Keystoker 90 Feeder Motor Failure

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DrOriginal
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker 90

Post by DrOriginal » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 4:06 pm

I have a quick question for all you experienced coal stove owners. The wife and I bought a house in the middle of last year's heating season with a Keystoker coal stove. The stove worked fine all that season and had been working fine up until a few weeks ago. The white fan on the feeder motor would stop spinning. But a quick flick of the fan would start it again. But ever since then we haven't been getting a ton of heat. Today was somewhat warm so I shut her down and cleaned everything and checked the feeder fan, I noticed it had "dropped". You can push the white fan up with your finger. And when it's pushed up it spins fine. When it falls down the fan struggles to spin and will eventually stop, which no means coal or heat. Is there any way to fix this without purchasing an entire feeder motor? And what's the expected lifespan of these motors? When I talked to the previous homeowner he was surprised it failed so quickly, he had just replaced it before we bought the house. So this motor made it less then 2 years. Is two years the normal life? It seems like a huge pain every other year to drop $100 and pull that all apart. And thanks for all your help already. I never would have figured out how to take it apart and clean it without this forum.
Last edited by Richard S. on Fri. Jul. 28, 2017 12:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed title, please use descriptive titles. Thanks

 
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2001Sierra
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Post by 2001Sierra » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 5:04 pm

My feed motor is 8 yrears old, no failures. I lubricate the bearing on both sides with light machine oil. Remove the motor and you can turn the motor over and get the oil into the sleave bearing from both sides. Is the fan actually sliding down the motor shaft?

 
DrOriginal
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Post by DrOriginal » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 5:25 pm

The entire shaft moves or drops so to say. There appears to be a brass bearing or fitting in the black section. You can see that move down with the shaft and fan. My theory is that when the entire shaft moves it causes some gears in the gear motor section to not line up properly. So the cam won't turn, which means feeder bar stops feeding. But I've never taken it apart to see if that's accurate. 8 years is a nice run on that motor. I won't mind buying another one if it lasts 8 years.


 
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2001Sierra
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Location: Wynantskill NY, 10 miles from Albany
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker 90 Chimney vent
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Other Heating: Buderus Oil Boiler 3115-34

Post by 2001Sierra » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 5:40 pm

I am almost certain the gears are pressed onto the motor shaft, and captive by the gear box. I doubt the shaft sliding would upset the encased gear mesh. Just remember this is my opinion, and we all no what opinions are like :oops: everyone has one.

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 6:05 pm

DrOriginal wrote:The entire shaft moves or drops so to say. There appears to be a brass bearing or fitting in the black section. You can see that move down with the shaft and fan. My theory is that when the entire shaft moves it causes some gears in the gear motor section to not line up properly. So the cam won't turn, which means feeder bar stops feeding. But I've never taken it apart to see if that's accurate. 8 years is a nice run on that motor. I won't mind buying another one if it lasts 8 years.
Not my style stove here, but try that motor plugged straight into wall socket w/o the controller and see what happens.
The magnetic state of the motor should be strong enough to raise that sagging motor and run perfectly free...if by plugging motor in direct it works then you need to look to the controller for your trouble.

HTH :)

 
DrOriginal
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker 90

Post by DrOriginal » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 6:22 pm

McGiever wrote:
DrOriginal wrote:The entire shaft moves or drops so to say. There appears to be a brass bearing or fitting in the black section. You can see that move down with the shaft and fan. My theory is that when the entire shaft moves it causes some gears in the gear motor section to not line up properly. So the cam won't turn, which means feeder bar stops feeding. But I've never taken it apart to see if that's accurate. 8 years is a nice run on that motor. I won't mind buying another one if it lasts 8 years.
Not my style stove here, but try that motor plugged straight into wall socket w/o the controller and see what happens.
The magnetic state of the motor should be strong enough to raise that sagging motor and run perfectly free...if by plugging motor in direct it works then you need to look to the controller for your trouble.

HTH :)
I took it off the back of the stove so that it wasn't attached to the feeder bar, and then plugged it in, it still had the same problem. Fan dropped, stopped spinning, pushed it up and away it went. So I ruled out the feeder bar getting stuck to cause the stoppage. I didn't take it out of the gear box if that's what you mean by controller. I'm not sure how confident I feel taking it off the gear box. It's not completely broken.... yet.


 
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WNY
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Post by WNY » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 9:09 pm

over 15 years with my Keystoker, no problems, except a combustion blower once.
Gears or motor bushing Could be worn a bit and not engaging. Be careful opening the gear box (not recommended), a lot of gears in there for the reduction and torque. you don';t want to get them out of alignment or have them come apart.

 
DrOriginal
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Post by DrOriginal » Sun. Mar. 19, 2017 10:18 pm

Yeah I'm not a big fan of opening the gear box. Sometimes you have to know your limitations. And that box seemed like something I shouldn't be touching. 15 years is a good stretch for fans and blowers. I guess I'll just go with the fact that mine was a fluke for not lasting very long.

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