltage but on the lower heat levels the resulting voltage is not ideal. So better control panels have the trim pots to dial it in. Still Not as good as your control knobs and nice voltage meter! LOL

 

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have one for just testing blowers, I would NEVER use one as a stove controller..... can you imagine the Chineseium electronics in these? Everyone makes them.