Screaming Honeywell Device

What is this device? I came down the cellar this morning and it was way noisy like a bearing in a small motor. I just spent 795 yesterday for 3 tons of rice, and I know the local EFM dealer will charge me plenty to do something with it, more than they should, but I looked at it and doubt there is anything I can do. How many days will it go before I have no heat? Thank you in advance for your help!
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That is a timer, which periodically turns your stoker on to keep the fire from going out. Even if it totally locks up you should still have heat - but your fire might go out if you get a warm day with no heat calls.

I don't think parts are available for those timers anymore, so you will likely have to install a different model timer.

Thank you for your response. I know it was part of the controls, but wasn't sure of the exact function. I took the cover off hoping that there was something that I might be able to break free or lubricate, but I'm hesitant to grab hold of anything considering it is connected to 120. It looks like I will be calling the local dealer tomorrow morning. It won't be cheap because the control includes the thermostat.
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Do you have a steam system?

that's the timer.
maybe it needs to be cleaned and lubed.
the new timers are electronic. can't use mercury switches anymore iirc.

No, I have forced hot water. The radiators are likely from 1908 when the house was built, and the stoker was installed in 1967. The stoker replaced a shovel fed furnace that was here when we moved here in 1965.

lincolnmania wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 17, 2021 3:06 pm

that's the timer.
maybe it needs to be cleaned and lubed.
the new timers are electronic. can't use mercury switches anymore iirc.

That would be the cheap way. My local dealer seems to be expensive.
I also thought there must be a way, but I couldn't find anything on YouTube about rebuilding it.
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That's the timer - I have the same one. yeah, it's got 120 going through it. As said above, as long as the stoker is calling for heat every hour or few, you should be fine. So, no real emergency to call out a dealer that you don't like.

There is a motor in there but it spins so slowly that even if there's coal or ash dust in there, you probably won't even hear it. It should be essentially silent, certainly not screaming. Every year, I pop the cover and blow any dust out. Some people dab some 3-in-1 on the little circlip (i.e., axle nut) to lube the shaft. If you're not comfortable with AC, you can shut off the power to the unit right after a call for heat ends and check the unit then.

If you shine a flashlight and look, can you see the motor gear moving? It will take a few seconds to see the movement - it's slow, maybe 1RPM. In your pic, we can see the brass timer dial and the old-school thermostat-type mercury switch. Behind them, there's a safety partition and behind the partition is the motor and the transformer. You want to check the little gearshaft on the motor, which luckily for you is located on the bottom on the unit, easily seen from directly below. Does the brass front dial spin freely - you should be able to rotate it one way (clockwise I think) without affecting the motor.

That said... are you sure the noise is coming from the timer? Maybe the main fan motor attached to the stoker unit itself is the one making the noise? Or a circulator (since you have hot water)? A typical method if you can't tell is to use a screwdriver as an amplifier: touch the screw-tip end to the motor and put the handle up to your ear.

CatholicBoy1957 wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 17, 2021 3:50 pm

That would be the cheap way. My local dealer seems to be expensive.
I also thought there must be a way, but I couldn't find anything on YouTube about rebuilding it.

It's probably the clock motor that is the problem. It's a very small 1 RPM motor that drives the timer dial. If you could find the right motor, it would be pretty simple to rebuild.

Search for "clock motor 120v" and a bunch of choices will pop up.

It would probably be easier to just replace it though, it's only 3 wires. Hot and Neutral in, to power the clock motor and the switched Hot out, to power the stoker. I would replace it with a solid state timer, no motor to ware out.
I use a Tork EJWT.
https://www.zoro.com/tork-percentage-timer-spdt-1 ... lsrc=aw.ds

-Don

Here's a cheaper price on eBay. I don't know anything about the seller though.

Percentage Timer Switch SPDT 120-240 VAC 24-Hour Indoor Automatic Control, Gray
1 rating
$114.22Free Shipping

You will have to look it up. I wasn't able to copy and paste the link. Greg

Sid Harvey used to sell rebuilt ones. They are often used as poultry feeding timers.