When I looked at the old blower I noticed there is end play of the shaft of approximately 3/16 to 1/4 inch.  Do you know if the end play is typical for this type of blower?  I haven't removed the replacement I put on the OWB, it's in use.  I'll remove it at the end of the heating season so I'll check it then.  Roger

Real question has to be, are those fans that can't be oiled a better quality, or are we just going to have to have one on hand, because oiling a fan and resurrecting it isn't an option any more?  I'd love to think that a new fan would last longer than the rest of the furnace...

If you're shipping USPS use a flat rate envelope to put your bottle in.  Way cheaper. 

I go to the store buy a 20oz bottle of water.  Drink it then rinse it thoroughly and fill it with OWB water.  I've never had trouble with this approach.  Roger

Do any of you know offhand how many mL/oz of water CB needs sent to them for the yearly water sample? I've used up the sample bottles that came with my boiler, and I haven't been able to find anything on the support site describing just how much is needed.  I'm looking to order a batch of sample bottles online and not sure if 100mL will do or if I need to go for 250mL or even more.  All I have handy are 1L bottles that I know are too large and will cost more to ship than I'd like to pay.

Yesterday afternoon I had to get something from the basement of my house.  For giggles I looked at the blower I removed to get a better idea of where the oil ports are on it.  It appears that the blower CB put on it at the factory doesn't have oil ports on it.  There is no way that I can oil it.  When I get a few minutes of free time I'll make a run to my dealer with it and ask him to show me where it is.  Plus, I want to get another spare.  I don't like not having one on hand.

My 750 HD came with a fan with no oil ports, and when the fan died the first winter (on inspection, the copper winding had managed to break) the replacement did not have oil ports either.  Take a look at the support doc on fan maintenance at https://centralboiler.com/support/articles/combustion-air-fan-maintenance/ - "NOTE: If the decal on the fan housing indicates to oil the bearings at the end of each heating season, use the following procedure. If there is no decal, the fan does not require oil."

That document also shows where the oil ports are for the ones that do require oil.

Thanks for the tip.  When I get a few minutes I'll have another look at it.  I hope it's something as simple as that. 

Yesterday afternoon I had to get something from the basement of my house.  For giggles I looked at the blower I removed to get a better idea of where the oil ports are on it.  It appears that the blower CB put on it at the factory doesn't have oil ports on it.  There is no way that I can oil it.  When I get a few minutes of free time I'll make a run to my dealer with it and ask him to show me where it is.  Plus, I want to get another spare.  I don't like not having one on hand.

My 750 HD came with a fan with no oil ports, and when the fan died the first winter (on inspection, the copper winding had managed to break) the replacement did not have oil ports either.  Take a look at the support doc on fan maintenance at https://centralboiler.com/support/articles/combustion-air-fan-maintenance/ - "NOTE: If the decal on the fan housing indicates to oil the bearings at the end of each heating season, use the following procedure. If there is no decal, the fan does not require oil."

That document also shows where the oil ports are for the ones that do require oil.

It appears that CB learned their  lesson regarding upgrades to the Fire Star.  I received an email from them late last night stating they'll be performing some upgrades and we may lose Fire Star connectivity for a short while this morning.  I looked at the graph and sure enough, connectivity was lost somewhere around 6:00 this morning and restored not too long after. 

Huh,  I was having problems too. Rebooted the furnace, router etc.... Still had sporadic connectivity issues.
Good to hear it wasn't on my end.
Seems to be working good today now.

I keep a spare fan, pump, and solenoid on hand for the very same reason. Murphys law says they seem to go out at night or on weekends when nothings open.

Unless CB changed motors, the oil ports are 2 small holes... Maybe 1\4 inch in diameter. One on each end of the motor itself. There easy to miss if your not looking close. At least thats where they are on mine, but my stove is going on 6 years old now. They might have changed the newer ones.

Anyway... Glad to hear you got it up and going. And as luck would have it, you had the spare parts at home on the shelf.