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[juddspaintballs]

I think my blower fan is getting a bit weak these days.  Even with a clear ash tube and no ash on the shaker grates, it doesn't seem to be moving as much air as it used to into the fire box.  If I put my hand over the intake of the blower, it doesn't draw it in at all.  The blower can barely blow the metal flap open and it's constantly falling back closed while the blower is running.  The flap moves very easily and isn't bound up, so that isn't the issue.


Is this the proper replacement blower?
https://altheatsupply.com/dayton-4c446-6fhx8-blower-draft-fan.html


And, should I consider running a larger blower, perhaps?

[juddspaintballs]

Also, if I go for a larger fan (I would almost prefer it), I can easily modify the existing mount or build a new one so it fits.  The fan mount is a flat plate over the end of a 6" pipe with two studs that hold the plate on.  The fan simply bolts onto that plate with the flapper welded to the other side of the plate.  Easy enough to modify or build.

[mlappin]

Larger fan will most likely just increase your stack temps which means more wood lost to the atmosphere.

[RSI]

I would go with a PSC blower instead of a shaded pole. Shaded pole motors are really inefficient.

[juddspaintballs]

Do you have one to recommend, RSI?  I don't even know the difference.

[RSI]

If you go to the link you posted, scroll to the bottom. It says discontinued and replaced by Dayton 1TDP7. That is the same size blower.

If you want to go to a different size blower, I would just start looking through the blowers for larger cfm and then check dimensions to make sure it will fit. The 273 cfm model is a common blower used on many stoves but it is quite a bit larger dimensions.

[RSI]

For comparison of the 146 cfm blowers, the shaded pole draws 1.54 amps. The psc draws 0.75 amps.

[juddspaintballs]

Sounds good.  I'll just get the 1TDP7 replacement version of the one I posted.  Is it normal for the blowers to slow in performance?  While running, I can hear the flapper going *ting* *ting* *ting* the whole time and sometimes the water temperature gets as low as 140, which is abnormal. 

[mlappin]

Bearings or bushings get dry and they drag, happens all the time in our tractors.

[juddspaintballs]

1TDP7 on it's way.  I'll toss this one in the corner for emergency use. 

[juddspaintballs]

The new blower is here.  I also ordered a new door seal kit since it needed replaced anyways.  Tomorrow is supposed to be fairly mild so I'm not loading the firebox tonight so the fire burns out.  I'll give it a thorough cleaning inside and out and then replace the blower and seal the door.  I should be able to fire it back up on the 2nd. 



Doing some more thinking, but there's a possibility that the horizontal section of my chimney is getting plugged up.  I usually clean it out yearly, but I don't think I did this year.  That might keep air from moving into the firebox and thus be why it seems as though the blower isn't working well.  I'll make sure to get that cleaned out tomorrow, too.  Either way, I'm swapping blowers. 

[juddspaintballs]

Well, I'm an idiot.  The horizontal chimney portion was caked in creosote.  I poked at it, pulled it out in globs, opened the whole thing up, and then filled the fire box with cardboard.  It should be pretty clean come morning.  The old blower seems to be working adequately now.  I'm still going to swap blowers out and keep the old one as a spare. 

[shepherd boy]

 I think your on the right track.  Seen it on other brands of furnaces, you get a tight spot and combustion slows and compounds the creosote and other issues. If you want to put air in the furnace it has to have a way to exhaust, just as important.
  The 1TDP7 fan runs at a higher rpm and has a higher static pressure than the larger fan and may move more air in a restricted environment. Want real push, have put dual 1TDP7's on a stove but have fire coming out the chimney.
 Your not an idiot if you learn, your smart!  Idiots blame the product,  someone else, nurse grudges, and stay stupid.

[juddspaintballs]

I am an idiot because it has plugged up before, though never this bad.  I spent a couple hours today really cleaning the chimney out.  Even the vertical above the horizontal was getting plugged up. 

Before I cleaned the chimney out, I scraped the old door seal out, took the wire wheel to it, and installed a new door seal and silicone.  It says it needs 24 hours to cure, so I'll light a fire tomorrow evening giving it about 36 hours total cure time.  In conjunction with the chimney now freely flowing again, a properly sealing door should prevent creosote from dripping out of the door now. 

I cleaned out the firebox as best I could.  There is a lot of gooey creosote in the corners in there that needs burned off to get out.  I vacuumed the ash tube after I cleared the ashes out of it.  I vacuumed the tube the blower bolts onto. 

I installed the new blower today, as well.  Hopefully when I light this off again tomorrow night, all of the poor burning issues will be resolved and any leftover creosote will burn off easily.  I'm going to burn a firebox full of cardboard first just to make sure. 


Here's the new blower:

[juddspaintballs]

It seems to be chugging along great with an open chimney and new blower.  I burned a bunch of cardboard and wrapping paper last night and I had flames shooting out the chimney, which is a good sign of burning the creosote in the chimney.