Power Venter Motor Failure

After two years of faithful service, the motor of the Power Venter for my Leisure Line Econo won't run. I'm not sure this is the right forum for this, but since it came with my Leisure Line stove, I was hoping for some advice.

I decided that with the cold weather approaching, it was about time for me to get the Econo up and running for the winter. I turned the rheostat on the vent unit and nothing. Weird. I got out the multimeter and did some testing and I was indeed getting current to the vent motor. I disassembled the vent unit from the outside and pulled the motor. It spun pretty much freely with a little bit of a squeak. Odd since every spring I give it it's recommended 6 drops of special oil.

In the end, the motor gets warm from trying to work and hums, but will simply not spin. Guessing it's toast and it's time for a new one. The impeller type assembly is in pretty rough shape (rusty) so I was wondering if this whole motor / impeller unit can be purchased and replaced. I really don't want to pull the whole vent system out.

Also, I noticed that the warranty expired on the motor in April of 2008. Bummer! With that said, what's the cost of the new assembly?

Thanks for any info. If this is the wrong forum, feel free to let me know!

Here is one SWG-4HD http://www.patriot-supply.com/products/ ... .cfm/5505# for 286.39 and the SWG-4HDS http://www.patriot-supply.com/products/ ... m.cfm/1959 for 358.81.

Thanks!

I have the vent unit already and I'd really rather just replace the motor if that's an option. I guess I'll try calling Field Controls and see what they have to offer. It has a Fasco motor in it, so I suppose I could always try to find the model number and order from them.

Patriot Supply sells the HD motor replacement kit at their eBay site:
http://cgi.ebay.com/FILED-CONTROLS-4623 ... m153.l1262
$143.95 for motor, wheel, bracket, and silicone sealant.

John

That looks pretty darn similar to what's on there right now. Thanks for the find! If Field Controls isn't forthcoming with their information, I might just go ahead and go this route.

I'd really like to ensure I get it reasonably soon! Getting a bit chilly in our house!

Also looks like Patriot Supply has the kit on their web page for around $160.

http://www.patriot-supply.com/products/ ... m.cfm/5536

Update: I ordered the motor from the Patriot Supply link posted above. I also ordered some of the SWG Special Oil as I can't seem to find my other bottle. They advertise same day shipping, so we'll see...

I'll be sure to post the results. I'm a little concerned as the new motor is advertised for the SWG-4HD but makes no mention of the SWG-4HDs which is apparently what I have. Worst case scenario, the motor will have to be swapped into the existing mounting bracket. But I have to say -- if this isn't the replacement, I don't think they sell one as I can't find it!

According to the SWG manual:
http://www.fieldcontrols.com/literature.php
the SWG-4HDs is a stainless steel model. There is a difference in the wall mounting plate size, but I would think that the motors are identical. Just a wild guess. See attached snap shot of page 4, from the manual.

I finally found a replacement parts file from Field Controls. Looks to me like the replacement kit is the right one! Yay!

Now I just have to wait for it to get here...

For those interested, here is the link to the PDF file with replacement parts for the power venters: http://www.fieldcontrols.com/pdfs/4265R ... tParts.zip

Here is a link to the manual for the Field Controls SWG Power Venter model SWG-4HD family: http://www.fieldcontrols.com/pdfs/46139100.PDF

After I got home tonight, I decided to investigate the cause of the failure of the motor assembly for the above mentioned problem and see exactly what went wrong. A few surprises awaited me so I tried my best to document with photos for the benefit of others.

After removing the cover, I undid the three screws holding the motor in place and pulled it out again. When I took it apart last, I had mentioned that there was corrosion on the impeller. It was dark and therefore, what I thought was corrosion was actually some crusted on fly ash. I cleaned it up.



In case anyone is wondering, the motor is a rather common Fasco brand motor. The photo might be too small to read but the label says the following:
Fasco Industries, Inc.
Motor Division
Assembled in Mexico Class B
No. 71219364 Type U21B RPM 3000 T.P.
V 115 Hz 60 A 1.80 HP 1/20
Cust. P/N 46275900

The Customer Part Number matches the number given by Field Controls as a replacement.

