Let me start off with this caveat- I am not a machinist or a mechanic. I fixed radios.
I have an older Arrow wood stove, the heat-a-lator model.
The fan kept freezing up.
After weeks of searching for a replacement fan, none were to be had.
The original fan assy. was a custom made unit by Heat-a-lator for that specific model stove.
What a nightmare from HXXX to cobble together a replacement.
My local Motors and Controls- (Great folks!) found me a Fasco D181 motor. (About $150.00 total).
(The OEM was NLA and Arrow out of biz for years now. Of course. Did I expect anything else?). 2 trips to town. One to order & 1 to pick it up.
Then It required a special $30.00+ mounting kit.
The original shaft has a set screw that is very difficult to get to. and a "very common" size- 9/64" Allen wrench was required to remove it. Oh, and it needed to be a long shaft to get through the squirrel cage fins too. A trip to town for a long shank Allen wrench kit.
And the motor "Had its wiring diagram on the label on the motor, per my supplier and Fasco website.
Nope.
Had to wait another 2 days for them to open to get the info. They looked it up, and nope, not on the motor tag. (See I wasn't that big an idiot). (Yet another trip to town).
They did make me a photocopy of the wiring diagram too. Thanks guys!
Of course, the set screw collar was stuck. Off to my buddy who is a machinist for help.
With a long (12") drift we managed to drive the shaft out of the collar. (Yup- another trip to town).
Then the new shaft wouldn't fit as the collar had burrs on it. Tapered reamer to the rescue.
We mounted the squirrel cage on the motor and secured it. Cool. Almost done, right? :evil:
The replacement fan is 2 speed vs. 3 speed for the OEM. Not a problem I could live with that.
Then I had to find 3 new SPECIAL mounting grommets for the mounting bolts. (Ace Hardware. $1.69 each.). Great Progress..... (Another trip to town).
Then the slots in the new mounting kit wouldn't fit the grommets, too small. :evil:
4 hours later of filing, 2 worn out files and blisters, (Antibiotic cream and bandaids ) still wouldn't fit. My machinist buddy told me to go get a carbide Dremel bit. Easy. $8.95 for that at Home Depot. (Another trip to town).
Wait- my Sears Dremel "clone" died. Another $69.00 and a trip to town for a new Dremel brand tool. Ok, slow progress....
Great! The bit cut the metal like butter. I was able to enlarge all the slots in under 10 minutes to accept the new grommet and the whole thing fit together. (Then 2 hours of pulling tiny metal bits out of my fingers. Note to self:- wear rubber gloves next time). Cover motor with cloth to keep metal bits out of vent holes in back of motor. Sealed bearings too.
I did blow out the motor to get rid of any stray metal particles. (No, I didn't blow the squirrel cage around with the compressor either. That can ruin bearings).
Yahoo- fan assy dropped into the housing . Fantastic.....
Not. The cage kept hitting the housing as I rotated it by hand. So several hours of "adjusting" it all, and finally no scraping.
Now to install the assy. Dropped it. Grrrrr. Another 1.25 hours of adjusting the unit so it didn't scrape again. VERY tight clearances in the housing.
Awesome- no scraping. Went to put assy in stove. WHAT! :twisted: The top mounting kit ears wouldn't fit in the space- too long. OK cut the mtg. ear off. Fit fine.
Next wire up the switch. I bought a new DPDT center off toggle $17.95 + tax) to replace the old rotary 3 position switch. Female spade conn. wouldn't stay on lugs. Asian import connectors. :evil:
Then I noticed wires were too short for the switch to reach the mounting hole. Stripped back the line cord and cut off the spade connectors. Soldered them to the switch. Heat shrinked the lugs and wires.
Re- checked the fan operation. Rubbing on housing again. WHAT???!!
More adjustments. Cool, ready to go. Nope. Switch hole wrong size for the new switch. Drilled out hole and got it mounted. Done!- NOPE.
The bottom mounting ear blocked the perforated protective screen from going back on.
Pulled the bloody thing back out and cut off the mounting bracket like I had done the top one. Slid it back in, finished mounting the switch and tested it.
FINALLY SUCCESS.
By the time I was done, I had $400.00-$500.00 into the repair, counting the parts, chemicals, & tools I had to buy, bits, gas, time, etc.
It would have been easier to "just spend a couple of thousand" on a new stove and faster too. Chump change, right?
But it is done, and ready to warm me again. Been a cold couple of weeks to get it fixed, for sure.
And YES! I did Locktite (tm) the nuts and screws too.
Would I do it again- Now that I know the hassle- nope, not if I had the bux to buy a new stove.
But, I now have some new tools, extra hardware, and know what is required to do it again.
Hopefully, not in what is left of my lifetime.