August 10, 2016

"Pellet Stove Rear End Restore" for Longevity and Top Performance!

 

If you depend on an older pellet stove for your winter heating that uses a 6" exhaust blower, like many stoves, then this summer project may be for you.
In my case, this "Rear End Restore" did the trick, preventing the stove from shutting down unexpectedly on a cold winter's night. :-)
The stove I'll be discussing is a Quadrafire Classic Bay free standing. This older model CB1200 made in June 2000 worked fine for 16 years but needed some TLC to make it last longer.


I removed the back and took out all the components, wire wheeled the rust, then gave the inside some new Satin Black high temp paint.

It's nice to start the new winter season with a brand new 3,000 RPM pellet stove combustion blower.
To really soup it up, a 1.75 amp GA combustion blower would make your stove sizzle, but I replaced the stock Fasco 0.95 motor with a shiny, closed frame 1.05 Amp P-Tech motor.

I sprayed the mounting hub and the motor cooling blade with dry moly lubrication.

I also sprayed dry moly on a new 9 petal Quadrafire impeller blade with a stronger motor cooling cage and stuck it on.

You may view similar motors here:

Note: For older models you may need 2 additional female spade lugs to connect to the molex connectors on the wire harness.

Upgraded Gleason Avery Ball Bearing Exhaust Blower with 1.75 Amps to maintain speed even with ash buildup.
http://www.eastcoasthearth.com/products/6-high-quality-exhaust-combustion-blower-with-large-9-petal-4-5-impeller-blade-ga-exblw-pp7902-6-unihub-6-lythermgasket

Aftermarket Blower that is an economical replacement.
http://www.eastcoasthearth.com/products/exhaust-combustion-blower-quadra-fire-replaces-812-3381-pp7621

Fasco or P-Tech blower with exhaust housing.
Note: The exhaust housing is a very tight fit. It can be grinded down or you can use the original exhaust housing if it is in good shape.

In this article the original exhaust housing was cleaned up, repainted, and re-installed with 2 new lytherm gaskets.
http://www.eastcoasthearth.com/products/englander-combustion-blower-exhaust-draft-pu-076002b

New Exhaust Housing Lytherm Gasket
http://www.eastcoasthearth.com/products/housing-lytherm-gasket-quadrafire-classic-bay-cb1200-exhaust-blower

New Exhaust Blower Lytherm Gasket.
http://www.eastcoasthearth.com/products/white-lytherm-gaskets-combustion-exhaust-draft-blower-convection-room-blower

To join the new blower with the 2 male spade lugs on the old Quadrafire wire harness, I cut the connector off the old blower and crimped on 2 insulated female spade lugs from Home Depot. Now the spade lugs can be easily disconnected to install a new blower in the future. It also provides a good test point for a line cord to check the blower's top end speed. 

Then I removed the exhaust blower housing, which was very dirty from use, and I chipped away the warn off black paint. To I jazz it up, I used high temp Flat Aluminum header paint and 3 coats of clear high temp engine paint on the outside of the stove. Only after a good wire brushing, I coated the inside with dry moly for a good, slick air surface. I used new high temp clear RTV on the flange seam and cleaned it with acetone to make it accept the paint.



It seems to work better and now I know it won't break down on a cold winter's day anytime soon. 
Also this fix up provides a deep, rich look and protection against oxidation that will keep the stove a top performer for many years to come.

Leave a comment

Comments have to be approved before showing up.