All,
I realize that this question is completely unrelated to brewing, but this forum has never steered me wrong...
I’m relatively new to burning, so I’ll be completely honest in saying that I don’t know what I don’t know. We purchased a Vermont Casting Merrimack almost four years ago. I’m in Michigan, so it can get cold, so I’ve got this thing burning from September through March.
I think that I have two issues at hand: Vibration and a malfunctioning fan/blower. Towards the end of the burning season last year, it started to get loud. I assumed that it was a problem with the fan, but discovered that this appeared to be more about vibration than anything; so I wasn’t too concerned about it. I was able to find a few ways to reduce the vibration, but it has continued to get worse. The noise has been tolerable, but has recently gotten out of hand.
Until this point the only issue has been with the noise, which I initially thought was more about vibration, but have recently noticed that noise continues when I’ve used shims and the like to stop the vibration. Recently, the blower has been turning itself off at various times throughout the day. We’ll often come home from work to find that we have a hot bed of coals, but the blower turned off at some point during the day, leaving the room cold. It will turn itself on at random times throughout the day. Now that this has started happening I’m starting to wonder if I need a new fan/blower.
The main question I have for the group is in regards to the fan/blower. Specifically, how many hours of operation should I expect to get out of this thing? I feel like I should be able to get more than three years of operation out of this thing, but I recognize that the thing is on around the clock six months a year.
Again, I don’t know what I don’t know. I can tell you that I’ve taken the fan apart a few times to clean it. Is there anything else I could/should be doing? If I need to replace the blower, will that help to reduce the vibration? Should I expect to need to buy a new blower every few years? I see that there are multiple variations of blowers available to purchase, do I need to buy a specific one?
I than you in advance for your assistance.
