Solution to noisy transflow blower?

I'm looking for suggestions on a problem with my Alaska Kast Konsole II. This unit has a transflow convection blower mounted to the lid of the coal hopper. Last year, the 14 year old transflow had become so noisy that I purchased a replacement from my local stove dealer. Earlier this coal season, THAT blower had begun screeching when running full speed (it's connected to a Coal-trol). I purchased yet another replacement, and this one has lasted only a few weeks before it began to screech at anything over 50% speed.

I'm stumped. It seems that the source of the noise is the sealed ball bearings on either side of the motor shaft.I've torn both the motors down, and I can feel a "rumble" in three of the four bearings. I'm wondering if they're failing either from heat (we run the stove at a hotter temp since we got the Coal-trol) or from dust (this year's coal supply is especially dusty).

I'm wondering if I should be looking for a unit with sleeve bearings instead of ball bearings, or if the solution lies in another direction. I'm inclined to switch over to a squirrel cage blower (like my combustion blower) and hang it off the side of the coal hopper, with some ducting to direct the air over the stove plenum. Has anyone ever tried refitting a Kast Console like that? Any advice is appreciated.

If I may, I'd suggest not running the blower by way of the Coal-trol. Control the speed of the blower by other means. Although a retrofit to remotely mount the blower may help.

I was speculating whether the Coal-trol had something to do with it. My thinking is that by default, the Coal-trol only runs the transflow when it's stoking above a certain rate (which can be set). The problem, I think, is that when the thermostat is no longer calling for heat, the stoking rate drops, as does the speed of the transflow. I imagine that can result in a situation where the stove is still very hot, but the transflow is running slowly (or not at all) and overheating the sealed bearings.

I'm sure the Coal-trol is a great product, but it is tricky to have it be "one size fits all".

Can the Coal-trol be adjusted some how to run longer (delayed time to turn off) and/or set to a slightly higher minimum speed? That would be advantageous.

How did Alaska control the blower before the Coal-trol? I'm thinking maybe a thermo-disc switch...on and off at a fixed temp. range. Could this have gone bad and need replaced?

Set the CFT to 0 on the coal trol. Set the CFM to 40.

@McGiever: Before the Coal-Trol, the fan was attached to a rheostat, and we always kept it running at least on a low speed.

@Flyer5: I'm realizing that's probably how I should have set it up from the beginning, but now that I've (apparently) cooked two $100 transflows, I'm a little gun shy. If I go that route, any suggestions on whether I should look for a sleeve bearing motor for the third try, or stick with the ball bearing units I've been using?

Would still love to hear if anyone's ever done a refit on this type of stove.

jtmalt wrote:@McGiever: Before the Coal-Trol, the fan was attached to a rheostat, and we always kept it running at least on a low speed.

@Flyer5: I'm realizing that's probably how I should have set it up from the beginning, but now that I've (apparently) cooked two $100 transflows, I'm a little gun shy. If I go that route, any suggestions on whether I should look for a sleeve bearing motor for the third try, or stick with the ball bearing units I've been using?

Would still love to hear if anyone's ever done a refit on this type of stove.

Doing a retrofit would be a pain. We have been using a Fasco blower that they made for us. They have been working well. I don't recall getting any back yet, they are what we have been selling for the past yr or so. They also carry a 1 yr warranty.

Can you just replace the bearings in your motor? I am home so I do not have one to look at right now.

Flyer5 wrote:Set the CFT to 0 on the coal trol. Set the CFM to 40.

my friend Flyer is a man of few words but like EF Hutton... "when he talks people listen"

Im not sure this helps at all, but this user seems to have same issues Convection blower power port failed

Found an easy solution....picked this up at Sam's Club for $65 bucks. Set it on speed 2, hooked it up to the Coal-trol, and positioned it so that the airstream is being caught by the plenum of the stove. Pushes a LOT more air than the transflow, and is a lot quieter than the transflow ever was, even when new.

This works so well, I probably won't bother replacing the transflow at all.

LOL..I had a similar problem just recently. My Convection Blower which is a Trans Flow type was screeching as well. When I would "BAM BAM" it, it would stop for a few seconds then continue. My cat started to mimic the sound too...sleeping was becoming unbearable.

I did set CFT=0, and CFM=40, but I also took it apart and inspected it. I then plugged it in disconnected from the stove and it did not make any noise at all. Once back in the stove the screeching returned. What I found was that if I didn't tighten the screws all the way down while securing the blower it would not screech. There was a metal to metal vibration going on somewhere with mine.

Hope this help.

Neal

Yeah, Neal, I was hearing the same thing. I'd pull the transflow out, clean it, plug it in, and it would be quiet. Put it back in the stove and it would screech like a banshee. Tried loosening the screws, riveting it in, even tried a layer of ceramic fiber as a gasket to eliminate metal-to-metal. Nothing would stop the screech once it ramped up to high speed. Finally, after I posted about this, it died completely...feels like the ball bearings are shot. Could be that the housing was getting torqued somehow and caused the bearings to wear.

The wife is actually thrilled with this makeshift solution...it really is washing a lot more heat off the stove, and because of the lower rpm it's a LOT more quiet. I keep thinking that it can't be this simple, but I'm having trouble seeing a downside to it!