I’ve had my outdoor wood boiler for 14 years now. Had one circulator pump go bad maybe 6 years ago and thankfully it was relatively warm and that’s an easy part to get. Was up and running again in less than 24 hours. This time was different. The blower motor went and I’m certainly not a mechanic so it was out of my wheel house. I looked online for a compatible motor but not knowing this stuff, I was afraid of buying one that wouldn’t match up. I called the manufacturer which is in Canada and they said 5-7 business days…ugh! But I have a gas furnace so I still had heat. Of course it’s been cold during that time and I just cringed every time I heard the heater kick on. We went from a house that is always 72+ when we are awake to one that was 68. Brrr! Day 7 the part comes but I’m so busy with firewood and life I’m out there at 9:30pm putting it in. Electricity is not my thing and even though it turned out to be a simple rewire, I had a neighbor walk me through what to do over the phone. By 10pm Thursday night the unit was fired back up again and free heat has returned. I joked around to family and friends that I was paying for heat like a peasant! That was a long 7 days and it felt very odd not filling the boiler twice a day…very odd!
Glad to hear you are back in business...and not burning recycled dinos anymore! I hate to hear the dino burner kick on too, although when it's needed, it's needed, so better to hear that than silence! I try to have anything that is not easily sourced locally in my personal spare parts inventory. Chances are that a local motor shop could have found you a suitable replacement in a day or two...most communities have a motor shop or two within commuting distance.
Are there even people who service wood boilers and furnaces? Most of what I hear is calling the manufacturer like you did and hoping to make sense of it. Seems like the people who use them are the independent variety and often handy enough to figure it out. Glad you got it fixed and running in time for fern!
Yes...for brands that still exist, there's always the dealer, but some go out on service calls, some don't. Some areas have independent owb repair guys too, but I'm not sure those are super common. Like you said, seems like many owners just diy it
https://cemotors.us/product/maratho...WWfgHb-rlK1Ue7j8L9rLcM5ENZ3qwlLkupCzDNXMW4uM- Might I recommend to put one “on the shelf?” Most sites say that motor is discontinued.
Never give it much thought but your post makes me realize how much it would stink to loose my wood heat, even if temporarily. We used to get oil refills couple times a winter. Can't imagine affording that these days.
Good point...I found a NOS replacement for an old discontinued Dayton circulator pump motor on eBay just the other day for only $80 shipped! Turned out that it wasn't needed though...the pump was just temporarily stuck due to someone not checking the oil soon enough and the wick started to dry out...oops. A little oil and a kick start, back in business.
True...but it's not cost effective anymore on those little motors, unless you have no other choice...we ran into that at work a couple years ago, the motor was long ago obsolete, and a true bastard, it was $800 for the rebuild, but there was no other option...and we needed it yesterday!
Things never seem to break at a good time do they? Glad you were able to DIY despite your own lack of confidence in your ability which I certainly can relate to. Id be feeling the same about it tool. Yeah I imagine it was very weird not loading the OWB this time of year. Always painful to use the back up heat source. Did you have the fireplace going?