A little inspection showed that there are really two fans attached to the output shaft. One is the impeller which actually blows out the exhaust. The other fan is on the motor side of the attachment plate which I'm assuming is to cool the motor itself. Unfortunately for me, the small fan to cool the motor was in three pieces.



These pieces are very light and I'm guessing that the fan is made out of Aluminum. The corrosion on the aluminum had caused numerous cracks around the fan hub



It appears that the hub just corroded and the fan basically disintegrated.

Needless to say, I'm truly disappointed. There is really no maintenance associated with the fan and neither of the two lubrication points could have done anything to save this. It looks like a bad design or a bad selection of materials. Either way, I'm not sure how to prevent this to happen in the future with the new motor.



On a side note, Patriot Supply sent me a tracking number about 4 hours after I placed the order. It's expected to be here tomorrow so it looks like I won't be out of action for too long.

I agree with you on the cooling fan. I have tried to have it changed to stainless steel for sometime now, but no luck. Not too many go bad, only when it's not cleaned as soon as the unit is done being used. I suggest blowing it out with about 30lbs of air at the end of the heating season. When it sets over the summer with fly ash eating away at it, it can't be good. I hope you get the right rebuild kit, but I'm afaid you'll get the wrong wheel. We sell the rebuild (SWG-4HDs RMK)kit for $180.00. Good luck, I have had some of the cooling fans powder coated with good results.
Jerry

Thanks for the info.

The kit came today from Patriot Supply and it appears it's exactly what I needed. The wheel appears to be stainless steel and it comes with a new motor, mounting plates, and wire kit. It looks exactly like the old one but this one has the cooling fan in one piece It also comes with extra mounting nylon lock nuts, new wire nuts and a tube of high temp RTV.

I installed it with no trouble and everything is back and running as expected. It's nice to be warm!

The more I think about it, the more I think there is some sort of design issue. Since all corrosion started right around the hub, I have a theory. From the last photo in my post above, it can be seen that there are really two mounting plates. The one is bell shaped and is attached to the actual motor. The second is a flat plate which separates the stainless steel wheel and the motor innards. There is a small slot at the bottom where air can be drawn up into the motor to cool it. My theory is that fly ash made it's way through the flat plate and onto the cooling fan. There is actually quite a bit of clearance around the shaft in the flat plate so this makes perfect sense.

In my opinion, there should be some sort of bushing or seal through which the motor shaft can ride which will help to keep dust and fly ash out of the actual motor internals. This would lessen the problem. Of course, it's probably easier to just make the cooling fan out of stainless steel... I can't think it would add that much cost.

Either way, for around $200 (after tax, shipping and including a bottle of super lube), I'm back up and running. I guess I can't complain too much. I do find it a bit odd since the old motor went out of warranty (according to the sticker on it) in April of this year!I truly hope I can't expect the new one to fail the summer after its warranty expires...

And I just found out the hard way that you really DO need to lubricate often .... lost the front bearing in the motor; also found Patriot-Supply replacement kit as the best deal around ...

Also have an Field Controls swg-4hd power venter and after about 30 minutes the motor would overheat and shutdown. It would intermittently
start and stop depending on how hot it would get, so the furnace and hot water heater would shut down. Ordered another motor from Patriot Supply and when I took out the old motor also noticed that the motor cooling fan had a broken blade which jammed the fan causing the motor to overheat after about 30-45 mins. Am now looking for a fan for the old motor? Patriot Supply has them for about 40-60 bucks. A little expensive ,so I am looking for some type of generic electric motor cooling fan. I would figure that these things shouldn't cost more than 10-20 bucks? Maybe I can find an old motor and strip it? Any suggestions?

We have found that the cooling fans are one of the major causes of PV motor failure, the other being lack of maintenance. We offer replacement cooling fans that are powdercoated for more protection from corrosion, a simple additional step is to spray the fan with WD or other spray to protect the fan from corrosion between cleanings. The attached file was prepared by one of our dealers (thanks Rome! ).

If you need a cooling fan contact your local LL dealer and he can order from us if not already in stock.