Vogelzang VG5790 overheat, low heat ouput

[After_Burn]

Recently purchased a Vogelzang VG5790 used. These stoves have a very high BTU rating, but I was getting little hot air out of the unit and it kept tripping the thermal limit switch. I tried coupling the room air fan directly to the line input, with no net improvement. While working I found out that the room air fan was spinning the wrong direction, cavitating the blower and slowing the natural thermal convection. I flipped the stator on the fan motor and it is now turning the correct direction; however, the motor is too small to power this blower and struggles to reach more a few hundred RPM at full trot. Hence, the unit still overheats and hits the thermal limit after a few hours, even when running the room air fan on direct line input.
I have ordered a higher powered motor and will report back after install on whether it fixes the issue.

 

[tlc1976]

Sounds like you’re on the right track to figuring it out. Always interesting to see what previous owners did. For reference my stove uses the same blower and is labeled 1.9 amps.

I’ve pulled mine apart many times to oil the bearings with a syringe. I found that motor oil works well and lasts me most of a season. The previous owner probably had it apart too if it was put back together backwards. But if the metal washers are on the wrong side of the rubber seals in the motor caps, the motor will run but not fast, it’s just enough drag. I learned this one night and had to take it back apart.

A direct line to the motor rules out the board, also that runs it on high for most heat dissipation. Normal operation would only use high on heat range 5 and cool down.

Hopefully the new motor takes care of it.

Meanwhile I would make sure the whole stove is clean. Get inside the combustion blower area, unbolt the ash trap covers behind the side panels, run a brush through any passages you can reach. I use a thin bendable dryer lint brush. Same with the room air passages, I’ve not done this because my house is clean and pet free, but I’ve heard of these being blocked with pet hair.

You should also be able to look up specs on the other motors and make sure they match. In here somewhere are auger timing settings and you can make sure you’re in the ballpark.

I’ve also had a bad cutoff switch on mine but basically if you walked up to the stove or opened the hopper it would vibrate enough to trip the switch.

Best of luck to figuring this out.