This is the start of my second full season with my stove. The blower motor seems to work only when it wants to. Removed blower unit and the fan was really tight. I managed to to spin the fan and it seemed to work properly. Tonights fire same issue. Anyone else with same problem? The warranty is only good for one year after purchase. I can purchase new blower assembly for $149.00.
Does the manual say to oil or lube any part? My blower on my Quadrafire sometimes makes a squeaky noise. I'm thinking it needs cleaning and lube.
That seems soon for the blower to be going out. Are you saying it was hard to turn the fan by hand? I'm pretty sure the original blower is in the 91 I bought used, and the stove is an '08. I just had the blower out to clean it. Wish I would have thought about lube, but the fan was spinning freely, barely had to touch it and it spun a long time. No play in the bearings, either. I'm gonna email Buck and ask if you need to lube it, or does it have sealed bearings. I'll let you know what I find out...
dogwood I'm also running a buck 81.. 4th year this year.. last year the blower started making noise.. i bought a new blower to put in and decided to use the old one as a backup. the new one was a different design and started to fail even sooner than the first. . For the first blower, I used compressed air to blow it out and then put a little Marvel Mystery Oil in the center bearing. not the best for the situation but wasn't sure how to grease the bearing and it seems to be working okay for now. I think I'm going to put it in my regular maintenance routine to clean it out.. The second blower didn't give me access to the bearing to clean it out so it's just sitting in a box right now. I wasn't terribly impressed with BuckStove's customer service.. Currently I'm sitting on a 4 year old stove with two questionable blowers and have to decide if there's a better way to clean/lube them.. If I can't figure it out, it may be time for a new stove because I don't want to keep buying new blowers.. I'm planning to pull the old blower and do some preventative maintenance on it soon. Now, I have my stove installed as an insert.. I'd be willing to bet that the blower gets more contaminants (ash and dust) since it draws air from my hearth as opposed to a stove that is sitting up off the hearth on a wood stove stand. Shouldn't be an issue but I think it is.. Let me know if you have any questions..
I emailed them today to ask about the bearings, and the air controls on the 80. I got a reply saying "new models have sealed bearings." I replied, asking what year they started using those...waiting for the reply now. Like I said above, I think my 91 has the original blower; It's 9 yrs. old, and I don't even know if it has sealed bearings.
I had mine out and cleaned it a couple weeks ago and it had sealed bearings. My blower makes a strange noise like the bearing are scored, but it only does it when the stove is very hot. Almost like the heat causes it to seize somewhat. I had thought of ordering a new blower but it is very sporadic. Does your stove have the blower switch that is on full time and or on the thermostat ? I guess I am asking because if you are saying it only runs at times in the thermo setting it may be the snap disc sensor.
