Feedback on "Quiet" Combustion Blower.

About a month ago I received the new "Quiet" combustion fan from Leisure Line. On a warm day a week ago I tried installing the new fan while the stove was on idle. Unfortunately, the motor made a thumping noise when I plugged it in and I had to quickly remove it and reinstall the old Fasco B30 fan before I lost the fire.

After some investigation it appeared that the fan assembly was rubbing against a bolt on each revolution of the fan. The bolt causing the problem is used to hold the motor to the fan shroud. I removed the fan from the shaft using a hex key, pulled the fan and realized that I could either grind down the bolt protruding too far into the shroud, or move the fan further up the shaft moving it away from the bolt. I felt that grinding may cause metal filings to fall into the motor resulting in damage. After moving the fan away from the bolt I tightened the hex screw and made a trial run by plugging the fan into a wall outlet. It indeed was whisper quiet, the fix seems to work.

I removed the old motor today and installed the new Century brand motor. After taking sound measurements of the old motor prior to removal, and after installing the new motor, I can say that the sound dropped by an amazing 10db at a minimum. For those that understand sound and db levels, that is a huge difference. The old motor registered about 70 db's and the new motor was around 59 db's.

The specs on the old motor are Fasco B30 with 1/70th horsepower and rotation of 3200 rpm's.
The specs on the new motor are Century with 1/200th horsepower and rotation of 1550 rpm's.

In a few days I will update the thread if I make any other observations that deserve mentioning.

aside from being quieter....how does performance compare??

Those 2 motors have significantly different specs. I too replaced the combustion motor on my Keystoker 90 with a ball bearing Dayton brand. The specs where way closer and I have not noticed much difference except perceived noise. Decibels are on a parabolic scale and at some times difficult to understand. Also from what I have read sleeve bearings are quieter over time than ball bearings but I cannot confirm that, I went with ball bearing, OEM was a sleeve bearing, and even made the mistake after one season of dissembling it to grease the sealed bearings with a grease needle, what a waste of time Sometimes I cannot help myself

I put a new 4c440 comubstion blower on my Keystoker, but it's WAY louder then the old one. supposedly sealed bearing, but sounds like they are rattling, its much noisier than the old one.

WNY wrote:I put a new 4c440 comubstion blower on my Keystoker, but it's WAY louder then the old one. supposedly sealed bearing, but sounds like they are rattling, its much noisier than the old one.

I had that same blower, seemed pretty quiet and smooth, although I did use a motor speed controller with it, so that did help in how much noise it made.
Slowed down the RPM's and opened up the flap a little more.

The Quiet fans have a blower wheel that is almost twice the size as the Fasco Model B30 it replaced, even though the quiet fan turns half the speed and therefore it was supposed to have more CFM than the B30. We have since learned that the quiet fans while rated by the manufacturer at 55CFM (hence the inlet damper cover we installed) actually produce less airflow than the B30 fans, which are rated at 45 CFM (we measured both at zero static pressure). Static pressure in the plenum under the grate will vary as coal size allows more or less air through, but basically the inlet cover on the quiet fans should be removed tp provide proper combustion air. In some extreme cases the quiet fans can cause the Coal-Trol settings to be reduced (both min and max) as some coal burns slower with the slightly lower CFM air flow.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if any reduction in burn performance is noted while using the quiet combustion fan. The good news is that now we have been able to get the folks at Fasco to improve the noise level of the model B30, reducing the need for a quieter fan, they were really pretty noisy before!
As always, thanks to all of you for the feedback and patience as we work to continually improve our products.

Well, it finally got cold here in southern Connecticut, putting the stove with the new Quiet fan to the test. The outside temp is 18 degrees with no wind. However, after taking temperature readings of the stove using my Sperry Infrared Thermometer, it seems that the new motor does indeed NOT work as well as the original B30 Facso.

After checking the coal-trol, which shows the FR at 99, the stove reads just 480 degrees with a stack temp of 190 degrees. I've had to make constant changes to the max feed rate. This morning I still had hot coals falling off the end of the grate so I lowered the max feed to just 16. The stove should be around 550 degrees or higher right now. It's not even that cold out yet. So, if the stove is maxed out at 450 degrees, how can it heat the house when it gets below zero?

Tonight after work I will re-install the Fasco, and that should restore the stove to its full capability. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!

I ran the quiet combustion fan all last year and I Definitely noticed a slower cooler burn. It seemed like my coal usage went up with it in as well. This fall I put the original stock fan in and I immediately saw a big difference in the burn and heat outputs. I ran the quiet fan with the cover all the way open so I couldn't get any more out of it. So now the quiet fan sits on a shelf. Anyway I could return it and get one of the quieter B30's to have as my spare?

Thanks for making a great stove!! It is amazing how well it heats my 2400 sq ft home, and how much it is saving me to heat it. This is my third winter with it and by a seat of pants guesstimate, it has already come close to paying for itself.

The final outcome of this thread was that I returned the Quiet motor to Leisure Line and ordered a new Fasco B30 fan from Amazon. The only issue was that the new fan came without a cord. The new Fasco B30 has proven to be very quiet and much better than the one it replaced.

My quiet blower still sits on a shelf in the basement. I haven't had a chance to call LL about it.

Well, I had to call Leisure Line to order some new parts for my Pioneer (Big party, someone, somehow broke the glass in the door and didn't tell me). While I had Matt on the phone I mentioned my Quiet blower and he is taking care of that for me. I know everyone hears this all day on this forum, but they really stand behind their products! Thank you Matt and Dave!