Fans Keep Burning Out on My Hitzer 503 Insert

Let me start out by saying how much I like our 503....other than the fans keep breaking down.
We have gone through 5 fans in a little over two years. The temp. guage is in the proper spot on the top,we never have had the temp. exceed 400 degrees,and that is only when the outside temps. are single digit or below zero.
Mostly, the stove is running around 200-300 degrees.
Am I wrong to leave the fans on 24-7 ? It would seem to me that not running the fans continously,might "cook" the fans due to the tremendous heat radiating from the stove.
The fans were purchased directly from Hitzer,so, no chance of incorrect fans being installed.
My question is this, Will I damage the insert in any way ,if I do not replace the fans ? I currently have a floor fan blowing on the side of the stove. Kind of directly at the air intake for the fan,seems to work fine. House stayed toasty last night,and the outside temp. was 12 degrees.
These last two fans were replaced over the summer. They both died within a week of each other,and the stove was started in November.Not even three months ! Unacceptable...What is even more unacceptable ,is having to shut down the stove to replace the fans,as I am a proud member of the "one match" club.
Thank you in advance for any insights you folks may be able relay to me.

The 'rents have a 503...
No issues with the fans...
They use the t'stat setting only...
Fans on 24/7 will use up the MTBF...

Bad connections? Maybe NOT Oiled properly? maybe out of balance? Are the motor housing getting dirty, dusty, cat or dog hairs clogging them? Doens't sound right. Those Dayton or Fasco blowers should last longer than that.

If its a Fasco it probably has a plastic or composite squirrel cage and is specifically states in the manual not to exceed a certain temperature otherwise the squirrel cage will fail. I want to say it's 150* but I'm not 100% sure.

otter, have you called Hitzer and specifically spoken with Dean about this?? 260-589-8536

Thanks for the input allready.
The fans were installed by a qualified electrican (not me !) I remember some dust on the earlier burned out motors,but not enough to make them not function...in my opinion.
The problem is ,i really don't want to shut the stove down as my other heat is Propane...quite a bit more expensive.
But, to get at the fans, I will have to shut down due to the tremendous amount of heat .
Also, I am not aware of the motors needing any oiling.At least there were no instructions that came with these motors to indicate so.
A call to Dean at Hitzer will be on Monday.Dean is a very polite, helpful person too.
What do you think about just using a fan as mentioned in my original post ? The fan seems to washing the heat off of the stove well. Keeping the stove at 300 Degrees ,the house is toasty,at 15 degrees outside temp. I can't believe this will harm the stove. What do you think ??
Oh yes,forgot to mention the house is an old farmhouse ,built in 1839.around 2500 sq.ft. Been bricked,and windows replaced,tons of blown in insulation. The house is pretty tight.
Thanks for the feedback, and the phone # !!

It has been said here before, but bears repeating, whenever replacing a factory original *shaded pole* fan/motor... upgrade to a permanent split capacitor or PSC fan/motor. Just a little more cost compared to the *stock* shaded pole fan/motor...but you get ball bearings vs bushings, 1/2 the wattage draw and this all adds up to a cooler running, longer lasting and more economical to operate blower. All it takes is some effort to cross reference the rpm, cfm, voltage and mount pattern. See Grainger or http://www.electricmotorwarehouse.com

Too bad the mfgr's don't install PSC motors to begin with. Guess it eats into their profit margin.

CapeCoaler wrote:The 'rents have a 503...
No issues with the fans...
They use the t'stat setting only...
Fans on 24/7 will use up the MTBF...

Since the fans turn on at 110 degrees, and off at 90, mine run constantly regardless of switch position.

This is my first year with my 503, and I hope not to have to replace the fans for quite a while. I've only heard good things about Hitzer, and I hope the fan problem Otter is having is not typical.

My Hitzer puts out all the heat we need with a top temperature of 300 or less (measured by a magnetic wood stove thermometer mounted to the right of the hopper lid). Maybe temperatures around 400 and up are contributing to the failures?

Mike